Freddie Gray: What Happens When You Live It
Add Freddie Gray’s name to a list we don’t know how long.
Freddie Gray was a man who was arrested by police in my hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. While in police custody, Mr. Gray suffered injuries to his spinal cord, brain, voice box and vertebrae, from which he would die.
Baltimore police officials have admitted that the reasons for Gray’s arrest are still “vague,” and that cops probably just thought that he was “immediately involved or had been recently involved in criminal activity.” One of the officers made eye contact with Mr. Gray who ran. When he was caught, a switchblade was found which was the probable cause.
Freddie Gray Was Guilty of Being Black
In high crime neighborhoods, black and guilty are synonymous. With the longstanding relationship between law enforcement and the black community, Mr. Gray is not just collateral damage but an unfortunate inevitability.
The Headline Writes Itself
Police Apprehend Another Black Man Under Questionable Circumstances Seen it many times. If it’s not clear by now, the oft associated police motto of “To Protect and Serve” is laughably funny as some ask who will protect us when the cops are the criminals, and we have seen that police are more likely to violate certain citizens’ rights than protect them. Does anyone else wonder what happens or has happened when the police are not or were not being watched or recorded?
A common estimate is that 400 people die every year while being arrested. CityLab’s Richard Florida notes this is probably an undercount. Six in ten of those deaths are homicides, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
I am probably wrong though. As we have seen, Mr. Gray most likely died from self-inflicted injuries. He had a long rap sheet so he was guilty of something or else the cops wouldn’t have gone after him. I do know that this will pass with little done. Afterall, these are all isolated incidents and certainly not indicative of any trend or pattern of behavior.
