THE ENIGMATIC DEATH OF FREDDIE GRAY AND THE BRAZEN HYPOCRISY OF MIDDLE CLASS AMERICA

I woke this morning approximately two hours earlier than normal for work. I rolled out of bed and begrudgingly made my way to the Keurig. This morning I was tasked with picking up some clients and driving them to Cleveland Probate Court for trial. With mismatched socks and a drowsy malaise I rushed to my car, and at about 90 MPH I blazed down I-90 West en route to an address on the east side of Cleveland. Not surprisingly, I came upon a traffic jam around East 172 Street that forced me to take back roads until I hit Martin Luther King Boulevard and ultimately ended up on Hough Avenue. I was now running late and decided to cut across East 86^th Street to get to Euclid Avenue. Through the myriad of curse words shooting out of my mouth at both lackluster motorists and every traffic light which seemed to turn red on my approach, I began what is seemingly a daily routine, and simply accepted I was going to be late. I looked around and took in my surroundings, this was a neighborhood I had only driven through on two other occasions, both on the same day to Case Western for a recruiting visit. Coincidentally enough, I turned to my left, and saw this mural.

The mural is on the foundation of the African American History Museum of Cleveland and it depicts the Hough Riots of 1966. For six days the city of Cleveland, almost all predominantly in the Hough neighborhood, rioted over racial tensions that began over the denial to serve water to African Americans. The course of the riots left four African Americans dead, a number injured, and sparked hundreds of arrests and fires. More importantly, Hough never recovered. It was painfully obvious the pockmark that the incident left as I continued to drive past buildings whose prime passed at least two decades prior.

Yesterday, the City of Baltimore, a city that much like Hough rioted in the late-sixties, once again took to the streets. The death of an African American man, Freddie Gray, who died only after he was taken into police custody, served as the catalyst. Per the attorney for Gray’s estate, Mr. Gray suffered three fractured vertebrae, a crushed voice box, and an 80% severing of his spinal column. Other reports claim Gray’s leg appeared to be broken while he was being dragged to a police van where he ultimately suffered the aforementioned injuries to his neck. The attending officers attest that Mr. Gray fell in the van because he was not secured. What actually occurred inside the van is still under investigation.

Initially Gray was targeted by police for acting suspiciously in a high crime area. Reports state, that when an attending officer made eye contact with Gray he began to run which prompted a chase, leading to his arrest. A switchblade was found on Gray upon said arrest. Per Maryland Criminal Code § 4-101, while a switchblade is illegal to carry concealed, it is a misdemeanor that, at worst considering the facts, would carry a $1000.00 fine. Interestingly enough, two weapons are expressly not included in the, “Definition,” subsection of the code; a pocket knife and handguns.  Thus, there is a definite question as to what exactly gave the police the reasonable suspicion to initiate the stop before Mr. Gray began to run. However, that is an entirely different discussion.

Unfortunately, I frequent social media and watch television. The remainder of this piece will focus on both the public and media coverage of the events in Baltimore from the time Freddie Gray died to last night’s events. Immediately after the death of Mr. Gray every news outlet, major and minor, dedicated a portion of coverage to the events. Out of curiosity I mistakenly turned my attention to the comments section of an article from a local Cleveland publication. I was met with such gems as, “Maybe don’t break the law and you won’t die.” Apparently, this woman from Avon Lake, an affluent neighborhood on the west side of Cleveland, believes that any criminal act shall be met with capital punishment. While this is contrary to every notion of the American idea of jurisprudence. Furthermore, ironically enough, since 2013, Maryland does not have a death penalty for any crime. This was quite possibly the daftest form of ignorance I have ever read. I read on. Further down the thread a comment read,

“It’s only a matter of time before these idiots start doing what they do best, riot, burn and destroy the city. Bc that’s what they do best!! Don’t these people work? Oh yea, probably all on welfare with nothing better to do!!”

I believe the ignorance of the quote speaks for itself. However, this man, who lives in Westlake, another affluent town on the west side of Cleveland, was not alone. More importantly, he shockingly was not sequestered as the lone mouthpiece for the minority voice as many others shared sentiments that were strikingly similar to the previous quotes.

At this point I believe it is important to note that the severing of one’s spine, breaking a neck, has been, and likely always will be, considered particularly barbaric conduct. Likewise, while it seems highly unlikely based on the facts that Mr. Gray simply fell unprovoked, even if one is to take the officers’ account as true, the officers are still likely guilty of vehicular manslaughter. Vehicular manslaughter, per Maryland Criminal Code § 2-209, carries up to a ten year prison sentence. In this instance, which unfortunately is the norm across the country, the police conduct gravely outweighs the conduct that initiated the altercation. Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, John Crawford, and sadly many others, are all dead at the hands of police officers which began with low level offenses if anything at all.

As the riots began to erupt yesterday afternoon, media coverage quickly turned the dialogue into one of orchestrated chaos fueled by gang factions specifically targeting police officers. Conservative mouthpieces like Fox News headlines portrayed the current situation in Baltimore, stating, “Baltimore Burns: Maryland Gov. Calls National Guard As Gangs Attack Cops, Set Fire To City After Freddie Gray Funeral.” The three named gangs were the Bloods, the Crips, and the Black Guerrilla Family. While inexcusably destructive behavior and violence towards officers occurred, it was a product of people acting as individuals. This was not an armed revolution undoubtedly swirling towards a full-fledged race war at the hands of criminal masterminds.

If one looks at the rap sheet of a gang member, they are usually quite long and quite often crimes that involve the distribution or possession of either weapons or narcotics. Admittedly, there are most definitely those involved in gang activity that rape, murder, and traffic humans, even the other members are similarly nefarious individuals. However, they are not your prototypical example of revolutionaries. They lack the finesse, funding, and resources to do anything of the sort. More importantly, it seems incredibly misplaced for any news outlet to place the entire blame on these gangs, whose membership is almost exclusively African American, when the leaders of these gangs have come together and vehemently denied this as their doing.

Regardless, this type of media coverage continues the aforementioned individual dialogue that continues to fervently reject any notion of an underlying issue. Inexplicably, there is a large number of people that repeatedly push the rhetoric that based on the prior and past conduct this negates any systemic wrongdoing. Freddie Gray was a repeat narcotics pusher and had a switchblade at arrest, Michael Brown stole a cigarillo and was high on marijuana, Tamir Rice’s father hit his mother, Walter Scott literally ran from child support, and well, John Crawford just looked dangerous. Five African American men (really four men and one child) died at the hands of police officers with little to no provocation other than they committed fairly low level crimes with John Crawford committing no offense. Yet the discussion still focuses on the before and after of the victims and only the victims. In fact, any questioning of police policy by many on social media is unabashedly met with claims of unpatriotic conduct and “race baiting.”

The concept of “race baiting” is quite possibly the most disgusting accusation one can attribute to an individual. It entirely ignores any existence of an underlying problem and is simply a method to marginalize an entire group of people who have historically been treated not only poorly by those in power, but as mere property historically. The issue is so systemic that the highest form of law in the United States and highest judicial body have expressly afforded protection to African Americans. However, any African American that wishes to express their distaste for the status quo is simply, “playing the race card.” These individuals, “only want to make a quick buck.” Again, completely disregarding the systemic issue.

Many on this side of reasoning will affirm that White Americans are killed at a number that is twice that of African Americans on a yearly basis. While this may be true, they disregard the fact that White Americans outnumber African Americans five to one. Importantly, based on the numbers, African Americans are killed by the police at four times the rate of a White American. Furthermore, 47% of those African Americans killed are unarmed compared to the 16% of White Americans. Once more, there is obviously a concerted effort to negate the existence of a problem.

Riots happen throughout the White Community as well. However, interestingly enough, when riots occur throughout the White community, they are not usually sparked by social injustice. They are typically fueled by sports results. Most recently, in early April, the Kentucky Men’s Basketball Team had their undefeated streak snapped by Wisconsin in the Final Four. Masses of students at the University of Kentucky immediately took to the streets starting fires, chanting, “Fuck the police,” and injuring those involved. The night ended in only thirty-one arrests. The following headlines were written by Fox News, Breitbart, Hannity.com, and RushLimbaugh.com in regards to said events, “        .” That is not a typo. There were no headlines. In fact, all four outlets failed to even cover the story. The same goes for an incident in October 2014, when students at the University of West Virginia rioted after defeating Baylor in football causing over $45,000.00 worth of property damage. There simply was no comment from any of these sources.

So what justifies this type of police conduct but damns those that feel harmed? Why is there a conscious effort to discredit any voice from these groups which feel disenfranchised? Perhaps it’s the fear to admit such a premise as White Privilege might actually exist. It certainly has been written, exemplified and discussed throughout our system of law since the drafting of the Constitution, seen again in the XIII and XIV Amendments and as recently as the Supreme Court’s decision in the, Fisher v., University of Texas, decision in 2013. Maybe, it is rooted much deeper in an individual and people understand the ramifications of acting akin to what started the riots in Hough almost fifty years ago. Allowing this sort of systemic racism quells the need for any significant social change. I do not know the reason. Quite frankly, trying to ascertain any sort of explanation makes me physically ill.

What I do know is that Baltimore has an incredibly long history of this type of conduct. This issue, these riots, are far bigger than the death of Freddie Gray. Shockingly enough, a Fox News personality Sheppard Smith speaks somewhat to my sentiments in repeated responses to his co-hosts blaming Civil Rights leaders and the people of Baltimore themselves:

Not all police are bad. Not all protesters are bad. Some on both sides are very bad. Malcolm X affirmed in his book By Any Means Necessary,

“You’re not to be so blind with patriotism that you can’t face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”

Many involved are wrong on both sides and that cannot be ignored. However, when the most watched news network in the country begins to place blame mere hours after these events on a group of people that certainly should not be to blame for the activity, it hearkens back to the familiar dialogue. A dialogue which seeks to sideline the cause of outrage and place the outrage itself at the forefront. Lastly, quoting Malcolm X,

“The media’s the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of the masses.”

A vast number of American’s are burying their heads in American flags and apple pie refusing to face the issue. Not only that, but the individuals we call, “the news,” are endorsing it.

Don’t be an asshole: arguments for & against Occupy Wall Street

In the media, in conversations, on social networking sites, there’s nothing worse than irrational people passionately spewing their irrational nonsense. Especially with Occupy Wall Street. On both sides.

Before I proceed, I will tell you that I generally support  Occupy Wall Street and like the issues brought up by the intelligent members of the movement. But every time I hear someone scream “we are the 99 percent” it reinforces my desire to disaffiliate with groups that derive power from numbers. If you said “I am similar to 99 percent of the population in terms of income,” i would be less annoyed.

I’ll support people looking to end corruption. I’ll support people looking out for the least well-off in our country. I’ll support anybody’s right to nonviolently protest anything. But I don’t want to be apart of the group.

In this post, I will analyze some (not all) arguments on both sides of the Occupy Wall Street movement and address issues that I feel are keeping the two sides apart.