Voices from the Streets of Baltimore

Updated 4/28/15 early evening | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

 

Editor's note: During the day and into the early evening, a Revolution correspondent has been in the streets of Baltimore with the Revolution Club, getting out Carl Dix's statement in sections of West Baltimore where the uprising on Monday night was concentrated. Following are clips from what people had to say.

 

We were just at a corner where a couple hundred people were having a dance party – dancing to the Michael Jackson song, "They don't care about us…" and spilling into the streets. At one point a Black Lives Matter march came past. Someone who lives in Baltimore was commenting that the feeling among the people who were dancing was kind of like "relief" in response to a very tense situation. The march of more movement type activists came through at one point – but wasn't that much interaction in terms of people from the streets joining it.

More responses to Carl Dix  statement: Young Black woman poet from Baltimore said, "The youth have a lot of heart, they don't have much respect for the authorities. They didn't have much respect before and especially now they don't have any. This is going to go on for a while."

Mid afternoon – A corner scene called by peace/cleanup forces right outside a burned-out drugstore is attracting a range of people from but also beyond hood. This is where the crew is getting out the statement.

A white freelance journalist – a woman: "It's probably best that the police didn't get involved last night, or there would have been more violence. It's unfortunate that there's so much property damage but that's nothing compared to the physical damage people suffer from the police. Young people who live in this area wake up every day and they are afraid, they are living in poverty, and that's just not right. Just a few blocks away, there are neighborhoods much more built up and wealthy, and the poverty in this area – not right."

Another woman with her had been involved in Occupy Oakland – her parents in the suburbs are calling her, freaked out, because she's living in the city, but she came down to protest. "It's not surprising that everyone is calling these people violent because that's 'their' agenda.'"

White anarchist saw Carl Dix's statement on social media, he is familiar with Carl Dix. He said of Statement: "Of course, this is a police state."

Older Black man – someone who is on the streets a lot – "I agree it is justifiable for people to rise up, but the problem is, it's not white businesses in other areas being affected, it is the businesses in the neighborhood" [People read some of Carl Dix statement, he responded] "Yeah, a few blocks away there's all this development, all these new buildings, but nothing here. Hopefully this sends a message, we agree on that."

Middle Aged Black Woman: "If you give them justice, all this will stop, if you don't give them justice, this won't stop"

A young guy into the life: "Now the whole world is listening, they weren't listening before."

A 20-ish young man on a bike, with dreads, read Carl Dix's whole statement out loud. He said – "Yeah, that's what happened. It started with Freddie but it won't end with Freddie. If you're in lockup you can't speak up, but when they forced the police to back up, it was a chance to express themselves, to speak up." He said yesterday was justified and "needs to happen tonight."

A Black man, 30: "You only can push people so far, now it's past Freddie, every urban area has the same thing. Freddie was Ok when he was running, so he was OK then, and something happened in police custody and so it's on them. What happened yesterday is what happens when you put people in a corner. When the police report comes out on Friday it might be sheer havoc."

A Black woman, 30s: "Something needed to be done. This was a statement. They weren't gonna be heard, they weren't being heard before, so they did something to be heard. "

A Black woman, a mother with kids: "The kids are saying the six police officers who killed Freddie, all they got was suspended with pay. Why not destroy some businesses to get some attention. There are no jobs for them. If police know someone is hurt, they are supposed to call the ambulance right away, not throw them in the back of a van."

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