Baltimore

Judge Keeps Freddie Gray Prosecution In Baltimore

September 10, 2015 Kevin Zeese, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Baltimore, killed by police, Police violence, Racism

By Kevin Zeese for Popular Resistance - In what was the most important pre-trial ruling in the prosecution of the six police offices accused of killing Freddie Gray, Baltimore Circuit Court Judge Barry Williams decided that the trial would continue in Baltimore. He wanted to go to jury selection to see if an impartial jury could be selected in Baltimore saying it was wrong to “assume they cannot be fair.” The judge said that the defense had failed to prove that the officers cannot receive a fair trial in Baltimore city saying in his ruling “The citizens of Baltimore are not monolithic. They think for themselves.” Protesters arrived early at the courthouse. There were concerns among protesters that is the judge moved the trial to the suburbs that a conviction would be impossible to achieve. If the decision had gone the other way and the trial had been moved out of the city protests against the decision would have been likely.

Baltimore To Pay Freddie Gray’s Family $6.4 Million

September 9, 2015 Kenrya Rankin Naasel, www.colorlines.com Educate! Baltimore, Freddie Gray

By Kenrya Rankin Naasel in Color Lines - The criminal trial for the six officers involved in the death of Freddie Gray isn’t set to start until October, but this morning, the city of Baltimore agreed to pay his family $6.4 million in restitution. The Baltimore Sun reports that the city’s spending panel, the Board of Estimates, is expected to approve the settlement at a meeting tomorrow. Gray’s family had not yet filed a civil suit against the city. Gray, 25, died in police custody on April 19, 2015, from spinal injuries inflicted during what Maryland State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby deemed an illegal arrest. As part of the settlement, the city accepts full civil liability for Gray’s arrest and death, but does not acknowledge police misconduct.

B’more: Cellphone Tracking Used To Violate Rights Of 2K Defendants

September 1, 2015 Josie Duffy, www.dailykos.com Educate! Baltimore, Criminal Justice, Human Rights, Police, Surveillance

By Josie Duffy in Daily Kos - A recent investigation by USA Today showed that police in Baltimore have been tracking cellphones during investigations but have failed to disclose the tracking to defendants and their attorneys. As a result, public defenders in Baltimore are expected to request that "a large number" of criminal convictions be thrown out. Baltimore police have used cellphone trackers, commonly known as stingrays, to investigate crimes as minor as harassing phone calls, then concealed the surveillance from suspects and their lawyers. Maryland law generally requires that electronic surveillance be disclosed in court. […] Stingrays are suitcase-sized devices that allow the police to pinpoint a cellphone’s location to within a few yards by posing as a cell tower. In the process, they also can intercept information from the phones of nearly everyone else who happens to be nearby.

As Freddie Gray Case Begins, Feds Probe Past Police Killings

September 1, 2015 A. Dwight Pettit and Stephen Janis, www.therealnews.com Resist! Baltimore, Law, police brutality

By A. Dwight Pettit and Stephen Janis in The Real News - A. DWIGHT PETTTIT: When the Justice Department came in they couldn't shut me up. I followed them out the door. STEPHEN JANIS, TRNN: In a city with the second-highest number of police per capita no one has had a more acute front row seat on the consequences of Baltimore's penchant for law enforcement than A. Dwight Pettit. The veteran civil rights attorney has been the city's top litigator of police brutality lawsuits for decades, which is why he's paying close attention to the upcoming pre-trial legal maneuvers in the case against six Baltimore officers charged in the death of Freddie Gray. Gray died in a police van shortly after he was arrested in April, and Pettit says several key motions could play a critical role in the final verdict.

Bankers Buy Baltimore Debt, Charge High Interest, Take Homes

August 30, 2015 Alice Ollstein, www.thinkprogress.org Educate! Baltimore, Bankers, Finance and the Economy, Racism

By Alice Ollstein for Think Progress - Now, new data shows powerful hedge funds are profiting off of struggling families in Baltimore by buying up debts as small as $250, charging high interest rates, and taking their homes when they fail to pay. A report just released by the research and advocacy group HedgeClippers documents how the Wall Street hedge fund Fortress Investment Group and the Los Angeles-based Imperial Capital bought up hundreds of these small liens this year — on everything from an unpaid water bills to delinquent property taxes — and could take property worth tens of millions of dollars if the families can’t pay. Once the hedge funds buy up these small debts, they reap an 18 percent interest, according to the Baltimore-based research group The Abell Foundation.

Arrests For Minor Crimes Spur Resentment In Baltimore

August 24, 2015 Catherine Rentz, www.baltimoresun.com Educate! Baltimore, Freddie Gray, police brutality

By Catherine Rentz in Baltimore Sun - For Trayvon Wiggins, applying for a job brings almost certain disappointment. "I go through the interview process, but as soon as they check my background, I can't pass it," the West Baltimore man said. He has been convicted of minor traffic violations but believes the real problem stems from other arrests that remain on his record even though they were never prosecuted. Wiggins, who has been working odd jobs as he moves to get those records expunged, illustrates the frustration felt by some Baltimoreans who have trouble finding employment because of arrests, including those for minor charges such as trespassing. The issue, which has sparked resentment in West Baltimore and other neighborhoods for years, has received new attention in the aftermath of Freddie Gray's death.

Energy, Democracy, Community

August 5, 2015 John Duda, www.medium.com Create! Baltimore, Cooperatives, Environment, Sharing Economy, Worker Rights and Jobs

By John Duda in Medium - But there’s another lesson to be learned from Curtis Bay: organized communities can successfully demand something other than business as usual. It started with just a few high school students, who started talking about building neighborhood resistance to the incinerator. With the help of local economic human rights organization called the United Workers, that small initial group snowballed into a massive campaign, bringing students and neighbors together with supportive activists and artists from across the city, all showing up at meetings of the institutions who had signed up to purchase power from the planned incinerator, and demanding they do otherwise. Against all expectations, as of August 2015, it looks like they are winning. The consortium of school boards, local governments, and nonprofits has canceled their contracts with Energy Answers, and the incinerator is far from even beginning construction. Meanwhile, Curtis Bay residents have become leading voices working to create an alternative development plan.

During B’more Uprising, City Officials Criminalized Hashtags

August 4, 2015 Kevin Gosztola, www.shadowproof.com Educate! Baltimore, Black Lives Matter (BLM), police brutality, Surveillance, Uprising

By Kevin Gosztola in Shadow Proof - The surveillance by the city, a security company, and a corporation reflects how scared everyone was of the protesting. The uneasiness was used to justify the bolstering of security, even though there was only one day in the beginning where riots occurred. Such monitoring, much of which was aimed at protesters, fits in with DHS’s practice of tracking “Black Lives Matter” demonstrations closely since Michael Brown was gunned down by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri. The FBI has used its Joint Terrorism Task Force to provide support to the Mall of America for a Black Lives Matter protest on December 20. Mall of America security have catfishedBlack Lives Matter activists in order to collect intelligence against them.

Ending The Food Deserts In Baltimore

July 26, 2015 Antonia Blumberg, www.huffingtonpost.com Create! Baltimore, Food and Agriculture, Urban Gardens

By Antonia Blumberg for Huffington Post - Rev. Dr. Heber Brown, who heads Pleasant Hope Baptist Church in Baltimore, is spearheading the Black Church Food Security Network in conjunction with the Baltimore Food and Faith Project of the Johns Hopkins Center For a Livable Future and Black Dirt Farm, a local group of urban farmers who grow food on the historic land of Harriet Tubman on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Their aim is to bring together black churches and black farmers to provide their communities with healthy, nutritious food. In Baltimore, 34 percent of the city’s African American population lives without access to fresh, healthy foods, compared to just 8 percent of white residents. Food justice came to the forefront of Brown’s mind five years ago when he was a new pastor at Pleasant Hope and found himself visiting members of his congregation in the hospital up to four times a week. “I realized the people I served were in the hospital, many of them, because of diet-related issues,” he told HuffPost.

B’more Police Chief Allowed Looting To Discredit Protestors

July 11, 2015 Paul Jay and Neill Franklin, www.therealnews.com Educate! Baltimore, Corruption, police brutality

By Paul Jay and Neill Franklin - Commissioner Batts and command staff members addressed officers during a roll call on April 25, 2015 at police headquarters. Of those officers who were present and with whom the after-action review committee spoke--that's the after-action review committee of the FOP. Each reported being given direct orders from Commissioner Batts and command staff members not to engage any protesters. Officers were ordered to allow the protesters room to destroy, and allow the destruction of property so the rioters would appear to be the aggressors. According to the officers' accounts they were told, quote, the Baltimore Police Department would not respond until they--in brackets, the protesters--burned, looted, and destroyed the city so that it would show that the rioters were forcing our hand, end quote.

Federal Documents Debunk Baltimore ‘Gang Threat’ Narrative

June 26, 2015 Adam Johnson, www.fair.org Educate! Baltimore, Media, police brutality

Self-described “FOIA terrorist” Jason Leopold of Vice (6/24/15) has released devastating documents about the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI’s analysis of a “threat” released by Baltimore police to media on April 27. The police had claimed that local “gangs” had gotten together and conspired to “take out cops”; this “credible threat,” used to justify an aggressive crackdown on protests against police violence, was reported on at the time from everyone from local news to national outlets like CBS News (4/27/15): As the funeral for Freddie Gray, the man who suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody, was held Monday, the Baltimore Police Department announced they had received information about a “credible threat” against the lives of its officers.

Students Team Up For #BlackLivesMatter Street Art Takeover

June 25, 2015 Priscilla Frank, www.huffingtonpost.com Create! #BlackLivesMatter, Art, Baltimore, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Youth

By Priscilla Frank in Huffington Post - In 2011, street artist JR made a call to art and a call to action -- a call he hoped would reach people around the world. "I wish for you to stand up for what you care about by participating in a global art project," he said. "And together, we'll turn the world inside out." "Inside Out" is the name of the project, which challenges people around the globe to share their portrait and a message they believe in. Thus far, the project has attracted over 200,000 people from 112 countries, from Ecuador to Nepal to Palestine. Issues addressed range from climate change to gender-based violence, all communicated through the simple yet striking image of a large, black-and-white pasted portrait.

Former B’more Police Officer Comes Clean About Brutality

June 25, 2015 Michael McLaughlin, www.huffingtonpost.com Educate! Baltimore, Corruption, Patriarchy, police brutality, Racial Justice

By Michael McLaughlin in Huffington Post - A former Baltimore police sergeant took to Twitter Wednesday to air a stunning list of acts he said he participated in and witnessed during his 11 years on the city's force. Michael Wood gave a no-holds barred look at his career in a previous radio interview, but his tweets gained traction for their brazen admissions that officers lied to get overtime, illegally searched "thousands of people" and committed gross acts during raids, like urinating and defecating on suspects' beds. A spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department confirmed that Wood left the force in 2014. In subsequent tweets, Wood promised to reveal more and expressed surprise at the attention paid to his commentary.

Black Churches Led Civil Rights. Can They Do It Again In Baltimore?

June 15, 2015 David Dagan, www.huffingtonpost.com Resist! Baltimore, Faith, police brutality, Racial Justice

By David Dagan in Huffington Post - Many of today’s black pastors, some young activists argue, have moved away from the black church’s traditional role as a center for African-American mobilization. “Today, what we see is churches being appendages of the kind of status-quo body politic,” said Dayvon Love, 28, director of public policy at the Baltimore think tank and activist group Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle. “This has happened generally post-integration, post-civil rights. You have cadres of individual back people who get positioned in white-dominated institutions, and their presence is used as a way to deflect from structural change.” It sounds like a radical critique, but senior clergy have similar concerns.

After The Uprising: Lessons From Rojava For Baltimore

June 14, 2015 Ben Reynolds, www.roarmag.org Strategize! Baltimore, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Direct Action, Freddie Gray, Police violence, Popular Assemblies, Racism

By Ben Reynolds for ROAR. How can we create the fundamental change we so desperately need? We need a superior strategy to the failed strategies of the past; we need a means to turn an uprising into a revolution. History offers a few successful examples of popular organizing we can draw from. During the French Revolution, the popular assemblies of the Paris sections formed a radical base that pushed the developing revolution forward. The Russian Revolution of 1917 saw deliberative popular bodies known as “soviets” overthrow the provisional government in the name of bread and peace. These kinds of systems — based upon deliberative councils and assemblies — frequently appear in any period of unrest or upheaval, and have recently emerged in Argentina, Spain, and elsewhere. In the present, the Kurdish movement in Turkey and Syria employs a developed version of this system known as “democratic confederalism.” Face-to-face neighborhood assemblies form the base of political decision-making, while successive councils operate at the district, city and regional levels. The councils and assemblies deliberate upon all of the issues facing the community and attempt to organize the means to effect necessary changes.

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