Donald Trump is not the first President who failed to take action on racial issues. 

“If I come out for the anti-lynching bill now, they [the southern Senators] will block every bill I ask Congress to pass to keep America from collapsing. I just can’t take the risk.”

Franklin Roosevelt said that to Walter White, the director of the NAACP.   

Eleanor Roosevelt’s Battle to End Lynching

Lynching would be a federal crime under the Justice In Policing Act, the legislation introduced by Democrats in Washington last week. 

It was FDR’s protege, then Senate Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson, who engineered the passage of the 1957 Civil Rights Act, the first such legislation since Reconstruction. 

It took the assassination of John F. Kennedy to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the near fatal beating of John Lewis to bring about the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the murders of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy to enact the 1968 Civil Rights Act. 

There is precedent, regretfully, for the loss of life bringing about reform. 

The House of Delegates Workgroup to Address Police Reform and Accountability in Maryland will hold its first meeting on June 23. 

As a member of the workgroup, I will listen to and learn from my colleagues, the experts, and the public.   

“These issues…can’t be gotten rid of with good intentions,” Senator Cory Booker has said. 

We need legislation that addresses the problems before us. 

—     

   You can speak with Dr. Sonja Santelises, CEO of the Baltimore City Public Schools on our 41st District Town Hall Tuesday evening from 5:30-6:30.  For details on this Zoom meeting, write JGreenfield@house.state.md.us or call 410-664-2646.

Every summer, I meet with advocates in the mental health community to discuss what issues they think I should work on when we return to Annapolis. 

We haven’t met yet, but I’ve already raised two issues.

Should the police continue to make house calls when it’s known in advance that an individual has a mental health problem?  Or should a better trained social worker be sent to the home?

This is not a new issue. Police in Baltimore City receive a lot of crisis de-escalation and mental health training, both as recruits and during in-service trainings. Prior incidents led to legislation that resulted in better training.  The Department of Justice consent decree has increased these efforts

 The calls to defund the police after George Floyd’s murder bring this issue to the fore again. 

Second issue: A good friend has suggested that some police recruits may be racially biased to an extent that training can’t address. 

So I’ve asked the advocates, “Is there a way to test if an applicant is predisposed to bias? 

If so, should they be denied the opportunity to become a police officer?

—  

In the Legislation class I teach, we discuss the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. 

It was the first civil rights bill enacted by the Congress since Reconstruction. 

Legislation to make lynching a federal crime was one of the more prominent issues that failed during that eighty-year period

Congressional passage of such a bill, in response to George Floyd’s murder,  is imminent.

Should we pass such a bill in Maryland? 

I’ve asked the Attorney General’s Office how such a law would relate to our hate crimes statute. 

—

   You can speak with Dr. Sonja Santelises, CEO of the Baltimore City Public Schools,  and Police Commissioner  Michael S.Harrison.  They will be our guests on 41st District Town Halls – Dr. Santelises on June 16 and Commissioner Harrison on June 25.  Both will be Zoomed from 5:30-6:30.  Details will follow. 

Pelosi has always been a progressive; until the last few years, the right used her as the ultimate symbol of left-wing extremism. But her relentlessly pragmatic approach to politics is the polar opposite of, say, the Bernie Sanders approach. Pelosi doesn’t begin by asking what kind of world we want. She asks where the votes are. The speaker is, as she herself has said, a master legislator.

            That’s from a review of a new biography of Speaker Nancy Pelosi. 

I consider myself a pragmatist as well.  To pass a bill in the House of Delegates, you have to count to 71.

            However, I am also motivated to make the world a better place. 

            I think of what Robert Kennedy said in Capetown, South Africa in 1966 , the second year of  Nelson Mandela’s imprisonment. 

“Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.’ “

            Speaker Adrienne Jones has created a Workgroup to Address Police Reform and Accountability in Maryland.   I am one of the House members she named to this group. 

Speaker Creates Police Accountability Workgroup in the House

            I hope to bring to that task what I have learned from both Speaker Pelosi and Senator Kennedy. 

Back in November, I joined Brandon for a discussion on bridging the “Two Park Heights.” Both of us grew up in 21215. We both studied at the Pratt Library Branch at Park Heights and Garrison. Brandon and I both see the great potential in keeping the Preakness at Pimlico and bringing commercial and residential development to that site, benefitting the entire community.

While I grew up above Northern Parkway and Brandon grew up below, we both have dedicated our lives to public service. Every day, we work for the betterment of this city and are motivated by the unconditional love you have when you’re born and raised here.

That’s important because there are no shortcuts. We have to come together and bridge our divides in earnest.

Brandon Scott has consistently shown he can bring people together, speak to all of Baltimore, and deliver results that have impact. Today, I’m proud to announce my support for him as Mayor.

Making real change and creating economic and housing opportunity in Baltimore will take a leader with a track record of rolling up his sleeves and getting things done, while never settling for the way things are just because that’s how things have been done.

He understands that essential to restoring trust in city government is making sure our communities have a voice in the ongoing redevelopment efforts at Pimlico and throughout 21215.

Baltimore cannot move forward divided. We both know that it’s essential for all of the residents of Park Heights – above and below Northern Parkway – to work together for our community’s future.

As a fellow son of Baltimore, I’m glad Brandon Scott is running for Mayor. and I’m glad to support him – for the future of our city.

It should come as no surprise. 

“We can’t be satisfied as policy makers until every child in every zip code has the chance to succeed,” declared Speaker Adrienne Jones at a hearing on the pre-K-12 school performance and funding legislation based upon the Kirwan Commission report..

“If you live on the south side of Northern Parkway, your life expectancy is about 67 to 68 years, but if you cross over to the north side, it goes up to 82 or 83.  That needs to be addressed,” stated a Sinai Hospital official.  Addressing that disparity is fundamental to the mission of the hospital.

Both of these statements were made before the coronavirus pandemic highlighted the disparities among  neighborhoods in Baltimore and throughout the nation and world.  

What can we do to address these problems?

“Will the General Assembly have the will and wisdom to override Hogan’s veto of the legislation implementing the Kirwan Commission report?” I was asked last week. 

“No doubt in my mind that we have that will and wisdom.  The question is when,” I replied.  We need to decide whether we do so in a special session or when we reconvene in January. 

Our health care system has adjusted to the pandemic but at great cost.  How do we pay for that?  Should changes in how we provide care, such as telehealth, be made permanent?  Is an employer liable if an employee returns to work and becomes ill? 

Access to the Internet is essential for students who are not in a classroom.  “Large numbers of Baltimore households lack two essential tools for getting online: wireline broadband service at home and access to a computer,” concluded an Abell Foundation report this month. 

I’ve asked our budget staff to research potential funding sources to close this gap. 

The coronavirus has taught us a lesson. 

There are inequities in our society that the pandemic has laid bare. 

It is our responsibility as public officials and as citizens to address these problems. 

So we hope. 

Governor Hogan’s vetoes of bills yesterday were not a step in that direction. 

Governor Hogan and Senate President Ferguson spoke for only 30 minutes before the veto letters were posted online, according to the editorial in today’s Baltimore Sun. 

That’s 30 minutes more than President Trump and Speaker Pelosi have spoken in recent months.                                                                                      

But appallingly less than the dialogue that’s needed.

That dialogue should be a part of the General Assembly’s deliberations on the veto overrides.

We have the votes. We also need to make the case to the public that these programs are worthy expenditures. 

—

It was uncertain yesterday whether the Governor would sign or veto the bill that would keep the Preakness in Baltimore and redevelop the Pimlico Race Track site. 

At lunch time, I drove by the race track and detoured to the site of the house on Rogers Av. where my elementary school friend Jay Slater lived – across the street from the grandstand entrance to Pimlico. 

I first watched the races from his attic window.

I decided to stay on Rogers Av. and drive by Arlington Elementary Middle School, which has been renovated under the 21st Century Schools program. 

In the 20th Century, my mother went to Arlington. 

At dinner last night, I told my mother that I had stopped by Jay’s house and then headed west on Rogers.

“And drove by Arlington,” my mother declared. 

It was better than cashing a winning ticket on the Daily Double. 

Assisting constituents with  unemployment claims, small business loans, and personal protective equipment. 

That’s been the focus of Jackie Greenfield, my Constituent Services Director. 

She’s kept me informed and sought my advice. 

Meanwhile, I’ve been planting seeds – taking steps that could lead to legislation when the General Assembly reconvenes in January. 

I’ve worked on mental health issues for quite some time, as far back as 2005, I’ve been reminded

Using mental health courts to keep mentally ill individuals out of the prison system was the subject of a PBS documentary Monday night.   

The Definition of Insanity  https://www.pbs.org/video/trailer-definition-insanity-g3edti/

,  I’m hoping to start a discussion about what we should do in Maryland.  I wrote my friends in the advocacy community. 

It turns out we’ve been having that discussion since 2005. 

A statewide partnership meets regularly to improve services for individuals with mental health and substance use disorders who become involved with the criminal justice system

This ongoing effort is the result of House Bill 990, Benefits and Services for Individuals Who Are Incarcerated or Institutionalized   I was one of two lead sponsors of this legislation. 

If there’s an issue that would benefit from a public hearing before the Health and Government Operations Committee, I’ll introduce a bill. 

First-gen college students are the first in their family to apply for college. 

This past session, I worked with a group on how to assist these students – from their decision making about what schools to apply to and how to obtain financial aid to the support system needed for them to enter in the fall and eventually graduate. 

That was a problem before the pandemic.  It’s a problem for many more students now. 

   Administrators anticipate that students grappling with the financial and psychological impacts of the virus could choose to stay closer to home, go to less expensive schools, take a year off or not go to college at all. A higher education trade group has predicted a 15 percent drop in enrollment nationwide, amounting to a $23 billion revenue loss.

I shared this yesterday.  If needed, a bill will follow. 

—-  

For updates on the coronavirus and our state government’s response, go to https://coronavirus.maryland.gov/