Baltimore's Women Leaders in the Spotlight.
BLACKWELL: Welcome back to NEW DAY SUNDAY. I'm Victor Blackwell, live in Baltimore. You know, The death of Freddie Gray and the continued fallout from what has happened to him has thrust three women in Baltimore into the spotlight: the city's mayor, its state's attorney and the head of the Maryland National Guard. CNN's Stephanie Elam takes a look at these three women and tells us what they want for Baltimore.</s>STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): This may the popular image of a powerful woman in Baltimore. But the real battle for peace, justice and civil rights is being waged by these women.</s>MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE (D), BALTIMORE: If, with the nation watching, three black women at three different levels can't get justice and healing for this community, you tell me where we're going to get it.</s>ELAM: That's right. The mayor, the state's attorney and the head of Maryland's military are all black women.</s>RAWLINGS-BLAKE: I love this city, and I know we can be better than what we have seen.</s>ELAM: Perhaps the face of Baltimore politics, Stephanie Rawlings- Blake is the city's mayor. A former public defender, Rawlings-Blake walked away with nearly 90 percent of the general vote in 2011 to win her first full term. A Baltimore native, she was first elected to the city council when she was just 25 years, the youngest person ever to be elected to the Baltimore city council. A graduate of Oberlin College and the University of Maryland School of Law, the 45-year-old is married and has a daughter.</s>BALTIMORE CITY STATE'S ATTORNEY MARILYN MOSBY: To the people of Baltimore and the demonstrators across America, I heard your call for, "No justice, no peace." Your peace is sincerely needed, as I want to deliver justice on behalf of this young man.</s>ELAM: Entering the spotlight, Marilyn Mosby, the compelling 35-year- old is Baltimore's newly elected state's attorney and the one to make the call to charge six police officers in the death of Freddie Gray. Mosby was the first in her family to earn a college degree, graduating with honors from Tuskegee University and from Boston College Law School. She then joined the Baltimore City State's Attorney's Office before becoming a prosecutor. Raised in inner-city Boston, Mosby said she learned the value of public service from her grandfather.</s>MOSBY: He was a founding member of the black police organization in Massachusetts. He was a police officer. My uncles were police officers. My mother was. My father was.</s>ELAM: And despite criticism from the police union for what it calls a rush to press charges, Mosby says she's sympathetic to officers called to duty.</s>MOSBY: I understand the time, the commitment, the sacrifice that these police officers make. And I'm not saying in particularly with this case -- those officers that usurp their authority, you have to hold them accountable, because it does a disservice to the really hardworking police officers.</s>ELAM: She has two daughters with her husband, Baltimore City Councilmen Nick Mosby. When asked if her marriage presented a conflict of interest, Mosby said:</s>MOSBY: He works from the legislative side. I am a prosecutor. I am also a public servant. I uphold the law. He -- he makes the laws. And I will prosecute any case within my -- my jurisdiction.</s>ADJUTANT GENERAL OF MARYLAND LINDA SINGH: I did not have any -- any racial issues kind of coming through all of my career. I would have to say that it's been more about me being a female versus, you know, being a male.</s>ELAM: As the adjutant general from Maryland, Linda Singh is in charge of the state's military department, including its National Guard. Having just taken the helm in February, Singh is the first black person and the first woman to hold the post. She is also a member of the governor's cabinet.</s>SINGH: I just hope that we remember that trying to change culture, trying to change habits does not happen overnight.</s>ELAM: A high school dropout and a runaway, Singh went on to graduate from college, earn two master's degrees and receive a Bronze Star. The 50-year-old Maryland native is married with two daughters.</s>SINGH: I've kind of grown up in the Maryland Army National Guard, and it's allowing me to be able to put my fingerprint on something and hopefully to leave a legacy and to give people some type of hope.</s>ELAM: Watching closely, the first black female attorney general of the United States, who took office just as the protests intensified. All powerful black women whose legacy may forever be tied to this moment in Baltimore's history. Stephanie Elam, CNN.</s>BLACKWELL: Stephanie, thank you so much. Next hour, I'll talk to Marcy Johnson, Baltimore public defender, about the conditions in which those who were arrested were locked up. Here's what she says in her Facebook post just to look ahead: "The holding cells are 10 by 10 with one open sink and toilet. There are no beds, no blankets or pillows. The cells were designed to hold people for a few hours, not a few days." So we'll talk more about that. We'll hear what she's doing to help.