*Marilyn Mosby captured the nation’s attention this past May when she announced during a press conference that the six police officers who brutally assaulted 25-year-old Freddie Gray would face 28 charges in total, ranging from false imprisonment to second-degree murder. She also detailed how her department investigated the case and determined Gray’s death to be a homicide.
“I was on CNN, and we were all assured that it would be a routine press conference,” says Marc Lamont Hill, a political commentator and professor of African-American studies at Morehouse College in Atlanta. “Instead, Mosby came out swinging for the fences. I was in shock.”
Her statements captivated a country embroiled in a debate about race and police brutality, and gave hope to those who believed that officers were not being held accountable.
Despite her department’s quick turnaround in convicting the police officers, Mosby still acknowledged the protest occurring in Baltimore, as well as other cities, noting, “I have heard your calls for ‘No justice, no peace,’ However, your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of Freddie Gray.”
“The unrest had nothing to do with my decision to charge,” Mosby says in a new profile piece for Vogue. “I just followed where the facts led.”
Mosby told the magazine she didn’t realize the weight her press conference would carry, “I don’t think I felt the weight of the case stepping up to that podium,” she tells the fashion mag. “I was thinking, I’m doing the right thing. That’s what I’m here for.”
Mosby also shares her opinion on the continuous social and political issues that plague African-Americans: “There have been decades of failed policies: zero tolerance and harassment and people being locked up for small crimes,” she says, “policies that drive a divide between communities and law enforcement. So many people feel like they are voiceless, that they’ve been dehumanized. What we saw in the riots is a result of that.”
Mosby was raised alongside her younger brother and sister in a house full of cops: Her grandfather was on the force, as was her mother, as was her uncle next door. “It gives me perspective,” she says. “I know the majority of police officers are outstanding, dedicated, loyal public servants, just like my family.”
To read Mosby’s entire Vogue profile, click here.
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