By Manny Otiko
Baltimore is the latest American city to explode into violence after an encounter with the police killed small-time criminal Freddie Gray. His fatal injuries included a severed spine and a crushed larynx. Some protests have turned violent with people throwing stones at police, torching police cars and looting stores. Local schools have been shut down, the Baltimore Orioles played a baseball game behind closed doors and Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has declared a State of Emergency. Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake briefly ordered a week-long 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew. Dr. Jonathan Farley, a math professor at HBCU Morgan State University in Baltimore, was particularly upset at the curfew which largely kept him confined to his apartment at night. Farley said his main problem with the curfew was that it treated everyone as if they are a criminal. Although the city is 67 percent black and has elected several black mayors, the Baltimore Police Department has a fractious relationship with the black community. A report by the Baltimore Sun, stated the city has paid about $5.7 million to settle police brutality lawsuits since 2011. Six Baltimore cops are facing charges over the death of Freddie Gray, which has been ruled a homicide. According to Farley, Baltimore has a heavy police presence because of the high crime rate. The FBI stated the city reported 235 murders in 2013, ranking Baltimore the nation’s fifth most dangerous city. Many of the city’s problems were documented in the critically-acclaimed HBO show “The Wire.” Farley said the police may profile people, but he is not sure it’s purely racial. A lot of it is done based on how people dress and talk, he said.
“I haven’t seen cases of police beating black Wall Street executives,” Farley said. “When the police are stopping Wall Street executives, then we will know it’s racial.” Farley is critical of some segments of the black community. His words sound much like the comments Bill Cosby made in his infamous “pound cake speech.” “If African Americans don’t want negative interactions with the police, they should clean their house up,” Farley said. He added much of the crime in Baltimore doesn’t make sense and it can’t be solely blamed on poverty and lack of jobs. “African Americans like to complain there is a lack of jobs, but there are poor people in Ethiopia,” he said, “and you don’t the see the same crime. Poverty is no excuse.” Farley blames much of the crime in the black community on the breakdown of the family and prevalence of homes lead by single mothers. “I think it’s primarily because they (young black men) don’t have fathers at home. Seventy two percent of African Americans are born out of wedlock,” Farley said. “That is the source of criminality. Crime is due to people being brought up without values and fathers.” Jasiri X, a hip hop artist and activist, disagrees vehemently with Farley. He said how black men dress is not the real issue. Black men who don’t wear hip hop clothes still get harassed by the police. He pointed to the example of comedian Chris Rock, who has started documenting the times he gets stopped by police on social media. And he also mentioned the case of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, who was arrested trying to break into his own house. “If that can happen in Cambridge, Mass. to one of the most well-known professors, what chance do I have as a black man?” Jasiri X said. He said, the problem is not only with the black community, but with heavy-handed police tactics. According to Jasiri X, the Baltimore PD has a history of abusive behavior. Before the death of Freddie Gray, two other men had been paralysed by “rough rides,” where they were thrown around in the back of police vans. “Baltimore, Ma. should be ashamed of the actions of the police department that has had over 100 cases of police brutality in the last year,” Jasiri X said. “They should be ashamed, not us.” Jasiri X has performed in Baltimore and witnessed the local police’s aggressive tactics. Last August he was performing at a “Stop the Violence” concert, when the police showed up and started arresting people. “The police would show up and agitate people,” Jasiri X said. “They come into our community like an occupying army.” According to Jasiri X, Baltimore suffers from the same problems as other cities with large black populations, poverty, high unemployment, racism, police harassment and a poor education system. “What happened in Baltimore could happen in any major city,” he said. But Jasiri X hopes the violent protest will eventually lead to change. When protesters took to the streets in Ferguson, Mo., to protest the killing of Mike Brown, it eventually led to an investigation by the Justice Department, which revealed the city was using harsh policing to generate fines from the black community. “That rebellion led to change,” said Jasiri X, who was on the ground in Ferguson and plans to go to Baltimore. The Justice Department report eventually led to the resignations of Ferguson city officials including the chief of police, a municipal judge and the city manager. Jasiri X said it is unfortunate it takes violent protests to get the attention of the government, but this has been a long-standing problem. He has addressed this in his 2012 song, “Do We Need to Start a Riot?” “This is a country that don’t really respect non-violent protest,” Jasiri X said. “If violence is not the answer, why is the military budget so big?”
