The following is a transcript of an interview with Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott that aired March 31, 2024.
ED O’KEEFE: We now turn to Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott. Mr. Mayor, thank you for spending part of Easter with us. We appreciate that. After last week’s bridge collapse in your city, what is the most pressing need right now in Baltimore?
MAYOR BRANDON SCOTT: Well, that’s the most urgent need, because our focus will always be on these families. I’m talking about focusing on the total impact on humans, right. And it starts with the loss of lives. It then depends on what will happen to these families, and then the economic realities that result from that. And that’s where we will continue to focus. The salvage operation has been underway since yesterday, with a crane and barge working to begin cutting out part of the bridge, this work is taking place through Unified Command. But we are and always will be focused on the human impact of this tragedy.
ED O’KEEFE: Well, let’s talk about that a little bit. What more can you do as a city for these four families, and more broadly, for the approximately 15,000 workers whose jobs are tied in one way or another to the Port of Baltimore?
MAYOR BRANDON SCOTT: Well, look, I’ve said from day one that my office will be here to support families in any way possible. And it’s not just me, our partners and Governor Moore and his administration, my partners in Baltimore County Executive Olszewski and County Executive Pittman and their administration, my Mayor’s Office of Immigration Affairs , which works with nonprofit groups that work with immigrants to build cases. management of these people, we have already set up a fund which now contains more than $300,000 for these families, and we will support them throughout this process. This could mean that they need ongoing trauma care, which could mean that in the future they will need help with different jobs and things like that. But we must also focus on the impact of port workers and businesses. I have to first thank President Biden for allowing the SBA to now allow us to have these businesses apply for grants through the SBA so that they can keep their businesses open and keep these people employed. We worked together – and we thank Governor Moore for making this request, it’s a strong sign of leadership for these workers at these companies. We don’t want these small businesses to disappear. We do not want these jobs, on which my residents and all residents depend, to disappear. We are currently opening a center at 1501 South Clinton Street tomorrow morning, where people can come in the afternoon at 1 p.m. to come see the SBA. We will have our office on standby, it will be open every day this week. Very gracious and grateful to the people who care for us for allowing us to have him there. So that we can help these people who are affected in every way. But as I always say, in situations like this, we have to start with those who are most directly affected. And it is of course about these families.
ED O’KEEFE: You’re talking about, when you say SBA, the Small Business Administration which is now offering loans of up to about $2 million to affected businesses. You know, ultimately, Congress will probably have to get involved in some part of this to provide federal assistance. What, if anything, have you done with lawmakers from both parties to try to advocate for Baltimore’s needs?
MAYOR BRANDON SCOTT: Well, look, I have the best delegation in the United States Congress. And Senator Cardin, Senator Van Hollen, Congressman Mfume, even Congressman Raskin, Congressman Trone, they’ve all been on the ground. I don’t need to contact them because they’ve been there, talking to us, talking to the people affected. And we know that they are going to do everything in their power to recover the resources necessary for this tragedy that affects not only the city of Baltimore and the state of Maryland. This port is the primary port for automobiles and agricultural equipment. So it matters to people in rural North Carolina, Kansas, and Iowa, and it matters to the global economy. And it’s not, it shouldn’t be something that sparks anything or any conversation around a party. We’re talking about an American tragedy for an American city, an American port city, that means so much to this country in the world, and no party conversations should be involved.
ED O’KEEFE: Secretary Buttigieg told us some time ago that we still don’t know how quickly this cleanup will happen, or how quickly the bridge will be rebuilt. What happens to Baltimore’s economy in the meantime?
MAYOR BRANDON SCOTT: Well, right now that’s what we’re looking at, right? We are thinking about how we are going to unload some of the cargo that is in the port and perhaps use our partners at Tradepoint Atlantic to help us with that. We obviously have stuff on trains that can come out. That’s why it’s so important to the SBA and what it does. We are told that I will be meeting with the workers’ union leaders themselves tomorrow to talk about what kind of support they need, while we all think and think about how we can support them and keep as much trade going. flow as much as possible. This is going to be a long road. This won’t be a sprint. It’s a marathon and like I said yesterday, as you know anything about long distance running, people who go out fast never win. We’re going to win, because we’re going to make sure that every step has the right pace, focus, and attention to every detail that we need to make sure that we’re not just rebuilding that bridge. That we focus on the humans affected and every detail.
ED O’KEEFE: It was a tragic accident. But it seems like these days when something like this happens in this country, there are always conspiracy theories and a lot of misinformation. And in the case of this accident, some downright nasty things have been said about you online this week. I have to ask you, one of the craziest things is that some conservative critics have blamed Maryland’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies for the bridge collapse. Diversity, equitable inclusion, better known as DEI to many people. Some critics have called you “the DEI mayor.” What did you think of this when you heard it?
MAYOR BRANDON SCOTT: Well, like I said, already this week we know. Look, I’m a young black man and a young black mayor of this country. We know there’s a lot of racism, people who think I shouldn’t be in this position. I know, I’ve been black my whole life. I know how much racism goes on in this country. But I will always focus on these people. I didn’t want to be out there that evening asking and answering questions about DEI. I worry about the loss of life. We know how ridiculous this is. These people are afraid, as I said this week, to use the N-word. It shouldn’t even be in a conversation. We need to stay focused on the mission at hand and continue, in my opinion, to prove these people wrong about people who look like me by doing my job in the best way possible. And ignore the noise of people who just want to be devices and who are afraid that their way of life, where people who don’t look like them and think like them, can be in control, can be in power and actually be better at what they do. work.
ED O’KEEFE: Well, we thank you for spending time over Easter to talk to us about the situation. Like you said, it’s a marathon. We will probably be with you throughout the rest of the miles and for now, Happy Easter and thanks again.
MAYOR BRANDON SCOTT: Thank you. Happy Easter.
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