I must vehemently disagree with Gov. Hogan's claim that "there is no public health reason" to keep many of our students learning virtually. /1 baltimoresun.com/coronavirus/bs… As the only Baltimore senator on the Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee, I join @Zeke_Cohen, @ElectRyanDorsey, and @CouncilmanKB and the @BTUBaltimore in voicing their concerns with the current plan to return students and teachers to the classroom. /2

Oh happy day! It feels as though every day we have endured recently has been historic, and oftentimes, painfully so - as though this global crisis we have been weathering, and the devastating apathy and vitriol we've felt, may never come to an end. /1 But today, in all the darkness and division, we saw a glimmer of not only the values America used to stand for, but also the glaring faults that we have allowed to linger in the shameful periphery of our history for too long - and the commitment to finally righting them. /2

This year’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day comes nearly two weeks after white supremacists stormed the Capitol building in an attempted coup & 2 days before Kamala Harris is inaugurated as the first Black woman and first person of Indian descent as Vice President. /1 It also comes after a hot, vocal summer where we witnessed the largest civil rights movement of our lifetime in the Black Lives Matter protests following the tragic deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many more. /2