This past weekend I was in Baltimore, and since my mom knew that I had some free time Saturday night, she recommended me and my friend Ben go to the Orioles game. We decided that it was too much work (were pretty lazy people and I had to be free at 10 PM, so it wasn't something we were particularly motivated to do), and it turns out we definitely made the right decision.
For those of you that don't know, it was outside the Orioles' stadium on Saturday night that the week of protests over the death of Freddie Gray in the hands of Baltimore Police finally turned violent, leading the city to go to, to put it lightly, complete shit. Cars, stores, and homes have been set on fire, police officers have been hospitalized, and the National Guard has been called in.
I'm not sure what my opinions are on who is in the wrong; my base instinct is that the police officers whose violence led to a young man's death and the opportunists that took a peaceful, powerful protest and turned it into personal gain at the detriment of their own neighborhoods are two good places to start.
Several people very close to me are in the city right now, as crowds once again are taking the streets despite a curfew, and its definitely a situation that concerns me. I understand there are serious tensions in the city and there are legitimate reasons for anger on both sides, so the main reason for this post is to just get all of these thoughts out of my head and down onto the page.
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