The Key Question in Baltimore

Baltimore Riots

It is to be expected that the media today would be discussing the violence in Baltimore, and questioning its justification, but hopefully this does not lead people to forget the underlying question, as posed by Ta-Nahisi Coates:

These well-intended pleas strike me as the right answer to the wrong question. To understand the question, it’s worth remembering what, specifically, happened to Freddie Gray. An officer made eye contact with Gray. Gray, for unknown reasons, ran. The officer and his colleagues then detained Gray. They found him in possession of a switchblade. They arrested him while he yelled in pain. And then, within an hour, his spine was mostly severed. A week later, he was dead. What specifically was the crime here? What particular threat did Freddie Gray pose? Why is mere eye contact and then running worthy of detention at the hands of the state? Why is Freddie Gray dead?

Plus, as was commonly discussed when Ferguson dominated the news, it is far too common for black men to be killed either when being apprehended by the police or when in custody.

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