BALTIMORE (April 30, 2015) -- National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial joined the Rev. Al Sharpton, NAACP President Cornell William Brooks and and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, led a summit on improving relations between Baltimore police and the community following the death of Freddie Gray.
J. Howard Henderson, President and CEO of the Baltimore Urban League, attended the summit and has been working with other community leaders.
“The cause of justice for Freddie Gray will not benefit from division and distraction,” Morial said.
Morial voiced his support for Mayor Rawlings-Blake, and urged state and federal leaders to focus on economic opportunity in impoverished neighborhoods like West Baltimore, where Mr. Gray lived.
The meeting was held at New Shiloh Baptist Church, where Mr. Gray’s funeral was held Monday.
Rawlings-Blake told the crowd that she tried to reform the Law Enforcement Bill of Rights in Annapolis during the last legislative session but ran into stiff opposition. She also invited the Department of Justice to do collaborative reform of the Baltimore Police Department.
