Has the Moore Administration Already Spent the $2 Billion Dollars of Tax and Fee Increases It has Increased on Maryland’s Citizens in 3 years? With a Black governor, a powerful Black Caucus, and a lawsuit, Maryland reckons with reparations WAMU 88.5 (Article and Response)

It took some time, but Marylanders demanded action. First, in April, a distant relative of Harriet Tubman took his own $6 million lawsuit to federal court, calculating exactly what the state owes him, based on the unpaid wages of his enslaved ancestors. And in late July, the Legislative Black Caucus fired back, vowing to override his January veto.

Now all three branches of government are wrestling with the same contentious questions: What does Maryland

The Governor’s Path, Action Over Studies

The action from Governor Moore’s office on reparations focuses less on individuals and more on systems, as he told reporters in July.

He hasn’t neatly packaged his agenda under the banner of reparations, but he points to policy steps, that taken together, look like the beginnings of restorative policy, like a $1.3 billion-dollar investment in historical black colleges and universities in the state; a record-breaking 175,000 person pardon of misdemeanor cannabis convictions done in June; and the creation of housing and development programs in neighborhoods the state said was harmed by past discriminatory practices.

“I’m announcing our first round of Just Community Designations in the state of Maryland for upwards of $400 million, Moore announced at Bethel AME church in Baltimore on Juneteenth.“$400 million to increase assets, $400 million to increase home ownership, $400 million to increase home values.”