Happy New Year! 2015 in review

Happy New Year!  There’s still time for a quick look back at 2015, an active one for MCCRC.

Here’s an excerpt from the WordPress blog summary:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,900 times in 2015. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 7 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

Top posts for 2015 (views)

1. (479) SB0566 and LEOBOR reform in Maryland — what is it, why is it needed?
2. (335) Takoma Park City Council passes resolution welcoming Syrian refugees 6-0
3. (188) Civilian Review Boards: activist and association views
4. (173) Law Enforcement Officers “Bill of Rights” reform hearings: a report — and next steps
5. (172) Police body cameras: eyes on us, not on them?
6. (158) Coalition for Justice and Equality marches on Annapolis on Martin Luther King Day
7. (141) Police reform town hall builds resolve for Annapolis March 12 action
8. (138) Wheaton Mall “#BlackLivesMatter” die-in set for New Year’s Day (12/30/14)
9. (116) ACLU MD Briefing Paper: at least 109 deaths in Maryland police encounters
10. (113) Maryland body camera legislation — on its way to “worse than nothing”
11. (106) Proposed Syrian refugee resolution for the city of Takoma Park

Obviously, #BlackLivesMatter and police reform issues predominated in 2015, followed by a late year focus on pushing back against the not-so-hidden Islamophobia revealed by our governor’s grandstanding on Syrian refugees.   We’re proud of the organizing, reporting, and writing done during the 2015 legislative session; particular shout-outs go to Elsa Lakew, organizer of several actions in the early part of the year, and Fran Pollner, a stalwart participant in town hall planning and a great reporter during the 2015 legislative session in Annapolis.

We plan to take up in 2016 where we left off in 2015: keeping after police reform in Maryland, and re-engaging with issues like indefinite detention, surveillance, and criminalization and marginalization of dissent.  We hope you’ll join us — our next meeting is this Tuesday in Silver Spring, see the “Upcoming events” sidebar for details.