The Enigma and Allure in Baltimore

Welcome back to Better Said Than Written, the podcast supplement of Artz of Culturez where I make a personal connection with today's trending topics.

In this episode I tried to wrap my head around what's taking place in Baltimore, Md. With the help of Emrld Swmp's member, universe, I was able to get a different perspective from a poem he shared for the people of Baltimore. 

Normally, you would just click the green play button below to hear my take and the poem, but in this installment, I decided to include my write up, which includes the identity of the police officers who were responsible for Freddie Gray's death. 

When America first got wind of Freddie Gray's death by the hands of Baltimore police officers, some citizens were convinced that his death was another case of racism. However, as I mentioned in a previous post, some people of Baltimore believes Gray's death has nothing to do with race but instead class. (see: Baltimore: It's Not About Race)

The word classism is defined as – prejudice or discrimination based on class. And according to classism.org, classism is held in place by a system of beliefs and cultural attitudes that ranks people according to economic status, family lineage, job status, level of education, and other divisions. This sounds about right in the story I initially alerted you to that Steve Inskeep shared on NPR.

Baltimore's chief prosecutors has since charged the officers with the death of Gray. Once the six police officers identities were revealed, most critics became silent about the talk of racism.

Baltimore: It's Not About Race

(Freddie Gray)

Steve Inskeep, host of Morning Edition on National Public Radio, went down to the streets of Baltimore where rioters took over the city after Freddie Gray’s funeral. Gray, who was a 25-year-old Black American man, died from a spinal injury after being taken into police custody. 

Some activists, social media audience and news outlets placed Gray’s death and the Baltimore riots into the same category as Eric Garner of Staten Island, N.Y, and the uprising in Ferguson, Mo., where protesters rioted for the death of Michael Brown. Observers grouped Gray’s death into a series of Black men dying by the hand of law enforcement. Unfortunately, they didn't get the story quite right.