Tara Huffman, director of OSI-Baltimore’s Criminal and Juvenile Justice program, joined the Marc Steiner show on Thursday and again on Monday to discuss the Department of Justice’s investigation of the Baltimore Police Department (BPD), launched in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray (see OSI’s statement about the findings).
On Thursday, she was joined by 2002 OSI Community Fellow Jacqueline Robarge, founder and director of Power Inside, Michael Scott, chief equity officer/president/co-founder of Equity Matters, and Ralikh Hayes, an activist with Baltimore BLOC. Huffman emphasized the importance of keeping the momentum going and getting community input in the consent decree that will come out of the DOJ investigation. “We cannot inch our way forward,” she said. “We need to hit the gas. You cannot tiptoe your way through this revolution.” Listen to the full discussion here.
On Tuesday, Hoffman returned to the show for the full two hours, this time joined by Doug Ward, director of Johns Hopkins University’s Division of Public Safety Leadership, Michaela Duchess Brown from Baltimore Bloc, Todd Oppenheim, public defender and a member of OSI’s leadership council, and Brenda Sanders, co-organizer of the Vegan Soul Fest and executive director of the Better Health Better Life organization. Again, Huffman emphasized the need for the community to take control of the consent decree. “The community has to own the consent decree,” she said, “which means the community has to draft the consent decree.” Listen to the full discussion here.
