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By now, many are aware of the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. After reportedly being severely beaten, he died in the hospital after suffering fatal injuries to his spinal cord. Freddie Gray’s death inspired protests against police brutality that eventually led to sporadic riots.
While information sources such as Black Westchester insist that popular media outlets have skewed the representation of these protests, this column is not meant to throw those rioters under the bus. I am not going to weakly claim #NotAllProtesters. Instead, I ask you to view the riots from a new perspective. We must put ourselves in the positions of others to understand their situations. Only then will we progress toward enduring change.
It is easy but reductionist to explain the actions of the rioters as opportunistic. We must delineate the role that authority (police officers or local government) plays more generally to understand the recent events in Baltimore. When a community allows themselves to be governed, it does so under the impression that the laws imposed by that authority are meant for the protection of the community. This agreement, a social contract, defines the relationship between the authorities and the governed, as well as the responsibilities of both parties. The governed obey the imposed social order because they trust the authority to function in the interest of public protection.
It is a problem when the police use their authority to victimize rather than protect the community. Urban black communities like those in Baltimore are often the targets of these abuses of power.
Al Jazeera America penned a scathing article about the history of racism among Baltimore police and the skewed media representations of these communities. Police have repeatedly demonstrated to these black communities that their lives are inconsequential for the maintenance of the established social order. The community must view the police as attackers rather than protectors, as those who target community members based on an arbitrary imposition of the law.
It is no wonder Baltimore residents have lost faith in the effectiveness of social order, considering the persistent abuse of policing power and the inability or unwillingness of governments to address abuses. The Baltimore government has failed to uphold its end of the social contract, and an authority that disregards the safety and autonomy of its citizens is not one that is easily trusted.
Some might still wonder how police violence justifies counterattacks of rioting, looting and vandalism. But for those of you who ask this, I ask these questions in reply: Why should a community be invested in a social order that places no value on its safety? How important are the values of a government that does not care if you live or die? If the rules in place are not made to protect you, what good are they?
Freddie Gray’s death was the latest of many police killings that eroded the community’s trust. Though their actions may be violent, the rioters themselves are not violent. The rioters are filled with dread — dread for their own disenfranchisement, dread for the authority that stifles their humanity and dread for the eradication of their community if they do not fight back.
Martin Luther King Jr. once said that “a riot is the language of the unheard.” While he believed in nonviolence, he understood that this rage did not occur in a vacuum. He understood that if the systematic oppression of the black community did not end, then neither would the riots.
Stephen Bryne is a junior psychology major. He can be reached at coffan1334@gmail.com.
