Cup O' Fiz 04/29/15

Flying projectiles were replaced with interlocked arms.  Chants of "Fuck the police" were replaced with "One Love." Young angry men with masks were replaced by people of all ages with a peaceful purpose.  And most of all, despair was replaced with hope.  And then 10 O'clock came.

An opportunity was missed last night in Baltimore, Maryland.  That opportunity was missed in order to enforce an arbitrary, artificial curfew which while originally imposed with good intentions, should have been lifted based on the situation on the ground.  If Monday was a disgrace, and it certainly was, by any measure, Tuesday was a revelation.  The good citizens of Baltimore took back "Charm City" without intervention from the police or politicians.  The public had had enough.  Enough of the violence, enough of the rioting, enough of the looting, enough of ignorance that was undermining the message that needed to come from the death of Freddie Gray.  The good people of the City of Baltimore came out in droves preventing a repeat of the ugliness that occurred on Monday.  Many of the media were encouraged, many of those watching from afar were encouraged.  And then the lines of police moved forward and smoke bombs were released.

Martin Luther King Jr. once said "A riot is the language of the unheard." That language was fervently heard on Monday.  But on Tuesday a new voice emerged through the ashes of the fires that burned throughout the city.  A voice of reform, a voice optimism, a voice of hope. So this was an opportunity for the powers-that-be to show that they heard the cries of the people, that they cared about what they had to say.  Instead, the people were told to go home, come back tomorrow.  And best believe they WILL come back tomorrow, but will the mood be the same?  How can you tell someone who is acting as peacemaker, someone that was willing to stand between lines of police and lines of demonstrators to go home and then to throw smoke bombs in their direction?  These people were trying to help and they certainly WERE helping.  How would you feel if you were standing in between these groups of people, risking your body, uncertain what could happen, then your good intentions were largely ignored by those that are supposedly here to protect and represent the people?

Make no mistake, this is not a condemnation of the police on the ground.  Ever since the protests have started they have showed a great deal of restraint and handled themselves with dignity.  This has not been Ferguson, Missouri by any means.  This is a denunciation of the leaders who are making the decisions on behalf of those brave men and women wearing the badge last night.  They are the ones who deserve the brunt of this criticism.  They are the ones who missed an opportunity last night.  They are the ones that could have stood up and said, I love that the great people of the City of Baltimore have come out in peace and I am proud.  They should have been standing WITH the people. Instead, they pushed them away.  We can only hope that they didn't push them too far...