Morgan State professor Lawrence Brown (pictured, left), a 2012 OSI Community Fellow and a 2015 Justice Fund grantee for his project, You’re the Quarterback, published an op-ed in the New York Times last week:
In “More Injustice in Baltimore,” Brown voiced concerns about the recent acquittal of Officer Caesar Goodson in the death of Freddie Gray, the third trial of officers to end without a conviction, and how it reveals a “stark truth about Baltimore,” namely that Baltimore remains a largely segregated city. He also pointed to the recent controversy surrounding the Port Covington development plans. The project, which is expected to cost an estimated $5.5 billion also includes both a request for nearly $575 million in state and federal bond money and $535 million in tax increment financing (TIF). Many, including Brown, see the project as not only continuing the city’s segregation, but also feel the project could use up vital resources that could be going to places like Freddie Gray’s neighborhood of Sandtown-Winchester and other underserved areas of the city.
“…instead of investing in the city we have, the Baltimore government would prefer to build a new one, and let the Freddie Grays of the world pay the price,” he wrote.