In a case that finally started to receive national attention over the last few weeks, Baltimore prosecutors finally achieved their desired goal after three attempts, a conviction of Keith Davis Jr., a young Black working class resident of Baltimore, who his supporters say, was set up by Baltimore police, for the murder of Kevin Jones. Two trials ended in hung juries and another resulted in the judge overturning the conviction of Davis.
There is more crime, especially murders, and people are getting away with those murders. Drug dealers now rule the streets. In 2014 there were 211 homicides, which rose in 2015 to 344 homicides, in 2016 there were 318, and last year there were 342 killings, which may suggest a correlation between the decrease in proactive policing and an an increase in homicides. [...]
Rotten eggs, oil spill spoils and devouring plastic + this day in history w/the Freddie Gray riots and our song of the day by Father John Misty on your Morning Monarchy for April 25, 2018.
“Is the system saying that Freddie Gray killed himself?” asked Kevin Moore, who recorded Freddie Gray’s last moments alive as you can see in the video below, “Because nobody’s being held responsible.”
Baltimore prosecutors dropped all charges today.
Last April, a young man entered the back of a western Baltimore Police paddywagon on his own two feet, complaining but otherwise healthy.
He emerged in a coma.
Baltimore Circuit Judge Barry Williams announced that Baltimore city police officer Caesar Goodson is not guilty for killing Freddie Gray.
Gray’s last moments were recorded in a dramatic video showing him alive and well by neighbor Kevin Moore at the Gilmour Homes in western Baltimore.
Officer Goodson was the driver of the van, accused of giving a rough ride to Gray leaving him paralyzed and on life support.
It’s tempting to look at Baltimore and think that this is an urban event, impacting the lives and futures of relatively few who are relatively insignificant. It’s convenient to think of a ‘riot’ as breakdown of civil society, but civil society broke down long ago. The streets of Baltimore are the parallel to Reagan’s fantasy view of America. They reflect a reality that in spite of the effort to hide and marginalize it won’t go away. It proves that no matter how much we try to argue otherwise, our collective fate must honor all those who are part of it, not just the few.
Suddenly, the mass media is writing about or televising the conditions in West Baltimore. Conditions that Washington Post columnist, Eugene Robinson, summarized as decades long “suffocating poverty, dysfunction and despair.”
On Friday, Baltimore state’s attorney Marilyn Mosby declared that six police officers will face criminal charges including second degree heart murder, manslaughter, assault and false imprisonment for their role in the arrest and homicide of 25-year-old African American Freddie Gray.
The announcement by State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby that the six officers involved in the murder of Freddie Gray will be prosecuted was welcomed with cheers at City Hall and in Freddie Gray’s community, car horns were honked in celebration. The welcome announcement is a first step toward justice for the family of Freddie Gray and a hopeful beginning for the kind of accountability that has been missing in Baltimore when it comes to police violence.
We should all welcome the news of charges being brought against the six police officers in Baltimore for the death of Freddie Gray. At the very least, the Baltimore Police Department’s culpability in Gray’s death is uncontroversial.
But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves, those of us not on the ground in Baltimore, anyway, in considering this matter resolved, either locally or nationally. Because it isn’t.
