Properly Ridiculous Reasoning: Baltimore Riots

One could say the Baltimore Riots are ridiculous; one could also say it’s proper. The pictures of cars on fire are just as frightening as the death of Freddie Gray; for two completely different reasons. It was only a matter of time before riots like this started happening.

The age of instant communication is among us, friends & foes. The simplicity to record, tweet and share to a million-billion-trillion various media outlets is what has changed, and not much else. Freddie Gray is only the most recent of accounts regarding police brutality & questionable actions by those who are supposed to protect and serve.


In leu of the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody, a lieutenant, a sergeant and four other officers have been suspended [with pay] in Baltimore; one of the officers has refused to give a statement. Whose rights are being protected? Is that legal? 

[The 45-minute mystery of Freddie Gray’s death]

There isn’t anyone who holds any sort of power who can explain or are willing to give a logical explanation to how Freddie Gray suffered a crushed voice box and spinal cord injuries that killed him.


Do police officers receive special training? I’ve never attended a police academy but the education process, I’d have to imagine it’s fairly extensive, with lots of training for different scenarios and outcomes. Why are so many people with special training resorting to deadly force? Without throwing a bunch of numbers in your face U.S. Cops Kill at 100 Times the Rate of Other Capitalist Countries.

Everyone is so caught up with the hype and craziness of it all it seems to be forgotten that this human being was brutally taken from this earth. It does not matter why he ran or what color his skin was, there isn’t a way to justify the events that led up to his death.

The people of Baltimore feel the only way to be heard is to create madness while the police officers monitor and attempt to control the unbalance of power. It’s now national news. President Obama’s been called. The Oriel’s game has been canceled and a state of emergency issued. Small local business suffering along with the rest of the community as their stores and places of business get busted into and ransacked.

So many police officers in our country want nothing more than to protect the community and serve their fellow citizens. These police officers have families who now, have to watch their loved one walk out the door, not knowing what they’ll be faced with. There are less than honorable people who passed the tests and recieved a badge; the police shouldn’t be smothered with a blanket judgement either.

Judgment seems to be an underlying issue that doesn’t get a lot of attention. Aside from the color of ones skin – we don’t talk much more about it. We judge the police officers, we judge the neighborhood, we judge the witnesses who are telling their story, and now we sit and judge the dead guy.

He had drug arrests in the past. He ran from a police officer. He wasn’t cooperating. 

None of that matters.

Black lives matter, White lives matter, Police officers lives matter. People, in general, matter.

5 thoughts on “Properly Ridiculous Reasoning: Baltimore Riots

  1. This is a dicey subject. Not your point that lives matter, because obviously, they do. There are good and bad in all professions, police included. But rioting is never justified. Never. Many of those who participated in the riots were gangs and outside groups. Innocent businesses were destroyed along with their ability to earn a living. People who have nothing to do with that community helped to destroy it and will leave it in shambles. The story about what happened will hopefully come out anyone who was responsible will be brought to justice. But I don’t think voices are heard through violence. That type of response only causes people to turn their heads away. Except for the media, of course, who lives fanning the flames.


    1. As an educated civil person who was taught that violence is not the answer, I agree that rioting is never justified.
      The people who are destroying their city & acting out violently, hurting innocent people… they are ignorant. Ignorance & anger is an extremely dangerous combination.
      The people who are destructively making their point heard everything are small in comparison to the number of people who are attempting to get their point across peacefully.
      The media, like you said will fan the flames – they’re going to show people what will get them the most views…[kind of like us, bloggers…only we are way better].
      I encourage everyone to really dig into this & see what’s going on.
      There are so many people that are trying to do the right thing. I saw a photo of citizens, of all color, standing on front of the police officers as if to say, “get through us first”…
      It’s just such a sad situation all around, for everyone involved.




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