Baltimore rioting "ain’t about Freddie Gray.”

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from Joel Anderson, BuzzFeed News Reporter


___Their anger surged shortly after the funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old
black man who died on April 19 — a week after he somehow suffered a major spinal cord injury while in Baltimore police custody. The violence in Baltimore is a dreadful echo of the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri that followed the killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed black man, at the hands of Darren Wilson, a white police officer who said he acted in self-defense. Since then, the killings of unarmed black men across the country have sparked a nationwide movement protesting what they see as excessive force by police. On Monday in Baltimore, that frustration with police boiled over into violence.

“It’s from years and years of taking shit,” said Martin, a longtime resident and a cook at a nearby soul food restaurant. “Now we’re at a point where people just don’t give a fuck.”

This hopelessness — expressed by many young protesters in Baltimore — arose from frustration with a system that they believe has consigned them to police brutality, poverty and even poorer prospects. The streets were filled with children Monday, many of them fresh out of school and itching for a fight with police. By 4 p.m., around the time schools let out for the day, people were hustling out of office buildings and stores and restaurants were closing their doors to customers...

“This has set West Baltimore back at least 10 years,” said David Lemus, who works at Frozen Desert Sorbet, which had been scheduled to open next week. “I don’t know why they choose to do this in the slums and the hood, because this is where those businesses were needed...”

“I know people are frustrated,” he said. “But we live here. This is our neighborhood. Tomorrow, when the people want to get a sandwich from Subway while they wait for the bus, it ain’t gonna be there.”

He paused. “This ain’t about Freddie Gray.”


read: http://www.buzzfeed.com/joelanderson/this-aint-about-freddie-gray#.poympYQqol

Shaun King @ShaunKing
Some of the best photos being taken in Baltimore right now are being taken by KnownNobody @byDVNLLN


@byDVNLLN



ron fullwood @ronfullwood

[newfie11]

1. Exactly, repressed people can only take so much nt

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2. so many explanations for the destructive acts

...all of the reasons coursing through the same veins of repression, poverty, and injustice.


Three basic and enduring elements to unrest occurring around protests against police violence
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026576698

[salin]

3. I am haunted by the video I saw yesterday - of the Inkster cops

Mr. Dent is lucky to have survived the beating. The video of the beating (released some time ago) was horrific. The video (that the cops did not release to the lawyers) - showing the cops in the immediate aftermath - hooting it up - while wiping off the blood of Mr. Dent... the one who does a mocking dramatization of Dent being beat (flaying) and the other cop who roars with laughter - while Mr. Dent is just off camera - bleeding profusely we are told - and no medical help, I believe, has even yet been called.

This haunts me. Because this mentality - of superiority - of glee - of complete dehumanization of Mr. Dent ... is a very visual explanation for how trigger happy cops can become trigger happy cops.

There are numerous other videos out there of similar moments back at the station. However, this one - released just after the "Mysterious" and fatal severing of a man's spine - create an undeniable environment. If I were a film maker - I would make a montage that not only includes the victims - but also includes videos and audio of cops in the aftermath.

This is what suburban white america - (of which I am apart) - which is mostly disconnected to the victims - and still view police as "serve and protect" - who mostly pay attention when the news covers the riots - needs to see and experience. Certainly those predisposed to supremacy would be unmoved. But I still believe that there are more good people than not who would be moved - and haunted (as happens when even an unconscious belief system is challenged). Perhaps then - enough additional voices would join in affinity with BlackLivesMatter - to the point where the growing national din would become an un-ignorable roar. That taking no action to reform the role (training and accountability just being a part of that) would not be an option.

Something has to happen. Precious lives are being lost. Unimaginable talent is being thrown away. And all of us - within our society - are losing our soul.