Calls For Lisanti To Resign Continue

HAVRE DE GRACE, MD — Constituents represented by Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti hosted a demonstration in Havre de Grace recently calling for her resignation, The Aegis reported. The protest came weeks after the delegate was censured by the Maryland House of Delegates for her use of a racial slur.

Lisanti is accused of using the n-word to reference a section of Prince George's County while speaking with a fellow white lawmaker at an Annapolis cigar bar in January, according to The Washington Post.

She was censured on Thursday, Feb. 28.

Teachers and community organizers were among the 25 or so people who gathered on Revolution at Stokes streets on Friday, March 22, with messages such as "Expel Delegate Lisanti for using the n-word," according to The Aegis.

A sit-in is also planned at the Maryland State House on Friday, April 5, the newspaper reported.

"I deeply apologize to the citizens of my district, people of Maryland, all of my colleagues in the Maryland General Assembly and everyone reading this for my word choice several weeks ago," the Havre de Grace native and state delegate since 2015 said in a statement on Tuesday, Feb. 26.

Although Lisanti has apologized for the racial slur, local and state leaders including Gov. Larry Hogan, Harford County Executive Barry Glassman, Prince George's County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, the Congressional Black Caucus, African American Democratic Club of Maryland, the ACLU, Maryland Democratic Party and Maryland Republican Party are among those who have said that she should resign.

Lisanti has said she has no plans to leave her post.

"Staying and accepting responsibility is the hard work," Lisanti wrote in a statement on Thursday, Feb. 28, after she was censured. "Rolling up your sleeves and attacking political and racial divisiveness that is tearing at the fiber of our nation and our state is the hard work. I am up for the challenge."

SEE ALSO:

• Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti Responds To Censure
• MD Lawmakers Censure Delegate Mary Ann Lisanti: Report
• Delegate Lisanti Should Resign: Hogan, Glassman, ACLU, More
• Harford State Legislator Apologizes For Using Racial Slur