Baltimore GOP congressional candidate Kim Klacik turned heads on Monday when she released a new campaign video that dared to tell people in her city something her opponents wouldn't: the truth.
"Do you care about Black lives?" Klacik asks at the start of her video. "The people that run Baltimore don't." In stilettos and with conviction, Klacik then invites viewers to go on a walk with her into one of Baltimore's many dilapidated, crime-ridden neighborhoods.
In the video, Klacik passes an almost endless vista of boarded-up homes, shattered windows, and urban detritus: an all-too-common sight throughout Baltimore. Far from completely abandoned, these rowhouses are home to thousands of Baltimoreans, including children, and are the location of hundreds of homicides per year. The urban decay born out of poverty and desperation has spread like cancer in recent years, as those with any means have packed up and headed out of the city.
Klacik made national headlines last summer when she toured homes that were crumbling in West Baltimore. The videos she took of the filth and decay caught the attention of President Trump, who started a now-infamous spat with Rep. Elijah Cummings.
"This is Baltimore, the real Baltimore," Klacik said in the video. "This is the reality for black people every single day: crumbling infrastructure, abandoned homes, poverty, and crime. Baltimore has been run by the Democrat Pary for 53 years. What is the result of their decades of leadership?"
She then went on to recount the staggering crime and poverty statistics the city has become notorious for.
"Baltimore is one of the top five most dangerous cities in America," she said. "The murder rate in Baltimore is 10 times the U.S. average. In 2019, Baltimore recorded 348 homicides. As the city loses residents at a staggering rate, the murder rate in 2020 has stayed on pace to match or eclipse the number from last year. So far in 2020, 208 people have been murdered.
Democrats don’t want you to see this.
— Kimberly Klacik (@kimKBaltimore) August 17, 2020
They’re scared that I’m exposing what life is like in Democrat run cities.
That’s why I’m running for Congress
Because All Black Lives Matter
Baltimore Matters
And black people don’t have to vote Democrat
Help us win https://t.co/CSOjc9aQlS pic.twitter.com/XnEDTaDDIG
The city of Baltimore, as Klacik pointed out, is 60 percent Black. Nearly all homicides in Baltimore are Black victims. She then pointed to the obvious culprit, the one almost no one dares to name.
"Do you believe Black lives matter? I do," she says. "The Democrat Party has betrayed the Black people of Baltimore. If the politicians walk the street like I do, they would see exactly how their policies and corruption affects us. But they don't want to see it. They don't want you to see this."
Residents of Baltimore then tell Klacik that the Black Lives Matter movement that calls for defunding the police is not the right move to protect Black lives.
"I had three sons killed in Baltimore City, and I think if we defund the police officers it's going to be worse than that," one resident said.
"The worst place for a Black person to live in America is a Democrat-controlled city," Klacik said. "It's 2020, name a blue city where Black people's lives have gotten better. Try. I'll wait."
Klacik then says the part every Democrat wishes nobody would say out loud.
"Democrats think Black people are stupid," she said. "They think they can control us forever, that we won't demand better, and that we'll keep voting for them forever – despite what they've done to our families and our communities."
"I'm running for Congress because I actually care about Black lives. All Black lives matter. Our communities matter. Baltimore matters. And Black people don't have to vote Democrat." Klacik's video now has just under four million views and has garnered many new, high-profile supporters.
. @kimKBaltimore is an exceptional candidate! https://t.co/XTDEOdta4s
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) August 18, 2020
Every person in America needs to see this.
— #ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) August 17, 2020
I fully support @kimKBaltimore for Congress.
Baltimore needs Kim. #MD07
Wow. Just wow.?? https://t.co/czDSvvyjoU
— Dan Crenshaw (@DanCrenshawTX) August 18, 2020
?????? Wow, great job @kimKBaltimore!
— Tammy Bruce (@HeyTammyBruce) August 17, 2020
One of the best political ads of all time, ever.
— Dana Loesch (@DLoesch) August 17, 2020
???? ???? ???? https://t.co/JBU7AP7f7a
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