The police shooting of black teen Michael Brown at the hands of then Ferguson, Missouri white cop Darren Wilson ignited a national firestorm regarding the fact that cops often shoot and kill unarmed black people for little more than existing. That birthed the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Then, there were the protests, unrest, and violence in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray, yet another African American man who died at the hands of the police. Since then there have been national protests across the nation. One man who has risen to prominence through his activism and advocacy for #BlackLivesMatters: activist DeRay McKesson.McKesson is currently an activist by both passion and trade. He is from Baltimore, and returned to his hometown a little more than a year ago. He became famous for his commentary on racist policing and anti-black violence on Twitter. His prolific use of social media and for his on the ground, live commentary meant that many people began to look to him as a man who could be trusted to provide them with the truth   even when the cops are busy trying to cover it up. Now, he has announced that he will be running for mayor of Baltimore.Calling himself a  son of Baltimore,  McKesson says his mayoral bid is about a commitment  to usher our city into an era where the government is accountable to its people and is aggressively innovative in how it identifies and solves its problems. The 30-year-old modern day civil rights icon tweeted his intention to run late Wednesday night, as he filed his papers to run for Baltimore s mayor as a Democrat. I Am Running for Mayor of Baltimore  https://t.co/tYQ58AOXYp  deray mckesson (@deray) February 4, 2016Godspeed, man. We need people who call out the system for what it is, and who are unafraid to explain how it is stacked against black people   how it costs so many of us our very lives. The field is definitely huge, with 28 candidates and counting, but you can do it, my brother.Featured image from Twitter