BALTIMORE — A week after anger boiled over into demonstrations and even violence, community leaders met in Baltimore Monday for a round-table discussion about how to address persistent issues.
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., called the event to discuss the path forward with faith and business leaders.
“We’ve got to come together — unity in the community,” he said. “That’s our strength.”
Community leaders brought up racial profiling, strained relations with police and a lack of good jobs as plaguing neighborhoods in West Baltimore.
They say young black men, in particular, feel neglected and rejected.
“I pray that this time we will take a look at some of the hard issues of racial injustice,” said Barbara Williams-Skinner, president of Skinner Leadership Institute — a faith-based organization that brings together leaders of diverse races and cultures.
She likened the problems in the community to issues that have sparked riots across the country for decades.
“I feel like we have gotten this wrong so long that we need to probably move these chairs and repent,” she said.
Cardin stressed his bill for federal legislation to end racial profiling and prohibit law enforcement from discriminating based on race or ethnicity.
Also he said it’s time for the country to look inward.
“It is time that the United States concentrate on the problems here in the United States,” he said.
Other leaders called for more support for after school programs, summer jobs and summer camps.
“Baltimore needs to have an honest discussion that’s based in strategy around race,” said Bishop Douglas Miles — a pastor at Koinonia Baptist Church and co-chairman of Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development. “We have two Baltimores, and no one really wants to say that.”
