(BALTIMORE – May 28, 2026) – I get it. No! I really do get it. You see the position. You see the power. And somewhere in the deepest fathoms of your mind, you tell yourself — I want the crown. You see the elder and you think that you, of all people, have what it takes to hold the throne. You believe you have that pop, that je ne sais quoi.
But don’t forget — the crown is not given. It is taken.
One of the most telling depictions of this truth is the Clay-Liston fight in Miami. The younger challenger versus the older champ. In that long-anticipated, legendary square-off, Liston lost before the opening bell. He got in the ring cold while Clay had been loose for minutes. Liston reached to hit what he thought he saw — but Clay had already moved. Clay danced. And all the while, Liston was mere target practice.
Sonny Liston lost that fight, and Cassius Clay moved forward to become known worldwide as The Greatest.
Last night at the Thurgood Marshall Amenity Center at 1315 Division Street, under the guise of Dr. Alvin Hathaway, SEIU members and community people convened to witness another kind of fight: Baltimore City Councilman Mark Conway stepping into the ring against the reigning champ — Black political and institutional fixture Congressman Kweisi Mfume.
This is just my opinion. And I’ll own it — I’m with Mfume.
Conway, born in 1989 in the Bronx, holds a B.A. and a Master of Public Policy from the University of Maryland. He represents Northwest and North Baltimore on City Council, chairs the Public Safety Committee, and has a respectable résumé in civic and environmental work. He is clearly an intelligent man.
But intelligence and readiness are two different things.
Going against Kweisi Mfume is — as Jay-Z once rapped — like holding a candle to the sun. Mfume’s roots, his résumé, his institutional credibility — need we really go there? The man has roots on Division Street, home to some of the strongest men in the world. Do not get it twisted.
What troubled me most about Conway’s performance was not his politics — it was his preparation. You cannot read notes at a forum. This has to be in your soul. It has to live in your core. I first saw this reading thing out in Baltimore County when Makeda Scott came to a political forum clutching not one page but several. I thought — what in the hell is this? If you have to read me your résumé, go home. Send your sixth grader. Because clearly you do not understand the political arena, its etiquette, or basic common sense.
Conway did land one strong moment — his criticism of Mfume’s support of Israel got the room in an uproar. But he pulled that card too soon. He should have built a crescendo and then landed the big punch. Instead, he threw his best shot early, Kweisi recovered, and from that point on he was using Conway’s forehead as a punching bag.
That’s how the night ended — with a young challenger swinging where the champ no longer was.
A lot of people come to Baltimore from New York and mistake our pace for slowness. The sharper ones know better. If you want to move up in this city, master the level you’re on first. Conway hasn’t proven himself in Baltimore’s political machinery. It’s too soon to cash in.
Not being from Baltimore, we can forgive some of the naivete. What I found disrespectful were the people who came to that forum specifically to disrupt Congressman Mfume. That’s not opposition — that’s bad form.
Mark Conway is smart. But smart and ready are not the same thing. Liston was no fool either.
The crown is not given. And last night, it wasn’t taken.
