New Blog Caters to Maryland Politics With Progressive Perspective

Luis Zapata has been a resident of the online progressive community for years, but recently noticed a vacancy.

“I noticed there had been several progressive blogs in Maryland, but they seemed to be closed down and I was saying there needs to be another blog,” said Zapata.

So he approached members of Progressive Neighbors based in Takoma Park and Silver Spring, an organization he’s been a member of for 5 years. Zapata then started to ask members of the group to join his blog venture.

Five other members were interested, and on July 6 they debuted their first article on MDProgBlog, a new progressive blog for the state of Maryland that focuses on a range of political and social issues specifically in Maryland.

“This blog is for anyone who’s interested in what is happening in Maryland in terms of the laws and social issues from a political standpoint,” said Zapata.

While the blog content currently focuses on Maryland budget issues, with a special emphasis on options for progressive revenue enhancements, Zapata and the rest of the board plan to tackle state redistricting and the cutting of government services among other issues.

Zapata hopes that this blog will resonate with other progressives like him who share what he said all progressives have in common: a concern for people who are considered powerless or who have less power in their environment.

“Progressives usually put people in front of prophets,” said Zapata.

Zapata has been noticing the needs of others since his days growing up on the West Coast.

Raised in Costa Mesa, California, he worked as a gardener and on boats while growing up. He attended San Jose State University and majored in Physics while also getting involved in the United Farm Workers. During his time in UFW, founded by revolutionary migrant labor leader Cesar Chavez, Zapata was greatly exposed to the offensive treatment many laborers experienced.    

“I know how workers were treated, especially Latinos. They would spray pesticides in the fields while they were picking fruit,” said Zapata. “I just saw things that I thought were wrong and needed to be corrected. It was hard for minorities then—still is now-and I’ve been trying to help since,” said Zapata.

Zapata quit school to help fight the injustice full time with UFW in California. He stayed until Chavez approached the group about an opportunity with the newly formed, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which was responsible for sit-ins, freedom rides, and other civil rights activism.

 “We were at a meeting and SNCC had started and he [Chavez] said, ‘Anyone want to go help with the union in Mississippi?’ and I said what the hell, I’ll do it.” So Zapata moved down South and helped with voter registration and whatever else the organizations needed.

Eventually he settled in Maryland, earned a degree in English from the University of DC, and joined many political campaigns. Zapata was coordinator of states on Dennis Kucinich’s national campaign, helped Kweisi Mfume run for the Senate primaries, and was on Jesse Jackson’s first Presidential bid campaign. Zapata was also involved in local politics and was an elected ANC commissioner for DC.

Anyone can contribute to MDProgBlog by contacting the editorial board at info@mdprogblog.org.  New content will be added each week and possibly more frequently as readers become even more active on the site.