The News For Negus Team
Published: 7:22 PM June 21, 2020
Updated: 7:22 PM June 21, 2020
BALTIMORE, M.D. — Baltimore City plans to spend almost 50% of its budget on policing that disproportionately harms Black communities, and deadlines are approaching to solidify the budget for 2021 Fiscal Year. As residents and citizens of Baltimore, we cannot stay quiet about the injustice within the city limits in solidarity with the citizens of Minnesota. We have several asks of not only the City Council but the entire institutionalized structure of the city’s operations.
First, is to defund the Baltimore City Police Department and divert funds into the communities of Baltimore. We do not approve of the proposed budget of over 500 million dollars allocated to policing when it has been proven that violence and crime are prominent public health problems. Baltimore City plans to spend almost 50% of its budget on policing that disproportionately harms Black communities. Budget cuts to BPD are crucial to the safety of our city and our people. Cuts to the proposed BPD budget is only half the battle, the other half of the battle is holding our city leaders accountable.
Second, we also understand that the Baltimore City Council cannot re-allocate funds. Supporting CB19-0379 is also crucial to strengthening the fabric of our city government. The charter amendments to shift the balance of power from such a mayor heavy structure are crucial for allowing citizens to hold city officials accountable. Reallocating funds to our Civil Rights, Education, and Health sectors are more important now than ever. A link to a petition in support of the bill can be found here https://www.change.org/p/mayor-bernard-young-defund-police-authorize-city-council-to-reallocate-funds-in-baltimore-city-s-budget?recruiter=842490021
Lastly, we are calling for the Board of Elections to be held accountable for their unpreparedness during this primary election season. Citizens did not receive ballots, citizens received ballots the day before the primary, citizens ballots have not been counted due to misprints, all of which could have been avoided with proper preparation. The Board of Elections did not attend their hearing to assess their preparedness and with 50,000 uncounted votes left to count by the 12th of June, this is unacceptable. Baltimore Votes, Black Girls Vote, OSI Baltimore, No Boundaries Coalition, and Roots & Raices have come up with a comprehensive list of demands to hold this Board accountable which can be found at https://www.osibaltimore.org/2020/06/baltimore-voting-advocates-call-on-state-board-of-elections-to-take-immediate-steps-to-restore-trust-in-election-process/.
Baltimore demands justice, our citizens demand change.