And in Maryland, the youngest person ever to head the NAACP entered the race for governor Wednesday. Benjamin Jealous is known for leading the NAACP’s successful campaign to abolish Maryland’s death penalty. He’s promised to pursue a broad agenda of civil rights, social justice and economic reform. Jealous announced his candidacy Wednesday outside of his cousin’s West Baltimore flower shop, which she opened after the 2015 uprising and unrest that followed the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore police custody. In his first speech of his campaign, Jealous called for holding police accountable.
Benjamin Jealous: “We will cut the murder rate. We will lock up the shooters. And we will restore trust by both better training officers, but, yes, by also holding officers who kill unarmed civilians fully accountable.”