SF mayor expected to nominate anti-gun violence activist to police commission

SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie is expected on Friday to nominate Mattie Scott as the city's next police commissioner to replace one who was ousted earlier this week. 

Scott is a long-time violence prevention activist who said she hopes to bring police and communities of color together.

She said she never imagined that she would be a police commissioner.

Scott said her work has always focused on improving the relationship between community members  and law enforcement, that it's crucial to saving lives on both sides.

Mayor Lurie honored Scott at city hall Wednesday night for her decades of work as an anti-gun violence activist  during the closing ceremony of Black History Month.

The 72-year-old said she will be back at city hall on Friday morning to be sworn in by the mayor as a new police commissioner.

"I'm still in awe of it all and appreciative of it. "I know we will do great work," said Scott.

The mayor is nominating Scott to replace recently ousted police commissioner Max Carter Oberstone, whose goals did not align with his own.

Scott said her work has largely been inspired by the many young black men killed by gun violence  over the years.  

In 1996, her 24-year- old son, George C. Scott, was shot and killed in the Western Addition neighborhood.

She says he was trying to intervene during a dispute between his friends.

He left behind two young sons.  

"I was depressed. I was angry. I was mad as hell and I couldn't function," said Scott.  

But with help and support from family, friends and her faith, she said she channeled her grief into a lifetime of working to help others who've lost loved ones to gun violence.  

She co-founded two nonprofits.
  
Scott is the California president of Brady United Against Gun Violence.

Her work has garnered the attention of presidents as well as local and state politicians.  

"My goal is and has always been to stop the killing and start the healing," Scott said. Her priority as a police commissioner is the continuation of the work she's been doing. 

It includes building trust between the communities of color and the police.  

"The racism has to be torn down. The hatred has to be torn down.  We have to disarm hate.  And the only way to disarm hate is by coming together. Listening to each other," said Scott. "If you look at the word community, there is a powerful word inside: unity."

She said she's excited and honored that Lurie appointed her to the police commission.

Scott said she's prepared to serve the community.

Amber Lee is a reporter with KTVU. Email Amber at Amber.Lee@Fox.com or text/leave message at 510-599-3922. Follow her on Facebook @AmberKTVU,  Instagram @AmberKTVU  or Twitter @AmberKTVU

 EDITOR'S NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Scott was supposed to be sworn in as a commissioner on Friday.