Politics: Is it possible to parlay BLM leadership into mayoral success?
A Black Lives Matter activist is running for mayor of Baltimore.
When DeRay McKesson, a former teacher and current Black Lives Matter activist, announced on Twitter Feb. 3 that he is running for mayor of Baltimore, the news spread rapidly across social media and solicited two very different responses from two very different communities.
His rising popularity has caused some fellow activists, according to a (New York) Daily News report, to accuse him of fanning his own celebrity. Political analysts seem to applaud the fact that, as a former school administrator, his agenda goes beyond civil rights. The platform released on his website, derayformayor.com, has a steely focus on education and youth development; access to jobs and livable incomes; and improving the safety of Baltimore communities through, among other things, changing the police department’s use-of-force policy, ending the war on drugs and establishing community first-responders.
And just as the announcement spread rapidly, so did support. Within 24 hours of a “leaked” mayoral race announcement, he had raised $40,000, according to reports. Even before that, he had sparred with both Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah on the late-night talk show circuit.
Wearing his trademark blue vest, McKesson, one of the founders of Campaign Zero, an activist site that pushes policy reform as a means to improve policing, schooled Colbert on “staying woke,” undoing the impact of racism and what Colbert could do to dismantle his own white privilege. See his appearance on Colbert, above.
McKesson has also amassed more than 300,000 followers on Twitter.
But that doesn’t mean that his road to Democratic nominee in Baltimore will be easy. He’s competing in this primary against 12 other candidates including Sheila Dixon, the Democratic front-runner who served as mayor from 2007 until her resignation in 2010 following a conviction; Councilman Carl Stokes; and Fells Point bar owner Mike Maraziti. If McKesson wins his party’s primary, the likelihood of him becoming mayor of Baltimore is strong in the mostly blue city.
His motto, “together we will win,” is also on the Campaign Zero site.