Tuesday, April 28, 2015

1177: Baltimore Has 99 Problems But Gladys Ain't One

"Freddie Gray died on April 19, one week after he was taken into custody by Baltimore police.

About 30 minutes after he was arrested and thrown into the back of a van, Gray was found, according to officers' accounts, unconscious and unresponsive. His spinal cord had been severely injured and his voice box nearly crushed.

While the investigation into what or who killed Gray continues, protests and riots swept through Baltimore on Monday. Much like in Ferguson, Missouri, following the police killing of teenager Michael Brown last summer, the prevailing questions seem to center on who is responsible for the violence in the streets — but in order to really understand Gray's final days and their aftermath, one must consider his life and the kind of city in which he grew up — the city that would eventually be the death of him."



As what happens when you work in a school, the Baltimore protests came up in one of my classes. One of the kids offered a solution to end the protests. "Send them back to the cotton fields then maybe they will appreciate what they have."

That. That right there is why they protest. When your first thought on solving the problem of systemic racism in our society is to re-enslave the people who we are being racist to then I don't even know where to begin on where the problem lies in that. Another student even made the comment that there can't be racism because "look at the president."

While most of the blame I place directly on the kid or, more appropriately, his parents, I also feel that the media is to blame. The protests were peaceful throughout the weekend and during the funeral. Barely any mention. But once that CVS went up in flames, media--and therefore the general population--suddenly cared a whole hell of a lot.

So Gladys is just standing in the middle of the house with her arms crossed? I bet she's also going "humph" every few seconds too.

Yeah, that seems healthy.