Brandon Scott is the Allen Iverson of politics | GUEST COMMENTARY

After posting a photo on social media that I’d nervously snagged of me and Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott at a KIPP Baltimore school Christmas party in 2022, I casually wrote, “He’s like what Allen Iverson was to basketball.”

When the National Basketball Association imposed strict dress code regulations on Basketball players, Iverson donned durags, large chains and baggy clothing now synonymous with late ’90s and early 2000s hip-hop culture. By unflinchingly showing up as his authentic self, Iverson fought for diversity and inclusion in athletics long before the terms were popularized.

His impact on future Black athletes was evidenced in Colin Kaepernick’s 2021 limited series “Colin in Black & White,” which aired on Netflix. In the first episode, titled “Cornrows,” Colin describes the impact that Iverson had on him and how his choice to wear cornrows was a point of contention between him and his white adoptive parents. In a subsequent NPR interview, Colin remarked that Iverson was someone he looked up to: “I saw him be so unapologetically Black and unapologetically himself.” Kaepernick is now regarded as one of the most prolific civil rights activists in athletic history.

Those same qualities of being unapologetically himself are mirrored in Mayor Brandon Scott. Scott emerged victorious in 2020’s mayoral election, becoming Baltimore City’s youngest mayor. Stumbling across pictures of Scott on Instagram shortly after he took office, I was transfixed by his high-top afro. To some, hair is regarded as a triviality. To Black Americans, hair can be the difference between a job offer or a rejection. At the very least it could serve as an invasive conversation piece. But this mayor acted as if his hairstyle was of little consequence. In addition to his afro, Scott was seen wearing sneakers and other casual wear.

While attending a 2022 concert in Washington, D.C., headlined by Baltimore legends R&B group Dru Hill, I did a double take and waved as I spotted the mayor among the crowd. Scott encapsulates what it means to be a man of the people. Nothing made that more clear than his appearance on MSNBC’s “The ReidOut” in the days following the bridge collapse. He wore a purple hoodie with the words “from Baltimore with love” written in bold white letters, and a look of determination, as he declared, “This is about showing the world once and again that Baltimore can’t be broken, our spirit is strong, and we will rebuild together and honor those who we lost.” Clips of the interview had been approvingly shared across social media by Black celebrity heavyweights like comedian D.L. Hughley.

To those outside the city, Baltimore is often regarded with great caution. When I informed people that I would be attending Morgan State University, located in east Baltimore, I was often met with horrified gasps. “Have you seen ‘The Wire?’” people would ask. I had not, and I had no intention of seeing it. And though it has been nearly a quarter century since that hit show went off air, there has been little change in the sentiment about Charm City.

Though public opinion is slow to shift, the mayor has remained undeterred, reporting that Baltimore now has the eighth-highest growing economy in the country and the lowest unemployment rate in its history. Despite this, conservatives have labeled him the “DEI Mayor,” with DEI standing for “Didn’t Earn It” as a twisted version of “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” programs and policies.

Such claims can be dismissed with a quick perusal of the Maryland State Archives, with the mayor’s work in the city of Baltimore dating all the way back to 2007, with humble beginnings as a Community Outreach Liaison to Northeast Baltimore. It raises the question of whether critics are truly concerned about whether Scott earned his seat at the table, or if they would rather he not have a seat at all.

Imani Richardson (imanirichardson1920@gmail.com) is a 10th-grade English teacher in Washington D.C.