Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Showdown in the city that bleeds


Showdown in the city that bleeds

 

Baltimore has been a tinderbox for many years waiting for the right moment to combust. That moment came when Freddie Gray died. His horrific death came while he was in police custody. As a result of this senseless tragedy emotions of city residents could not be contained. Many took to the streets in peaceful protests. Unfortunately many more used this as an opportunity to loot, vandalize and pillage throughout the city. http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/28/us/baltimore-riots/index.html Baltimore police were overwhelmed with the level of hostility embedded in the crowds confronting them. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake assuaged the mobs by requesting the police stand back allowing looters to destroy private property. She later back tracked on this policy when interviewed by the media noting her statements were taken out of context. City Hall and the police have been at odds concerning policing techniques for years. The current mayor has brought this controversy to a new level. Mayor Blake’s soft stance on crime and her inadequate support for the police have contributed to the riots now taking place in Baltimore.

 

Over the last several days life in Baltimore has come to a near standstill. The media’s false assumption that Mr. Gray’s death is responsible for all the chaos now viewed nightly is naïve at best. Baltimore has had an epidemic of crime for decades. Though city officials and the left wing press attempt to hide Baltimore’s problems behind smiling faces the facts bear out it is one of the most dangerous cities in America. http://www.examiner.com/article/baltimore-unsafe-at-any-speed After many nights of violent protests Baltimore’s Mayor finally conceded she could not manage the rioting that touched her city. She requested Governor Larry Hogan to call up the National Guard. Governor Hogan immediately called the Guard into force wondering aloud why Mayor Blake waited until the city was immersed in chaos. Resources from other jurisdictions within and outside Maryland have also agreed to help in the effort to quell the rioting. These protectors of the public must ask themselves is the risk worth the effort.

 

Interviewed on the streets protesters provide various views why violence has erupted in their city. Some of their reasoning is amorphous and garbled.  Others note police have no respect for community members therefore the violence is necessary to shake them up. From this perspective looting is the prime objective not police brutality as their leaders have stated.                                                                                              Hostilities will not abate as along as the Mayor and City Council pander to those who commit crimes. Many believe agitators have come a distance to push their own agenda: which is complete disruption of city services. If that is the case they did not need to do much. Arrests have been kept to minimum to curry favor with the rioters. Mayor Blake needs to get her act together or Baltimore will become the Detroit of the East Coast.

 

Mark Davis MD, President of Davis Writing Services. Author of Demons of Democracy and Obamacare: Dead on Arrival, A Prescription for Disaster.

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