War Zone Baltimore: Night Falls

A series of miscalculations and missteps by Baltimore leadership and police has resulted in massive looting, several police getting hospitalized and property getting destroyed – and that was during the day.

As night descends on “Charm City”, the days events appear to be just the beginning.

The darkness lends camouflage to the criminals and thugs. The groups are splintering into multiple mobs and causing police to respond in a whack-a-mole fashion – albeit ineffectively.

In a set of interviews on the streets of Baltimore by Fox News reporter Leland Vittert, several members of the black community were asked what they were angry about. What came out was a disjointed set of grievances:

• “They’re looting and the police are way down there and aren’t doing anything”
• “Oppression”
• “There are good arrests and bad arrests, when I got arrested it was a bad arrest. I did stuff, but they could have arrested me better.”
• “Why you kill my man Freddie”
• “I’m angry with everything, I’m angry with them .. I’m angry”
• “What’s happening now, I can’t even say it’s about Freddie now.. I  can’t say it’s about Freddie”
• “It’s gonna tell white America that, excuse my French you gotta <unintelligible>”

What is clear is that there are those that are interested in mob behavior and those trying to prevent their own neighborhoods from being turned upside-down like Ferguson.

One inner-city grocery store owner had no choice but to watch her store get looted with the police standing in a line a half-mile down the hill. A nearby group of ministers admitted that they had asked the police to stay away and that the clergy would calm things down. The police held their part of the bargain.

Most of the protesters were not carrying signs. The only two messages visible were one woman carrying a sign that said “Stop Lethal Force” and an earlier group of men wearing “300 Man March” shirts.

The Mayor has asked for and received a declaration of emergency and the addition of the National Guard to enforcement efforts.

A curfew is to be instated starting tomorrow night.