One way to cool anger in the streets of Baltimore and douse the fires on the street is for the Police to end the coverup of the truth about the killing of 25-year-old Freddie Gray.
Several individuals know who applied the mortal injuries and how they were done.
At the same time, the fires on the streets of Baltimore can be seen as the inevitable consequence of the rage that’s been building up following a series of brutal killings of unarmed African American males by police over the last few weeks and months.
In addition to Gray in Baltimore, whose spine was severed and voice box crushed, according to a family lawyer, while in police custody, we have: Walter Scott in North Charleston; Eric Harris in Tulsa; Tamir Rice in Cleveland (a 12-year- old boy with a toy weapon); Akai Gurley in New York; Eric Garner in New York; Michael Brown, in Ferguson; and several incidents in California of police killings of unarmed Black men.
Much of the protests in Baltimore following the killing of Gray had been peaceful; that’s why it’s also important to look into the role police might have played in inciting the ongoing violence. There have been reports of police even assaulting a photographer of the City Paper who was covering an earlier protest.
Nevertheless, it was a matter of time that at some point some of the rage following the series of police killings would be directed into violent displays.
At the same time, the authorities shouldn’t try to suppress even peaceful protests, including those led by the Black Lives Matter movement, as was attempted in New York after there were some incidents of isolated violence during protests following the non-indictment of Daniel Pantaleo, who killed Eric Garner.
And the violent display in Baltimore must not divert attention from what led to the fires on the streets in the first place. They started when police officers killed Freddie Gray by inflicting the mortal injuries to his spine.
Gray was healthy enough to run away from the police. Soon thereafter, as seen on a video shot by a bystander, Gray was no longer walking under his own power. Handcuffed, he is yelling in pain and his feet dragging when led away by Police.
Gray, reportedly, is shackled at some point. Was this done to prevent him from offering resistance to the officers who ultimately inflicted the injury upon him? Why did it take 30 minutes to transport him from the point of arrest to the precinct? Why were there reportedly three stops along the way? To inflict more injuries and to ensure that medical intervention would not save the young man? Why was Gray not placed in seat belts?
What kind of marks were on his body when he was first examined by medical respondents and doctors at the hospital? How much physical evidence was recovered and preserved?
There are people in Baltimore who know the answers to these questions.
These questions must be addressed immediately and appropriate action taken against the officers and anyone else involved in the death of Freddie Gray.
