by TRNN | Nov 3, 2026 | baltimore, elections, Maryland, midterms, Politics and Movements: US, video
With elections just week’s away, Maryland’s gubernatorial debate between Democratic incumbent Governor Wes Moore and Republican challenger Dan Cox took place on Oct. 6. In a special, post-debate Town Hall—hosted on Oct. 7 at the The Real News Network studio in Baltimore and co-organized by Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle—TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez moderates a panel discussion about the bankruptcy of politics-as-usual and the need for building “grassroots governing power” today. Panelists include: Charly Carter, political strategist and founder of Step Up Maryland and Step Up to Lead; Dayvon Love, LBS Director of Public Policy; and Andy Ellis, Green Party candidate for Governor of Maryland.
Credits:
Studio Production / Post-Production: Cameron Granadino, David Hebden
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Maximillian Alvarez:
So we’re here at the Real News Network Studio in Baltimore, and I am really grateful to be sitting here with an incredible panel of folks who are going to help us think through and respond to the Maryland gubernatorial debate that we watched yesterday, October 6th, between Democratic incumbent Governor Wes Moore and Republican candidate Dan Cox. So a lot of us watched that debate either live or afterwards. There was a lot to be furious about. There was a lot to think about in terms of like, okay, these are the candidates we have on offer, but also these are the things that our political parties think are important to us. And so I think a big way that we’re going to address tonight’s discussion is by talking about the issues and voices and perspectives that were not represented on that debate stage
by Maximillian Alvarez | Sep 23, 2026 | AI, baltimore, Economy, Politics and Movements: US, video
Editor’s Note: Council Bill 26-0174 (data centers) will get another public hearing in front of the Baltimore City Council’s Land Use & Transportation Committee on the 4th floor of City Hall on the morning of September 24.
Baltimore, Maryland, currently has a moratorium on new data center development, but a proposed City Council bill has residents nervous that the door is creaking open for data centers to come into the city—and that City Council views this as “inevitable.”
Council Bill 26-0174, sponsored by City Councilmember Phylicia Porter, would require new data center projects in Baltimore to go through a conditional use approval process that includes a health equity assessment. Residents opposed to the bill say that while the bill may be well intentioned, they want a full data center ban, not stricter guidelines for data centers operating in Baltimore.
In this on-the-ground report, TRNN takes you inside the August 27 Baltimore City Planning Commission public hearing on Council Bill 26-0174:
TRNN also published a full, unedited recording of the August 27 Baltimore City Planning Commission public hearing on Council Bill 26-0174, which is free and available to the public on our YouTube channel:
Credits:
Videography: Maximillian Alvarez
Post-Production: Dave Hebden, Cameron Granadino
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Speaker 1:
We all are well aware that we’re not dealing with good faith actors when it comes to the people who want to build data centers.
Speaker 2:
I currently work at a data center. That doesn’t mean that I approve of data centers. Every
Speaker 3:
Every time it storms, it seems that a bunch of lights go down in the city. I’m confused why we’re
by Mansa Musa | Sep 15, 2026 | baltimore, Policing, Politics and Movements: US, Prisons and Policing, Rattling the Bars, video
On August 8th at the Real News Studio, a screening of the new documentary Beyond the Wire—directed by filmmaker Dr. S. Rasheem—was followed by a panel discussion featuring seasoned conflict mediation organizers from the film. The participants explored their grassroots efforts to challenge the corporate media establishment’s heavy emphasis on crime—which drives city policy and the local economy—and redefine Baltimore’s historical present as a city of abolition.
Credits:
Videographer: Cameron Granadino/David Hebden
Editor: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Speaker 1:
I’m going to be super brief. I largely just want to, again, thank everyone for coming out. I’m the producer of this film, but I’m sure you guys know you can’t do something like this by yourself, right? So I want to also thank the Baltimore Legacy Project Youth Crew who’s outside, who took your. I mean, they’ve just been really on point getting B-roll setting up. Really appreciate them a lot. Also, the folks that you saw in the film, thank you so much for trusting me with your voice, your story. I don’t take that lightly. And when I say you don’t do it by yourself, one of the. Oh, I also want to shout out. She’s not in here, but the narrator is actually here too. She’s part of Baltimore Legacy Project Youth Crew in the front. Her name’s Empress. Yep. But someone who is definitely in the thick of all of this with me is there’s several cinematographers, but there was one person who was the lead cinematographer, more or less the director of photography on this project.
They were also the
by Mansa Musa | Sep 15, 2026 | baltimore, Prisons and Policing, Rattling the Bars, video
Author and community organizer Dominque Conway has transformed a house at the epicenter of the 2015 Baltimore uprising into “Eddie’s Front Porch,” a people’s museum dedicated to preserving the remarkable legacy of her late husband, Eddie Conway. To mark the opening of the museum, this special episode of Rattling the Bars features host Mansa Musa sitting down with Dominque to discuss the project and Eddie’s enduring impact.
The conversation also highlights perspectives from formerly incarcerated organizers who worked alongside Eddie inside Maryland prisons and are now building community power on the ground in West Baltimore. Together, they share powerful stories celebrating the man, the myth, and the legend behind the movement.
Credits:
Production: Maximillian Alvarez
Post-production: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.Mansa Musa:
So we are here at Eddie Conway’s front porch, which is, we call it People’s Museum. I’m here with Dominque Conway, the wife of Eddie Conway. Tell our audience what Eddie Conway meant to you or who was Eddie Conway to you?
Dominque Conway:
That’s really, that’s hard to sum up, to be quite honest. Eddie was so many things to me and so many other people, but Eddie was, quite honestly, he was my hero as he was to many other people. He was a Black Panther. He was somebody who also served 44 years in the Maryland prison system and didn’t allow that time to break him. During that time, Eddie worked with hundreds of men in the prison system, many of whom have come out and done their own programming and continued to do really great things in the community. So at
by Maximillian Alvarez | Jul 29, 2026 | baltimore, documentary, Politics and Movements: US, protest, Racial Justice, video
A 7-11 on Liberty Heights Avenue in Northwest Baltimore, Maryland, has become a flashpoint of community rage and resistance after Ade Oba Tokunbo (Stephen King), a 74-year-old resident, was attacked and brutally beaten there by six teenagers on July 7, 2026. The same location is also the site of multiple robberies and the murder of Victorious Swift in March of 2017. In response, “A Clarion Call,” a new coalition of local community organizations and residents, organized a rally at the 7-11 on Sunday, July 26, and led a community march into the store to demand the company implement policies that will keep customers safe and aid in the apprehension of the youth responsible for the July 7 attack. In this on-the-ground report, TRNN takes you inside the community rally held at the 7-11, near Mondawmin Mall, on July 26.
Additional links/info:
Organizers of A Clarion Call have set up a GoFundMe for Ade Oba Tokunbo and are asking community members to contact ClarionCallBaltimore[at]gmail[dot]com if they have any information about the perpetrators of the July 7.
Renee Anderson, Mike Hellgren, CBS Baltimore, “New video shows 74-year-old attacked outside Baltimore 7-Eleven by group wielding sword, assault rifle”
Credits:
Production: Maximillian Alvarez
Post-Production: Maximillian Alvarez, Cameron Granadino, David Hebden
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Crowd Chants:
We are we. We are we. We are we. We are we. We are we.
Gwendolyn Levi:
We need to be able to say that we in our community are willing to stand up. We’re standing up for our young people. We’re standing up for our seniors. We are standing up for our communities.
Queen Mother Victory Swift-Gye Nyame:
On July
by Mansa Musa | Jun 23, 2026 | baltimore, Media Criticism, Policing, Politics and Movements: US, Prisons and Policing, Rattling the Bars, video
A new, thought-provoking documentary hits theaters this summer. Beyond the Wire, by filmmaker and researcher Dr. S. Rasheem, offers a powerful counternarrative to the popular crime series The Wire. In this exclusive, one-on-one interview between Dr. Rasheem and Rattling the Bars host Mansa Musa, they explore how her background in community organizing compelled her to tell a different story of Baltimore—one focused on the boots-on-the-ground activism that defies the narrative of a hopeless, crime-ridden city in need of over-policing. Premiering this June, Beyond the Wire is already being hailed by critics and organizers alike as an indispensable representation of “The Greatest City in America.”
Credits:
Producer / Videographer / Editor: Cameron Granadino
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated as soon as possible.
Mansa Musa:
Welcome to this edition of Rattling the Bars. I’m your host, Mansa Musa. A new documentary Beyond the Why, which provides a powerful counter narrative to the popular crime series, The Wire is premiering this month. Today I’m honored and joined by the filmmaker, Dr. S. Rasheen. Welcome to the show, Dr. Rashid.
Dr. S. Rasheem:
Thank you so much for having me. I’m really excited to be here. All
Mansa Musa:
Right tell our audience a little bit about yourself and more importantly, your background and community organizing.
Dr. S. Rasheem:
Yeah. So my background as it relates to this work, how I came to even being able to a point where I’m doing filmmaking, I’ll also share that. So I am a social scientist by socialization and training. So it just means that I largely study people, large populations of people. The people that I particularly focus
