Dear Friends and Neighbors,

     After serving more than 20 years in the United States Army and 17 years as a Prince George's County Police Officer and Deputy Director for Homeland Security for Prince George's County, as well as 14 years in prison as an Innocent Man (read about the case at https://oneinnocentman.org ), I am once again ready to serve.  I am running for Congress and asking for your support to help change the system and make Maryland better for all of us. 

     First let me tell you about my background and what I believe.  I have led a life committed to public service working as a Social Worker, a career in the Army as a Infantry and Civil Affairs Officer serving our nation, and a career in the police department serving our community until I was unjustly convicted and incarcerated.  N0t even that could change my heart and my commitment to do my part to make my community and this country a better place.

     I spent my adolescent years growing up in a rural small town, so I know first hand about the challenges African Americans face in the form of overt racism and economic inequality.  My mother and my father separated when I was a young boy.  She, I, and my young sisters lived together in a one bedroom apartment with little furniture and few resources.  My mother taught us the value of hard work and instilled in us an abiding sense of love, faith, discipline, and a belief to always stand up for what is right.  My mother, like many black women, was strong, proud, and dignified, even though we grew up during a time when opportunities for women like her were virtually non existent.  Like so many other women, my mom did what she had to to feed her family and create a better life for her children. 

    I was the first in my family to graduate college and that fostered my desire to inspire and help others.  My mom worked in the fields all her young life - from the age of 8 until she was 20 picking cotton and tobacco.  She later worked as a maid cleaning other people's homes and caring for them and their illnesses.  She and I later worked together  when I was 16 at a pipe-fitting factory.  We worked side by side on a hot pipeline with boiling hot liquids cooling the pipes 40 hours a week. It was grueling work.  But she, and I, did what we had to do to keep our family on its feet. It was a difficult time, but it helped make me the man I am today.  I was taught to stand up for what is right, to never give up, and to help your neighbor when you can.  That is how I have lived my life and those are the values that I carry today and pass on to the next generation.  I've been challenged and faced with many obstacles in my life, and like you, have overcome those challenges and made my way.  If they couldn't break me in prison they can't break me on Capitol Hill!  I stand ready to fight for you and your family and I know they can't break YOU either!

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