Social justice

Growing up, Elazar Zavaletta heard that trans people, like him, are an "abomination" in the eyes of God. Now a Lutheran pastor, Zavaletta has transformed his pain into solidarity with marginalized people.

Maryland must uphold recently enacted legal protections for children who are subject to interrogation by police, say Jessica Feierman, an attorney and senior managing director at the Juvenile Law Center, and Emily Virgin, an attorney and director of advocacy and government affairs at Human Rights for Kids.

Richard Roundtree's portrayal of the title character in the 1971 film "Shaft" earned him icon status, Wayne E. Williams says.

With the death of his brother during Israel’s bombing of Gaza, a Palestinian American says he fears for the lives of other family members there.

Actor Richard Roundtree, who died Tuesday at age 81, created the iconic film character John Shaft, who redefined Black male characterization in movies and across popular culture.

It’s not clear how a gunman found Judge Andrew Wilkinson's Hagerstown home Friday night and shot him to death in his driveway. Maybe he followed him home, or maybe he stalked him on the Internet. But Maryland lawmakers knew this kind of violence was a threat.

Political notes: Fundraising season; state Supreme Court to right a racist decision; and updates on Harborplace.

Meghan Marsh has been the executive director since September at Disability Rights Maryland.

“There is no safety in Gaza. I feel defenseless knowing something might happen and I have no power to stop it," a founder of the Palestinian Community of Metro DC said.

Familiar portrayals of traumatic and tragic elements of Billie Holiday’s life can miss the point of her story: Eleanora Fagan from Baltimore had a singular voice and a lasting musical and cultural impact.

As president of the Maryland Lynching Memorial Project, Will Schwarz has the task of addressing the atrocities of racial terror murders of the past while helping to ensure that these crimes are not repeated in the future.

Thomas Smallwood led hundreds of enslaved people in Maryland and D.C. to freedom and made a point of letting the public, including enslavers, know what his “underground railroad” had achieved.

Some backing a lawsuit in federal court seeking to stop the Naval Academy from using race as an admissions factor want to define who gets to be a midshipman based on their experience. They don’t want a fair system, they want the same one that favored them.

A shooting that injured five young people during homecoming week at Morgan State University should serve as a call to action for an entire community, columnist E.R. Shipp says.

Baltimore needs to prioritize emergency rental assistance to protect families from the physical and mental harm caused by evictions, representatives of two community advocacy groups say.

The plaintiffs describe systemic physical, sexual and psychological abuse spanning decades within Maryland’s juvenile justice system.

Institutions seeking to successfully engage with Baltimore’s Latino community need to appreciate its diversity and understand its challenges, community activists and leaders say.

Who helps when lives are shattered by everyday gun violence? When death arrives at your doorstep, who helps you make the next day seem possible? On Oct. 10, two small organizations will ask Annapolis that question again, this time after a mass shooting in June.

Efforts are underway around Maryland to confront the reality that more than 6,500 Black Americans were lynched in the United States between 1865 and 1950. At least 38 of the victims were in Maryland.

Many Maryland families can’t afford a multiyear rate increase proposed by Baltimore Gas and Electric, Marceline White, executive director of Economic Action Maryland, says.