Racial Justice:
What would Jesus want us to do?

The Maryland Legislature meets for only 90 days per year in a whirlwind of activity.
Please consider contacting your state representatives to voice your opinion on one or more of these bills that have racial justice implications:

• SB0071:
  This bill provides prenatal and postpartum support for incarcerated women who are pregnant, and their newborn children.
  More information
  
  
• HB0087:
  This bill would bring back the death penalty. The death penalty does not deter crime and is often applied in a racially discriminatory manner.
  More information
  
  
• SB0182:
  This bill regulates the use of facial recognition technology by law enforcement. This is important, since the error rate for facial recognition technologies is much higher for Black people than for white people and leads to misidentifications.
  More information
  
  
• Legislation which would expand the jurisdiction of the juvenile court to include 10 and 11 year old children, instead of sending them to Social Services:
  This includes legislation which might have other desirable effects but puts very young children in the courts. Bills include SB0744/HB0814, supported by the governor, as well as SB0002, SB0052, SB0094, HB0319, HB0483, and perhaps others.
  
  
• Legislation that would allow interrogation of a child without advice of counsel, even with consent of the parents:
  This includes SB0120, and others.
  
  
• SB0318/HB317:
  This bill allows a State's Attorney to file a motion for reduction of sentence at any time during active incarceration if it is in the interest of justice.
  More information
  
  

• Find your State Senator and State Delegate by entering your address at this Maryland General Assembly website. Click "Lookup."

• Find email addresses, phone numbers, or mailing address at General Assembly Contact Information.
• (If you're not in Calvert County, click on "Members by County.)"

• Your own words are best, expressed with passion, but the general outline might be something like this:
  • I am writing to encourage you to support/oppose Insert bill number and name.
  • I care about this because ...
  • Note: If you are writing to a senator and to support a bill that only has an HB number, encourage the senator to cross-file it in the senate. Similarly, if the bill only has an SB number, encourage the delegate.
  • Thank you for your attention.
• Sign with name, county, and your contact information.

• Legislators want to know what voters care about! When they hear your opinion, they assume that many other voters agree with you, too.
• "Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children." (Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.)
• "Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue." (Deuteronomy 16:20)

Please follow these links to find out more about racism in the U.S. and what we can do to combat it: