Per the State of Maryland (10:25.23): Today, Governor Wes Moore proclaimed 2024 as Maryland’s Year of Civil Rights during a launch event at the Banneker-Douglass Museum, Maryland’s official African American history and culture museum. Joined by First Lady Dawn Moore and the Maryland Commission on African American History and Culture, the launch celebrated the upcoming events that will honor Maryland’s Year of Civil Rights and the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“Studying history isn’t just about knowing what happened in the past. It’s about knowing our power in the present. That’s what Maryland’s Year of Civil Rights is about,” said Gov. Moore. “And so my message to Marylanders is simple:—get out into our communities and take advantage of the programs being offered during Maryland’s Year of Civil Rights. Let’s practice our history, let’s protect our history, and let’s participate in our history, by making history of our own.”

Per the Maryland Attorney General’s Office: Attorney General Anthony G. Brown and Public Defender Natasha M. Dartigue today announced the creation of the Maryland Equitable Justice Collaborative (MEJC), a new initiative dedicated to reducing the mass incarceration of African Americans and other marginalized groups in Maryland prisons and jails. The goal is to examine the scope and causes of this crisis, and to develop a comprehensive plan for reform and recommendations by January 2025.

“The disproportionate mass incarceration of Marylanders, felt most starkly in the African American community, is a devastating trauma in our State that demands our immediate and abiding attention and resolve,” said Attorney General Brown. “It is a sad reality that the vast majority of people who have been removed from communities across the country and put behind bars are Black. The formation of the Maryland Equitable Justice Collaborative will bring together experts from the criminal justice system, academia, government, and the community to identify the underlying causes of this crisis and develop a roadmap for reform. I’m honored to launch this historic collaboration with Public Defender Dartigue.”