Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake defended her record amid criticism from everyone from a state legislator to her own pastor in an appearance Sunday on
"Meet the Press."
She told host Chuck Todd she is looking into ending the city's weeklong curfew in the next 24 hours.
State Sen. Bill Ferguson has said the curfew is having a negative impact on communities and on businesses and called for it to be lifted, but Rawlings-Blake told Todd that some of the same people who were in town when the protests turned from peaceful to destructive a week ago were still in town Saturday night even though no violence occurred.
"They were back in town, and there were significant public safety concerns," the mayor said.
Todd also asked Rawlings-Blake about a quote from her pastor, the Rev. Todd Yeary of Douglas Memorial Community Church, who told
The Baltimore Sun, "Some folks have had the impression that the mayor has been indifferent and aloof and the governor has been more active, coming in to save Baltimore from its inclination to implode."
Yeary noted that the view oversimplifies the roles of politicians, but another Baltimore pastor, the Rev. Delman Coates, added, "Perception, unfortunately, can be reality."
Rawlings-Blake told Todd that "Everyone has their opinion," but that she is focused on getting through the crisis spurred by the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man, after being taken into police custody.
Gray died of a spinal cord injury he is thought to have sustained after a ride in a police van. Six police officers, three black and three white, have been charged.
The mayor said a task force set up to identify rioters and looters already has made positive ID's and more video from stores will be viewed.
"I'm going to make sure they are brought to justice," she said. "People in the communities are hurting because of the destruction that was done. I am doing it for our city and in their name to bring peace and calm and justice for those community members."
Rawlings-Blake denied the statement by a protester that the burning of a CVS pharmacy actually helped in getting the officers charged.
"I think that statement is totally misguided and untrue," she said. "What happened with the rioting and destruction of CVS was senseless. What it is doing is destroying neighborhoods. It is making it difficult for our seniors to get their medicine, to get food."
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