Freddie Carlos Gray's Injustice

Social and economic disparities are plaguing the city of Baltimore. There are numerous issues that the city of Baltimore is facing, many of which did not come to light until the case of Freddie Gray. On April 2015, a 25-year-old black man by the name of Freddie Gray fell victim to police brutality. After the discovery of his death and the unreasonable way he was treated, Baltimoreans began to protest. The anger and frustration began to escalate due to other social and economic problems the city faces regularly.

In April of 2015 a 25 year old African American man named Freddie Gray, Jr was placed under arrest by the Baltimore Police Dpt. The police alleged that he was in possession of a switchblade knife; which is illegal. During the police transport Freddie Gray sustained severe spinal injuries causing him to become comatose; he was then taken to a trauma center where he ultimately died several days later. The suspicious circumstances and sustained injuries strongly suggested Police Officers used excessive force and failed to secure Mr. Gray properly during transport, and numerous individuals went as far to infer that it may have been murder.

On July 26, 2013, Sammy Yatim, a mentally ill youth was shot nine times and killed by a police officer. He boarded a streetcar and pulled out a switchblade, which he used to threaten passengers (Rogan, 2014). The police arrived shortly after all the passengers had safely exited. Constable James Forcillo was one of the first cops on the scene, and had ordered his partner to radio for a Taser to subdue Yatim. While Yatim was still in the streetcar, Forcillo fired his gun. Officers rushed into the streetcar to taser him and then attempted CPR. However, Yatim was pronounced dead early in the morning of July 27 (Rogan, 2014).

9 shooting of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old who had scuffled with Ferguson officer Darren Wilson, came just a few weeks after Eric Garner — an unarmed black man accused of illegally selling cigarettes — died in a struggle with white New York City officers. Garner’s death was captured by an onlooker’s video. Brown’s was not, and word quickly spread that he had been shot while surrendering with his hands up — an assertion uncorroborated by state and federal investigations.

The Baltimore riots began on Monday, April 27th, 2014 sparked by the death of Freddie Gray. He died under the hands of police custody and it triggered an anger that has been building up over the months by African American who are desperate for justice. In our community I feel as if every person should feel welcomed and loved and not excluded or made an outcast based on their race, beliefs, gender or disability. This is very important because lately there has been much discrimination on the news and in our community by misunderstanding and it has lead to a lot of misunderstanding.

Early morning on April 12th, 2015, Freddie Gray an African American, was arrested at 25, due to the possession of a knife in his pants pocket. Gray fled from the police, at first sight, was briefly chased on foot by the policemen and was later consequently arrested. As seen on phone cameras, Gray cried out for help before being transported to the police van, which is where Gray became fatally injured. On the way to the Western District Police Station, after several stops, Gray was found unresponsive once arriving at their destination. I will be analyzing the three sources, NPR, The Washington Post and CNN, in order to determine how each source

On April 12 of 2015, Freddie Gray, a black citizen of Baltimore, was charged with possession of a switchblade, and put into a police van. During the ride from the scene to the jail, Gray sustained neck injuries that ultimately led to his death one week later. The neck injuries sustained by Gray were caused by the negligence of the police officers responsible for his care (Six Officers, 2015). This is a modern day example of black citizens being treated unfairly by white police officers. It makes you wonder, if Freddie Gray was white, would he still be alive today? Would he even have been arrested in the first place?

On April 19, 2015 at approximately 7 a.m., Freddie Grey, a 25-year-old black man from Baltimore, Maryland died by mysterious causes. After being chased down and thrown into a police van by police officers, he was taken out of the van unresponsive and soon, “...lapsed into a coma, died, was resuscitated, stayed in a coma and on Monday, underwent extensive surgery at Shock Trauma to save his life" (Ford, 2015). Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner are other minority males that have become symbols of a raging national conversation about police brutality and racial injustice. These events have caused community’s civil rights protests to unite under themes such as; " Black Lives Matter", "Hands Up Don 't Shoot", "No Justice No Peace", and “I Can’t Breathe.” Police brutality driven by racial profiling is evident in lower income and minority areas. This is apparent because of lack of minority police officers, racial profiling in all ages, and the fear of the people in the community to step up to authority in the face of adversity.

However, the status of the April 27 game quickly changed due to the protest of the death of unarmed black man, Freddy Grey whose funeral occurred the same day. On April 27, 2015, before the Baltimore Orioles game, crowds of protestors gathered near the town city to march to the downtown area (CBS News, 2015) to voice this concern and disapprove of the death of Freddy Grey who succumbed to his spinal injury he suffered while in police custody. At the same time that the march for answers for the Freddy Grey’s death were taking place, the Orioles where gearing up for their 7:05 pm opening series against the White Sox. Sadly, at the same time that gates were opening for fans to enter, the protest began to take a hostile turn. In an article written by Eduardo Encina for the Baltimore Sun, he

In any violent protesting event there will be many casualties. But on some level individuals must realize that these sacrifices are made to create equality for years to come. The individuals slain were donating their lives to the cause to make the world a better place. By looking at current social protests the Black Lives Matter Movement may come immediately to mind. This is a violent movement that arose quickly in the media due to that. Protestors from this movement are publicly creating their point and gathering support and attention nationwide which may lead to a change in policy (Tuttle). With change as the ultimate end result this method is successful in obtaining this. Reacting to oppression with violence is not only physically effective, but visually effective. It draws attention to the situation and declares that bystanders must take a side. It invokes emotion, whether it be anger, passion, fear, or guilt, and motivates people to take either side of the oppressor or the oppressed. Either way, it draws attention to the

The right to assemble is significant in today’s society because there are numerous of protests occurring every day in different states. The First Amendment declares “the right of the people peaceably to assemble”, the key word in this is peaceably. A crucial legal and cultural protection is this right to assemble. The Supreme Court expanded the right to assemble over the federal government to the states in the De Jonge versus Oregon case in 1937. This case was unanimous and led to the “ right of peaceable assembly is a right cognate to those of free speech and free press and is equally fundamental.” The people of Charlotte have the right to protest, however they took it too far when they began to destroy property, and ignite fires. When situations like this begin to get out of control, people’s lives start to get endangered, countless of civilians and police officers were injured and rushed to the hospital. Violence is not the answer to any problem and because of this non peaceable protest a civilian was shot and is now on life support. This was the second night of protests in Charlotte over police shootings killing African Americans. Protesters were chanting “ Black lives matter” and “ No justice no peace .” One protester was so furious she even wiped the blood from the gunshot victim onto the police officer. Many African

Jaylee woke up with a groan. School started way too early. She absolutely hated waking up early. She was definitely not a morning person. Mornings were made to sleep in, not wake up as the sun rises. Jaylee loved sunrises and sunsets, but she wasn't willing to wake up just to see it. That was what morning people and social media was made for. Jaylee needed her sleep, or else, someone might be killed.

According to baltimoresun.com, during the Baltimore protests there were a total of 200 people arrested in one week. On the second day of the Ferguson protests there were 144 people arrested, according to nydailynews.com. While in a violent protest, the chance of getting arrested rises because when violence breaks out the police are trying to get everyone who is causing the violence under control so nobody else gets hurt. Being involved in a violent protest makes it more likely for someone to get arrested is the final reason why protests should be peaceful and

Recently, with the Black Lives Matter movement and a series of publicized police brutalities, I have had my previous ideas of the authority figure challenged. With social media, it is hard to get away from the bombarding of posts and articles and opinions and images and videos and theories that clog up our newsfeeds. It makes it hard to have your own opinion, and to challenge others. When the shooting in Ferguson occurred, I felt completely shocked that something like this could and did happen. How could an unarmed teenager be killed by a police officer? If he was just walking down the street, not challenging authority or the laws placed by society, how could this happen? As I scrolled through my social media homepages, “friends” posted articles slamming this officer and those who tried to offer another point of view where cussed out by some many others in the comment section. Every article I read, we were only giving the end result, we were never told what really happened. If someone commented in support of the police officer, they were cyberbullied. I had begun on the side opposed to this police, but I

To “Serve and Protect” is the claim police fail to execute. On April 12, 2015, a young man named Freddie Gray, a resident of Baltimore, was a victim of a vicious attack that resulted in a coma, and finally death, following his arrest. His murderer is the six police officers that are involved in this arrest. One might ask why he fell into a coma in the first place. Gray was brutally mutilated by having his spine ripped out of his back. This occurred because police officers failed to put a seatbelt on him, as required. According to CBS news, "Following transport from Baker Street, Mr. Gray suffered a severe and critical neck injury as a result of being handcuffed, shackled by his feet and unrestrained inside of the BPD wagon," (Arrest). American citizens’ constitutional rights are being violated because the police force is abusing their power.