Early this month, DeRay Mckesson announced that he would be running for mayor of his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland which, fittingly, has been the site of his rise to prominence as a civil rights and #BlackLivesMatter activist. After the deeply troubling and mysterious death of Freddie Gray last year at the hands of six police officers–who are currently on trial facing charges ranging from negligence to murder–it was Mckesson’s stoic protests and defiance in the media that helped shape an appropriate narrative surrounding both Gray’s death and the government’s lenient approach to disciplining law enforcement.
Today, Gray unleashed his first-ever campaign ad on Twitter, which focuses around his father, a recovered addict who’s been clean for two decades. Mckesson’s dad helps illustrate why his son is the right man to succeed Stephanie Rawlings-Blake as mayor of Baltimore, citing that Mckesson doesn’t just make promises, he takes action.
Meet Calvin, my father.
I’m running to be the 50th Mayor of Baltimore.
Together, we will win.https://t.co/gq2IshlIjF— deray mckesson (@deray) February 20, 2016