Ben Jealous for Maryland

Race relations appear to be at their worst point in decades 69% of Americans say race relations are bad. Here on Democracy now, DemocracyNow.org The youngest person to ever head the NAACP Is entering the race for Governor in Maryland Ben Jealous is know for leading the NAACP's successful campaign to abolish Maryland's death penalty. Good evening, my name is Benjamin Todd Jealous I'm a civil rights organizer and a son of two teachers whose marriage was against the law fifty years ago. The other candidates are a little bit jealous right now Alright Benjamin Jealous, the winner Maryland governor's race and it is an excellent night for progressives. Maybe the best night. We have an opportunity here to help the voters see that we actually agree on a lot and to go get it done and that's why I intend to be the next governor from the state, One of the mistakes we make is that we don't talk about the way everybody suffers. So we'll talk about the homicide rate of black men under 30 but we don't talk about the suicide rate of white men over 55. We'll talk about the fact that we have the most incarcerated black and brown people on the planet, without mentioning we also have the most incarcerated white people on the planet and what they all have in common is that about 90% of them couldn't afford their own lawyer. In the first speech of his campaign Ben Jealous called for holding police accountable. We will cut the murder rate We will lock up the shooters and we will restore trust by both better training officers, but also holding officers who kill unarmed civilians fully accountable. How we won is the way that we will win again We traveled to every corner of the state and we listened to people early on and then from that point on we talked to people about what it would actually take to solve the problems facing their families in real time. I about fell out of my chair when I read in the times this weekend, that (governor) Hogan was out there calling me names. Then it occurred to me, him calling me a "Far left socialist' is what the tea party called president Obama" It's what Barry Goldwater called Martin Luther King.