The Baltimore mayoral race is heating up, and gaining attention outside of Maryland. Much of it is focusing on the candidates through the lens of Freddie Gray’s death and the uprising, the one-year anniversary of which coincides with the primary election in Maryland. The New York Times and Huffington Post recently published pieces on the state of Baltimore in the past year, and the challenges new leadership might face. In the New York Times article, University of Baltimore law professor David Jaros described the city as “grudgingly, slowly moving forward.”
Many of the outlets, like NPR and the Washington Post have featured one candidate in particular, Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson. As Jennifer Ludden’s piece for a recent All Things Considered broadcast pointed out, “If you don’t live in Baltimore, but you know anything about the mayor’s race, it’s probably that an activist with Black Lives Matter is running.” She goes on to point out that while McKesson is the highest profile candidate—in a particularly crowded race—he’s one of the lowest in the polls.
OSI is dedicated to giving local communities an opportunity to hear candidates’ ideas. This past winter, we co-hosted two #VoteBmore mayoral forums with Associated Black Charities and City Paper. Listen here and here. Topics ranged from income inequality in the first forum, to criminal justice reform and the question of police in schools during the second.
Both the New York Times and Washington Post featured the last week’s Stoop Mayoral Show, co-hosted by OSI and Stoop Storytelling. If you missed this one-of-a kind event, where the audience heard how Catherine Pugh learned early on that it pays to dress like you’re in charge and that David Warnock was fired from a bartending job, you can listen here.
Photo courtesy of Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post
