Why I'm Voting for Elizabeth Embry for Mayor of Baltimore - Entrepreneur Generations

More than ever during my fifteen years living and teaching in Baltimore City, I have been actively engaged in this mayoral election, which I consider to be the most important in decades.

I've been to forums; I've had conversations with nearly all the candidates; I've read their plans; I've discussed with voters around the city, both online and in person, and I've finally arrived at a decision I'm excited about: I'm supporting Elizabeth Embry for Mayor of Baltimore.

It wasn't easy to decide within this crowded and largely impressive field. Initially, my thoughts were prejudiced: how could I support a white woman -- a former Baltimore State's Attorney, no less -- to be the person to forge a new path for Baltimore in the wake of decades of segregation, misallocation of resources, and blatant inequity, all of which ultimately created the circumstances of the Baltimore Unrest of 2015 after the death of Freddie Gray?

However, initial surface-level discounting aside, I am now convinced Elizabeth Embry is the forward-thinking agent of change that our city needs. Throughout the Democratic campaign, she has been the candidate who has introduced the freshest and boldest ideas out of all the candidates, and her unique take on public safety, coupled with her pledge (with specifics) to help Baltimore City students gain access to college, her commitment to transparency in government, and her impressive versatility and originality on a multitude of issues, make her the best candidate to boldly lead our city forward.

This decision took months as I sifted through and researched the candidates. For me, this election is a transformation election, so both Dixon and Pugh, both part of city government for decades, faced uphill battles in getting my vote. Dixon was out of consideration for me not only because of the gift card scandal, but from what I see as an arrogance and lack of apology for her actions. I believe in redemption, but there needs to be self-recognition for that to occur, and I haven't seen that with Dixon. And Pugh, while she seems like a nice woman, has decades of Baltimore insider politics hanging off of her, something that has continued to come up with allegations of corruption this campaign and election season. I am so tired of Baltimore Machine politics, and while I think Pugh is a better choice than Dixon, I want change -- real change. I also simply haven't been convinced by Pugh's arguments (look at all the blight in her district); ultimately, she sounds more artificial and robotic than most other politicians do.

Ms. Embry stopped by while I was coaching this week.

Beyond those two candidates, I flirted with the idea of voting for DeRay McKesson, who, despite his theatrical last-minute entrance into the race, has a thorough plan for Baltimore and education credentials (and a knowledge of BCPSS headquarters) that excite me; ultimately, however, his status as a national figure trying to win a local election continued to bring him down in my eyes, especially as he missed the Baltimore Youth Summit Straw Poll (how does he miss the Baltimore Youth Forum?) to attend a function in North Carolina. Earlier in the process, I considered David Warnock, who gives a good interview, coming off as both genuine and competent, but his campaign has been one of missed opportunities -- absent at many candidate forums, including the Youth Forum, and thus never getting much beyond his truck ads, which never really grabbed me at all anyway. I thought about voting for Nick Mosby before he dropped out of the race, as his plans were thorough and the thought of a young black male leading this city back to glory was very appealing to me; however, his difficult task of convincing me (and others) that his campaign was about looking to the future when he was part of the last five years of City Council, largely supporting SRB's vision, ultimately proved too difficult for him. The same went for Carl Stokes, who, despite compelling arguments that the city should have elected him back in 1999, ultimately felt too old-guard to me; Pugh is 66 as of March, and Stokes is 66 as of April 30, and both feel like the previous generation of Baltimore leaders.. On the other hand, the young vibrant voice of Calvin Young seemed too inexperienced; I hope to see him in upcoming elections, such as City Council or Comptroller, in the future.

Meanwhile, Green Party candidate Joshua Harris has been very impressive throughout the campaign, and, if Pugh or Dixon are nominated by the Democrats, I'll be supporting him.

However, hopefully that doesn't happen, because, as Pugh and Dixon trade allegations about which campaign is more corrupt, Embry (who polled in 3rd place last I read) has emerged to have an outside chance at a victory.

And that is a great thing for the citizens of Batimore, because Embry is the Democratic candidate who has consistently delivered cogent and fresh arguments for the myriad of issues facing the city. At one forum I attended, she spoke of the Say Yes to Education program coming to Baltimore, an idea about giving all Baltimore City Public School students who graduate from high school in Baltimore access to a Maryland public university. This idea isn't hers originally; I've heard rumors about it being brought to Baltimore for the last year. However, she is the only candidate I've heard discuss it, and I believe that she (perhaps aided by the Embry family's decades-long commitment to education in Baltimore) has the drive and acumen to make it happen. Hearing her discuss this was probably the moment that I decided I was going to vote for Embry; instead of the same old arguments about education that I have heard about for years, about more accountability, she was discussing an idea that is bringing dramatic change to many American cities (including my kind-of hometown, Kalamazoo) and how she will bring it here. Ultimately, I trust the Embry name in education in this city, and her plans to bring Say Yes to Baltimore, to fight for our promisted Thornton funding, to fix the property tax formula so it doesn't hurt Baltimore City schools anymore, and to continue to push forward for our new buildings plan are all part of a vision that excites me as a teacher in Baltimore.

At another candidate forum I attended, Embry spoke eloquently about the injustice of the bonds system in the city, an issue I had never considered before. Boldly, she wants to end the cash bail system, because of the inequity that it perpetuates in the city -- an injustice she says she's witnessed as a prosecutor. Additionally, Embry is also the only candidate who is really discussing the failed war on drugs and its effects on the criminal justice system. She wants to end arrests for marijuana possession.  She wants drug offenders brought to rehab centers, not prison and central booking. The war on drugs remains an area of massive disparity; black people in Baltimore are 5.6 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than whites, even though usage is roughly the same. I don't hear the other candidates discussing how ending the war on drugs, and putting rehab at the forefront of dealing with drug offenders, will help improve equity in the city, but, for Embry, this has been at the forefront all campaign.

Ultimately, this election is about vision and transformation. I'm not willing to give another chance to the old guard of the city. Embry -- who, it should be said, would continue a long thread of Baltimore mayors who have attended the BCPSS high school where I've taught for the last 15 years, Baltimore City College High School, just as former Baltimore mayors Kurt Schmoke and William Donald Schaeffer attended -- gives us the experience, without being part of the Baltimore political machine. She offer dynamism and change through practical and progressive reforms of our city's agencies, criminal justice system, and schools. I'm wholeheartedly in her corner and looking forward to casting my vote.

from Epiphany in Baltimore http://ift.tt/26hCDUO Why I'm Voting for Elizabeth Embry for Mayor of Baltimore - Entrepreneur Generations

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