Southern Maryland News: Vice President Speaks at Black History Month Celebration

Wanted to be sure you saw Southern Maryland News' coverage of the 40th annual Black History Month Celebration this past Saturday. Since 1981, Congressman Steny H. Hoyer (MD-05) has brought together community leaders, elected officials, and Fifth District residents to the Black History Month Breakfast to celebrate the many achievements of Black Marylanders and Americans. This year, Vice President Kamala Harris served as the keynote speaker. Click here to read the story or see below.

Southern Maryland News

Vice President Speaks at Black History Month Celebration

By Madison Bateman, March 3, 2021

Last Saturday, Vice President Kamala Harris joined Maryland elected officials, community leaders and residents to participate in a virtual program dedicated to celebrating Black History Month.

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md., 5th), along with Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md., 4th) hosted the 40th Annual Black History Month Celebration with Harris, who is serving as the first Black person and first woman in the position, as the keynote speaker.

Despite the event being held virtually this year due to public gathering restrictions in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic, over 2,000 people tuned in to enjoy a number of performers and featured speakers paying tribute to those throughout Maryland's rich history who worked toward freedom and equality for all.

Special guests included Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates Adrienne Jones (D-Baltimore County), Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.).

"Forty years ago, when I was first elected to represent the Fifth District, I launched this event as a way of paying tribute to Black history while looking ahead to what we all believed would be a better and more joyful future," Hoyer said. "If you had told me in 1981 what our country would look like in 2021, I'm not sure my first reaction would have been one of joyful anticipation."

The congressman continued, "Since we met last February, our country and the world has endured a deadly pandemic that has exposed deep-seated racial disparities in health care access and outcomes … Just this week we learned that the life expectancy for African Americans in this country fell nearly three years in the first half of 2020. High-profile killings of African Americans during encounters with law enforcement, including those of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and so many others in 2020, have galvanized tens of millions of to take to the streets in peaceful protest."

Hoyer lamented the loss of Congressman John Lewis, who lost his battle with cancer "even as he continued to lead us forward in the moral battle against injustice, racism and disenfranchisement."

With this year's Black History Month theme being "The Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity," he said the new vice president's "family reflects the diversity of the Black experience in America and the diversity of our country."

"I know we celebrate Black History month in January, March, April and all year round," Harris said, but "in February we take time, a more formal time, to remember and honor those who came before us." She called figures in the past such as Harriet Tubman and Thurgood Marshall, "visionaries, innovators, barrier breakers and history makers."

She said they "worked to build a better future, a future unburdened by what had been" and "as we remember their stories, we also recognize we are a part of a longer story … we will determine how our chapter gets written."

Harris said she thinks of history in terms of a relay race, "with each generation running their course and then passing the baton to the next … the baton is now in our hands and what matters is how well we run our portion of the race."

As the COVID-19 pandemic has been an accelerant making "those for whom things were bad" worse, she said, Harris thanked Hoyer and several others for their help in passing the American Rescue Plan in the U.S. Senate.

The plan is "designed and written to rescue our nation from devastation of COVID-19" Harris said, pointing out three major parts include putting $20 billion toward a national vaccination center, giving $1,400 to "those who need it most," with at least $3,000 in tax credits for almost every child and providing support for the hardest-hit businesses and communities.

"It is our responsibility in this ongoing relay race to see the moment, to see the challenges and to see the opportunities … knowing that history will smile upon us when we work in the spirit of those who prepared this path for us," she said.