Back to his roots: Wes Moore's barbershop, friends relishing historic inauguration
BALTIMORE -- The inauguration of Wes Moore into Maryland's governor's house is no doubt historic, but it is a prideful moment for a barbershop in the heart of Baltimore City.
Not only friends, but fraternity brothers of Wes Moore, the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, gathered at Groomatory Barber's Club on North Howard Street in Baltimore to watch Wednesday's history-making moment.
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Groomatory Barber's Club Street is the haven for cuts, clips and conversation.
But this ascension of Maryland's first Black governor is a source of pride for the small barbershop in downtown Baltimore that mobilized and went door to door for one of their own.
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It's the place where Maryland's newest governor started coming more than 20 years ago and befriended shop owner Derick Ausby Sr.
"And he walked in and we became good friends and you could tell back then, there was something special about this guy," Ausby said.
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Over the years, Moore became a regular and a friend to many who visited the barbershop.
They will be the first to tell you, they know the real Wes Moore.
"He's down to earth, I feel like if he was just sitting at the barbershop and getting a haircut I mean he's really personable," Erica Lewis said.
"He doesn't forget where he came from," said friend Willie Flowers, the Maryland President for NAACP. "That's an overused statement maybe, but he is a genuine, authentic dude."
Moore is now headed to Annapolis – in historic fashion – thanks in part to a grassroots effort by his friends to get out the vote for one of their own.
"I think that's what we did with Wes," Ausby said. "We didn't put him in charge. We charged him to take on a task and I think he really understands that."
"I'm encouraged by his promise to close the so-called achievement gap," fraternity brother David Barrett said.
While the work ahead will be a tall task for Maryland's first Black governor, Wes Moore's impact before he does a single thing in office is a watershed moment for those who know him.
"It's big man," friend Jay Johnson said. "When you think about, you know in Baltimore City, the various influences that we've had in our community."
Moore's friends will especially be paying close attention to the inauguration ceremony, sharing pride in this historical moment.
"I'm just really proud of what we've done to support him, here's this barbershop in Baltimore City," Johnson said.
From the likes of fellow Rhodes scholar and former Baltimore Mayor Kurt Schmoke to late Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings, who always challenged Baltimore to do better, they would be proud of this moment in Maryland history.
"In some ways he might say, for our state, we can't get any better than this moment," Johnson said.
To quote Frederick Douglass, who Bible Wes Moore, will use to be sworn in, "if there is no struggle, there is no progress."
"Everybody's watching Maryland now," said Flowers. "As much as the focus is on the governor, it's also on us."
