KAPPA NEWS: LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE
Benjamin Jealous Wants Maryland to be "Stronger Together" Launches Run for Governor
Journal: Senator Bernie Sanders recently called you “one of the great progressive leaders” of our time in his endorsement of your run for governor of Maryland. What does it mean to be a Progressive in the 21 st Century in comparison to the use of the label to characterize Theodore Roosevelt, for example? Jealous: Being a progressive means that you are committed to advancing civil rights, women’s rights, and workers rights. It means that half-measures are anathema and that taking bold action in pursuit of these goals is not only desirable but morally necessary. When it comes to healthcare it means that you refuse to accept less than universal coverage. When it comes to criminal justice reform, it means you refuse to ac- cept that mass incarceration is the only response to crime. It means you have the courage to push forward for radi- cal change and you believe that politics should be centered on working families. Journal: What are people looking for in the State of Maryland that you can suc- cessfully address as Governor?/What are the most critical issues that the incum- bent governor and/or legislature is not addressing? Every opportunity that I have had has come because of the remarkable educators that have helped me along the way. My own parents, my teachers through high school, and in college and graduate school all provided me with the tools that I’ve needed my whole life. It’s knowing this that makes my number one priority putting a highly qualified teacher in every classroom and making sure we support every child from pre-K to career- readiness whether that means college or learning a trade. This is the foundation of giving people the tools to success. Too
often, success in our state is at least par- tially defined by luck. This is unaccept- able. I’m fighting for a Maryland where hard work is enough to succeed. Journal: What would you say is your fondest memory in college? Calling my grandmother the night I found out I won the Rhodes Scholar- ship. She came to Baltimore to work at Planned Parenthood, earned her degree in social work and worked with my grandfather to move my mother out of the McCulloh Homes Public Housing Projects. All the accomplishment I felt in that moment I knew was due to her hard work and sacrifice and calling her that night and sharing that with her re- mains my fondest memory from college. Journal: What was your career path prior to becoming president of the NAACP? After graduating from Columbia, I at- tended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar after which I worked as the executive director of the National News- paper Publishers Association Founda- tion. I then became the director of Amnesty International’s USA Domestic Human Rights Program, opposing racial profiling under the PATRIOT Act. Then I became president of the Rosenberg Foundation. It was after this post that I was selected to become the President and CEO of the NAACP, which was one of the greatest honors of my life. Since then I have worked as a tech investor at Kapor Capital, the venture capital arm of the Kapor Center for Social Impact. Journal: What would you say are some of your greatest accomplishments as president of the NAACP? I’m proud to have helped grow the NAACP’s donor base from 16,422 to
132,543 and revenue from $25.7 million to $46 million. Making these structural changes are the result of a lifetime of executive experience. But I’m most proud of the accomplishments which resulted in me being named Marylander of the Year in 2013. In a single year, we were able to abolish the death penalty, pass the Maryland DREAM Act, establish marriage equality, and expand voting rights. It displayed the potential for getting big things done when you
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