' THIS IS FOR ALL THE FREDDIE GRAYS '
Baltimore • At the corner of W. North and Pennsylvania Avenues, where the blackened façade of a boarded up CVS pharmacy remained a dark symbol of the riots and looting that took place a few nights prior, people cheered.
Some darted into traffic in impromptu revelry, as city and state police and National Guard troops looked on. Others lined the intersection, encouraging passengers in passing cars and trucks to show support as they celebrated Friday’s surprise announcement that six police officers were being charged in relation to Freddie Gray’s death.
The honking went on for hours, from the drivers of cars, trucks, city buses.
Gray, 25, was arrested on April 12 and died a week later from a fatal spine injury sustained while in police custody. His death sparked protests and — in a flashpoint following Gray’s funeral Monday — a night of looting and mayhem.
But the anger surrounding his death turned into something different Friday on this West Baltimore street corner — a joy, a sense of relief.
The shift came moments after State Attorney Marilyn Mosby stood on the steps of Baltimore’s War Memorial four kilometres away and rhymed off the myriad of charges being brought against the officers involved in Gray’s arrest, ranging from second degree murder to involuntary manslaughter.
“It brought me to tears,” said Bannette Barksdale, 35, who grew up in the neighbourhood and was watching the action unfold on a nearby stoop.
“I cried, I was afraid she was going to say she wouldn’t charge them. I was more afraid of what would happen then. That would have been a blow. I’m glad she stood her ground, did what she had to do, did her job. This is for all the Freddie Grays all around the world.”
Baltimore Pastor Jamal Bryant — a politically influential religious leader who gave a fiery eulogy at Gray’s funeral — said it was “a day of jubilation, of celebration, and it says a whole lot that a community has to celebrate that the system actually works.”
The city’s top prosecutor, he added, is now a “rock star in Baltimore.”
“The people now know what difference a vote can make,” Bryant said. “Marilyn Mosby was just put into office four months ago. They elected and put her in there. She was not the establishment choice, she was the people’s choice.”
The circumstances around Gray’s injury, apparently sustained sometime during the 45 minutes he was in the police transport van, remain murky.
Bishop Charles Waters, 32, stood looking ecstatic on Pennsylvania Ave., watching the mass of celebrating residents in the street.
“One thing about Baltimore, we’re not the angry type,” he said. “We just want justice. It was so hard to understand — a young man goes into a police van alive, comes out dead, with no explanation.”
The charges, Waters warned, were just the beginning. “Now is the time for accountability. We’ve got to move forward. Anybody in the police department, anybody in the legislative branch, needs to be held accountable in their jobs.”
His friend, Marvin Sarley, 38, interjected.
“I know officers that are good people,” he said. “Some officers, they talk about when they see injustice being done, if they report it, it becomes an uncomfortable situation for them. Hopefully now, they’ll feel more comfortable reporting injustice when they see it.”
Gray’s death — like those of Ferguson, Missouri’s Michael Brown and New York’s Eric Garner, each unarmed black men killed in the past year during interactions with police — have brought national scrutiny onto police conduct in the United States.
President Barack Obama weighed in shortly after the criminal charges were announced Friday, saying it’s “absolutely vital” that the truth about what happened to Gray comes out.
“It is my practice not to comment on the legal process that’s involved ... but I can tell you that justice needs to be served,” Obama said. “All the evidence needs to be presented. Those individuals who are charged obviously are also entitled to due process and rule of law. So I want to make sure that our legal system runs the way it should.”
Police and National Guard troops kept a vigilant presence on West Baltimore’s streets Friday as the festivities unfolded. The city is still under a week-long curfew order put in place Tuesday and police remain concerned the celebrations could take a violent turn.
Nothing though, was going to put a damper on Nichale Wilson’s day.
“It’s a relief for the family, a relief for the state of Maryland,” the 46-year-old who was born and raised in Gray’s West Baltimore neighbourhood, said of the news.
“We got a little bit of justice. Now we got a taste of it, we want the whole cake, the icing, all of it. Change is coming.”
‘Now we got a taste of ( justice), we want the whole cake, the icing, all of it.’ — Baltimore native Nichale Wilson