Commentary

In October 2023, the Maryland Association of Boards of Education (MABE) made history as one of the first statewide associations of public school boards to declare climate action an essential component of adequate and equitable school facilities. As a parent leader for climate action in Prince George’s County and the state of Maryland, I could not be prouder of MABE’s commitment.

After working for more than a year to review 35 books because a few parents wanted them removed from school libraries, the Frederick County Public Schools decided it would remove one book. Two additional books will be removed from library circulation at the middle school level. One book on the original complaint list was previously removed because of questions about its veracity. And that is all.

Greenbury Point is a beautiful peninsula, stretching out to the Chesapeake Bay between the Severn River and Whitehall Bay. You can spot it just south of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge by its three “Eiffel Towers,” relics of a radio transmission network for Navy submarines during the Cold War. And you can recognize it as one of a handful of spots on the map that are key to expanded public access to the bay near Annapolis. It is, to stretch a sports metaphor to the breaking point, a fairway to the Chesapeake.

I’m not yet a year and a half into my career. It will be 2 1/2 years until I lose my first student, my first lovely, to bullets. I’ll be told I’m lucky it took that long. It is December 2012, and on this particular Friday morning, my lovelies and I are huddled in the corner of my classroom. In a few years, when we do this, it will be because we’re hiding — as far away from the door as we can, silent and still. When that eventually happens, every time I will feign calm, and every time, because I never know if it’s a drill or a disaster, I will text my family.

As the 2024 legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly begins, I would like to provide a cautionary tale for those legislators and advocates working on health care bills. Even if a health care bill successfully passes the legislature, implementation may be virtually non-existent. Why? Health care laws, like any laws, require active oversight by governmental agencies. The situation in our state is complicated. Many bills point to the state agency called the Office of Health Care Quality (OHCQ) as the lead in oversight.

Perhaps it’s because higher education has been so much in the news lately, but Mayor Brandon Scott’s newly unveiled plan to combat vacant housing has the feel of a hastily written undergraduate term paper. It’s overly complicated, insanely ambitious and depends on funding that simply isn’t there. The cynical among us might assume the incumbent is more focused on the Democratic primary five months from now than on offering a realistic proposal to redevelop Baltimore’s scourge of abandoned properties.

In the history of any city, there are a few pivotal moments that will define the urban landscape for generations to come, for better or for worse. Opened 43 years ago as a symbol of Baltimore’s revitalization, few projects have had more significance in Baltimore’s modern history than Harborplace. Its impending rebirth has been awaited anxiously by all who care about our city. The new renderings of Harborplace have prompted the full spectrum of reactions, from ubiquitous political cheerleading to pointed design critiques from UDAAP (the Urban Design & Architecture Advisory Panel) and members of the architectural community.

For so many of us in Baltimore and Maryland, our history is a reminder of what our faith calls us to do: serve. As former pastor of Union Baptist Church and now through my work with the Beloved Community Services Organization in Baltimore, I’m committed to continue the work of those who came before me by advancing the mission of the Civil Rights Movement while serving underserved communities.