Final Steps in Establishing Statewide Reparations Commission
April 10, 2025
Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS) is a grassroots think-tank which advances the public policy interest of Black people, in Baltimore, through: youth leadership development, political advocacy, and autonomous intellectual innovation.
The Reginald F. Lewis Museum and the University of Maryland Frances King Carey School of Law hosted panels reflecting on events surrounding Freddie Gray's death.
Demonstrating the power of community centered grant-making.
Educating professionals using African-Centered professional development tools.
Revitalizing West Baltimore through culture, arts, and entertainment.
David Smith, owner of Sinclair Broadcasting, is supporting ballot initiatives that seek to diminish Black political power in Baltimore. This is part of a larger right-wing attack on the progress made in criminal justice reform, reparations, community-based violence prevention, and other progressive policy measures. This discussion will provide the audience…
The community will not accept only a seat at a table Hopkins has built. We are demanding the resources and space to design for ourselves solutions to the overdose epidemic.
If these folks are so concerned about how public dollars have been used in ways that are at odds with the public interest, they would be better served looking at all the tax breaks that Harbor East has received that took the hard-earned money of taxpayers and funneled it to wealthy people like David Smith.
Take selfies, dance, have fun, but the question that should be addressed as the price for these forms of leisure when you are taking money in the name of empowering Black people is whether the impact of your work is meaningfully felt by our community –beyond our immediate social circles.
For decades, the Democratic Party has been moving politically to the right. Recently, however, there has been an expansion of the left wing of the Party, largely attributed to the emergence of Bernie Sanders. The outcome of the 2024 presidential election has inflamed the tensions within the Party between the moderate wing of the party and the progressive wing. This clash has manifested itself in Maryland’s local political landscape.
For decades, the Democratic Party has been moving politically to the right. Recently, however, there has been an expansion of the left wing of the Party, largely attributed to the emergence of Bernie Sanders. The outcome of the 2024 presidential election has inflamed the tensions within the Party between the moderate wing of the party and the progressive wing. This clash has manifested itself in Maryland’s local political landscape.
Liberals in America have mastered the ability to appear to be doing justice, while maintaining their allegiance to the status quo. Things like taking down confederate statues, wearing kente clothe in pictures, renaming buildings after Black historic figures have symbolic value– but none of these acts challenge the existing White power structure that benefits from the challenges that Black people face in this society.
In Search of Black Power challenges conventional narratives around Black policy, Black movements, and Black Life. Blending art, storytelling, and policy analysis, and dialogue.
April 2025 marks 10 years since the #BaltimoreUprising, sparked by Freddie Gray’s death in police custody. Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle’s Lawrence Grandpre and Dayvon Love critique Beyond Black Lives Matter by Cedric Johnson and Invisible Weapons by Marcus Board Jr., arguing both oversimplify Black grassroots efforts and overlook successful community-led activism in Baltimore. By framing working-class responses as misled by neoliberalism or patriarchy, the authors miss the complexity of Black politics and the impact of groups like LBS.
Dayvon and Lawrence discuss why grassroots community organizations, not police or the nonprofit industrial complex, have driven the decline in murders seen over the past year. Despite mainstream public health nonprofits and police both taking credit, they argue culturally affirming programs that redirect anger into pro-community action are key to long-term violence prevention. Finally, they critique the Left’s generic “defund the police, fund public health approaches” rhetoric, arguing it gets co-opted by pro-police forces and undermines grassroots violence prevention efforts.
LBS’s Dayvon Love and Lawrence Grandpre review Ryan Grim’s book “The Squad” to uncover critical insights about both Left politics and Left Media. The text highlights the Left’s lack of infrastructure and failure to prioritize building political machinery, and the Left’s overreliance on weaponizing identity politics. However, they also argue Grim overcorrects by rejecting African-centered analysis as a tool for political work and overlooks valid concerns Black community advocates have about white advocates monopolizing resources intended for the Black community under the guise of universalist class-based economic redistribution. Finally, by critiquing black nationalists as reflecting “legitimate antisemitism,” Grim ironically mirrors the tactics he criticizes liberals for using—employing blanket accusations to sideline political conversations that challenge entrenched interests.
Over the past decade, reparations have moved from a fringe issue to a mainstream topic. In Baltimore, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS) advocates for reparations rooted in Black community control, emphasizing institutional capacity and political power over cash payments. Dayvon Love critiques the national focus on nonprofits and white validation, arguing for reparations that transfer real power to Black communities. LBS’s successes in Maryland, including using cannabis tax revenue for reparations, show that Black communities can achieve meaningful gains without sacrificing self-determination.
During the Maryland General Assembly, we offer insight an analysis on the issues impacting the Black community in Baltimore. Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS) is a grassroots thinktank in Baltimore, MD that advocates for the political interests of the Black community. We cut through the noise and give you the information that matters the most.
The 2025 Maryland General Assembly session has ended. In this episode, Dayvon Love of LBS breaks down key takeaways from Annapolis — including the limits of HB 1222, the continued support of the Legislative Black Caucus, and the failures of the Democratic Party establishment.
We’re almost through the legislative session. In this episode, Dayvon Love, Director of Public Policy at LBS, shares updates on our Legislative Agenda and highlights other key issues we’re monitoring. We will also have special guest, Cathryn Jackson, speaking to some of the legislation that she is working on with CASA.
We’re halfway through the legislative session. In this episode, Dayvon Love, Director of Public Policy at LBS, shares updates on our Legislative Agenda and highlights other key issues we’re monitoring.
The 2025 Maryland General Assembly is well underway. In this episode, Dayvon Love – Director of Public Policy for LBS will provide updates on state of youth justice legislation in Annapolis.
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