Page 7 - The Black Lives Matter Movement

People Helping Police

With the ongoing battles between civil rights activists and police in the United
States, it can seem like everyone is against law enforcement. But during protests
in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2015, a group of citizens took action to help protect
police from demonstrators. The protests erupted after the death of twenty- ve-
year-old Freddie Gray. Gray had been arrested by Baltimore police for alleged
illegal possession of a switchblade. During the arrest, of cers put Gray into a
tactical hold. Restrained with handcuffs and leg irons, he was loaded into a po-
lice van head rst, on his stomach. While being transported in the van, Gray was
not secured with a seat belt, which was in violation of Baltimore Police Depart-
ment policy. He fell into a coma during the ride and was taken to a trauma center,
where he was diagnosed with severe injuries to his spinal cord. Gray died at the
trauma center a week later.
When people in Baltimore learned what had happened to Gray, the city
erupted into violence. Streets became war zones, as police cars were burned,
looters robbed stores and businesses, and rioters pummeled police with rocks,
bricks, bottles, and even cinder blocks. Six police of cers were seriously injured.
Finally, a group of black men decided enough was enough. They joined hands
and formed a human barrier between police of cers and protesters. They said
they were not with any particular group. They were just there to “protect law
enforcement, as well as other citizens—to be an extra layer.”

Quoted in Carla Herreria, “Iconic Baltimore Photo Resurfaces, Spreading Healing Message We All Need,”
Huf ngton Post, July 13, 2016. www.huf ngtonpost.com.

(such as trespassing or disorderly conduct), it becomes a better,
more desirable place for people to live, one where subsequent
and more serious crimes are less likely to occur.
The problem with this thinking, says Packnett, is that tough
enforcement of low-level crimes often affects black people far
more than it does whites. It has also resulted in a number of pre-
ventable deaths. Packnett explains:

When we think about what Eric Garner was doing the day
that he was killed after being choked on Staten Island—
selling loose cigarettes should never be something that

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