By Dayvon Love

Too many conversations in the public sphere regarding the federal indictment of Marilyn Mosby revolve around issues of corruption and whether people believe she is guilty of the charges. This focus has crowded out the equally important conversation about the politics of this federal indictment. Americans have been socialized to do personality politics, which reduces politics to discussions about the actions and ideas of individuals, not the forces behind them. There are political forces at play that are particularly important to the condition of black people here in Baltimore that need to be exposed and discussed.

There are certainly issues regarding Ms. Mosby’s policies and practices that can and should be criticized and discussed. On the right, she is criticized for her policy of not prosecuting low-level crimes. She is blamed by the right for Baltimore’s high homicide rate. On her left, she is criticized by people who see her as an extension of the status quo. Regardless of a person’s particular view of their policies as a state’s attorney, it is important to treat the federal indictment as a separate matter. Mixing these two questions will lead to conversations that miss the importance of understanding the forces behind the indictment and what we should do as black people about those forces.

The FBI and the DOJ have a habit of targeting black elected officials. It’s not a conjecture, it’s a fact. George Derek Musgrove in his book “Rumor, Repression, and Racial Politics” on page 4 says:

It is important for our community to recognize that no matter what we think of black people who are currently elected, the sheer potential of black people to elect people who can impact government policy is reason enough for those who interest in our oppression to target black people in elected office. Using law enforcement to target black elected officials has the effect of portraying them (and black people in general) as inherently more criminal than our white counterparts. Journalists and prosecutors make their careers off of these kinds of investigations, and black people are especially vulnerable to this dynamic. The idea that these types of surveys are being used as a weapon against black elected officials is not conjecture. Muskgrove on pages 141-142 of the previously mentioned book describes the origin of many investigations into black elected officials. He says:

It demonstrates the true story of how these types of investigations are used as weapons against black people who challenge white corporate power. Even if these challenges are not part of a larger effort to empower the entire community, these efforts challenge powerful white people with power. This narrative is often omitted from conversations about these kinds of corruption allegations by black elected officials.

In the case of Marilyn Mosby, one of the main prosecutors targeting her, Leo Wise, was accused of prosecuting black elected officials. In an October 15, 2010 Time magazine article, it says:

Observations made about Wise in 2010 are relevant today because of the frivolous nature of the current indictment.

The charges against Mosby are not based on actions that cause harm to the public or gain an unfair advantage due to her position as a state attorney. But being able to link Mosby to crime, whether or not there is activity negatively impacting the people of Baltimore City, accomplishes the goal of advancing the narrative that politicians blacks are inherently more corrupt than their counterparts. This level of scrutiny does not apply to whites holding elective or other public office throughout the state of Maryland. Are we to believe that black people are involved in the majority of corruption in this state? Powerful whites are more difficult to prosecute because they don’t grapple with these troops of inherent criminality. And they’re usually part of more powerful networks that give them better protection from lawsuits. With Baltimore being a city of growing interest in developers and ensuing gentrification, there is certainly a desire for white political leadership, more tightly controlled by corporate forces. Portraying black political leaders as inherently criminal helps advance this goal.

The truth is that on issues of criminal justice reform, Mosby has been more progressive than previous state prosecutors in Baltimore. Whether you think she is progressive enough or actually executed those policies is up for debate. But it is an objective political fact that she argued for more progressive policies than her predecessors. This makes her a natural target for law enforcement and their allies. It’s not just about charging the officers who killed Freddie Gray. It was the policies she supported and championed that made her an ideal target for law enforcement. Policies such as overturning marijuana-related convictions, advocating for vulnerable incarcerated people to be released from prison during covid, and creating a sentencing integrity unit to review cases of people who have been wrongfully convicted of a crime. These are policies that, no matter what you think, run counter to policies supported by law enforcement.

It is important to address this dynamic because anyone (Black) who tries to rise to power in Baltimore to challenge the white corporate power system, they will be hit by similar forces. Especially those of us who see ourselves politically to the left of Mosby, have an interest in understanding and combating the forces that have a hand and a stake in his indictment. Keep having discussions and criticisms of his politics, but don’t be tempted to co-sign an attack that is rooted in the desire to keep black people “in our place” in this society. Otherwise, if you have any desire to rise to power in Baltimore for revolutionary purposes, you will be next, and the community will not be organized and educated enough to recognize and respond to it.

As a community, we must be clear that this federal indictment is not about protecting the interests of the public, but about the continued attempt to undermine black aspirations for power. There are two big lessons to be learned from all of this. The first is that black people must continue to do the work of building an independent black political infrastructure inside and outside the Democratic Party. Clearly, Mosby’s connections with the gatekeepers of the Democratic Party establishment have not shielded her from the forces that undermine black aspirations to power. The Democratic Party cares only about black people who can help it achieve the interests of its liberal entrepreneurial elite, not the masses of the black working class. The second lesson here is that black people need to invest in and support independent black media that can put these kinds of stories into context for our community. None of the mainstream coverage of this story deals with the history of attacks on black elected officials, especially those who are seen as disrupting social order. We need to support black media that helps our community understand that not all indictments of black elected officials are about corruption. That doesn’t mean we condone black corruption in elected office, but that we can paint a full picture of black political life beyond the constant demonization.

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