What Role for Muslims (and Other People of Conscience)?
By Nadrat Siddique
On
Saturday, April 25, a large protest against the police murder of Black
Baltimore native Freddie Gray was called by the Baltimore Peoples Power
Assembly and the Baltimore Bloc. By evening, the legal permitted protest
dissolved into large scale street blockages, including, to the chagrin of the
authorities, in the vicinity of the stadium where the baseball game was
underway. Traffic came to a standstill, and a very large number of police
descended on the area and surrounded the protestors. Corporate media
immediately characterized the spontaneous actions following the permitted
protest, as riots—and the participants as thugs, hoodlums, rioters, and other
pejoratives. The media accorded similar treatment to the student action near
Baltimore’s Mondawmin Mall two days later.
Given
all that Baltimore youth have endured for decades, and given the
dehumanization, degradation, marginalization, and indeed genocide, which much
of Black Baltimore has experienced in a largely Black city, under an
administration which can only be characterized as Jim Crow in Black face, the
Baltimore Uprising was inevitable. The only thing surprising about it was that
it took so many years to reach this point. This report examines the events of
Saturday, April 25 and Monday, April 27, and the underlying political climate
which led to them. It starts with an overview of conditions in Baltimore,
including the city’s vast prison industry and the daily police terror faced by
Baltimore natives, then focuses on the specific conditions under which
Baltimore’s Black and Brown youth live. Finally, it attempts to illustrate the
inevitability of the Baltimore Uprising. An interview with grassroots activist,
Reverend Annie Chambers, whose Big Momma’s House for years offered support to
indigent Baltimore children and youth, follows the report.
BACKGROUND
Although
statistics don’t tell the whole story, they are a good starting point.
According to U.S. Census Bureau figures for Baltimore, the unemployment rate
for young black men between the ages of 20 to 24, was an astounding 37% in
2013. For white men of the same age, the unemployment rate was 10%.[1] Grassroots organizations,
which work directly with local populations in Baltimore, report even more
dismal statistics. The Baltimore Black Think Tank (BBTT), an advocacy group for
Black and poor people in the city, says nearly 60 percent of Black males in
Baltimore are unemployed.
In
Baltimore, as elsewhere, economics clearly correlates with how long and how
well one will live. A juxtaposition of the Black neighborhoods of Upton and
Druid Heights, with the primarily White, Jewish neighborhood of Roland Park is
telling: The life expectancy in Upton and Druid Heights
is 63-years old. In Roland Park, it is 83-years old. In the Sandtown‐Winchester/
Harlem Park community where Freddie Gray lived, seven percent of the children
have elevated lead levels in their blood, with severe implications for their
development and well-being. In Roland Park, no
children have elevated lead levels in their blood.[4] Freddie Gray and his two
sisters had blood lead levels “above the threshold for the kind of poisoning
which causes permanent brain damage,” according to tests ordered by the family,
which successfully sued their then-landlord, but the damage was already done.
Freddie was in special education classes for the duration of his academic
career, and ultimately dropped out of high school.[5]
The
income gap between Upton/Druid Heights and Roland Park is no less stark than
that in life expectancy. In Upton/Druid Heights, the median income is $13,388 a
year. In Roland Park, it is $90,492. These neighborhoods are less than five
miles away from each other. But this disparity is not limited to Upton/Druid
Heights, and Roland Park. Citywide, average White income is almost twice as
much as that of Blacks.[6]
Prison Industry
As in
other big cities, poverty, unemployment, disenfranchisement, and
gentrification—
in
short, the disinheriting of the poor—is invariably addressed by the System
through imprisonment of the target population. To that end, there are nine
prisons in Baltimore.[7] A tenth prison—for
Baltimore youth—was just approved by the Maryland State Board of Public Works.
All of the existing prisons were built by the Democrats. So, while many,
including Blacks, view the Democratic Party as the friend of Black people, it
is more accurate to say the party is deeply enmeshed in the prison industry in
Baltimore, and as such, is the instrument of the White Supremacy.
If one
is arrested in Baltimore, one is first taken to Baltimore Central Booking. It
is among the 20 largest jails in the U.S. More than 73,000 people go through
Baltimore Central Booking every year.[8] In comparison with the
other 19 largest jails in the country, Baltimore has the dubious distinction of
holding the highest percentage of its population in jail. As a result of years
of gentrification, only 63.7% of Baltimore’s population is Black (29.6% are
White).[9] Over 35,000 people are
committed to the Baltimore City Detention Center each year. The majority of these
are Black.[10]
This is yet one more indicator that this population has been targeted for
marginalization, demoralization, and ultimately genocide.
The
Baltimore jail system is one of the oldest and largest pretrial facilities in
the country. The Baltimore City Detention Center consists of five buildings and
can hold around 4,000 people. Significantly—and very differently from other
jails—the Baltimore Jail system is paid for by the State of Maryland, not by
Baltimore. This means there is no incentive for Baltimore authorities to limit
the number of people they arrest and incarcerate. So, not surprisingly, nearly
4,000 people are locked up in the Baltimore Jail system on any given day.[11]
Roughly
nine out of 10 of those held in the Baltimore Jail system have not yet gone to
trial, and hence are still legally innocent. The majority of those being held
are Black men, mostly under the age of 35.[12]
Of the
approximately 4,000 people detained at Central Booking on any given day, about
33% are accused of violent offenses. Twenty-eight percent (28%) are
incarcerated for drug offenses. Another 19% are held on other nonviolent
offenses (other than drugs). Twelve percent are locked up for a violation of
probation. The jail itself classifies 27% of detainees as low security.[13] So, even at this
pre-trial level, it is safe to say that a very large percentage of detainees
are held for non-violent offenses, by a White Supremacist power structure which
has a vested interest in their labeling, marginalization, and ultimately their
elimination.
After
one is convicted in Baltimore, one is usually removed to state prison.
Statistics for who is in state prison, revealed in a February 2015 report by
the Justice Police Institute (JPI) in collaboration with the Prison Policy
Initiative, are eye-opening. One out of three Maryland residents in state
prison is from Baltimore.[14] This is despite the fact
that Maryland is a relatively populous state, and only one in ten Maryland
residents is from Baltimore.
The JPI
report examined 55 communities in Baltimore. Off the 55 communities, five
contributed the largest number of people to state prison. The community sending
the largest number of people to
prison was—not surprisingly—that of Freddie Gray: Sandtown‐Winchester/Harlem
Park. There, 3% of the total population is in prison. So, 458 people from
Freddie Gray’s community are locked up in Maryland state prison. And the state
spends $17 million on keeping them there.[15]
Freddie
Gray’s community is 96.6 % Black. There, unemployment for people between the
ages of 16 - 64 is 52%. Thirty‐four percent (34%) of
the inhabitants do not have a high school diploma or GED. One out of three
houses in the community was vacant or abandoned in 2012.[16]
Just
below Freddy’s community in terms of highest incarceration were the communities
of Southwest Baltimore, Greater Rosemont, Clifton‐Berea, and Southern
Park Heights. A combined total of 1,416 people from these communities are held
in Maryland state prison. So, one in four people who are in prison from
Baltimore City come from these four communities, plus Freddy’s community of
Sandtown‐Winchester/ Harlem Park. Most of these communities are
Black. And Maryland taxpayers dole out $10 million per year to each of these
communities to lock up their citizens.[17]
The
community with the smallest number of people locked up was Greater Roland
Park/Poplar Hill. Not surprisingly, the population of Roland Park is 77.5%
White, with Asians forming 9.8% of the population, and Blacks 7.9%.[18]
The
report enlarged its scope to name the 25 Baltimore communities with the highest
incarceration rates. These were: Pimlico/Arlington/Hilltop; Southern Park
Heights; Dorchester/Ashburton; Forest Park/Walbrook; Greater Mondawmin; Penn
North/Reservoir Hill; Greater Charles Village/Barclay; Edmondson Village;
Greater Rosemont; Sandtown‐Winchester/Harlem
Park; Upton/Druid Heights; Allendale/Irvington/South Hilton; Southwest
Baltimore; Greater Govans; Northwood; Midway/Coldstream; Belair/Edison;
Cedonia/Frankford; Greenmount East; Clifton‐Berea; Oldtown/Middle
East; Madison/East End; Patterson Park (North and East); Cherry Hill; and
Brooklyn/Curtis Bay/Hawkins Point.[19]
Most of
these 25 communities are majority Black. A few of the communities had working
class/poor White populations. At least $5 million per year is spent by Maryland
taxpayers to incarcerate people from each of these twenty-five communities.
Seven out of 10 Baltimore residents in a state prison in 2010 were from one of
these 25 communities. In total, Maryland taxpayers spend $288 million each year
to lock up mostly Black and poor people from Baltimore City.[20]
Police Murders
After
the establishment of Baltimore’s Central Booking, it became the job of the
police to deliver people there. (Previously police had taken suspects to the
respective precincts where they were arrested.) However, many people never make
it to Central Booking because they are brutalized—sometimes to death—by police
prior to being booked, charged, tried, or convicted. Police brutality is
epidemic. Before Freddie Gray, there
was 46-year old Anthony Anderson,
slammed to the ground so hard by police that his spleen ruptured. There was Maurice Donald Johnson, shot multiple
times by police in his mother’s living room. There was 22-year old Sean Gamble, retreating to his car
parked outside a nightclub, shot multiple times by police. Twenty-nine year old
Dale Graham, shot by police after a
family disagreement. Fourteen-year old Kevin
Cooper shot inside his mother’s home by police. Thirteen-year old Monae Turnage shot dead on her way home
from watching a movie with school friends, with a rifle later found in a
plainclothes police officer’s car. Forty-four year old Tyrone West, pulled by his dreadlocks from his sister’s Lexus which
he was driving, to be beaten and stomped to death by 12 police officers.
Twenty-nine-year old George Booker Wells,
shot and killed by police, after they chased him two blocks from his
girlfriend’s house. Twenty-five year old Donte
Bennett, shot with his hands up after he’d been running from police. William Torbitt, a Black police
officer, shot to death by other police officers near a nightclub. Nineteen-year
old George King, tasered to death by
police as he lay recuperating in a hospital bed. And heart wrenchingly, the
list continues to grow.
The
States Attorney, a Zionist Jew named Gregg Bernstein, was in office when most
of these cases came to light. Tasked with indicting in cases where a crime had
occurred, he refused to prosecute the officers in nearly every case, saying the
officers had not used excessive
force, and had followed police
procedures. To him, it seemed of no consequence that in some of the cases which
came before him, such as that of Anthony Anderson, the State’s own medical
examiner had ruled the death a homicide. Similarly video footage and eyewitness
testimony of police beatings and use of excessive force seemed of no matter to
him. Bernstein himself lived comfortably in Roland Park, a neighborhood of zero
percent incarceration.
Non-Fatal (but Serious) Incidents of Police
Brutality
In
addition to the people killed outright by the Baltimore Police Department, a
very large number of Baltimore Blacks are profiled, harassed, or brutalized by
police. By 2014, the situation had gotten so far out of hand that even the pro-establishment
Baltimore Sun released a major report
revealing that large numbers of Baltimore natives had been brutalized and
battered so badly that they successfully sued the city to the tune of $5.7
million. This included 102 separate court cases since 2011. (Since then, an
additional $587,250 has been awarded in settlements to subsequent victims.)
According to the Sun report, the cases show that “officers have battered dozens of
residents who suffered broken bones — jaws, noses, arms, legs, ankles — head
trauma, organ failure, and even death, coming during questionable arrests. Some
residents were beaten while handcuffed; others were thrown to the pavement.”[21]
An
eighty-seven-year-old grandmother, named Venus
Green, was pushed, shoved, and brutalized by police to the extent that she
suffered a broken shoulder. She was then hogtied and placed face down on her
couch. A 26-year old pregnant woman, named Starr
Brown, was slammed to the ground by police, despite her pleas that she was
pregnant. Then there was Dondi Johnson
Sr. who was left paralyzed in 2005 after being recklessly driven around by
police.[22]
Baltimore
has a very large and visible Black Muslim population. If one is evidently
Muslim, one is greeted with “As-salaam alaikom” at every turn. In that sense,
Baltimore is a very Muslim friendly city. But—Black Muslims are the targets of
police, along with everyone else. A 36-year old Muslim named Abdul Salaam, was pulled from his car
in his driveway after police followed him home for an alleged seat belt
violation, slammed to the ground, then hogtied and beaten so badly in front of
his young son, that it was a miracle he survived.[23] Another Muslim, Salahudeen Abdul-Aziz, whose beating by
police resulted in a broken nose, facial fracture and other injuries, was not
taken to a hospital for many hours.[24]
These
cases are known primarily because the victims filed civil suits against the
police, but for every case in which charges are filed, there are a multitude of
others which never come to light because the victim fears police retribution;
is unaware of his or her rights; or lacks the means, communication skills, or
determination to bring charges.
Perversely,
the injuries, beatings, and trauma are administered by police, who, in the
United States, take an oath to “protect and serve” their constituents. Even
more Orwellian, those who receive compensation for grievous injuries, including
some which could have resulted in death, are not permitted to speak of their
experience afterwards. If they talk, their award can be rescinded in whole or
in part.
No Signs of Improvement
But
even broad scale and successful litigation doesn’t appear to have made the
police more responsive or conscientious in their dealings with those whom they
are paid to serve. In May 2015, the
Baltimore Sun published another report on the condition of detainees
brought to Central Booking. They found that in the period from June 2012
through April 2015, a whopping 2,600 people were brought by police to Central
Booking with injuries so severe the jail would not accept them (they had to be
taken to the hospital instead). “Intake officers in Central Booking noted a
wide variety of injuries, including fractured bones, facial trauma and
hypertension. Of the detainees denied entry, 123 had visible head injuries, the
third most common medical problem” the report said.[25] So while “rioting” youth
were framed by the corporate media and government as the problem in Baltimore,
many Baltimore residents pinpoint the police as the problem, indeed as the
source of the terror under which they live.
Conditions for Baltimore Youth
After
the street blockages on Saturday, April 25, and the youth uprising on Monday,
April 27, the authorities, fearing an escalation and its implications for
corporate interests, instated a city wide curfew from 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM.
What
people outside Baltimore forgot is that youth in Baltimore were already under a
curfew, enacted in June 2014, prior to any putative riots. That curfew required
youth under 14 to be off the streets by 9:00 PM, and those age d14-16 had to be
off the streets by 10:00 PM on school nights and 11:00 PM on weekends and over
the summer. If they ventured out, they could be nabbed off the street by
police. According to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, police would “bring youths
found in violation of the new time limits to a year-round youth connection
center.” In the process, a youth could be handed over to Child Protective
Services. Even if a youth was not removed from his parent and placed with that
agency, parents faced a fine of up to $500.[26]
The
previous youth curfew, like the current city-wide one, was selectively
enforced. The June 2014 curfew was almost never enforced in affluent,
predominantly White areas. So White youth could consort, congregate to smoke
weed, and engage in social interactions without interference—actions which
would quickly land Black youth in the hands of the police.
Over
and above police encounters arising from the curfew, Black children and youth
undergo experiences with police early on which inculcate a well-founded
distrust, animosity, and fear in them. Black children—who watch their parents,
siblings, relatives, neighbors, or teachers being degraded, abused, beaten, or
even murdered by the police—experience the trauma as if it is happening to
them. Given Baltimore’s skyrocketing rates of police brutality, many Black
inner city children are traumatized by seeing—whether on television, social
media, or on the street—people who look like them being frisked; pulled from
their cars and made to sit on the pavement; stomped, beaten, or slammed to the
ground; or being shot multiple times by the police. Imagine a Black child
listening to news of little Monae Turnage murdered, her body covered with
trash, the rifle casings traced to a weapon in a police car. Or hearing of
young George King, tasered to death by police while he lay helpless in a
hospital bed. Many children fear similar treatment will be dealt to them or
someone close to them.
According
to Reverend Annie Chambers, a former Black Panther, whose organization, Big
Momma’s house, offered support services to indigent children in Baltimore for
years, the children, including teenagers who are already shy and/or sensitive
about their bodies, are stopped and physically harassed on a whim by police.
They are often forced to strip to their underwear in public by police.
Sometimes the police go so far as to demand a body cavity search, clearly meant
to humiliate the child or youth. Groping of girls’ breasts by police during
such a stop is common, adds Reverend Chambers.
Actual
detention of children is not unheard of either. The city detention center has
up to twenty minors in its custody on any given day. The child prisoners are
sometimes kept in solitary confinement for a month or longer.[27] In March 2015, the U.S.
Justice Department's Division of Civil Rights found that "Teenagers
awaiting trial on adult charges in Baltimore are being kept in solitary
confinement far too long — up to 143 days in one case.”[28]
Indeed
the State seems determined to imprison—rather than to educate, nurture, or
uplift—Baltimore’s Black youth. Up until 2013, the State’s efforts were geared
at building a $70 million youth jail. After concerted lobbying and citywide
protests by the Baltimore Algebra Project and other opponents, the plans were
finally dropped. Then, on May 13, 2015—just two weeks after the Baltimore Youth
Uprising, the Board of Public Works of the State of Maryland approved plans to
build a $30 million youth jail. This time it was passed with little to no
debate.[29]
To add
insult to injury, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan reallocated $68 million—which
legislators had set aside for schools—to the pension system. Of the $68
million, Baltimore schools were to have gotten $11.6 million. [30]
But
then writing off Black youth is nothing new to the State of Maryland. Around
1996, the situation was so dire that parents of Baltimore City students sued
the Maryland State Department of Education for underfunding Baltimore City
Schools. One Judge Kaplin ruled that the Department of Education was
underfunding the Baltimore City Public School System, in comparison to other
districts in the state of Maryland, and ordered the State to pay Baltimore City
schools their due. The state blatantly ignored his orders. As a result,
students lead strikes, hosted rallies, and attempted to perform a citizen
arrest of the Maryland State Department of Education Superintendent Nancy
Grasmick.[31]
In subsequent years, similar lawsuits were filed against the Maryland State
Department of Education, but conditions did not improve significantly.
In
2007, the Baltimore Black Think Tank reported that Baltimore City Schools
contained lead in the drinking fountain water. In 2009, student leaders from
the Baltimore Algebra Project described the city's school buildings as
crumbling, the school bathrooms devoid of soap and paper towels, the school
lunches as inedible, and textbooks as being in short supply.[32]
By
2010, conditions in Baltimore City Public Schools had deteriorated so
significantly that students from the Baltimore Algebra Project and other groups
petitioned the Board of Education to enact the “National Student Bill of
Rights.” Included in the draft were demands such as: the right to study
curriculum which addressed the real, material, and cultural needs of the
communities from which the students came; the right to safe housing; the right
to safe public schools; the right to high quality food; the right to freedom
from unwarranted search, seizure or arrest by police; the right to establish
systems of restorative justice in schools and communities, and cessation of
exclusion from educational opportunities except by a jury of peers; and the
right not be charged for crimes as adults until the age of 18.”[33]
The
National Student Bill of Rights was swept under rug by the Board of Education.
In
2013, in a continuing trend, the city closed 20 recreation centers which could
have benefitted Black and Brown youth. Not surprisingly, among these was the
Lillian Jones center at Gilmor Elementary, in Freddie Gray’s neighborhood. Four
more recreation centers in the poor and working class West Baltimore
communities of Crispus Attucks, Central Rosemont, Hilton and Harlem Park were
closed permanently.
While
recreation centers were being closed left and right, police department budgets
seemed immune to cuts: “In 1991, the city spent roughly $8.7 million to operate
76 recreation centers. The budget for police that year was $182 million. This
year, the city will spend $10.6 million on its recreation centers and $324.9
million on comparable law enforcement programs,” reported the Baltimore Sun.[34]
One in three Baltimore City children
live below the poverty line.[35] As Reverend Annie Chambers told this writer,
many of the children who came to Big Momma’s House did not have underwear or
socks to wear to school. Once in school, they didn’t have pencils or paper to
complete their assignments.
Clearly
Black youth in Baltimore face multiple challenges: They are targeted by the
police, the education system, the prison system, the media, even by the local
Arab or Indo-Pak corner store owner who imagines them all to be criminals and speaks to them only through a bullet proof
glass partition. Some such youth live in households lacking basic necessities,
such as food, clothing, shoes, and electricity. Some have parents who are on
drugs, “running the streets,” or in the prison system.
Leading
up to the Baltimore Uprising, government and corporate interests had clearly
determined that Baltimore’s youth were expendable. As an expendable segment of
the population, they were to be eliminated. To accomplish that goal, Baltimore
was turned into an open air prison, holding little promise for its imprisoned
population. That population is offered only curfew, prisons, barbed wire, and police
beatings. Baltimore has, without exaggeration, become the new Gaza.
April 25
After
Saturday’s [April 25] legal permitted march ended, the protestors took it upon
themselves to engage in disciplined street blockages. They did not, at first,
damage any property. Then, near McKeldin Square (Baltimore Inner Harbor) and
Camden Yards (Baltimore Orioles baseball stadium), the protestors moved into
the middle of the street like a wave, and linked arms. They refused to move
despite police orders to do so, but remained largely peaceful. The baseball
game ended, and affluent White Baltimore Orioles fans came pouring out of the
stadium, but could not leave due to the street blockages. Angered at being
inconvenienced by Black Baltimore, they hurled epithets of “n-gger” and other
obscenities at the protestors. Many protestors were already enraged by the
murder of yet another young black man, Freddie Gray, and the expectation that
the police would once again be immune to prosecution. It was perhaps these
factors, coupled with the extremely heavy police cordons, even during the
peaceful protest, and the racial attacks by the White Orioles fans, which
caused some to snap. They took to smashing police cars, knocking over
barricades and trashcans, and breaking windows. Their energies were focused to
a large extent on the Galleria (upscale shopping mall at Baltimore’s Inner
Harbor), and nearby restaurants and
bars, built by the Zionists heading the Greater Baltimore Committee, and viewed
widely as part of the gentrification which forced Black people out of the area
over the past decade. As a result of this action, the Baltimore light rail,
which stops near the stadium, and is usually littered with drunk White Oriole
fans after a game, suspended its operations. The protestors did not disperse
until after 11:00 PM.
April 27
Freddie
Gray’s funeral was held on the morning of April 27. Many well-known politicians
and religious figures attended and spoke passionately about the injustice dealt
to Freddie. Shortly afterwards, some of them, notably Reverend Jesse Jackson
and Reverend Al Sharpton, met with the mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who
oversaw the killing of Gray and countless other Black men, not uttering a word
against the police.
Later
that afternoon, when schools let out, the dynamics of the situation took a 180
degree turn, as the youth took charge. Near Mondawmin Mall, where many students
catch buses to return home after school, the buses were grounded by the
authorities. Left with no mode of transportation to their homes, the students,
with some teacher support, seized the occasion, taking to the streets and
facing off with police. The standoff continued for hours, with students
throwing rocks, bricks, and urine at the heavily armed phalanx of police.
Hundreds of police cars, bearcats, armored personnel carriers, and helicopters
were called into the area.
It is
instructive to examine the targets of the students during Monday’s events. The
students targeted police vans, like
the one in which Freddie Gray was murdered. They targeted police cars and police
officers (98 police were injured), instruments of the black community’s
repression.
They
hit a fire truck, which was observed
with cracked windshield. They cut the hose on another fire truck, which was in
the process of extinguishing a fire at a CVS store, also targeted in the
action. Observers familiar with historical role of fire trucks note that
non-violent civil rights activists, challenging White Supremacy during the
1960s and 1970s, were periodically doused with fire hoses, whose concentrated
stream of water could cause serious harm, and even death to a protestor. In the
eyes of many, fire trucks were no more neutral than police cars.
The
youth also targeted the Save-A-Lot
(discount food chain) and a CVS
(drug) store. Community elders and others confirmed to this writer that many
youth felt they had a rare opportunity to get “real food,” and they took it.
They also expropriated toilet paper, medicine, and other essentials, often in
short supply in neighborhoods targeted for financial ruin.
The “Sports Mart,” an athletic shoe store
owned by one Harry Levy, in Mondawmin Mall was targeted. Interestingly, television
cameras revealed that the shoes taken were, in many cases, singles (one shoe,
as opposed to a pair).[36] So the shop owner was
left with many single shoes, but few pairs. The Jewish shoe store owner
lamented on corporate media that he had been in business for a good length of
time, and would be unable to reopen for business.
An
incipient senior center was
targeted. Southern Baptist Church claimed to be behind the construction, but
community leaders confirm that the center was, in actuality, a pet project of
Johns Hopkins University, associated with experimentation on Black people and
organ harvesting of Black corpses (without the consent of the dead). It is
widely viewed as a racist institution by Blacks.
A liquor store was hit by the youth. The
Korean owners were renowned for profiting from the sale of the toxin to Black
folk, whom they treated with such disdain as to use gloves in case of
accidental contact with the customers, whom they viewed as a lower life form.
Corporate
media was targeted: a WNEW reporter
was assaulted (other protestors stopped his assault). Corporate media were
clearly not popular amongst the youth, and with good reason: these media
insisted on using pejorative terminologies, usually originating with government
officials, for the youth who were responding to savage police attacks. Yet Fox,
WNEW, and others never used such language for the police perpetrators, and in a
display of clearly slanted journalism, failed to give any meaningful coverage
to the youth participating in the Uprising. They did not ask the youth what
were their goals or motivations, or what inspired or angered them.
Instead,
these media collaborated in insidious ways with the establishment: As Baltimore
Black Think Tank President David Wiggins pointed out, WNEW, one of the main
corporate media organs issuing on-the-ground reports during the uprising,
promised to turn in its video to authorities. The authorities, in turn, would
use it to aid in prosecuting and persecuting the youth. Many in the Baltimore
Black community, youth and adults alike, were quickly realizing that the
coverage given to the Uprising by corporate media would be on par with that
accorded to Katrina survivors—one sided and exhibiting clear racial and class
bias.
A few
days after the Monday youth uprising, a Baltimore Orioles game was cancelled,
with massive revenue losses to the corporate interests in the area. Those
losses continued when the Orioles were forced to hold a subsequent game before
an empty stadium. The Baltimore youth were doing exactly what global resistance
movements against occupation and tyranny have done throughout time—hitting
tourism, financial targets, and symbols of the occupation.
Has Peaceful Protesting Worked in Baltimore?
Baltimore
has a long history of civic organizations, from the NAACP, SCLC, NAN, Baltimore
Algebra Project, APC, and others protesting for Black causes. One family
affected by police brutality, the West family, have protested nearly every
Wednesday since the death of their loved one, Tyrone West, nearly two years
ago. Despite the presence of numerous eye-witnesses to West’s beating death by
10 -15 police, and despite the family’s weekly protests, not one officer was
fired from the police force, let alone indicted, convicted, or jailed in the
case.
In the
Anthony Anderson case, although the State’s own medical examiner ruled the
death of that innocent Black man a homicide—the States’ Attorney refused to
indict.
Similarly,
after every beating, shooting, or death in police custody of a Black man or woman
in Baltimore, people gather to protest, chant, and march. They hold town halls,
appeal to City Hall, and lobby the legislature. And no indictments of police
are handed down. The police remain on paid
leave pending investigation. When the investigation is completed, it is found
they were acting within the limits of their assigned duty.
One
day, the youth decided that enough was enough.
Statements of Elected Officials and Others on
the Uprising
While
the youth, like the youth of Gaza, Palestine, put their lives and liberty on
the line, paid politicians and “leaders” were in damage control mode. They were
largely united in their pro-business stance:
President Obama said the “looters”
should be treated as “criminals” and “thugs.” “There is no excuse for the kind
of violence we saw yesterday,” he continued. “They're not protesting. They're
not making a statement. They're stealing. When they burn down a building
they're committing arson.”[37]
Governor Larry Hogan opined, "These
acts of violence and destruction of property cannot and will not be tolerated.
I strongly condemn the actions of those who engaged in direct attacks against
innocent civilians, businesses, and law enforcement officers."[38]
Attorney General Loretta Lynch said, “I condemn the
senseless acts of violence by some individuals in Baltimore that have resulted
in harm to law enforcement officers, destruction of property and a shattering
of the peace in the city of Baltimore.
Those who commit violent actions, ostensibly in protest of the death of
Freddie Gray, do a disservice to his family, to his loved ones, and to
legitimate peaceful protestors..”[39]
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake chimed in, “The
rioting, looting, and violence will not be tolerated.. Too many people have
spent generations building up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs, who in
a very senseless way, are trying to tear down what so many have fought for,
tearing down businesses, tearing down and destroying property..”[40]
Baltimore City Council member Brandon Scott said, the rioters
were “cowards.” Congressman Elijah
Cummings condemned the rioters for attempting to take advantage of a
chaotic situation and for “distracting from finding solutions to the problem.”[41]
Pastor Jamal Bryant, the pastor of a
megachurch in Baltimore said, “Rioting and looting will not get us justice; nor
will it turn the tide.” And Reverend Al
Sharpton of the National Action Network said, “We should be fighting the
violence and not adding to it.”
The
common thread among the politicians rushing to condemn the youth was that none
of them had previously taken a firm stance or effective actions against police
brutality or police murders of Black people in Baltimore or elsewhere. Nor had
they instructed their constituents in effective means of stopping police brutality
and murder.
Statements from the Baltimore grassroots
In
stark contrast to these statements was the stance of prominent Baltimore
grassroots leaders. Many of these had a track record of opposing police
brutality in Baltimore.
Naim Ajamu, a well-known community leader on
Baltimore’s West Side said, “Why are we called thugs? Are those on Wall Street
called thugs? Are the Koch Brothers called thugs? Are the criminals in politics
called thugs!? We have been marginalized over and over again! Stephanie
Rawlings-Blake is a thug! Hogan is a thug! Batts is a thug![42]
Reverend Annie Chambers of Big Momma’s House
said, “The children struck a match,
lit the fire. Let’s hope the adults have the sense to put some wood onto the
fire, continue to fight. I’m glad the children did what they did, because they
stood up and said I’m human and I want to be treated like I’m human. I’m an
instrument and a soldier in the Army of the Lord. They’re not thugs and
thieves. They’re truly soldiers in the Army of the Lord.”
Steven Ceci, of the All Peoples Congress said, “I
stand firmly with the youth of Baltimore that have every right to rebel.. The
fact of the matter is that what is occurring in the streets of Baltimore is a
rebellion, and yes, it is a rebellion, not a riot. When people rise up because
of a political or social issue such as police terror and state repression, then
it is a rebellion. When white college students flip cars over and burn them
over a sporting event which has no political meaning that is a riot. There are
various ways to protest, one of which is battling the police and destroying
private property.”[43]
David L. Johnson, Sr. of the News
Networks and Analysis Project/ Baltimore Black Think Tank, said, “Young people showed them that this
new world order ain't gonna be easy to implement on their generation. Only the
Uncle Toms seem happy to comply with it.. A mayor and police commissioner
recklessly determined to protect business interest and property above black
lives is just not right. The saddest point of the day is the fact that these
negroes simply cannot do any better. Young people showed them a thing or two.
White police with guns and ammo...Black people see that every day. Black babies
angry as hell--white folk ain't never seen anything like it.”[44]
Darren
Muhammad,
“State of the City” talk show host and grassroots activist said, “The biggest
looter in recent American history calling our young people looters.. If they
looted, they learned from the best, you Obama. You robbed and looted Libya,
Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt, and other countries..”
David Wiggins, Baltimore Black
Think Tank President, said: “Baltimore
families and children deserve to be protected from deprivations of civil rights
under color of law and murder by police under color of law. We will resist
murder under color of law with equal or greater force than you attempt to use
to force us into submission. We are not intimidated, and we are cognizant of
our natural right to resist law enforcement under color of law used to force us
to submit to murder under color of law. Self-defense from murder under color of
law is not violence. The youth of Baltimore are defending themselves from
murder under color of law, because you [Governor Larry Hogan] have failed to
protect them.[45]
Conclusion
In
Ferguson, when an NAACP representative was speaking at a rally against police
brutality shortly after the police murder of Michael Brown, the youth turned
their backs to him. The established clergy and politicians have failed the
youth, and the youth know these have no backbone. As in Ferguson, the youth in
Baltimore are the real leaders. They have an innate sense of justice. Time and
time again, even folk strongly opposed to the “riots” have told this writer
that it was the actions of the youth, at least in part, which lead to the six
police involved in Gray’s murder being indicted. Inshallah, history will judge
the Baltimore Uprising to have been inevitable, righteous, and effective.
What should Muslims (and Other People of
Conscience) do now?
The
Qur’an says: “Free the captives.” It also says, “Incline not to those who do
wrong, or the Fire will seize you.” Further, the Sublime Book says, “And why
should ye not fight in the cause of Allah and of those who, being weak, are
ill-treated (and oppressed)? Men, women, and children, whose cry is: "Our
Lord! Rescue us from this town, whose people are oppressors; and raise for us
from thee one who will protect; and raise for us from thee one who will
help!"
What do
these verses translate to in modern times? The police force evolved from the
slave patrols. The job of the slave patrols was to capture runaway slaves and
return them to sordid situations of oppression. Today’s slaves are the
innocents—the children of Baltimore and other cities in urban America--upon
whose necks the System has its boot. We must free them from the prison in which
America holds them. Not all prisons have four walls. As we know from Gaza ,
Palestine, a prison can be open air. Baltimore is a less well known open air
prison. Muslims should be a major force at protests against police brutality.
Masajid ought to invite people who have been victims of police brutality to
speak. Muslims should take civil disobedience training. General strikes, street
blockages, economic boycotts, and disruptions of the councils of the oppressor
are very effective non-violent tools. Muslims should be prepared to use them
when the time comes (following the leadership of the native people of the area,
off course).
Muslims
should also study the power dynamics of the cities they inhabit. Usually the
ruling elite, who oppress Black, Brown, Red, and the poor people domestically,
operate similarly on the international front, whether actively, or through
alliances with international oppressors. In Baltimore, the Greater Baltimore
Committee (GBC), an alliance of corporate interests, promulgates the White
Supremacist agenda, and spearheads gentrification and disenfranchisement of the
native Black population. At the same time, many in the GBC appear to be Zionist
(White Supremacist) Jews, who contribute to the oppression of Palestinians in
Occupied Palestine. Every city has its equivalent of the Greater Baltimore
Committee. Muslims should investigate the personalities in such business
entities, as well as in their local chamber of commerce, and organize boycotts
of businesses implicated in gentrification and disenfranchisement.
What Muslims Should Not Do
Keeping
in mind the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him): “Do not help
the oppressor, even by handing him a pen,” Muslims should not engage in
dialogue with police or government officials who are responsible for, or
oversee police brutality. We should also be aware of which opposition groups
are meeting, either privately or publicly, with representatives of the
oppressive power structure. Finally, be aware of front groups, coalitions, and
others which purport to be working to eliminate police brutality and other
social ills, but accept money from the power structure (including 501(c) 3’s).
Obviously, one’s independence and integrity is impugned by accepting money from
an oppressor. Avoid working closely with these groups, as they nearly always
engage in feel good activities which lead to a great deal of venting, but
little real change. Instead, either formulate new organizations, or work with
small, independent grassroots organizations, which rely on funding from their
members.
© 2015 by Nadrat Siddique
Parts of this paper were first presented by
the author before the National Majlis-e-Shura of Jamaat al-Muslimeen in
Greensboro, NC, USA, on May 16, 2015.
[1] U.S. Census
Bureau figures, quoted in “Baltimore’s Economy in Black and White,”CNN Money,
April 29, 2015
[2] U.S. Census
Bureau figures, quoted in “Baltimore’s Economy in Black and White,” CNN Money,
April 29, 2015
[3] Website for Baltimore Black
Think Tank President, http://davidanthonywiggins.com/
[4] “The Right
Investment: Corrections Spending in Baltimore City,” copyright 2015 by the
Justice Policy Institute, and the Prison Policy Initiative
http://
justicepolicy.org/TheRightInvestment.
[5] Southern Movement Assembly
webpage:
http://www.southtosouth.org/#!Timeline-Baltimore-Black-communities-Police/cd0a/556322610cf2adc1ad583977
[7] Department of Public Safety and
Correctional Services web page: http://www.dpscs.state.md.us/locations/prisons.shtml
[8] “Baltimore Behind Bars,” by the
Justice Police Institute
http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/10-06_rep_baltbehindbars_md-ps-ac-rd.pdf
[9] U.S. Census Bureau, 2010
[10] “Baltimore Behind Bars,” by the
Justice Police Institute http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/10-06_rep_baltbehindbars_md-ps-ac-rd.pdf
[11] “Baltimore Behind Bars,” by the
Justice Police Institute
http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/10-06_rep_baltbehindbars_md-ps-ac-rd.pdf
[12] “Baltimore Behind Bars,” by the
Justice Police Institute
http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/10-06_rep_baltbehindbars_md-ps-ac-rd.pdf
[13] “Baltimore Behind Bars,” by the
Justice Police Institute
http://www.justicepolicy.org/images/upload/10-06_rep_baltbehindbars_md-ps-ac-rd.pdf
[14] “The Right
Investment: Corrections Spending in Baltimore City,” copyright 2015 by the
Justice Policy Institute, and the Prison Policy Initiative
http://justicepolicy.org/TheRightInvestment.
[15] “The Right
Investment: Corrections Spending in Baltimore City,” copyright 2015 by the
Justice Policy Institute, and the Prison Policy Initiative
http://justicepolicy.org/TheRightInvestment.
[16] “The Right
Investment: Corrections Spending in Baltimore City,” copyright 2015 by the
Justice Policy Institute, and the Prison Policy Initiative
http://justicepolicy.org/TheRightInvestment.
[17] “The Right
Investment: Corrections Spending in Baltimore City,” copyright 2015 by the
Justice Policy Institute, and the Prison Policy Initiative
http://justicepolicy.org/TheRightInvestment.
[18] “The Right
Investment: Corrections Spending in Baltimore City,” copyright 2015 by the
Justice Policy Institute, and the Prison Policy Initiative
http://justicepolicy.org/TheRightInvestment.
[19] “The Right
Investment: Corrections Spending in Baltimore City,” copyright 2015 by the
Justice Policy Institute, and the Prison Policy Initiative
http://justicepolicy.org/TheRightInvestment.
[20] “The Right
Investment: Corrections Spending in Baltimore City,” copyright 2015 by the
Justice Policy Institute, and the Prison Policy Initiative
http://
justicepolicy.org/TheRightInvestment
[23]
“Family of man who died in Baltimore police custody files lawsuit,”
Baltimore Sun, June 23, 2014
[24] “Freddie Gray
among many suspects who do not get medical care from Baltimore police,” Baltimore Sun, May 9, 2015
[25] “Freddie Gray
among many suspects who do not get medical care from Baltimore police,”
Baltimore Sun, May 9, 2015
[27] Baltimore Sun, May 13, 2015
[29] “State approves
$30 million youth jail,” The Baltimore Sun, May 13, 2015
[30] “Hogan funds
pensions, but nothing more for schools,”
The Baltimore Sun, May 15,
2015
[31] "The Case
for the National Student Bill of Rights," by Bryant Muldrew
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/democracy_and_education/2012/04/the_case_for_the_national_student_bill_of_rights.html
[32] “Algebra
Project students demand a better education,” Baltimore Sun, September 24, 2009
[33] National
Student Bill of Rights
http://nationalstudentbillofrights.org/the-rights-we-should-have/
[35] CNN Money,
April 29, 2015.
[36] “Surveillance Video Shows
Looting Inside Mondawmin Mall” CBS Baltimore, April 28, 2015
[37] “Obama shames
Baltimore looters and condemns 'riots in the streets”
http://dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3059336/Obama-shames-Baltimore-looters-condemns-riots-streets.html
[38] “Statement From Governor Larry
Hogan On Violence In Baltimore City,” April 27, 2015
http://governor.maryland.gov/2015/04/27/statement-from-governor-larry-hogan-on-violence-in-baltimore-city/
[39] Department of Justice, Office of
Public Affairs, Press Release, April 27, 2015
[41] CNN, April 27,
2015
[42] Naim Ajamu
Facebook page, April 29, 2015
[43] Steve Ceci
Facebook page, April 28, 2015
[44] David L. Johnson, Sr. Facebook
page, April 27 - 28, 2015.
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