Simply Bowie Magazine: ‘First Year As Mayor’

In recognition of my inaugural year as mayor of the GREAT City of Bowie, I spoke with Simply Bowie Magazine to discuss the progress of our City and the goals moving forward.

Here’s a brief snippet of the Q & A:

Congratulations on one year as the Mayor. What are your thoughts as you come to the end of your first year?

Over the past year I am extremely proud of the progress we have made as a city. I am extremely proud and appreciative of our City Staff, the City Council and residents of Bowie for coming together and working through this year. We are ensuring that the voices of our citizens are heard. The Citizens Review Board has been established with the Bowie Police Department. This year, the Bowie Police Department received the prestigious award from CALEA®. I am very proud of this accomplishment. We are working with Bowie State University on a Memorandum of Understanding for the use of the Bowie Race Track.

Click here read the full article.  

Ordinance Promoting Racial Equity & Social Justice

On September 8, 2020, I introduced an ordinance that called for a review of all city practices and policies to ensure the promotion of racial equity and social justice. The ordinance is a proposed piece of legislation that would have amended sections of our City Code to strengthen civil rights protections and also would have created a Citizens Review Board to review all allegations of police misconduct and issue recommendations and reports to provide transparency on such incidents. It was a simple yet bold piece of legislation that would have positively impacted our community but, unfortunately, the City Council voted to table the ordinance indefinitely.

The City Council’s decision was a missed opportunity for the City of Bowie to take a firm stand on the right side of justice. When George Floyd died in Minneapolis earlier this year, the footage of his head on the street, under a police officer's knee, reignited a long simmering national conversation about unresolved issues of race and equal justice under the law. That conversation is ongoing in the City of Bowie as well and I believe that we must acknowledge that Black Lives Matter before we can say all lives matter. Then and only then, can we address the broader human rights issues impacting our society. 

Click here to read the ordinance.

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