Adhering to changes from this year's legislative session, Attorney General Anthony Brown on Wednesday announced appointments to the Maryland Commission on Hate Crime Response and Prevention.
Instead of naming specific representative organizations, the AG is required to appoint 15 individual members, to be confirmed by the Maryland State Senate.
"Fifteen members have been selected based on their representation or advocacy on behalf of a class of persons identified under Maryland's current hate crime law, including race, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, disability, and homelessness," reads a statement from the Office of the Attorney General.
These members are:
- Jennifer Brown, of On Our Own of Maryland
- Ama S. Frimpong-Houser, of CASA
- Kristen Gettys Downs, of the Homeless Persons Representation Project
- Michael Gray, of the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Maryland
- Vicki Jones, of the Harford County NAACP
- Kobi Little, of the Maryland NAACP
- Carissa Mattern, an LGBTQIA+ advocate
- Gabriel Maximilian Moreno, of Luminis Network for New Americans
- Deborah Miller of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington
- Ayman Nassar, of the Islamic Leadership Institute
- Katie Curran O'Malley, of the Women's Law Center of Maryland
- Nina Ovian, of FreeState Justice
- Sylvia Royster, an advocate for Native American students and families
- Joraver Singh, of the Sikh Coalition and Panja
- Lanlan Xu, of the Howard County Asian American and Pacific Islander Commission
Two members of the general public were also added to the Hate Crimes Commission. Domonique Flowers, a tenant rights advocate and advocate for people with disabilities, and Carmen Jackson who has worked at the Carver Community Center, Women's Action Coalition and the Allegany/Garrett Citizen Review Board.
Notably not on this list is Dr. Zainab Chaudry, of CAIR, whose social media posts last fall sparked the conversation about changing who would be on the Commission.
Chaudry, the Maryland Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) sent us a statement on her decision not to apply for a role on the reorganized Hate Crimes Commission:
“In light of the probability that the AG Hate Crime Prevention Commission’s new communications policy would be exploited to suppress advocacy for Palestinian human rights, I made the decision to not re-apply to serve in this capacity.
It has been an honor to work alongside Attorney General Anthony Brown and members of his staff as my organization pursues justice, safety and inclusivity for all, including Palestinians.
Amidst the ongoing genocide in Gaza, CAIR’s data reveals that the last year has seen a startling surge of discrimination, bullying, censorship, hate crimes and bias incidents targeting Muslim and Arab communities in the state. This unfortunately reflects a national trend.
Our office is laser focused on addressing these serious concerns. That work will continue as we remain engaged and collaborate with stakeholders and community partners including AG Brown to make sure Maryland is a state that we can all be proud to call home."
Zainab Chaudry, Pharm.D.
Director, CAIR Maryland
Also not on the list is Meredith Weisel, who represented the DC, MD, and VA Region for the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), another organization that came up in the debate during the legislative session.
We've reached out to Weisel for a statement and will update this story when we receive a response.
