State Delegate Alonzo Washington (District 22) came prepared with questions for the panel he was moderating on January 7. With the broad topic of color and class in Prince George’s County, he started the evening off by introducing his expert panel and then asking them to comment on a letter from the Baltimore Sun that took a patronizing tone saying poor black children need to simply try harder. Panelist Erek Barron, Maryland State Delegate, District 24, shook his head a little as he considered the question. The letter writer, perhaps unwittingly, brought up one of the main sticking points of the evening, namely which pieces of racial bias problems are community-wide issues and which are personal responsibility. “There is a dearth of employment opportunities,” Barron said, citing statistics for both Baltimore and the nation on underemployed black youth. “It is a systemic problem.” At the same time, individuals, including the letter writer, have a responsibility to practice humanity. “Simply put yourselves in other people’s shoes.” The evening’s conversation jumped back and forth from general to specific and from systemic problems to individual concerns, but the plea to practice humanity and listen to each other was Delegate Washington Resumes Conversation on Color & Class by Amy S. Hansen repeated several times. Click here to read the remainder of the story in the paper. https://www.greenbeltnewsreview.com/issues/GNR20160114.pdf
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