Scott, 39, said he went to the scene wearing an official Baltimore City jacket and called the governor, state Senate president, City Council president and city administrator along the way. “I could still hear it moving at that point,” he said of the Dali, the 985-foot ship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge, as he arrived on the shores of the Patapsco River to view the wreckage.
The attack began just before dawn, when Scott appeared in a national television interview to talk about an “unthinkable tragedy.”
One user of It has come under attack from conservatives who say it will help minorities get jobs. Others, on the other hand, criticized Scott for his beard and not wearing a suit. Another X user wrote, “He looks like a normal street criminal.” Neither user responded to requests for comment.
“He's doing what everyone expects elected officials to do and allocating it to DEI. It's outrageous. It's completely ridiculous,” said the nonprofit organization Baltimore. said Corps President Caryn York.
The collapse of Key Bridge complicates the young politician's efforts to restore the city's fortunes, thrusting him into the national spotlight and making him an even bigger target for racist commentators. Ta. As expected, Scott said in an interview. “When you're young and you have Black people in leadership, you know things like that happen,” he said.
Scott pointed out that the racist attacks were not limited to him. Maryland Governor Wes Moore (Democratic), who is black, and immigrants who died in the collapse were also targeted.
Being the mayor of Baltimore is no easy task. The city's high unemployment and crime rates, as well as miles of dilapidated properties, have long made the job somewhat thankless. But as a young black man, Scott said he faces additional challenges. It's a barrage of racist dog whistles, from being called a “thug” to being accused of being the father of “another illegitimate black baby in Baltimore.”
Scott is considered a political insider by many in Baltimore. He won more than 70 percent of the vote in the 2020 election and cobbled together a coalition that spanned the city's deep racial and economic cleavages. In fact, many of Mr. Scott's critics accuse the former City Councilman of being a career politician and shying away from attacking head-on the issues facing Black residents in Baltimore. ing.
“It's very interesting that this is a conservative backlash, because I don't think a black mayor is doing more or less for black and brown people in Baltimore than any previous mayor. The body,” said Maricela B. Gomez, a community activist and civilian. Medical professionals working in East Baltimore. She said, “I've never really seen money flowing into majority black and brown, low-income communities.”
Scott said he is trying to stay focused on the crisis despite the online attacks.
The bridge collapse is expected to have long-term economic consequences for the city, which has struggled for years to rebuild its finances. The incident cut off access to the city's port, which experts say provides 20,000 direct jobs and brings in about $1.5 million in state and local taxes each day.
At least eight people have fallen overboard at the Port of Baltimore, officials said. Two people were rescued, one unharmed and one in critical condition, and two bodies were recovered on Wednesday. The remaining four people are believed to have died. The victims were bridge construction workers and immigrants from Mexico and Central America.
Scott is a Baltimore native who grew up in the Park Heights neighborhood, a majority-black neighborhood plagued by crime and economic hardship since the mass white flight of the 1960s. He said he also dealt with harassment from police growing up, including once fleeing from gunfire and being handcuffed after being mistaken for a robbery suspect.
He said he wanted to enter politics from an early age. After graduating from St. Mary's University in Maryland, he accepted the position of City Council president. In 2011 he won a seat on the council and eight years later became chairman. In 2020, he jumped into a crowded mayor's face and defeated his incumbent.
Just hours before the bridge collapsed, Scott gave a State of the City address, assuring residents that the worst was in the city's rearview mirror. He spoke about how the city has battled the twin crises of gun violence and the coronavirus pandemic under his leadership, and says a recovery is underway, perhaps with an eye on re-election in 2024. declared.
“I'm pleased to report that our city-state is stronger and more resilient than ever,” Scott said in his speech, adding that a University of Pennsylvania research team has found that mass shootings are on the rise. They pointed to violence reduction strategies that they found to have reduced the number of people who died in the first place. Arrested. The program, which provides social services to people most at risk for gun violence, reduced crime in West Baltimore by a quarter over 18 months, researchers found.
Addressing all of the city's problems, including undoing the damage caused by racism, will take time, but the bridge collapse has exacerbated those challenges, he acknowledged in an interview. “But we do it by investing in people and small businesses,” Scott said.
He has wooed some of his former political opponents, including Lester Davis, who served as deputy mayor before Scott defeated his boss in the 2020 election.
“I have known Brandon for over 10 years and have watched his entire journey as an elected official,” Davis said. “He faced many challenges, but did a great job as mayor. The decline in violent crime and some economic indicators are indisputable.”
Scott said the vitriol he received as a public figure only encouraged him to embrace his image as a young black man. Scott was attacked for wearing a Baltimore jacket (a dark gray varsity-style fleece emblazoned with the city's emblem) on national television after the bridge collapse, and then appeared the next day on “From Baltimore with Love.” He said he purposely wore a sweatshirt with the slogan “. ”
He said, “I wanted the people of Baltimore to know that I was ignoring the rest of the people and that I was focused on the people of Baltimore.”
After all, the offense is bigger than him, he said. They are part of a fight over who should take control in an increasingly multicultural society.
“We're one of the few majority-black cities, and that's what they want to attack,” Scott said. “They want to attack black leadership. They want to attack black culture. But those are not things I shy away from.”
