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The Myths
1. The rally at Baltimore City Hall on Saturday was peaceful
Local and national politicians and media waxed poetic about how beautiful and peaceful was this exercise of the right to demonstrate. I attended the rally, and the rhetoric from the podium was a mix of calls to peaceful action and more ominous threats to “shut down” the city and the system. On the periphery were individuals and groups of angry people screaming at the police lines and haranguing some of the journalists trying to report live.
Everyone except city officials seemed to know what was going to happen on Saturday. The city hall area was crawling with news crews and photojournalists. I don’t think they were there to record a lot of lovely speeches.
As the marchers from West Baltimore reached City Hall, the atmosphere became more ominous. After a couple of hours of inflammatory speeches and chants, it was not surprising that many in the crowd were ready to make trouble.
2. The riots are the work of “outside agitators”
This narrative started with city officials after the Saturday riot and quickly became the party line for public officials across Maryland. Purveyors of this tale included Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Police Commissioner Anthony Batts, Governor Larry Hogan, Congressman Elijah Cummings, and others, using similar wording. It came across as just a public relations move, spinning the facts to salvage Baltimore’s already tarnished reputation.
The mayor and police officials must have believed their own rhetoric to some extent, as evidenced by their being completely unprepared for the scope and degree of the unrest in northwest Baltimore on Monday. Incredibly, at 4:30 p.m. Monday as local youths rampaged and looted, Baltimore Police spokesman Eric Kowalczyk again invoked this narrative.
3. A police force visibly ready for unrest provokes an otherwise peaceful crowd
This argument has been taken up often in the wake of the unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, in spite of the actual outcome of this approach. The theory put forth is that protesters are insulted by the presumption of violence, and therefore become violent. Rawlings-Blake bought into this belief, warning against use of military equipment and force against demonstrators on NBC’s Meet the Press in August 2014.
Baltimore has shown tolerance of protesters blocking traffic and otherwise disrupting the city in the past. This soft approach was used again on Saturday evening, with police initially outfitted in their regular uniforms without helmets or any other riot gear. They were forced to bob and weave as projectiles from the crowd rained on them. After donning helmets, they were taunted childishly by the crowd “Why are you in riot gear? There is not a riot here”. The approach failed miserably – it was a sign of weakness that probably encouraged the rioters on Saturday and possibly set the stage for the unrest on Monday.
Another possibility is that the city was offering up some officers for abuse in the hope that it would mollify the demonstrators. I certainly hope not.
However, I believe that the news media misinterpreted (some intentionally) Mayor Rawlings-Blake’s badly worded remark about giving “those who wished to destroy space to do that as well”. She clearly was characterizing that as an unintended consequence of allowing the marchers to demonstrate freely in the streets, and many irresponsibly pounced on the remark to make news.
4. The Monday riots grew out of the funeral of Freddie Gray.
Evidence suggests that there was a message circulating on social media for a “purge” to occur after school at nearby Mondawmin Mall and then downtown. The term seems to refer to a 2013 social sci-fi film “The Purge”, in which the government allows a 12-hour period of complete lawlessness as an act of catharsis. The troubles started after local high schools let out at 2:30 P.M.
The Truths
1. Only grudgingly will activists and media call the rioting opportunism.
The word is not being commonly used. Instead of tying the riots directly to the Freddie Gray arrest, many are backing off and attributing it to anger caused by a more broad oppression and neglect of the communities where the riots took place. It is certainly difficult to relate burning and looting in one’s own neighborhood to anger at the police or the larger society. What I saw in person on Saturday looked like a form of recreation to many in the crowd.
2. The morality (or lack thereof) of the violence is rarely addressed
Terrorizing and attacking bystanders, stealing from individuals and merchants, destroying public and private property. Many activists decry these actions, but often characterize them as impractical as opposed to just morally wrong. Even some religious leaders talk about “the message being lost” in the rioting as opposed to invoking a religious or personal moral code that forbids it.
3. Nationals leaders and news media have gotten a look at what Baltimore police deal with every day.
Even local journalists expressed shock at what they were seeing on Saturday and Monday evenings. Local and national reporters were attacked and robbed and most of them sought protection behind police lines.
It’s not possible to understand what policing these neighborhoods is like from the Freddie Gray arrest video. The BPD did not create the conditions there; they’re just the ones holding the line against anarchy. For their edification, I suggest that the folks at CNN et al. get out of the studio and go report in the area; or go on some ride-alongs with the Baltimore police – if they dare.
