The latest swarm of news locust comes in the form of an verbal attack by 45 on Congressman Elijah Cummings who happens to be my representative. I have voted for him several times.
Not surprisingly, the reaction of this latest incident has the deja vu feel of the scene in Dr. Strange with the infinite time loop -- though in our case there's little hope at the moment of resolution -- with "conservatives" cheering and "liberals" protesting. I often wonder if those labels even have meaning anymore.
When I first arrived in Baltimore, I was struck by its residents' earnestness and sincerity. During my first Orioles game, one of the food vendors kept calling me "hon" -- a term of endearment nearly impossible to explain to anyone outside Baltimore. When I asked her why, she simply replied: "I call everyone 'hon'...do you prefer sweetie?" It's an earnestness and sincerity that may have faded over time, reflected in the lost neighborhood ballpark feel of Memorial Stadium as compared to the corporate feel of Camden Yards.
At the time I wrote my previous blog post, I was not aware that what I described as two Baltimores has been characterized and analyzed as the "White L and the Black Butterfly" by Professor Lawrence Brown at Morgan State University.
I think a lot of about earnestness and sincerity when it comes to Baltimore.
I've heard several conversations about whether what happened after the first Freddie Gray related trial were riots or demonstrations or uprisings. I wonder if the people in West and East Baltimore who were most affected really care about what label is used?
While our precious news cycles are being consumed by "debates" about whether this latest attack is racist, I also note the surge of social media traffic, some of which comes from my friends and colleagues.
I feel...anxious about this blog post. Because I worry those friends and colleagues will be offended. Yet I'm encouraged by two recent conversations, one with my longtime friend since being roommates at Hopkins and another more recent friend who also went to Hopkins. Both of them said that if we want change, we have to agitate people.
So I hope that my words do indeed agitate, in the sense of moving people into action. I am trying to generate light, not heat, with this simple message: Your social media outrage or commentary is not enough.
I thought I saw fires at several times with a sense of disbelief, only to realize later that multiple businesses that I had visited were indeed set ablaze or destroyed. The next morning, I could see smoke rising from various points throughout the city.
The ashes from those fires have not yet been cleared away and the embers are still smoldering.
We can debate which politician is a paragon or a pariah, realizing that most are somewhere in between. Perhaps what we can agree with is almost every politician at the local, state, and federal level has failed Baltimore in some way or another. Of course we should expect more of our politicians, even the ones we admire and defend against such attacks. And it is actually a reasonable question to ask why they have not done more for Baltimore.
But an even more reasonable question to ask: What are we doing for Baltimore. What am I doing for Baltimore?
Many of the social media posts come from residents of Baltimore. Choosing to live in the city, paying city taxes and sales taxes, supporting local businesses and other financial expenditures are important actions.
But if you are moved by the suffering in Baltimore, then please move into action in other ways too.
On the financial front, consider taking loans from local banks for your homes and cars.
If you use Amazon, start by using the smile.amazon.com site and choose a charity. Every purchase will generate donations for your chosen charity. I chose Manna House.
Volunteer.
Time is more than just money. It's an affirmation that you believe in a cause or mission or service. Some of the most meaningful experiences of my life came from volunteering for the People's Homesteading Group, Meals on Wheels, Manna House or during days of service. When I was an undergraduate student, after a group of us finished working on a house through the People's Homesteading Group, the owner of the house ran out to give us cookies. He said his wife baked them for us. He then added: "We never knew there were good kids at John Hopkins."
That statement -- that connection -- is simultaneously sobering and inspiring.
If you are involved in libraries or information technology or city government, please consider attending or presenting at the Baltimore Washington Open Source. The InnerSource Commons Event portion of this meeting is of particular relevance. Led by another alumnus from Johns Hopkins, this event represent a concerted movement to introduce open-source software and organizations to Baltimore. The Innersource Commons has already agreed to base its headquarters in Baltimore. There are discussions to use an open-source municipal platform developed in Paris for the city of Baltimore. I'm also working on a proposal to bring another information technology related conference to Baltimore in 2021.
