The riots and looting which spread through Baltimore after the funeral of Freddie Gray have now been folded under the sanitized hashtag #BaltimoreUprising. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake backed off of her characterization of the looters as “thugs” and chose instead to refer to “misguided young people who need to be held accountable, but who also need support.”
Rawlings-Blake also found herself in need of clarifying her remark that, in maintaining balance during the riots, “we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well.” What she meant, apparently, is that “as a result of providing the peaceful demonstrators with the space to share their message, that also meant that those seeking to incite violence also had the space to operate.”
Many of those who sought to incite violence and those who sympathize with them have justified the widespread destruction by arguing that black lives are more important than property.
https://twitter.com/thekingjobe/status/592106808715644928
Wish you guys got as upset about the loss of black lives as you do broken windows…but alas
— Summertime Gladness (@HollyGoNightly1) April 27, 2015
https://twitter.com/sydneyxberry/status/592839812085874688
Broken windows > black lives.
— Princess Royal (@ashtoria_) April 28, 2015
https://twitter.com/SavedByTheBando/status/592881090026668034
White people are more concerned w/ possessions than black lives. People are being murdered & you weep for broken windows? #BaltimoreRiots
— ????? (@calebsaysthings) April 28, 2015
https://twitter.com/zorasdaughter/status/592892322368598016
If you're more upset by broken windows & looting than the lives of young black men, take a look at your life. #Baltimore #BlackLivesMatter
— Colleen Moore (@cmoo11_) April 28, 2015
There's CLEARLY a problem when people are more concerned with a couple of fires and broken windows over the countless black lives murdered
— mattaniah (@muhtanya) April 30, 2015
If you care more abt broken windows than broken black/brown bodies, lives lost to police brutality, pls unfollow/block me. #BlackLivesMatter
— elisabeth epps is tired. (@elisabeth) April 30, 2015
https://twitter.com/femasnist/status/594315058206801921
Capitalism is what has people valuing broken windows over black lives #systemicreform #baltimoreuprising
— Camille (@carmel_macch) May 4, 2015
More was lost in the riots than windows, though. NBC News’ Luke Russert points to a feature by Julie Scharper published last night in the Baltimore Sun which describes the effect of those “couple of fires” on a struggling Baltimore family.
In the riots after #FreddieGray funeral, a #Baltimore mom lost her home & all her disabled son's medical supplies http://t.co/y6YIOnaaxG
— Luke Russert (@LukeRussert) May 20, 2015
Laporsha Lawson and her severely disabled 7-year-old son, Khai’Lee Sampson, had to flee their house after the adjacent liquor store was likely torched by rioters around 1 a.m. Scharper reports:
Lawson awoke, raced up the stairs to grab her son and rushed him to her parents’ home about a block away moments before flames engulfed the house.
“They took everything from my child,” said Lawson, 28.
The wheelchair customized for Khai’Lee’s small body, the back brace that helps him sit upright, the machine that pumps oxygen into his lungs when he stops breathing at night — all were destroyed. So were the supplies for his feeding tube, his clothes, even his new swing.
…
“Everybody wants justice for Freddie Gray,” said Lawson. “But what about justice for Khai’Lee?”
@LukeRussert heartbreaking
— (((Hugh Kaufman))) (@AltaKocker) May 20, 2015
https://twitter.com/jdubyathree/status/601105230365925377
@LukeRussert Jayz should be giving people like her money and not paying Bail for the Thugs that rioted and looted.
— Niel Bohr (@bohratom) May 20, 2015
@LukeRussert @WhitlockJason thats awful &inspiring in the same breath.Feel bad for the few bad apples that destroyed things for ppl like her
— chris (@Snore122209) May 20, 2015
@LukeRussert @Juliemore how can I help?
— robnbmore devout (@robnbmore) May 20, 2015
https://twitter.com/Jbs929/status/601111731029565440
Meanwhile, those concerned about lost lives over broken windows can consider the 14 people shot in 24 hours in Baltimore, including two killed overnight.
2 dead overnight, 14 shot in 24 hours as Baltimore violence continues. http://t.co/FZbk65PS6V
— The Baltimore Sun (@baltimoresun) May 20, 2015
https://twitter.com/BmoreDoc/status/601104634715996160
Does that mean you’ll be donating to Khai’Lee’s fund or not?
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