Apr 27, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore police officers stand outside the stadium prior to the cancellation of the game between the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
As evening fell Monday night at Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore, just a 15-minute car ride from M&T Bank Stadium up South Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, looters destroyed stores, vandalized cars, and skirmished with police in full riot gear. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has declared a state of emergency and initiated a curfew in the city of Baltimore from 10pm to 5am every night for the next week. In light of this violence and in respect of the new curfew, the Baltimore Ravens have canceled their draft party scheduled for Thursday night at the stadium. The Orioles and White Sox have also cancelled their game tonight.
The scene in Baltimore is dangerous. According to reports, at least 15 police officers have been wounded, six of them “seriously.” Hundreds of people have been arrested, with 144 reported vehicle fires and 19 structure fires. The governor is sending 500 state troopers to Baltimore and requesting up to 5,000 police officers from neighboring districts. As many as 5,000 National Guard members are in waiting as well. “We’re not going to have another repeat of what happened last night,” Governor Hogan said, “It’s not going to happen tonight.”
President Obama spoke on the matter in a press conference at the White House today. “There’s no excuse for the kind of violence that we saw yesterday. It is counterproductive.” the president said. He went on to say “this is a slow-rolling crisis… This has been going on for a long time. This is not new and we shouldn’t pretend it’s new.”
"“There’s no excuse for the kind of violence that we saw yesterday. It is counterproductive. When individuals get crowbars and start prying open doors to loot, they’re not protesting. They’re not making a statement. They’re stealing. When they burn down a building, they’re committing arson. And they’re destroying and undermining businesses and opportunities in their own communities. That robs jobs and opportunity from people in that area.”–President Obama"
The prevailing notion is that the violence was initiated in response to the unjust death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray at the hands of Baltimore police officers. According to CNN.com, Gray was arrested for supposedly carrying a “switchblade” and fleeing from police. Gray’s attorney attests that he was carrying “a pocket knife of legal size.”
Whatever the case, Gray was moving his legs and screaming as he was taken into custody and put into a police van, “And when Mr. Gray was taken out of that van,” Baltimore Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez commented, “he could not talk, and he could not breathe.” This was April 12th at 8:54 AM. At 9:24 AM, police called an ambulance for Gray at Gray’s request. On April 19th, seven days after his arrest, Freddie Gray died from a spinal chord injury apparently incurred during this incident.
The entire account is sketchy, and CNN does a much better job laying it out here than I do. However, this is another incident of police brutality against African-American males in a string of highly publicized, well-documented cases across the nation occurring all-too frequently. The conduct by these officers is a serious issue that cannot be tolerated and must be addressed.
However, the situation in Baltimore appears to be triggered by something even more frightening and dangerous. Reports are coming out that the violence at the mall was a planned attack coordinated on social media by “school-age children” in an attempt to recreate the events of the popular film “The Purge.” In the film, all laws are temporarily lifted for one day a year for a 12-hour period and any behavior is acceptable, even murder. This is apparently intended to “purge” society of the weak and under-privileged who cannot afford advanced security systems like the main character of the story, played by Ethan Hawke.
Baltimore police have also reported a “credible threat” of some of Baltimore’s biggest gangs teaming up to join the kids and “take out law enforcement officers.” This combined with other protests involving Freddie Gray’s murder created a kind of perfect storm of violence in Baltimore.
It is all very strange and disheartening. The fact that these kids could even pull off such an event is one thing, but the fact that they would want to is entirely another. You can chalk some of it up to the restlessness of youth and the lack of foresight generally exhibited in teenagers, but this goes beyond that. It speaks of the culture of violence and despair that embodies Baltimore. It’s about the level of poverty and humiliation a human being can endure before they break. But what this violence most definitely was not about, was the death of Freddie Gray.
The outcry has generally been one of shock and disappointment. Many Baltimore residents have called the riots a “disgrace” to Freddie Gray’s memory, and saying that this is not the right way to go about this. “This has set West Baltimore back at least 10 years,” said David Lemus, who works at Frozen Desert Sorbet, which had been scheduled to open next week. “I don’t know why they choose to do this in the slums and the hood, because this is where those businesses were needed.”
“This has set West Baltimore back at least 10 years. I don’t know why they choose to do this in the slums and the hood, because this is where those businesses were needed.”–David Lemus, Baltimore Resident
Baltimore has long been a community trying to rebuild itself from the hub of violence and poverty it has become since the riots following Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination in 1968. Many residents lament that this violence will just set back the city even further. “What happened,” said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake “…destroyed so much of the progress that the people who actually live here have been working for.”
Events like these show us of how very fragile our thin veil of society is. The human being is capable of dropping into total anarchy and chaos in an instant. I suppose it harkens to some kind of instinct of survival of the fittest. We are still just animals after all; just animals that happen to drive cars and wear suits.
Apr 27, 2015; Baltimore, MD, USA; Baltimore police officers stand outside the stadium prior to the cancellation of the game between the Chicago White Sox and Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Evan Habeeb-USA TODAY Sports
The world is not just. Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, and sadly now Freddie Gray are terrible reminders of this fact. Police officers are tasked with the sacred mission “to protect and serve,” though not every officer’s priorities seem to be in the right place. However, it is important to remember all of the good police officers putting their lives on the line, making tremendous sacrifices in an honest effort to keep our cities safe.
I can say with certainty that there are more good cops than the other kind, though they often go unheralded. Bad news gets more press than good. But without these officers, the situation in Baltimore would be a daily occurrence in every city across the nation. They are a necessary institution to ensure order among us, lest we return to the Dark Ages of Europe or devolve to a militaristic, tyrannical society with no freedoms.
So what in the world do sports have to do with all this? It seems trivial to make the comparison, doesn’t it? Often, sporting events and franchises seem to exist in some kind of alternate reality unaffected by current events. When the two clash, it seems jarring and upsetting. This escapism is actually one of the best parts about sports, but its role in society cannot go unstated.
Sports provide us with a wonderful distraction, something to root for even when our own lives sometimes get us down. When you throw on a ball game, you shouldn’t have to think about the bad day at the office or who’s running for president. It’s just about a very basic concept of whacking a ball with a stick or getting it across a line or in a basket. Sports are about a physical challenge, in one unadulterated time period, pitting one human being’s internal fortitude and skill against another’s.
Jan 30, 2015; Phoenix, AZ, USA; NFL commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during a press conference for Super Bowl XLIX at the Phoenix Convention Center. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
But the new economics of sports have created a strange tension between it’s players, owners, and management and the outside world. Just down the street from these rioters who are mostly living in squalor, stacked on top of one another, pushed to violence by the seemingly insurmountable obstacles pure oppression has mounted before them, human beings made of the same blood and bones and guts are being paid millions of dollars to play “games.” In contrast, most of the people protesting are probably either living on government subsidies or working at least 40 hours a week for Maryland’s minimum wage of $8.25 per hour. Yet these are the same people going to games, cheering on these athlete Demi-gods.
However, professional sports leagues surely recognize their importance in society and try to do their part. The NFL has undertaken campaigns against domestic violence and installed new concussion-protocols that even extend to youth football programs. You can chalk it up to any number of political reasons, but they are initiatives long past due. Baseball now sings “God Bless America” at every seventh-inning stretch in honor of 9/11. And players themselves often use their status to make statements on Twitter or by wearing clothing with expressions like “Je Suis Charlie.”
And let’s not forget about forget about the importance of playing sports when we were kids. Before the money and the fame. Before 24-hour sports networks and non-stop media coverage. When it was just about the challenge and the teamwork. When you played outside with your friends because it was fun. That’s pretty important, don’t you think?
So we cannot ignore the impact of sports in society, but we also cannot pretend that sports carry more importance than they do. There are more critical things going on in the world other than who the Ravens will take with the 26th pick on Thursday. And yet, as I write this, sitting comfortably on my couch in uptown Manhattan, I know where I’ll be come 8pm Thursday night. Because I love sports, and it’s nice to get away from the often harsh world around us, even for just a little while.
Let’s hope for the safety of everyone in Baltimore, MD.
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