Freddie Carlos Gary a 25-year old black man was arrested on April 12 even though he had committed no cirme with six police officers participating in his arrest, trarnsporting and jailing and death.  He was handcuffed at 8:42 a.m and the van transporting him for booking made four stops while Gray desperately pleaded for help before a medic who was called at 9:24 a.m. determined that he was in cardiac arrest. He was taken to Shock Trauma, where he underwent surgery. One week after his arrest on April 19 Gray died.

The six police officers, three white and three black, including a black female, facing charges for the death of Freddie Carlos Gray were immediately suspended by Baltimore Police Department and 19 days later charges by the States' Attorney in the death of Gray. They are: Caesar Goodson, Garret E. Miller, Edward M. Nero, William G. Porter, Brian Rice and Alicia White.

The turmoil that occurred on April 27 during the more than a week-long protest that involved looting, burning of dozens of buildings and vehicles, 20 injuries to police officers and the arrest of more than 200 people. The population of Baltimore is 620,000, a decrease from the 950,000 people who lived in the city in the 1950's. Blacks make up over 63 percent of the population. Nearly 90 percent of the people in Sandtown-Winchester and Harlem Park, the area where Gray reportedly lived, about a quarter of the buidings were vacant in 2011 and the area with the highest rate of poverty.

In addition to Baltimore having an African Amercian State prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, other African American government officials are: the City's Mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, Police Commissioner Anthony W. Batts and seven of the fourteen members of the City Coucil, including Bernard C. "Jack" Young, Council President. Who are the controllers of the City? They don't live in Baltimore, certainly not in Sandtown-Winchester and Harlem Park.

Prosecutor Marilyn Mosby is to be commeded for bringing charges against six policemen. This is what prosecutors failed to do in Ferguson, New York's Staten Island and Cleveland where policemen killed unarmed black men and a boy. But charging these six policemen is just the first step in seeking justice in the death of Feddie Carlos Gray.  Nevertheless, this is an important initial step. And as the proverb says, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." It is predictable that the road to justice in this matter is a long journey. The question that only time will answer is:  Will these six police officers be found guilty and sent to prison for having killed Gray?

This incident brings to my mind the Rodney King riot. I was a resident of Los Agneles at that time and experienced the riot first-hand. On the day the four policemen charged with nearly beating to death Rodney King, a video made by a private citizen was shown over the world, were acquitted by an all-white jury violence big time erupted in the city. Los Angeles became a city afire!"

A week earlier ministers and politicians had called for a mass meeting to be held on the day the jurors announce their decision in the matter. At the time I, Uriah J. Fields, was secretary of the Los Angeles Ministerial Alliance. The meeting was to be held at the First A.M.E. Church where Rev. Cecil "Chip" Murray was the pastor. He was also the chief  black leader in Los Angeles.

On the day it was announced that the jury had acquitted the four policemen I was in Garden Grove, a city about 30 miles from Los Angeles, when a businessman informed me that the jury had acquitted the policemen of during any wrong to Rodney King. As soon as I returned to Los Angeles I learned that a white truck driver had been pull from the cab of his truck and brutally beaten by blacks.

When I arrived at the First A.M.E.Church for the 7:00 p.m. meeting the church was filled and people who could not get inside the church were standing outside. A number of people spoke, incluiding African American Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley who was booed as  he joined others who called for peaceful protest. About two hours into the meeting, the news came to those at the meeting that violence was spreading over the city, that there was looting and buildings were being set on fire. The looting and burning of buildings lasted for four days. Fifty-four people were killed.

It is highly possible that what has already happened in Baltimore is just a dress rehearsal as to what may happen if the policemen who killed Gray are not found guilty and sent to prison. A repeat of what happened in Los Agneles following acquittal of policemen in the Rodney King case could happen in Baltimore. My eye-witness account of the Rodney King Riot can  be accessed at: http://uriahfields.com/gpage36.html. Hopefully, the people of Baltimore will learn lessons from the Rodney King Riot that will help prevent a similar riot from happening in Baltimore, regardless to the jury's decision.

Let me add, the looting and arson that occurred in Baltimore on April 27 was not a riot and should not be calld a riot. It was vandalism. The people arrested should not be called criminals or thugs and treated as if they are thugs, even though they committed violent acts.

http://uriahfields.com/gage36.html.

Let us hope and pray for peace with justice in Baltimore and in the many other Baltimnores in America.

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Please note: If you found this article to be meaningful to you, please forward it to your friends. Thank you. -ujf

Copyright 2015 by Uriah J. Fields