Education Can Help Fight Gang Violence, Turnbull Says
Susan Turnbull | Jealous Campaign
Susan Turnbull, whom Ben Jealous announced Wednesday as his running mate, said that part of the solution to gang violence and Baltimore crime rests in providing more education.
“I think part of it is moving from incarceration to education, giving people educational opportunity,” said Turnbull, in an interview with MyMCMedia. “If you have no place to go the likelihood of you being incarcerated in our state is extremely high … and in the City of Baltimore we’re seeing some of that.”
Her words echo statements that Jealous, the former CEO of the NAACP, repeatedly has made since launching his campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in May. He has said he’ll end mass incarceration as a means to divert state money to other programs.
Turnbull, 65, of Bethesda is a veteran of state and national politics. She served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and as chairwoman of the Maryland Democratic Party.
She said she and Jealous have developed grassroots, coalition-building skills that they could employ in their effort to defeat Gov. Larry Hogan, a popular Republican in a majority Democratic state.
“As far as our current governor is concerned, what has his popularity gotten us? Our schools have moved from first to fifth,” Turnbull said. “He hasn’t had the courage to lead. He hasn’t had the courage to do big things. And what we’re going to be doing is going back to doing big things.”
Jealous and Turnbull join a crowded field in the Democratic gubernatorial race. At least eight others have announced their candidacies: Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker, consultant Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz, state Sen. Richard Madaleno of Kensington, former schoolteacher and author Alec Ross, Baltimore lawyer Jim Shea and Krishanti Vignarajah of Gaithersburg.
Frequent candidate Ralph Jaffe also has filed for the race.
Like crime in Baltimore, she believed the way to combat gangs in Montgomery County and in Maryland was to provide opportunities for people to be integrated into society.
And, Turnbull said, the Jealous administration would make sure law enforcement has resources, and people view the police as fair and complete.
The child of an immigrant, Turnbull called immigration a “complicated issue” that she and Jealous will focus on.
“We owe it to the young people in our state that they should be accepted as part of our family,” she said.
She said she expected the campaign to show its support for children who arrived in the United States under the federal Deferred Action of Child Arrivals.
Here, Turnbull talks about Hogan and his popularity:
Here, Turnbull talks about gangs and immigration:
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