Bethany Johnson-Javois calls for communities and churches to respond to recent SNAP reductions by building local food systems rooted in ownership, collaboration and long-term stability.
Category: OPINION
Posted inCommentary
Commentary: Building shared infrastructure for Baltimore’s Black social economy
By Jamye Wooten For as long as I can remember, Black-led organizations in Baltimore have been doing extraordinary work with limited visibility, limited capital, and very little shared infrastructure to support them. From grassroots organizers and neighborhood nonprofits to mission-driven businesses and cultural workers, Black Baltimore has always generated solutions for itself. What we have […]
Posted inOPINION
This is a sankofa moment: What are we learning?
LaDon Love is the executive director of SPACEs in Action. This week she reflects on the current moment in history and needs to happen next.
Posted inCommentary
Built by us: Why Black institutions need legal infrastructure
By Kisha A. Brown, Esq. As Black people, we cannot experience the joy and peace of justice without building our own systems and institutions—designed by us, with our liberation, our lifestyle and our real needs in mind. From churches doubling as schools to kitchens doubling as boardrooms, we have started from scratch and built up. […]
Posted inCommentary
Commentary: Court ruling forces No. 47’s administration to restore CFPB funding
Charlene Crowell, a senior fellow with the Center for Responsible Lending, highlights how the current administration’s efforts to defund or undermine the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) hurt working families while protecting Wall Street and corporate interests. Court rulings have now forced the administration to restore CFPB funding, reinstate employees, and resume its oversight work, which prevents billions in consumer losses from predatory financial practices.
Posted inOpinion
Rule of law: A moral mandate to abolish ICE
By Rev. Stacy Swimp The call to “Abolish ICE”—the federal agency known as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement—is often dismissed as a radical demand for disorder, but for those who recognize the moral arc of the universe, it is a necessary response to a legacy of weaponized law enforcement. Established in 2003, ICE has increasingly […]
Posted inOPINION
Opinion: Alcohol sales aren’t the answer to food deserts
Michael Eugene Johnson argues that allowing beer and wine sales in grocery stores is not a reliable solution to food deserts in Maryland. He warns it could harm public health, oversaturate neighborhoods with alcohol, and threaten local independent store owners, urging lawmakers to pursue healthier, community-focused alternatives.
Posted inOPINION
There are no ‘third world dictatorships’ in Maryland
Dayvon Love, director of public policy for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS), a Baltimore-based grassroots think-tank, argues that accusations of “dictatorship” aimed at Black political leaders in Maryland reveal deep racial double standards about who is allowed to wield power. He contrasts the tolerance historically shown to forceful White leaders with the backlash Black officials face for far milder assertions of authority, contending that such rhetoric reflects anxieties about shifting power dynamics rather than genuine concerns about democracy.
Posted inOPINION
The AFRO: A vanguard to civil rights
In this opinion commentary, Rev. Stacy Swimp traces the historic role of the AFRO-American Newspaper as a cornerstone of Black self-definition, intellectual advocacy and civil rights activism. From its founding by John Henry Murphy Sr. in 1892 to its modern-day mission, the AFRO is presented as a vital institution that has equipped Black communities to confront media bias, preserve historical truth and exercise collective agency through literacy, scholarship and service. Credit: AFRO Photo
Posted inOPINION
Opinion: It’s time to allow beer and wine sales in Maryland’s grocery stores
The Rev. Alvin C. Hathaway Sr. argues that Maryland’s ban on beer and wine sales in grocery stores is discouraging full-service grocers from locating in underserved neighborhoods, worsening food access and community decline. The author argues that allowing these sales would help attract supermarkets, reduce vacant properties and give families better access to healthy, affordable meals.
Posted inOPINION
Opinion: Erasing exhibits will never erase Black history
By Alice T. Crowe Crews equipped with crowbars dismantled an exhibit at Independence National Historic Park in Philadelphia on Jan. 22. The panels removed honored the lives of nine people enslaved by George Washington. Under a Federal directive, staff were to take down information that “disparages” American icons and fosters national shame. The take-down of […]
Posted inOPINION
The assault on DEI and the ‘assumption of incompetence’: Reflections on No. 47’s misinterpretation of Dr. King’s dream
Dr. Zekeh Gbotokuma argues that the 47th president’s attack on diversity, equity and inclusion distorts Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s vision by promoting a false notion of “colorblind” meritocracy. He contends that Executive Order 14173 and related rhetoric recast efforts to remedy historic discrimination as bias against White men, reinforcing a “presumption of incompetence” toward women and minorities. Drawing on Bernice King and other scholars, Gbotokuma maintains that King called for confronting racism—not ignoring it—and warns that dismantling DEI threatens civil-rights gains and deepens inequality.