I am pleased to announce that the Young Democrats of Maryland have elected a new Board of Directors during our Annual Meeting this past weekend.

It has been my sincere honor and privilege to lead this organization over the last year and I look forward to continuing to support it in the future from my new role as Executive Vice-President of the Young Democrats of Maryland.

Over the next thirty days we will engage in a transition period whereas the new leadership will be installed and assume office on February 28, 2011

2011 Maryland Minority Caucus Leadership

Chairman-elect – Sugar Stallings
Executive Vice Chairman-elect – Swanzeta Nciweni
General Secretary-elect – Tia Hopkins

Sincerely;

Joseph Lynn Kitchen Jr.
Chairman

Senator Bill Ferguson, D-Baltimore City

Freshman Maryland State Senator Bill Ferguson has made the plight of poor people living on food stamps personally and he is asking for our help.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture the statewide average monthly Food Supplement Program benefit for 2010 was $130.45 per person. That is about $4.35 a day or $1.45 per meal. According to numbers from Sen. Ferguson nearly 644,000 Maryland residents had to do just that in November of last year.

I remember the very first year I actually celebrated Dr. King‘s birthday. All of my life as a kid we always got the day off from school but how many of us can say we actually did anything to celebrate it? In fact today take a look at just how many people come out to the annual march or volunteer at the service day. Not many once you realize that over 200 million people are not working as a direct result of the federal holiday.

In the fourth grade my brother and I joined a few hundred people on a rainy day to march down the street in Fresno’s blackest neighborhoods after a string of violence had occurred to call for peace and calm. I never seemed to understand why it takes violence and injustice to remind us of the dream of Dr. King when his dream was so much bigger than that. I never understood why all of the marches take place just in black communities despite the fact that during the civil rights movement these weren’t the areas King and others targeted.

Every 26 seconds in this country a high school student drops out. Only 18% of all high school college ready applicants are black Latino. A high school drop out is about 8x more likely to go to jail than a college graduate. A high school graduate lives up to 7 years long than a dropout. Black and Latino students are 4 times more likely than their peers to have below basic skills in math and reading.

When you look at today’s political debate you would be hard pressed to believe that any of these numbers actually mattered. They do. Closing the academic achievement gap in America must be the top civil rights battle we confront today. Why? Because it is the single most effective way to lift our communities out of poverty. It is not an easy battle we face. In fact the work will be some of the hardest we’ve ever done.  Dr. King dreamed of the day where black boys and white boys will be able to join hands together as brothers and sisters. While we may not have reached this place on the mountain top just yet, we have made great strides at bringing this dream to reality. Today our dream must go even further. We must look at how black girls will be given the same opportunity and hope for a better future that little white girls have. There is so much to be disappointed about today in the world but as long as I see young people like this young man in the YouTube video below I will remain hopeful.

Sincerely;

Joseph Kitchen

Chairman

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/40853135#40853135

47th District Senator-elect Victor Ramirez

I couldn’t be more proud to enthusiastically support Senator-elect Ramirez’s plan to pass a statewide version of the federal DREAM Act here in Maryland when he takes office next month. Democrats and Republicans all appear to agree with the need for real comprehensive immigration reform in this country. What is however outrageous is how the GOP in congress have gone out of their way to stand in the way of this goal being achieved. Our failure to get this real important thing done for all of the American people is another example of a system that is broken. That said in the absence of real reform passage of this legislation is the very least we should do.

The DREAM Act, when it is finally passed on a federal level, would give undocumented children who were brought to this country at a young age the opportunity to earn a degree or serve in the military instead of hiding underground. It will put them in a very long and specific path to legalized citizenship. We needed it at a federal level but must have it on a statewide level here in Maryland.

I commend Senator-elect Ramirez and give him my commitment that he will have the unwavering support of this caucus as the bill moves through the legislative process.

Join the Minority Caucus on Facebook today to get involved in our movement.

Sincerely,

Joseph Kitchen

Chairman

Minority Caucus Young Democrats of Maryland

Rep. Elijah Cummings

The Minority Caucus of the Young Democrats of Maryland would like to congratulate Rep. Elijah Cummings on being elected to lead the house democrats next year on the Government Oversight and Reform Committee. The Government Reform panel has broad authority to conduct oversight of the entire federal government, and also has specific jurisdiction over the District of Columbia and policies affecting federal workers. As Ranking Member of the body that has the authority to issue subpoenas without the approval of the minority Rep. Cummings will play a very important role in seeing that wrong doing in government is addressed and corrected but that the new GOP majority approaches these investigations with an eye on fairness. “”I would want to work with Mr. Issa (the incoming chairman of the committee) and the Republicans. But at the same time, I want to make sure that there is no abuse of the process,” said Rep. Cummings in an interview with the Washington Post after his election.

Rep. Elijah Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland which includes much of the city of Baltimore and its suburbs. With his election he now joins Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (who will become the Minority Whip) and Rep. Chris Van Hollen (who will become the top democrat on the Budget Committee) as members of the Democratic leadership.

Join the Minority Caucus on Facebook today.

An estimated 56,300 Americans will become infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, this year. According to the CDC more than 1 million Americans are living with either HIV/AIDS today. Despite the fact that African Americans only account for 13% of the U.S. population, more than 49% of new infections are occur in the black community. Even more concerning is the fact that 57% of all new cases are among those ages 25-44 years old. These are staggering numbers and cannot be sustained.

Today is World AIDS Day and together we all can do something about these numbers in the following ways;

1)      Get tested. Getting tested and knowing your status is the most effective way to combat the spread of HIV. Getting your partner tested as well is an even more effective way.

2)      Use protection! For sexually active people using a condom cuts down the risk of becoming infected. That said abstinence is and always will be the only true way to prevent receiving a STD.

3)      Join the Minority Caucus in asking for more resources and clinics to help those surviving with these diseases live healthy lives.

Sincerely;

Joseph Lynn Kitchen Jr.

Chair

Minority Caucus of the Young Democrats of Maryland

During tonight’s debate O’Malley showed from the start a leader in command of the issues and ready to lead. In fact the Baltimore Sun called his Bob’s performance a missed opportunity. Unable to point to any educational achievements under his administration Bob Ehrlich tonight attempted to play the race card and attacked Gov. O’Malley for fighting against a state plan while he was mayor of Baltimore to take over some of his schools in 2006. That was in wild contrast to Gov. O’Malley’s strong record of investment and reform that produced lower drop out rates and higher test scores all over our state. In fact propelled by the leadership of many educators, our parents, the hard work of Maryland students, and the tough decisions the governor made to fully fund our education system, minority students in both Baltimore City and Prince George’s County improved so much Maryland was named twice as first in education across the nation. These aren’t just talking points but facts. Facts that Bob Ehrlich didn’t even try to disprove.

For a state as wealthy as Maryland our crime rate is unacceptably too high. That is why Martin O’Malley came into office with a mission to focus on providing the aid and assistance local communities needed to protect their citizens. After just over three years of tough decisions and leadership Maryland now is experiencing record crime lows and in Baltimore City and Prince George’s County crime is at forty-year lows.

When Governor O’Malley came into office he faced an economy just on the brink of the recession and he never complained not one day. The governor took action and along with leaders like Speaker Mike Busch and President Mike Miller kept Maryland on track. As other state’s drove right off the cliff, Maryland has reduced spending without impacting service. We have balanced our budget without increasing the tax burden on working class citizens. We all now have an opportunity to go to the polls with one decision in mind…are we going to keep moving forward or move backward. On November 2nd if we turn out at the polls Maryland will continue to move forward.

Joseph Kitchen

Chair

A simple Google search on boys committing suicide after being bullied produces hundreds of pages of stories and videos about this national epidemic. While the stories are of boys from all over the country, from big cities and small towns, blacks and whites, wealthy and poor, there are many common trends that show things like this can and should be prevented. In most of those stories just as in these we highlight in this article the suicide comes after a prolonged period of bullying at the hands of their peers. Another common trend is that it appears many of these students did seek help and often are ignored by both government and school officials as something that all kids just have to deal with. According to the National Center for Bullying Prevention more than 160,000 stay home from school each day because of bullying. This is a number so large that it should send alarm bells throughout our entire education system. This is a problem we can no longer ignore and have to address by getting involved and demanding a change.

A 2009 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics showed that 10% of students in public schools admit to being called a hate-related word and 36% say they have seen hate-related graffiti on school property.  These are just the kids who report it. We know that the number is likely to be higher among those who don’t speak up.

The deaths of Tyler, Seth, Asher, and Billy, along with the countless others that have taken place or will take place break my heart and should bring tears to all of our eyes. More than tears however it should bring us to our feet to demand something be done. In just months legislatures all over America will reconvene for their annual sessions following November elections and this issue should be on their radar. That is why I want your ideas and your input. The 2011 legislative year here in Maryland as likely will be case around America will be a tough one for officials. Many across the country will face tight budgets and limited options. What must be the case however is a solution to this rising problem in our public education system that we can ignore no more. Click here to share your ideas on ending bullying in our schools and make the hallways safe once again.

We have an opportunity to take these deaths and use them to save the lives of many others. We cannot do it without your help.

Sincerely,

Joseph Kitchen

Chairman

Minority Caucus Young Democrats of Maryland

President Johnson (D) and Senate Majority Leader Dirksen (R)

The Voting Rights Act Was a Battle We Won, Protecting the 14th Amendment is the One We have Now

Today as America honors the 45th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, we have to renew our commitment to the values that created it. This day forty-five years ago President Lyndon Johnson and a bipartisan group of United States Senators took a leap of courage and passed one of the most sweeping pieces of legislation in the history of America at the time and since then. President Johnson along with GOP leaders in the Senate such as Everett Dirksen and others came together to pass a bill into law that expanded the promise of America to millions of Americans regardless of the color of their skin. In doing so Dirksen quoted Victor Hugo to say, “Stronger than all the armies is an idea whose time has come.’The time has come for equality of opportunity in sharing of government, in education, and in employment. It must not be stayed or denied.” They would be sad to see the turn of events in today’s Senate.

At no time in recent memory have minority groups been under more pressure from our political process. While many Americans felt that our nation would be moving forward following the election of President Barack Obama, we have seen that not everyone embraced the moment that we are living in. Led by many in the Republican Tea Party a group of leaders in the United States Senate who are afraid of the changing demographics that face America are pushing a proposal to strip the citizenship from hundreds of thousands of future natural-born children. As we celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act let us not take the threat that a repeal of the 14th Amendment means to this country lightly. After the civil war the 14th Amendment was written and approved as a way that would ensure slaves who were born in this country would be able to be citizens of the United States. Now leaders like John McCain, Lindsay Graham, and Mitch McConnell want to take that right away. In 1964 Democrats and Republican leaders joined together to pass legislation that expanded freedom and the American promise. It was the act of courage of their time. It will be and is the act of courage of our time to fight back against efforts to repeal the 14th Amendment in a sad attempt to deprive rightfully born Americans their CONSTITUTIONAL right.

Joseph Lynn Kitchen Jr.

Chairman

Young Democrats of Maryland- Minority Caucus