Commentary

We are Jewish organizers and activists who have worked closely with CASA for years in its efforts to support Maryland’s immigrant communities. We have always found CASA to be an organization that acts with respect, solidarity, and love for people of all backgrounds. We are outraged that elected officials are weaponizing Jewish pain in the wake of the recent atrocities by Hamas to attack and undermine CASA in response to its tweets criticizing Israel and calling for a ceasefire. To be clear: As Jews, there was nothing in CASA’s statements that we found to be antisemitic or hateful.

If Baltimore had only one homicide per year, that would be too many. Each life is precious, and no family should have to endure the heart-wrenching loss of a loved one due to violence. I start with this reminder of the sanctity of human life, because media discussions of homicide data and crime stats are often devoid of context and divorced from a deep concern for the victims, grieving families and communities experiencing trauma.

Nobody asked me, but if Mayor Brandon Scott can pull off even half of what he proposes for downtown Baltimore in the sweeping “action plan” he revealed on Thursday, it would give the city, and his reelection chances, a huge boost. Glad to see, in the plans for a spruce-up, an attack on graffiti. It is depressingly out of control.

If you tell me a guy had a serious drug problem and needed thousands of dollars to pay a dealer who put a gun to his head, I could understand why the guy would run a financial scam and risk going to prison. If a woman had a serious gambling problem and needed a pile of cash to pay off a loan shark, I could understand why she stole money from her employer. But a scam to buy a 31-foot boat?

Over the last year, a record 80,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses. It is a real problem that has grown astronomically worse in Baltimore and Maryland due to the rise in synthetic opioids like fentanyl, which accounts for the vast majority of drug-related deaths. To fight this epidemic of addiction and misery, it will take resources for public health agencies, addiction services, law enforcement and the courts.

Identifying and nurturing the gifted and talented child is one of the most difficult jobs in education today — and one of the most controversial, as well. Who is gifted? In what way? Why are fewer children of color or underprivileged children chosen to receive the additional benefits of accelerated or broadened educational programs?

“The doors of the church are open.” That’s how the Rev. Grady A. Yeargin Jr. ended almost every one of the hundreds of sermons I heard him preach at the City Temple of Baltimore (Baptist), the Bolton Hill church I attended for half my life. Technically, that meant Sunday’s lessons were now ready to be carried from inside the walls of the building into the world. But if you knew “Rev,” as the kids who grew up at City Temple called him, you knew that openness started with him.