While being active in the community is an important task for prevention, it is still important for the citizens of Baltimore to realize the role of the DA office. The Primary role of the district attorney is to persecute those who the police arrest for criminal offenses.

The utter lack of progress on keeping criminals off the streets is enough to call for "Change" at the top.

By insisting the main role of the State's Attorney's office is community outreach, Jessamy has changed the standard by which her office is judged. Instead of judging her record on prosecutions (and convictions), we are supposed to look at all the community outreach her office has done.

Jessamy is doing her best to shift the focus away from her utter failure as a prosecutor.

The Afro's endorsement is flaccid, perhaps because it was obligatory.

I believe ASAs prosecute rather than persecute. Nice freudian slip there. And people wonder why it is hard for the State to get a conviction at trial.

HAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Of course the Afro endorsed her. I truly believe that blacks will vote for blacks irrespective of how incompetent, immoral and/or criminal they are. If Hitler were reincarnated as a black man or woman and ran for office, blacks would vote Hitler into office just because they want to see a black face in what they believe is a position of power.

I have a question for the Afro: is one black politician worth the hundreds of black men who have been murdered at the hands of other black men?

The City Paper just endorsed Gregg Bernstein.

Has the AfroAmerican ever endorsed a white candidate when the alternative was a black? I'm just curious and it would say a lot to alleviate perceptions of racism on their part. Then again, a newspaper calling itself AfroAmerican pretty clearly puts its racism right out front for us huh. Frankly, the Sun should be embarassed to report on such racist hijinks. Imagine if another paper called itself WhiteAmerican. Do you think the Sun would do a report on who they endorsed?

We've been reporting on developments in the campaign and linking to stories that appear in other publications as well.

Johnny, the Afro American has been around since the 1890's and it has served a niche market very well for all of those years. Calling it racist is just plain silly. We have newspapers that cater to the gay community, to the business community, and we even have a Russian language paper published in Baltimore.

That's the whole idea behind freedom of the press. I don't happen to agree with the Afro's endorsement but they are surely entitled to engage in the democratic process.

My guess is that you are not a regular reader of the Afro. If you were you would know that their news coverage has kept race out of the discussion. The Afro is a strong and respected voice and its opinions are relevant to the discussion.

I am black and, living outside of the Baltimore City border, can't vote in this election. However, I am just astounded that there is continuing support for Jessamy. Baltimore is becoming a national joke because of its rampant crime rate. I wish I could vote in this election because I would certainly vote for Bernstein, mainly because I think that in a situation such as this, the incumbent, whoever that person is and completely irrespective of the person's skin color, needs to go.

The chief responsibility of the State's Attorney in any jurisdiction is to represent the state in prosecuting crimes. I think community initiatives are very important and very needed and I applaud those who are conducting them. But if you are the State's Attorney and aren't successfully prosecuting criminals, you are failing in your role regardless of how great your involvement in community initiatives is. Such a person should resign as State's Attorney and simply get a job working on community initiatives.

Now Propencia thats just not true about Blacks "I truly believe that blacks will vote for blacks irrespective of how incompetent, immoral and/or criminal they are. If Hitler were reincarnated as a black man or woman and ran for office, blacks would vote Hitler into office just because they want to see a black face in what they believe is a position of power." I've already voted as have several of my associates and we surely didnt vote for Jessamy. Like any other race when we change is needed we have the courage to vote for that change regardless of race.

The police have PAL centers to foster a relationship in a community that otherwise HATES the police. Likewise the community DISTRUSTS law enforcement and the State's Attorney in Baltimore city should also be visible and engage in crime prevention. Otherwise, the only time many poor minorities meet police or prosecutors is in jail. In the city there are 200 prosecutors that handle about 20,000 cases. No way they can try 20,000 cases or prosecute all of them without plea deals, does not matter who hold that office, this fact will not change.

Have you all forgotten that an entire family was firebombed and burned to death due to Jessamy's incompetence? How many other's before she has to go!