Tag: Elijah Cummings

Very proud

| by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

Today was the bill hearing for House Bill 1300, Blueprint for Maryland’s Future – Implementation. It’s the Kirwan Commission recommendations for pre-K-12 public education.

I spoke at a rally prior to the bill hearing:

“I am a very proud graduate of the Baltimore City Public Schools.

“I now teach five hours per week in the fall semester as an adjunct law school professor. I can’t imagine the preparation needed to teach five hours every day. That’s why I support the Kirwan Commission’s proposed increase in pay for our teachers.

“The work doesn’t end when the bill passes. I will work to make sure that this legislation is fully implemented.”

In her remarks, Delegate Maggie McIntosh spoke of the crippling effect of children being set apart as poor learners.

A contemporary of mine at City College was wrongly labeled in that manner in elementary school.

His name was Elijah Cummings.

A time to mourn, and a time to dance

| by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

I was honored to be asked again to give the opening prayer on the first day of the session.

 

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.

A time to mourn, and a time to dance.

When we last met on sine die, we mourned the loss of our Speaker.

As we convene today, we celebrate an historic beginning for our Speaker.

Since we last met, we have also lost a former member of our House, Elijah Cummings.

By his example and his words, Elijah could change hearts and minds, and most importantly in this chamber, he could change votes.

“Walk with me,” he would intone.  His district would become our district.  His city our city.

“A lot of people call me a bridge builder, but sometimes I feel like I’m the bridge itself,” he said shortly after his election to Congress. “I often become the bridge, so people can begin to concentrate on what they have in common as opposed to what differences they have.”

John Lewis made history when he sought to cross a bridge – the Edmund Pettus Bridge on Bloody Sunday, but suffered a fractured skull instead.

His courage and commitment brought about the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Protecting the right to vote is still his cause.  May it remain so for years to come.

A time to mourn, and a time to dance.

A time to plant ideas and bills; and a time to uproot that which is planted.

Our living messengers

| by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

“We didn’t lose him, mind you – we gained so much knowledge from this man,” Christopher Johnson said of Congressman Elijah Cummings.

https://www.marylandmatters.org/2019/10/18/baltimore-mourns-its-native-son-and-champion/

Elijah Cummings and I were in the 1982 class of newly elected members of the House of Delegates. We knew each other from high school.

Elijah said, “City College was the first time I was in an integrated environment as an equal.”  He became an effective and passionate leader pursuing equality for all of us. We worked together to protect voting rights.

“Our children are our living messengers to a future we will never see.” I heard Elijah say that many times. Perhaps you did as well.

A quality education for all of our children, regardless of their background, is the goal of the Blueprint For Maryland’s future. It’s the work product of a commission chaired by Brit Kirwan, the highly respected former chancellor of the University System of Maryland.

This is the most important issue before the General Assembly. What standards do we set for our public schools and how do we fund them?

As you know, we’ve taken a big step forward in preserving the Preakness at Pimlico and redeveloping most of that land for commercial, residential, medical, and recreational uses.

What I did to bring this about is at http://www.delsandy.com/key-issues/pimlico-and-the-preakness/

 

From despair to prevention

| by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

My first reaction to Saturday’s slaughter in El Paso and Dayton was despair. Nothing to prevent future killings will come of this.

In the 48 hours since then, my outlook has changed.

President Trump has reduced funding for the Department of Homeland Security to assess the threat from homegrown violent extremists and domestic terrorists.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/homeland-security-disbands-domestic-terror-intelligence-unit

The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act (S. 894/H.R.1931) would require federal law enforcement agencies to regularly evaluate these risks and provide training and resources to assist state, local, and tribal law enforcement.

If we don’t see positive action on the federal level, legislation should require the State Police to assume this responsibility.

I was already working on a response to the President’s racist tweets about Congressman Elijah Cummings and Baltimore City. And I have company.

“This has roused Baltimore like nothing I’ve seen in the past five years,” JHU Professor Matthew Crenson has said. “There’s a community spirit that perhaps the mayor could harness, using Baltimore itself to make appeals to the state and federal government.”

http://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-baltimore-good-and-bad-20190801-iwc3zsfmynb23mejxbetx2plri-story.html

I’m working with my legislative colleagues to assemble a list of redevelopment projects in the 7th Congressional District that are eligible for federal or state funding.

Access to justice and opportunity

| by delsandy | Sandy's 2016 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Frank Robinson left spring training early in 1966, his first year with the Orioles.

He needed to find a place to live. No one would rent to him in segregated Baltimore.

I spoke about that at a meeting of the Access to Justice Commission this morning.

In 1966, I was a student at City College. So was another speaker this morning, Congressman Elijah Cummings.

City College, I said, was our access to opportunity.

My access to justice bill this session would provide legal counsel on a pilot basis in a child custody case or for either party in a protective order proceeding resulting from domestic violence.

My access to opportunity bill would provide scholarship money for low-income students attending four-year colleges.

More on Frank Robinson http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bs-sp-frank-robinson-housing-0124-20160122-story.html

  • My Key Issues:

  • Pimlico and The Preakness
  • Our Neighborhoods
  • Pre-Kindergarten
  • Lead Paint Poisoning