Maryland Gov Wes Moore announced $400 million in aid to boost "Just Communities" that suffered economically from racial discrimination.
He also announced in addition to his pardon of 175,000 Maryland residents for past cannabis convictions an executive order to pardon an additional 7,000 convicted Marylanders.
"Think about this," Moore told the audience at Bethyl Church in Cambridge. " The racial wealth gap has cost this country $16 trillion in GDP over the past two decades. It highlights a simple fact that bigotry is expensive and racism is expensive. And if you want a growing economy, you must make sure that you have an inclusive economy.
"This week on Juneteenth Freedom Day, I am proud to announce the next action steps that Maryland will take on this work of Repair First, dealing with assets today. Here I'm announcing our first round of Just Community designations in the state of Maryland. The Just Communities was an act that was introduced in the Maryland General Assembly last year by our outstanding Housing Secretary, secretary Jake Day. And the promise of this bill was simple. Let's prioritize communities that were victimized by racially exclusive place-based policies of the past. Policies like historic redlining, policies like mass incarceration policies where you had government and the private sector colluding to keep black folks down. And it is not lost on me that there are people who sat in the seat that I now sit in who gleefully implemented these kind of policies that tore families apart.
"And today I'm announcing that ...we'll make sure that all of our Just Communities are put at the front of the line for upwards of $400 million, $400 million to increase assets, $400 million to increase home ownership, $400 million to increase home value. And I am so proud that one of our first just communities is right here in Cambridge, Maryland. This is one of the most aggressive initiatives in our state's history to address the racial wealth gap because the work of repair is not in the future. Hear me when I say the work of repair is now."
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Gov Wes Moore Unveils 'Just Communities' in Cambridge to Repair Economic Scars of Racism
