Freddie Gray

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.

Baltimore Protester Arrested At Freddie Gray Court Hearing

September 2, 2015 Nicky Woolf, www.theguardian.com Resist! Courts, Criminal Justice, Freddie Gray, killed by police, Police violence, Racism

By Nicky Woolf for the Guardian - At the first pre-trial hearing in the Freddie Gray murder trial. Judge Barry Glenn Williams denied a motion to dismiss the charges and ruled that State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby does not have to recuse herself from the case. These were two of the three demands of the protesters seeking justice for Freddie Gray. The third demand is the critical issue of whether there will be a change of venue. That issue will not be heard until September 10th. There were dozens of protesters outside the courthouse who later marched through the streets of downtown Baltimore. The protests briefly shut down intersections and all was going smoothly until the police arrested one person who was trying to lead the group back to the courthouse.

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.

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.

Spotlight On Baltimore

May 27, 2015 Todd Cherkis, www.labornotes.org Educate! Baltimore, Freddie Gray, Poverty, Worker Rights and Jobs

Baltimore erupted after the killing of Freddie Gray. The crisis has laid bare a city strained beyond human capacity by inequality and police violence. Public policies have created islands of wealth and comfort, surrounded by a sea of service cuts, hyper-policing, and degrading poverty in which most of the city is drowning. It’s those policies that gave rise to the police violence that ended Gray’s life—an extreme example of the injustice that people here are facing every day. What’s unusual about this moment is that, through their own extraordinary effort, Baltimore’s poor people are being seen and heard. The same pundits who usually focus on how to bring more wealthy people to Baltimore and push the poor out to the suburbs are now talking about how to grapple with savage poverty, hyper-policing, and state violence. “The murder of Freddie Gray was like a boomerang,” says West Baltimore resident Randolph Ford, “flipping the status quo around to where the unity of the people and the fight for social justice has strengthened.”

Prosecutor: 6 Officers Indicted In Death Of Freddie Gray

May 23, 2015 Juliet Linderman, www.AP.org Educate! Criminal Justice, Freddie Gray, Law, police brutality, Racial Justice

A grand jury indicted all six officers charged in the case of Freddie Gray, who died of injuries he suffered in police custody, allowing the state's attorney to press ahead with the most serious charges despite criticism that she was part of an "overzealous prosecution." The indictments announced Thursday were similar to the charges Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced nearly three weeks ago. The most serious charge for each officer, ranging from second-degree "depraved heart" murder to assault, stood, though some of the lesser alleged offenses had changed. Gray suffered a critical spinal injury April 12 after police handcuffed, shackled and placed him head-first into a van, Mosby has said. His pleas for medical attention were repeatedly ignored.

#FreddieGray #TruthFiles: The City That Bleeds 2000 – 2015

May 18, 2015 Robert Brune, www.dcmediagroup.us Educate! Baltimore, Freddie Gray, History, police brutality

We do not learn from police brutality history unless we know how it continues to repeat itself in cities like Baltimore. In this interview, Renee Washington shares with us the brutal details of the death of her fiancee Joseph Wilbon while in police custody. There are parallels between the Wilbon case and the Freddie Gray case. Renee explains how the Baltimore Police, who had detained and beat this man to death, was listed as’John Doe’. Freddie Gray’s name was entered into the system under the name of “Grey” instead of “Freddie Gray”. Professional law enforcement deliberately makes it challenging for people to discover these cases and this appears to be overlooked by the mainstream media.

#TruthFiles Vol. #2 ~ Witness Harold Perry (Uncut)

May 15, 2015 Rob Brune, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! Baltimore, Freddie Gray, police brutality

Harold Perry lives directly across the street from the location where members of the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) first detained Freddie Gray. On April 12th, 2015 Mr. Perry observed the entire situation unfold. While Harold is legally blind, his hearing and memory of the violent way the BPD apprehended and seemingly mishandled Freddie Gray has seemingly not been a major concern to State’s Attorney Mosby investigation as nobody from her office in Baltimore has questioned him. Mr. Perry was interviewed Baltimore Internal Affairs , but his account of what happened was not reflected by Commissioner Batts during his subsequent press conferences regarding the arrest.

#FreddieGray #TruthFile Vol. 1: Why Are We Committed To The Truth?

May 15, 2015 Rob Brune, www.dcmediagroup.us Resist! Baltimore, Freddie Gray

This is part I of a mutli-part series by Robert Brune of the DC Media Group and We Act Radio. The series is of undetermined length; long enough to tell the story of what is really happening in Baltimore; what occurred in the urban revolt in the aftermath of the police killing of Freddie Gray; and how that fits into a broader analysis of the inequality, consistent police harassment and racism even in a city led by black elected officials. As residents of Baltimore and concerned citizens around the country expressed frustration and outrage over the death of Freddie Gray on April 19th, 2015, very few expressed themselves with such passion and clarity as Marcus (a resident of Washington DC) who we met one of the many Baltimore City Hall demonstrations.

Justice Department Launches Probe Of Baltimore Police

May 10, 2015 Julia Edwards, www.PopularResistance.org Resist! Baltimore, Freddie Gray, killed by police, Police abuse, Police violence, Racism

The U.S. Justice Department on Friday launched an investigation into the Baltimore police department's use of force and whether there are patterns of discriminatory policing. The probe, announced by U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch, was requested by Baltimore's mayor in the aftermath of the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who sustained fatal injuries while in police custody, and the outrage it sparked in Maryland's largest city. Though the Justice Department is already investigating Gray's death and working with the Baltimore police on reform, Lynch said last week's protests pointed to the need for an investigation. "It was clear to a number of people looking at this situation that the community's rather frayed trust - to use an understatement - was even worse and has in effect been severed in terms of the relationship with the police department," Lynch said on Friday.

Rising Up, In Baltimore & Beyond

May 5, 2015 Rae Breaux, www.commondreams.org Strategize! Baltimore, Climate Change, Environment, Freddie Gray, police brutality

If we want climate justice — not just adaptation to or even mitigation of climate change — then it’s important to understand the structural drivers of the crisis. I’m thinking about those drivers today, and I’m thinking about Baltimore. The story of Baltimore doesn’t start with the wrongful death of Freddie Gray. It didn’t start with the wrongful deaths of Mike Brown or Eric Garner. The deep anger that the citizens of Baltimore are expressing in the streets is rooted in a long history of oppression. And it’s that same history of oppression that has landed us in this historical moment — with an overheating climate, a politics of cynicism, and unrest bubbling up across the globe.

In Baltimore We Need Protest In All Its Forms, Even Joyful Ones

May 5, 2015 Steven W. Thrasher, www.theguardian.com Strategize! Baltimore, Freddie Gray, Joy, police brutality, Social Change

Spots of joy are necessary and needed in the seemingly endless fight for justice. In Baltimore on Tuesday night, as the city reeled from how the death of Freddie Gray exposed the violence of a decades-long police occupation of the black population, I didn’t experience many moments of sweetness. But one came in the form of a parade of young girls and sashaying boys shortly before nightfall, who made it their business to fill the intersection outside the now infamous burned CVS in West Baltimore with dancing. The dancers fearlessly responded to the acute violence of the previous night’s events by prancing and voguing. These flamboyant young men and women used energetic dance and music to turn the void of black death into a space filled with black life - their spines were straight in defiance of a broken spine the police had severed.

Are Baltimore’s Protests The Prelude To A Revolution?

May 4, 2015 Carl Gibson, www.occupy.com Resist! Baltimore, Freddie Gray, Jobs, police brutality, Poverty

Nothing happens in a vacuum. The Baltimore Uprising, as it’s been dubbed on Twitter, is not just the community’s response to Freddie Gray’s murder at the hands of Baltimore police. While it may have started out that way, the anger that has exploded across Maryland’s largest city is a response to three systemic issues – staggering levels of unacknowledged poverty and persistent unemployment, the occupying military force known as the Baltimore Police Department, and the complacent and corrupt Baltimore city government. While it’s well-known that the big banks were terrorizing poor communities everywhere with subprime loans in the run-up to the financial crisis, their behavior is no more apparent than in Baltimore. Between 2005 and 2008, Wells Fargo preyed on Baltimore’s black community by targeting black churches, hoping that the ministers would convince congregations to take out subprime loans with Wells Fargo. More than half of the Baltimore properties in foreclosure with a Wells Fargo loan from 2005 to 2008 are currently vacant.

Amidst Nation-wide Protests, Activists Declare: “Black Spring” Has Begun

May 4, 2015 Lauren McCauley, www.commondreams.org Resist! #BlackSpring, Baltimore, Freddie Gray, police brutality

Fueled by the announcement on Friday that six police officers would be charged for their role in the tragic death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, activists are holding a national day of protest on Saturday to amplify the growing call for racial justice and end to police brutality against people of color. "#BlackSpring has begun," event flyers announced. Last week, in the wake of Gray's death and the local protests and police crackdown that followed, solidarity demonstrations began springing up in cities across the country, with many more expected for the weekend. "This is not a Baltimore issue. This is an American issue," Atlanta resident James Camper, who drove ten hours to participate in the Baltimore rally, toldWashington Post reporter Justin Jouvenal. While some reports say that the day of action is being dubbed a "victory rally" after news that local police officers are being charged for Gray's death, others say that the one instance of accountability does not erase the countless examples of discrimination and harm with impunity against Black communities.

Newsletter: Be Devoted To Justice Not To Order

May 3, 2015 Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers, www.PopularResistance.org Newsletter Baltimore, Black Lives Matter (BLM), Criminal Justice, Freddie Gray, Police violence

The announcement by State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby that the six officers involved in the murder of Freddie Gray will be prosecuted was welcomed with cheers at City Hall and in Freddie Gray’s community, car horns were honked in celebration. The welcome announcement is a first step toward justice for the family of Freddie Gray and a hopeful beginning for the kind of accountability that has been missing in Baltimore when it comes to police violence. This would probably not have occurred without an urban revolt in Baltimore. We won't know is it was the mass protest marches of thousands of people or the anger boiling over into rage that led to property damage or both that pressured leadership to press charges. Mosby said to the protesters: “I commend your courage to stand for justice” and “I heard your call for ‘no justice, no peace.’ Your peace is sincerely needed as I work to deliver justice on behalf of this young man.” And, to the youth who led the protests she said: “To the youth of this city, I will seek justice on your behalf; this is a moment, this is your moment. Let’s ensure that we have peaceful and productive rallies that will develop structural and systemic changes for generations to come. You’re at the forefront of this cause, and as young people, our time is now.”

«1 2 3 »

Daily movement news and resources