What Baltimore Tells Us About America’s Racism and Inequality

(TakePart)  The unrest in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray—who died of a severed spine while in police custody—seemed to have caught elected officials, the public, and the media off guard. And those who are far removed from the problems, the challenges, and the indignities facing poor and disenfranchised communities in that city shake their heads in disbelief and wonder why this is all happening.

Surely, the distant observer or armchair pundit has questions. Why are they protesting? Why are they destroying their own neighborhoods? Why did they loot the CVS? Why didn’t the suspect simply comply with the police and avoid causing his own death?

These questions reflect the very real disconnect between the haves and the have nots in the land of the free, and the gaping chasm on matters of race. It’s impossible to comprehend what’s happening here and now—or know the issues we have yet to face—without having an intimate awareness of black America’s history.

Baltimore Police spin news of gangs uniting to protest into ‘credible threat’

(theGrio)  In Baltimore, the Bloods and the Crips street gangs are putting down their weapons and are marching together against police brutality. That sounds like a good plan, but the police see it another way.

As was reported in The Daily Beast, the gangs, responding to the death of Freddie Gray by the police, have decided to declare a truce and join the protesters, focusing their attention on, hopefully, fighting a corrupt system and becoming a positive force in the neighborhood.

Society always tells the wrongdoers among us that they need to change their ways and contribute to their communities rather than tear them down and kill one another over dumb stuff. So now, they are taking a step in the right direction. That’s how deep things are right now in Baltimore.