Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando’s new bill to limit police searches, the Freedom to Leave Act, is a new level of crazy.
I have been all around Montgomery County and I have never heard a person say that they do not want to be safe in their homes, schools or places of worship. Yet, Jawando introduced a bill that I believe would make us less safe under the banner of anti-racism. The latest in Jawando’s series of anti-police bills came after he was pulled over in 2019 for talking on a cell phone while driving.
The County Council and county executive use the word racism like ketchup … they put it on everything. If you do not agree with their point of view, they deflect and have their surrogates call you names or attack you with untrue statements. This tactic is getting old.
A classic example of the county trying to invent racism where it doesn’t exist is its Disparity Study Focus Group, which I had the opportunity to take part in. According to the county, the group is tasked with looking into whether there is racial and/or gender business discrimination in the markets in which the county conducts business.
From the beginning it was obvious to me that the county-hired vendor, MTG Consulting Group, was spinning the participants’ answers. They wanted to “find” that the reason a participant did not get a contract was racism instead of considering the participant’s statements about the bureaucratic mess that strangles the county’s procurement office. I was totally disgusted. This is a blatant, in-your-face hunt for discrimination where there clearly is not any. The county needs to correct its processes and stop with the red herring of spending time looking for the boogie man in every interaction.
As a Black man growing up in the county, nothing is more insulting and demeaning than someone automatically saying that I need a handout just because of the color of my skin. It is truly insulting to say that someone who is Black or brown automatically is disadvantaged, oppressed, a second-class citizen or a criminal. I’m tired of society viewing me as a victim or a survivor. I want to be a thriver.
In America, all people are equal. This is the basic definition of our meritocracy society in which people gain success or power because of their abilities.
During my 64 years in Montgomery County, I have seen that every family, every community, and every neighborhood has its ups and downs – but they always try to make things better for the next generation.
We need to treat all people equally and with respect based on their current actions. If you break the law you need to be held accountable regardless of your race, ethnicity, or gender. Period.
Reardon Sullivan is a long-time Montgomery County resident and former chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Central Committee. He ran unsuccessfully for county executive in 2022.