BALTIMORE — It’s been ten years since protests rocked Baltimore in the wake of Freddie Gray’s death. One voice that emerged from the crowd—and never left the conversation—was Kwame Rose.
“What I’ve been able to do in the last 10 years, not just in Baltimore, but around the world, is try to use my platform to create tangible and equitable change,” Rose told WMAR-2 News.
In 2015, Rose was working as a bellman and performing in a local band. But the death of Freddie Gray, a young man just a few years older than him, changed everything.
“I was at work the first time I heard of Freddie Gray dying,” he said. “It hit that it was home. That this was someone who could’ve been anybody in this city.”
What followed was days of unrest, raw emotion, and headlines that grabbed national attention. Rose was right in the middle of it—most memorably, confronting Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera on live television, demanding more accurate storytelling about what was happening on the streets of Baltimore.
“Being here on the ground, we realized fairly quickly that we didn’t need national coverage,” he said. “We could tell our own stories through social media.”
That newfound visibility came at a cost. Rose says he was arrested multiple times and began to feel targeted by police.
“Experiences of police making my car disappear... losing my house because of all this,” he said.
His longtime barber and family friend, Lemon, saw it firsthand.
“Oh yeah, especially when the police were harassing him,” Lemon recalled. “They were towing his car, standing outside his house waiting for him.”
Despite the pressure, Rose stayed committed to activism. His motivation? The memory of Freddie Gray and the family left behind.
“My love is to them,” he said. “Their loved one inspired this kid from Baltimore to try and make a difference.”
Now a father, Rose says his mission hasn’t changed—only his perspective.
“I would tell that kid I’m proud of him,” he said, looking back. “I don’t think he heard it enough. Especially from the city that he was from.”
And even with all that’s happened, he still believes in Baltimore.
“It is the greatest city in the world,” Rose said. “Right now, it’s just broken. And if we all put effort into it, we can fix it finally.”
