One year has passed since the death of Freddie Gray in police custody and the Baltimore Uprising that followed it.  Police Commissioner Anthony Batts has been fired, replaces by Kevin Davis.  The Maryland Legislature passed reforms to the hiring, firing and discipline procedures of the Baltimore Police Department in April, but did not make much-needed changes in the Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights (LEOBR), such as the institution of civilian review boards or the elimination of the ten-day “waiting period” before a police officer must officially answer charges regarding brutality cases. And while the case of Freddie Gray continues its agonizing creep towards what people hope will be some form of justice, the cases of Tyrone West (who was killed by police two years ago) and Keith Davis Jr. (who survived an encounter last summer), two other recent victims of police violence, remain unresolved to the satisfaction  of their families and of community activists, and more instances of police brutality and misconduct have been uncovered over the last year by quick-thinking community members armed with cell phone cameras.

Articles have been written in such publications as the Baltimore Sun, the Baltimore City Paper, Black Enterprise magazine, the Intercept (“After Freddie, We Woke Up”, https://theintercept.com/2016/04/26/a-year-after-the-baltimore-uprising-the-real-work-is-just-beginning/) and others.  Countless radio talk shows have discussed the ongoing and festering situation in Baltimore City – crime, economic depression, continued incidents between citizens and police, and what many see as a mass media that fails, or refuses, to understand the institutional racism that underpins the current system.

Keeping the Fire Lit

While some of us have moved on with our lives in an attempt to “transcend” (read “forget”) what happened last year (despite the constant updates on the trials of the six police officers involved in his death) and the mass media has put its own spin on what led to the Uprising, several local and regional activist organizations refuse to forget and are doing what they can to ensure that we don’t forget either. 

There have been protests and commemorations of Freddie Gray to nark this grim one-tear anniversary.  The Sandtown neighborhood where Freddie lived has seen an increase in community organizing in the last year.  And organizations continue to hold discussion forums and community-organizing events to shake us all awake and, hopefully, keep us there.

On Friday, April 29, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS) held A Year After the Uprising: Reflections from the Grassroots, a discussion as part of their Malcolm X Talks series in which they discussed the issues of income inequality, gentrification and police violence and misconduct that still fester in Baltimore City and which, given sufficient provocation, could lead to another Uprising.  Issues of what LBS leaders Dayvon Love and Lawrence Grandpre describe as “Anti-Blackness” in their recent release The Black Book were discussed in the context of the political, social and economic situation in Baltimore City, and several members of the audience shared their thoughts and concerns in what was a lively discussion of institutional and systemic racism in Baltimore.

A Solidarity Statement from Black-Led Organizations

LBS was not the only organization speaking out in observance of the one year that has passed since Freddie Gray’s death and the Baltimore Uprising.  The Public Justice Center (info@publicjustice.org) released the following announcement and then shared a joint statement from nine Black-led organizations:

On April 18th, leaders of nine Black-led organizations working for racial justice and economic development in Baltimore’s Black communities released a Statement of Solidarity to commemorate the first anniversary of the Baltimore Uprising. Their statement offers a counter-narrative to the mainstream media’s framing of last April’s events: making clear that the Uprising was not just about the death of Freddie Gray, and that Black-led as well as other organizations continue to work in those communities the media and policy makers have forgotten.

The Public Justice Center is one of those other organizations, and fully supports this Statement of Solidarity and its commitment to community-led struggle. The PJC is currently a white-led organization. We use legal tools to pursue social justice, economic and race equity, and fundamental human rights.  

Many of our projects target the issues that impact neighborhoods like Mr. Gray’s, neighborhoods that experience historical and current police abuse and racist disinvestment, and the entrenched poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and substandard housing that are its consequences. We represent tenants facing eviction and substandard housing conditions, workers whose earned wages are stolen by their employers, homeless, foster, and unaccompanied youth who are struggling to get their free and appropriate public education, and families who desperately need health care.

One of our projects specifically supports community organizing efforts that are Black-led and whose membership is of the impacted neighborhoods. The Public Justice Center and Right to Housing Alliance (RTHA) released the report Justice Diverted: How Renters Are Processed in Baltimore City’s Rent Court. Now the PJC’s Human Right to Housing Project is working with the 7,000 Families Campaign, whose coalition members include RTHA, Baltimore Bloc, Showing Up for Racial Justice, Jews United for Justice, Bristol House, Chase House, and BALT, and is demanding reforms at the courts, City Hall, and Annapolis.  

The PJC is also a founding member of the Baltimore Housing Roundtable, which released the report Community + Land + Trust: Tools for Development Without Displacement. The Baltimore Housing Roundtable is advocating for community-controlled land trusts to wrest control of our housing from developers and governments, and to create affordable housing and good paying jobs for low-income residents.

The media and policy makers may have moved on from the people who live in neighborhoods like Freddie Gray’s, but the Movement has only grown stronger in the last year, and the Public Justice Center is committed to being a supportive ally in solidarity with community-led and Black-led organizations.

We’ve decided to share that Statement of Solidarity here:

Statement of  Solidarity from Black-led Organizations
Commemorating 1 Year Anniversary of Baltimore Uprising

On April 18th — one day before the death of Freddie Gray — concerned Baltimoreans protested in front of the Western District Building: an initial and powerful symbol of community coming together to protest police abuses in African American communities. For a little over 2 weeks, “mainstream” media developed as its primary narrative one of “violent rioters” with little historical context or analysis.

On this one-year Anniversary of the Baltimore Uprising, we the undersigned — leaders of Black-led organizations working for racial justice and Black economic development — offer the following narrative: one in which “mainstream” media has shown no interest, and one that is happening every day in communities of color like the one in which Freddie Gray lived and died:

• The Baltimore Uprising was not just about the death of Freddie Gray. The Uprising was the birth of a social movement that is multi-faceted, still developing, and operating as direct service in communities, advocacy efforts regarding policy, philanthropic efforts, and collaborative efforts to promote and support Black empowerment, leadership, and agency.

• Black-led, as well as other, organizations continue to work in those communities the media and policy-makers have forgotten. From the focus on creating more effective philanthropy and equitable policies by an Associated Black Charities or an Equity Matters; to clothing and food drives and policy advocacy by a Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle; to addressing the mental health and healing needs by a Black Mental Health Alliance; to using faith as a social change tool like a KineticsLive or a Muslim Community Cultural Center of Baltimore; to providing world-class data and other analysis from an African American worldview by a Morgan State University Institute of Urban Research; to teaching our children from an African Diasporic perspective by Orita’s Cross Freedom School and Pleasant Hope Baptist Church; to consulting and coaching for institutional transformation toward racial equity by Baltimore Racial Justice Action: the fight for justice for children, families, and communities of color has never stopped.

• We acknowledge the Generational Struggle. Many would say “this is not your granddaddy’s movement.” And it is not. Today, even in the midst of injustice we have more protections than our foremothers and fathers and we give thanks to those upon whose shoulders we stand. We also recognize the differences in today’s Movement and while we honor the past, we understand that each generation forges its own way and re-makes the Movement in the image of the social circumstances and injustices of the day while maintaining its continuous generational cord. And as a multi-generational movement, we are unwavering in our support of each other.

And so this Movement stands.

We stand in the umbrella of what happened to Freddie Gray and a multitude of others across the country, and in the hope that justice will be done for those accused.

We understand that “universalists” policies that perpetuate and then ignore racialized implementations and impacts are inexcusable forms of violence that our children have to face every day; forms of violence that truncate their opportunities and access, and in doing so, kill their futures. We clearly see that this violence is so normal — and color-coded — that it is easy to deny and normal to ignore.

And we stand in the knowledge that – despite the prevailing social narrative — we continue to be committed to saving ourselves.

On this one-year anniversary of the Baltimore Uprising, we recommit: recommit to fighting for a future for our young ones and our Elders, for those disenfranchised, and for those who have economically “made it” but still live in the shadow of America’s “original sin”: racism.

We understand that after 400 years, our story is still being written and told but this time, the narrative will be our own.

We, the undersigned, are still in The Struggle, remembering Freddie Gray and all who have come before – and preparing those who will emerge.

SIGNERS*:

 

*WE WELCOME ALL OTHER SIGNERS TO THIS STATEMENT