This week, Dr. Lawrence Brown, Morgan State University Professor and 2012 OSI Community Fellow addressed the issue of Maryland Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti’s use of a racial slur to describe part of her district of Prince George’s County in an op-ed for the recently relaunched Baltimore Beat.
“While many are ‘appalled’ and ‘outraged,’ the deeper problem with such racist rhetoric and actions is that it can be translated into government policies and practices,” he wrote, citing language used during the Clinton administration that helped to justify mass incarceration and the War on Drugs in the 90s – policies that have had devastating and far-reaching consequences, especially for communities of color. Read the full op-ed here.
Last year, during the first event in OSI’s 20th Anniversary Speaker Series, Dr. Brown was presented with a Bold Thinker award.
