ED @SierraClub. Professor of Practice @Penn. 17th President & CEO @NAACP. Boardmember: @Wilderness - Tweets are my own.
Dec 26, 2021 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Archbishop Tutu was a giant among men. While we celebrate his ascension to heaven, I cannot feel but that his presence will be sorely missed here on Earth. He stood with courage to protect so many people from so many true villains.
When I was 23, I worked with him for a year. He was leading the TRC in SA and teaching at Emory University in the US. He helped me negotiate to keep an innocent South African juvenile off death row in Mississippi.
Oct 5, 2021 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
BREAKING: A statement from Ben Jealous prior to his arrest:
"We took this highly visible action on the president’s doorstep today because the American people are out of patience with government inaction on voting rights — and President Biden has the power to break this logjam.
He can and should use all the influence of his office to get the Freedom to Vote Act passed in the Senate, including persuading his caucus to dump the Jim Crow-relic filibuster.
Oct 4, 2021 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
THREAD: This is one of the most ominous First Mondays in our history.
The future of reproductive rights, gun safety, and church-state separation are in the hands of a Supreme Court dominated by far-right justices including three named by Donald Trump.
We will be watching closely as these cases are heard at the same time that we are working toward solutions for the American people whose rights are threatened.
Mar 16, 2021 • 13 tweets • 6 min read
Hallelujah! Long time coming...
~120 yrs ago, my grt-grt grandfather tried to stop this law. He’d been one of the last black Reconstruction-era state legislators in VA.
Then Senator Glass refused literally citing the need to restore “white supremacy”. cnn.com/2021/03/16/pol…
~ 13 yrs ago, on behalf of @naacp, I asked then Gov. @timkaine to make such an executive order.
He refused.
I said he’d run as a “civil rights lawyer” and won w/ black votes.
He said he’d “promised the people of VA not use Constitutional powers in that way” and ended the call.
Feb 2, 2019 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
Governor Northam should resign.
Period.
We would not accept such behavior from a Republican.
How can we from a Democrat?
1/5
Beyond the inherent racism reflected in his “Coonman” incident, he has shown a profound failure of character, courage and candor.
2/5
Feb 10, 2018 • 4 tweets • 1 min read
When my grandfather went to University of Maryland School of Law in the late 1950’s the tuition was about $200 per year.
By 1970 it was about $400.
Today if it had kept up with inflation it would be about $2,600.
I want to take a minute to talk about the opioid crisis in Maryland, where we are and where we should be ... 1/
Maryland, like a lot of our neighbors, has been hit dramatically hard by the opioid crisis. Since 2015, our state has suffered nearly 4,000 opioid-related deaths. 2/
