CREATING SPACE TO DISCUSS RACE
Black professor at Loyola University Maryland establishes institute for positive dialogue
“It’s not just an intellectual exercise. It’s about brainstorming, discussion and beginning to implement solutions. We have to settle the questions around race. We have to settle those things.”
— Karsonya “Kaye” Wise Whitehead, associate professor of communication and African and African American Studies at Loyola
Aseries of deadly events culminated with Karsonya “Kaye” Wise Whitehead helping create a place at Loyola University Maryland where she wants positive conversations about race to exist and flourish.
For Whitehead, it started with the 2012 death of Trayvon Martin, a Black Florida teen, who was killed by George Zimmerman, a white Hispanic man. It hit closer to home in 2015 with the death of Freddie
Gray in Baltimore. Then she watched thousands of people — of all races — take to the streets here and elsewhere after several Black people, including George Floyd, were killed earlier this year by police.
“I was at home watching those videos and looking at myownsons [ages 18 and 19] and feeling that I have not done enough,” Whitehead said.
“I couldn’t continue to hide away in the [university] archives,” said Whitehead, who is an associate professor of communication and African and African American Studies at Loyola.
Whitehead’s idea became a reality in October with the launch of The Karson Institute for Race, Peace & Social Justice at the university.
“It provides a scholarly space for professors, students, social justice workers to come together to research, to discuss, to answer America’s questions about race,” said Whitehead, who leads the institution. “We intentionally use race and peace to work toward social justice.”
The institute was established as the
All of Maryland’s representatives voted in favor of the bill.
Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin said he was disappointed that the bill didn’t include direct support for state and local governments, as was the case with the CARESAct passed earlier this year. But overall, he was pleased with the outcome.
“Let let me be clear that this bill is very, very important for state and local governments, and they do very well under this bill,” the Democrat said. “I think we delivered for Maryland.”
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, expressed similar concerns about the lack of aid for state and local governments, but praised the passage of the relief package overall.
“We are deeply disappointed that this package does not include support for state and local governments, which continues to be desperately needed as we battle COVID-19 on the front lines,” he said in a statement. “But with so many people hurting right now, any kind of relief — even if it is only short-term — is certainly better than nothing.”
While the direct stimulus payments and other coronavirus-related relief measures from the federal government will benefit millions of Marylanders, one of the more significant items in the legislation impacts the Chesapeake Bay.
The massive spending bill appropriates $87.5 million for the Chesapeake Bay Program, the regional partnership in charge of bay restoration managed by the EPA. The allocation is $2.5 million higher than last fiscal year, and it was cheered by environmentalists in the state.
The allocation is particularly heartening, environmentalists say, given that the Trumpadministration had proposed steep cuts for the program, even with a crucial 2025 bay cleanup deadline looming. In his original proposal for the 2021 fiscal year, Trump allotted $7.3 million for the program.
“TheChesapeake Bay Foundation appreciates that a broad, bipartisan majority of Congress again endorsed additional funds for the Chesapeake Bay Program, refusing the Trump administration’s dangerous attempt to dismantle this essential program for the fourth year in a row,” said Jason Rano, the foundation’s federal executive director, in a statement.
It comes close to the amount Congress was authorized to spend through America’s Conservation Enhancement Act, which was passed in October. That bill authorized Congress to give about $90 million to the program, with increases planned for each of the following years.
The spending bill also would fund smaller programs authorized through the conservation act, such as the Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Program, a National Park Service initiative that aims to increase public access to environments in the bay watershed. That program was given $3 million.
“I’m particularly proud of our successful effort to secure record-level funding for the Chesapeake Bay Program and to include funding for several other beneficial Bay initiatives,” Maryland Rep. John Sarbanes, a Democrat, said in a news release.
The pandemic relief bill includes emergency coronavirus money for many people as well as health departmentss and schools.
It’s estimated that eligible Maryland households will collect up to $2.6 billion in direct stimulus payments.
“It’s going to be a welcome check received by families in Maryland and around the nation,” Van Hollen said. “For a family of four, it’s $2,400. That’s a substantial amount of money.”
Thethousands of Maryland families who have lost loved ones to COVID-19 would receive funeral assistance payments from the Federal Emergency Management Administration, totaling $41 million.
Maryland is set to get an estimated $385 million for COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and mitigation, and another $75 million for vaccine distribution.
The state also would nab $402 million in assistance for renters. The bill extends a moratorium on evictions, which was going to lapse at the end of the year. Estimates show that up to 200,000 Maryland households had been facing the risk of eviction.
State schools also will receive a boost. Maryland’s K-12 schools will receive an estimated $868 million and higher education institutions will get $315 million.
It also will get an estimated $56 million for the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund — a federal grant program for governors to allocate funds to local education entities.