Marilyn Mosby, the Baltimore States Attorney was indicted recently. Her indictment included, according to the Baltimore Sun, allegedly she lied to hastily withdraw thousands of dollars from her city retirement account.
The Baltimore City States Attorney allegedly used the funds to procure two Florida vacation homes. She claimed she had faced financial hardship from the COVID-19 pandemic to complete the withdrawal when she had received a raise during that period. Allegedly, Mosby applied for loans to purchase the two properties. Mosby lied again, stating that she possessed no debts to the feds when she owed thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes.
I regularly ran into Mosby and her husband at a downtown black-owned restaurant. Later as part of my Coppin State University Urban Studies program before the deceased Freddie Gray ordeal, I believe. The writer is just setting the record straight.
You need to think hard. Do not be the judge and jury to pre-try the case. So, what if Mosby is conservative, progressive, or in between. If the glove does not fit ala O.J. Simpson, it does not work. The former mayor, now deceased Marion Barry, got caught smoking cocaine and re-elected. Yes, he previously possessed civil rights ties mainly through SNCC and did a lot for black people in Washington, D.C. Mosby indicted the police officers in the 2015 Freddie Gray ordeal.
Remember former state legislator Nathaniel T. Oaks, former Mayor Sheila Dixon, and former Mayor Catherine Pugh. They did us wrong. How about Adam Clayton Powell, the most noted black politician in my time, accused of corruption in 1967 and later acquitted by the U.S. Supreme Court for not allowing him to come to Congress. Returning to Radical Reconstruction, remember the southern well-to-do plantation owners and their minions that talked about the incompetence of newly elected southern black politicians. Yeah, white politicians do it, too, no matter their party affiliation.
The laws for the wealthy differ then from you and me. Start with the high probability that Ms. Mosby has hired competent, professional lawyers and not just an inexperienced, naive legal team. Yes, it does involve lots of legal fees. The legal team can make a difference to obtain a fair trial. Remember, with adjustments, Mosby could claim hardship with a very large salary. No, it remains not fair but legal if done the right way. The same goes for other charges against Ms. Mosby.
The whims and vagaries of Democrat and Republican politics remain elusive but ever-present, especially with the upcoming elections. It would be better not to rely on electoral politics but rather independent black political action.
Do what Malcolm X told us and did. Malcolm X said, “I’m not a Republican, nor a Democrat, nor an American, and got sense enough to know it. I’m one of the 22 million black victims of the Democrats, one of the 22 million black victims of the Republicans, and one of the 22 million black victims of Americanism.” Malcolm X spoke and got involved according to his worldview.
Become an active thinker and doer. Do all we can to make it proactively a fair trial by publicly making our voices heard, and our physical presence is seen.