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MLK’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail” remains relevant, Baltimore Jewish social justice groups contend

In April 1963, Martin Luther King Jr. was arrested for protesting Birmingham’s segregation ordinance and placed in a dark cell with no mattress. An ally smuggled him a newspaper containing a statement written by eight white Alabama clergymen, who claimed to support racial justice but criticized nonviolent civil disobedience as a means of achieving it. […]

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Former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake becomes spokesperson for rapper Travis Scott amid aftermath of deadly Astroworld concert

Former Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has a new gig as the spokesperson for rapper Travis Scott, whose Astroworld Festival concert in Houston last Friday was the scene of a crowd surge that killed nine people and that officials declared a “mass casualty” incident. Appearing on the “CBS Mornings” show Friday, Rawlings-Blake said it was “ludicrous” to […]

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“Worthy of monumentalization”: Black Arts District preserves cultural memory of Pennsylvania Avenue

Editor’s note: This article won second place (Division O) in the Arts/Entertainment Reporting category of the Maryland, Delaware, and D.C. Press Association’s 2021 Contest. Read our other award-winning pieces here. Immortalized in bronze, Billie Holiday sings in the Upton neighborhood, her hair adorned with gardenias. Across the striking statue once stood the Royal Theatre, the famed […]

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Baltimore Writer’s Club: Q&A with Justin Fenton, author of “We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops and Corruption”

The truth of policing in Baltimore can feel like fiction. Pick up the Sun or scroll through social media on any given day, and you could be experiencing a production from Barry Levinson or David Simon. Baltimore streets have served as a backdrop for law-enforcement morality tales – real and fictionalized – for decades. In […]

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Art exhibit curated by security guards draws widespread attention to the Baltimore Museum of Art

Christopher Bedford remembers the day when board member Amy Elias “barged” into his office at the Baltimore Museum of Art with an idea for a different kind of exhibition. Why not let the museum’s security guards curate an exhibit showing what they’d like visitors to see? Elias suggested. From that initial meeting came “Guarding the […]

Posted inWeekend Events

10 Virtual Events in Baltimore This Weekend: Restaurant Relief Gala; Ceasefire Weekend

There’s no question: Virtual events aren’t the same as an in-person experience. There’s nothing quite like the feeling of being in the room with others, and having a chance to chat with some of those fellow attendees before and after the program. One advantage of the virtual format, however, is that local organizations can host […]

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Maryland leaders support Chauvin conviction, call for systemic change

Maryland’s elected officials voiced strong support for the guilty verdict handed down Tuesday against the former Minneapolis police officer who murdered George Floyd, although some said the conviction was just one step in a long journey toward justice. Derek Chauvin was found guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter after the white […]

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Study: Community-driven Ceasefire weekends effective in reducing violence in Baltimore

A report published Thursday in the American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) dispelled some previous criticisms of the Baltimore Ceasefire movement’s effectiveness, instead finding there was an estimated 52 percent reduction in gun violence during Ceasefire weekends. The study, headed by Dr. Peter Phalen of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, examined the 6,024 […]

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