Sean Hannity tonight brought on Baltimore city councilman Brandon Scott Adam Jackson, Baltimore United for Change Coalition member and CEO of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, to talk about the recent crime spike in Baltimore. Hannity first confronted Scott about the violence and the victims before turning to Jackson, and that’s when things got confrontational.
Jackson told Hannity the media coverage of Baltimore has been “mired with racist subterfuge” and racist policies and policing practices have factored into the unrest. Hannity immediately asked him, “Are you saying that this is all related to racism?”
Jackson and Hannity went back-and-forth a bit, with Hannity insistent on getting a straight answer. Jackson spoke of “structural racism and white supremacy” in the grander context surrounding Baltimore and told Hannity, “You’re intentionally obfuscating what I’m saying.
In April, Baltimore police killed an unarmed Black man named Freddie Gray. His death kicked off weeks of protests and the latest round of the larger Black Lives Matter movement that has exploded across the United States against racism and police brutality. Today our host Michael Fox speaks with Reverend Heber Brown III, the Pastor of Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in North Baltimore about the Baltimore uprising, Black Lives Matter, and where this moment of organizing and action can go. teleSUR
The new youth jail represents business as usual in Baltimore; the veneer of justice used to grease the skids for anti-black policy and practice.
Minister and community organizer Kinji Scott joins to discuss why he wants to move beyond the rhetoric to implement actual change in Baltimore
The Baltimore United for Change coalition would like to thank everyone for reaching out to us, and wanting to connect. It has been beautiful to see so many people in Baltimore come together during this time. Like many of you, we have been trying to navigate so many pieces and layers to serve the community, tend to the need of jailed protesters, the homeless, support our school children, and provide trainings while all along maintaining our lives.
Baltimore United for Change (BUC) is a coalition of organizations and activists with a long track record of working for social justice in Baltimore. The BUC coalition came together three days after the murder of Freddie Gray, and hit the ground running. Through our coalition and with your support, we have been able to raise over $100,000 for jail support. Of those arrested 229 were released, 97 wear bailed out and 33 people are still in jail (19 of them have bails greater than $50,000; 1 for $500,000). When Baltimore City schools were closed and throughout the week our partners provided safe spaces and fed thousands of students and families throughout the city.
The issues facing Black Baltimore are vast and require a diverse skill set. Many of you have various skills, talents, love and appreciation for Baltimore and want to see the community flourish – we welcome you and ask that you add your organization, institution or self to the skills/organizational bank; Working collaboratively we can begin to meet the needs of the community. It is our goal to move beyond “reActivism” and build a holistic community network for sustainable, long-term change in Baltimore.
In love & service,
Jamye Wooten
Baltimore United for Change Coalition
Adam Jackson, Chief Executive Officer of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, explains how racism and White supremacy have impacted the city of Baltimore during Tuesday’s NewsOne Now State of Emergency: Baltimore and Beyond Town Hall Meeting.
The Maryland congressman and the CEO of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle discuss the death of 25 year old Freddie Gray, and the developing situation in the city of Baltimore.
Born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, Congressman Elijah E. Cummings began his career of public service in the Maryland House of Delegates, where he served for 14 years, and became the first African American in Maryland history to be named Speaker Pro Tempore. Since 1996, Congressman Cummings has represented Maryland’s 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, and currently serves as the Ranking Member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from Howard University, and graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law.
Adam Jackson, a native of West Baltimore and Towson University graduate, is the CEO of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS), an organization dedicated to transforming the city of Baltimore through policy action. Adam is engaged in community service projects around Baltimore, specifically focusing on those that deal with social and economic inequality. A nationally ranked college debater, Adam was also a debate teacher to high school and middle school students.
Pleasant Hope Baptist Church Pastor Heber Brown shared his thoughts after Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn J. Mosby announced charges against six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray. (Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post)
Dayvon Love co-founder of Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle and member of the Baltimore United Coalition stated “Baltimore just shows the sophistication of white supremacy, and how it operates” on Saturday’s “Melissa Harris-Perry” on MSNBC.
Love said, “I think people reduce racism to individual white folks in leadership, black people who are succumbed to white folks, and I think Baltimore just shows the sophistication of white supremacy, and how it operates, how it takes black figures, put[s] them in institutional position,s to give the veneer of justice, when really the same institutional arrangement exists.”
Earlier, he argued, “I think there’s an important distinction to be made between our Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and our city State’s Attorney Marilyn J Mosby. Many people, I think, would say that our mayor is someone who has capitulated to the corporate structure of the Democratic Party, and many of the corporate interests in this city. And I think, as we see, what happens in our society writ-large is that oftentimes individual black people are put in positions of power or leadership in white-controlled, dominating institutions, which brings more black people into those institutional arrangements, which undermines our ability to develop a kind of communal, independent black institution-building as the basis of our work.”
Love also said that after the announcement of the charges brought against six officers in Freddie Gray’s death, “you saw black people out in the streets, celebrating, hugging each other. We actually went out there giving away food, and giving away pamphlets that had information about how to deal with law enforcement, just talking about the work that we’re doing, and getting people’s information. So, it was just such a beautiful scene, and to me, what was an amazing contrast, was contrasting that with the level of militarization around it. So, while you have all these black folks that are embracing each other, loving each other, affirming each other, in the presence of that, it almost seems like, you know, the institution of civil society doesn’t want us to do that, given all the military presence around.”