Will he have himself arrested?
Prominent Black Lives Matter activist DeRay Mckesson has filed to run for mayor of Baltimore, the Baltimore Sun reported late Wednesday.
“Baltimore is at a moment,” the outspoken critic of racism and police brutality told the Washington Post.
“I’m running to usher Baltimore into a new era where our government is accountable to its people and aggressively innovative in how it identifies and solves problems.”
Thus far, McKesson’s “aggressively innovative” approach has generally involved stirring up the locals to loot, then leaving. At least in Baltimore he’s had to stay and admire his handiwork.
It could be fun to watch what happens if he gets into office and quickly realizes that the city’s problems run far deeper than just a few racist cops. It’s difficult to channel protest energy into political action. Kudos to McKesson for at least trying, though, most leftist protests have no constructive endgame (see: “Occupy”). The protest is the thing.
Still, the experiences that have thrust McKesson into public awareness have largely been tantrums about social ills affecting large groups for which he is personally rewarded. Given that Baltimore has been under the iron thumb of the Democrats during its decline, it wouldn’t be a radical shift if voters hand the keys of the asylum off to a different inmate.
After all, Maryland has a Republican governor now, and they’ll just blame him for everything (see: “Flint, MI water crisis”).
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