Baltimore has many nicknames, but I’m going to focus on two for the purposes of this week’s column: “Charm City,” and “Mobtown.” One was manufactured, the other was earned. Sean Yoes According to Baltimore historian and long-time newspaper man Gil Sandler, the Charm City handle was attached to our rough and tumble port town in […]
Author Archives: Sean Yoes
AFRO Baltimore Editor
Another Baltimore Bully
Sean Yoes I remember when I first saw the video of Baltimore City Police officer Vincent Cosom beating the hell out of Colin Truss at a bus stop on the corner of Greenmount and North, while two of his buddies (who also happened to be police officers) held Truss’ arms and roughed up his girlfriend […]
Commissioner Davis on the Devastating DOJ Report
A couple of weeks ago Baltimore City Police Commissioner Kevin Davis said on my radio show “First Edition,” a little more than a year after the uprising and the (premature) conclusion of the trials of six police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray, morale within the rank and file of the police department […]
Was there a Rush to Kill Korryn Gaines?
We don’t really know what happened in the final fateful moments before the killing of 23-year-old Korryn Gaines, a young mother of two, who was gunned down by police in front of her five-year old son, Kodi, in her Randallstown apartment in Baltimore County on August 1. All we really know is what Baltimore County […]
Tim Kaine Plays His Role at the National Urban League Convention
Before he brought Sen. Tim Kaine, the Democratic nominee for vice president, to the stage for the National Urban League’s morning plenary on Aug. 4, League President Marc Morial announced the Donald Trump campaign decided not to attend the group’s convention without explanation. And it is unclear whether the Trump campaign even ever gave an […]
A Conversation with Police Commissioner Kevin Davis
Many communities of color and poor communities across the nation have been under siege in their own neighborhoods and homes for generations because of seemingly ubiquitous crime. And many have also felt besieged by brutality and misconduct at the hands of some of the law enforcement officers sworn to protect and serve them. Sean Yoes […]
Do Black Lives Really Matter to the DNC?
Sean Yoes Earlier this week, seven women known as, “Mothers of the Movement,” took front and center at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. They are the mothers of the “martyrs” who inspired the Black Lives Matter movement. Gwen Carr is the mother of Eric Garner, who, while unarmed, was choked to death by an […]
The Whole World Is Watching
Sean Yoes Earlier this week, Lt. Brian Rice became the fourth police officer to escape a guilty verdict in the trials of the six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. By the evening of day one of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, speakers were acknowledging Rice’s acquittal on all charges. During his […]
Black Lives Matter Literally Under Fire
Sean Yoes Since five Dallas police officers were gunned down last week by a lone (allegedly) sniper, who allegedly claimed (before he was blown to bits by an explosives toting robot implemented by Dallas police) he wanted to kill cops, especially White cops, life seems to have gotten harder for the Black Lives Matter Movement. […]
Increased Attacks on Mosby Reflect Vast Power of FOP
Sean Yoes The trial of Baltimore City police Lt. Brian Rice, the fourth trial (another bench trial) of the six officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray began earlier this week. So far, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby is winless — there has been a mistrial and two acquittals — in her search […]
The Murder of ‘Lor Scoota’ Leaves City Reeling
Sean Yoes A vigil for 23-year old Tyriece Watson, the Baltimore rapper known as, “Lor Scoota,” on June 27 ended with a smoldering standoff between those mourning the young burgeoning hip hop artist and Baltimore City police, at Penn and North, one of the flashpoints of last April’s uprising. Some hurled bricks and bottles at […]
Which Way Will the Goodson Verdict Go?
Sean Yoes As we publish this week’s AFRO, the verdict in the trial of Caesar Goodson, one of six Baltimore City police officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray should be known. And despite the broad consensus that this was the, “strongest,” case the State’s Attorney’s office had in the trials connected to Gray’s […]

