Space To Destroy
“We also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that.” Those were the words uttered by Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the Baltimore mayor in 2015 at the time of the Freddie Gray riots. Maybe it seemed noble to her, like the right thing to do; let people vent their anger even if it meant breaking the law. But how has it actually worked out for Baltimore since then?
Well numbers don’t lie. Since then violent crime has spiked to levels never seen before by any other American city. In 2017, Baltimore recorded 342 murders, it’s highest per-capita rate ever, more than twice as many murders as Chicago that year and more than New York City even though it is fourteen times larger. Last year in 2019 we broke our own record with 353! Because of the failure of the leaders to respond to the rise in disorder we have lost more black lives over the last 5 years in Baltimore than any other time in our cities history. What is even sadder is the ripple effects that have occurred and will continue to worsen moving forward. We have less tourism; I mean who wants to visit a city where you might get assaulted walking down the street right? Restaurants and businesses are closing their doors left and right because they can’t make it financially. That means less jobs and less opportunities for people living in that city, many of whom happen to be people of color. A population exodus which means less tax money for schools and important programs that help the poor. You think it’s bad now, give it a few years.
When the government and the police don’t stand together, it’s like sending a signal to the kids that mom and dad are fighting and no one is in charge. Not only did criminal activity increase because of this, after the 2015 riots Baltimore police stopped cracking down on crime as hard because they felt like their own government didn't have their backs. Now we are seeing that multiplied in cities across the country. What do you think the result is going to be? Who is going to enforce the law? Who are you going to call when someone breaks in your house? Ghostbusters? The mayor? Good luck with that. Then you have suburban white people trying to pretend they understand the plight of the black community. But where will you be Karen when the shit hits the fan? Tucked away in your nice home in the county feeling really good about yourself when that one time you drove into the city to take a stand against the evil police force. Bad cops do deserve to be punished, just like bad doctors and bad people in any profession and I hope Derek Chauvin gets what he deserves. Because yes, black lives do matter. They matter so much that we have to preserve an order of law. Protesting? Sure, all for it. But giving people space to destroy and allowing them to loot, destroy property and assault people is not protesting. So I don’t care if the people doing it are black, white or green, lock their asses up or you are going to see a lot more black lives lost in the future. How do I know? Because we already see this happening right now in Baltimore! We have to learn from the mistakes of the past or be condemned to repeat them. I grew up in Brooklyn, MD, one block from the projects, so I have love for Baltimore and cities like it. That is why I volunteer regularly with CityFam trying to do my part to pick up the broken pieces left in large part by failed leadership, not create more. Our leaders across the country must step up their game and bring unity not division right now. The time for party politics is over.
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