Freddie Gray 4-30-2015

30, April 2015                         Freddie Gray

More than two weeks have passed since the murder of Freddie Gray by the Baltimore police. The basic questions have been ignored by a purposeful delay hoping passions will subside and the guilty will escape punishment. Why was such overwhelming force used to subdue Gray and why was 80% of his spine severed and his voice box crushed after 45 minutes? Why was medical help withheld ignoring Gray’s desperate cries for help? To defend such savage police behavior is not an act of loyalty but one of utter betrayal where the ‘rotten apples’ besmirch the reputation of the entire police force. Sadly, a culture of impunity exists between police departments and prosecutors; an independent body must be appointed to bring Gray’s killers to justice. If the killers escape punishment, black rage will likely engulf the city in a frenzy of uncontrollable violence.

The high crime and despair in black neighborhoods is deeply disturbing. The systematic long-term denial of equal opportunity to people based on their skin color and ZIP code is an affront and national shame. If wealthy white parents found their children consigned to substandard schools and neighborhoods, denied access to good colleges and jobs and harassed and occasionally killed by the police — why, then we’d hear roars of grievance. And they would right to roar: Parents of any color should protest, peacefully but loudly, about such injustices.