April 28, 2015
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Rioters destroyed cars and looted Baltimore businesses on Monday following the funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African-American man who died while in police custody last week, reigniting outrage over the treatment of blacks by U.S. police.
Angry rioters hurled bricks and bottles at police while ransacking stores and bars, trashing police vehicles and even torching a local CVS drug store into non-existence. Local and state police donned riot gear and used tear gas in an attempt to restore order as undeterred rioters refused to heed dispersal orders. At least 7 police officers were injured in the melee, however they were not exclusively victims.
Amid 24 hour news coverage of the rioting, amateur video emerged of police throwing rocks at groups of African-Americans, which seemed to entice more violent response. Their actions were downplayed by the media as police being “caught up” in the emotions of the moment.
Early Monday evening, Gov. Hogan activated the Maryland National Guard to respond to the violence, as businesses and monuments prepared for the worst. The University of Maryland’s downtown campus, corporate offices and the city’s famous Lexington Market shut down early. The Baltimore Orioles also postponed their evening baseball game. Looting and vandalism continued well into the night, with more fires that included the burning of a brand new church senior citizen residence only months from completion.
President Obama was briefed on the situation by newly sworn in Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. The US Justice Department, which was already looking into Baltimore’s use of police force, has already opened its own civil rights investigation.
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Family members of Freddie Gray were devastated at the violent response on the day of his funeral.
“Today of all days, the family was clear this was a day of sacred closure,” pastor Jamal Bryant of the city’s Empowerment Temple mega-church said as the violence spiraled out of control. “So for us to come out of the burial and walk into this is absolutely inexcusable. I’m asking every young person to go back home.”
Freddie Gray died last week of a suspicious spinal cord injury while in police custody, after he requested medical help and an inhaler, but was refused. Police have since acknowledged that he should have received the medical attention he requested. They also revealed that Gray was not buckled into his seat in a police van, which made at least 3 unexplained stops on its way to the city’s Western District station, now the scene of nightly protests.
Gray’s arrest was caught on video by bystanders as police severed his spine. He was heard howling in apparent pain as his limp body was dragged into the van. Police eventually discovered his neck was broken and he was dead.
In response to the violence, Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake has issued a 9pm curfew for youth and a citywide curfew for everyone from 10pm to 5am, until further notice.
The thugs tearing up their own damn neighborhood are plain stupid. I bet most of them never even knew the black guy that got killed or whatever they're supposed to be fighting for. How ignorant can you be.
Why do they have to be thugs though? These are young boys and men who have had enough of hunting season by police. No the violence and fires were not a good thing but it's the same thing that happens in white neighborhood when they're having a so called celebration of a sports team winning. That's my problem with CNN and news right now because they keep focusing on the violence and not enough on what caused it in the first place.
I didn't comment on this yesterday because frnakly, I needed time to simmer down myself.
And I wanted to wait and see how things were going to play out yesterday evening and through last night.
First let me say……
No. I don't condone this kind of behavior. And I believe these mindless actually serve to set *Us* back as a people (Black people)…to say nothing of the community directly impacted on every socio-economic level.
And these same acts most definitely serve to feed into every kind of racist stereotype out there about *Us.* Does NOT matter that most of the protesters were (are) Peaceful. The mindless acts of a few very bad characters reflect poorly on our entire race. Is it fair? Of course not. But this is America. And that's just the way it is.
Second……
But I also agree with BD's point: "These are young boys and men who have had enough of hunting season by police."
And since it appears we've entered a new age where (thanks to video-phones) more and more isht will be brought to light concerning police corruption and brutality, especially in communities of Color, I think it'smore likely that from now on, protests that may begin peacefully will at some point escalate into violence and looting.
This tragic situation (and that of Ferguson) should serve as a WAKE-UP call to all Mayors of cities and towns across America, with a police force that has a *troubling* history with the people of that community. Mayors of such communties should immediately begin reaching out to church and civic community leaders, so that together they can collaborate and develop strategies to hopefully prevent (or at least minimize) the possibility of such angry and destructive unrest.
Mayors who put off addressing this issue until it's too late do so at significant risk to the entire city/town.
Most importantly, Time is up America. Americans can no longer IGNORE the prevalence of police corruption and brutality in this country., in particular, when it comes to predominately Black communities.
To continue ignoring it, would be pure madness …and the consequences will not be pretty.
"People crushed by law, have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws" ~ Edmund Burke – Irish author, orator, political theorist, and philosopher
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News:
Hillary Clinton: "It's time to confront 'hard truths' about race and justice" (in America)
Hillary Clinton on Wednesday used her first major policy speech as a 2016 presidential candidate to draw attention to the death of Baltimore's Freddie Gray, saying it was part of an "undeniable" pattern in which black men in America are disproportionately targeted by the criminal justice system.
"What we have seen in Baltimore should — indeed, I think does — tear at our soul," said Clinton in her keynote address at the 18th annual David N. Dinkins Leadership and Public Policy Forum at Columbia University.
"From Ferguson, to Staten Island, to Baltimore, the patterns have become unmistakable and undeniable," Clinton added. "Walter Scott shot in the back in Charleston, South Carolina — unarmed, in debt, terrified of spending more time in jail for child support payments he couldn't afford. Tamir Rice shot in a park in Cleveland, Ohio, unarmed and just 12 years old. Eric Garner, choked to death after being stopped for selling cigarettes on the streets of our city. And now Freddie Gray, his spine nearly severed while in police custody."
H/T: Politico and HuffPost