Originally published at MintPress News.
While the recent protests in Baltimore began soon after the death of Freddie Gray on April 19, the mainstream media has only recently arrived on the streets. Similar to their coverage of Ferguson and other protests in the wake of recent police slayings of black Americans, the focus remains on violent clashes between militarized police and angry citizens.
On Tuesday, after the first night of a citywide curfew was met with arrests and tear gas, two tweets were being widely shared which seemed to ironically highlight the ways police routinely lie about the situation on the ground:
A truer tweet was never tweeted, than this, by the @BaltimorePolice. #FreddieGray #BaltimoreUprising pic.twitter.com/xToZJwLS34
— Keegan Stephan (@KeeganNYC) April 29, 2015
Yet even before the curfew went into effect on Tuesday at 10 p.m., a more complex story was playing out in the streets than CNN would lead viewers to believe. Members of the protest, including gang members, were working to de-escalate the situation:
Bloods crips and others moving the crowd away from the police en masse. "We are going home," they say
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) April 29, 2015
Have never seen a protest being driven back from within like this. Pretty remarkable. #Baltimore
— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) April 29, 2015
More importantly, in focusing on violence or property destruction and the curfew, mainstream media reporting has tended to overlook the thousands of other protesters who haven’t lit any fires or broken any windows.
Some activists sought to bring attention to other cases in Baltimore, such as Tyrone West, whose family is suing Baltimore Police Department after West died in custody in July 2013.
https://twitter.com/rousseau_ist/status/593221006656991232
Others expressed solidarity in their mutual struggles, whether in other cities or as far away as Palestine.
This picture is worth well over 1,000 words pic.twitter.com/iUN7IxXIm0
— MorningStar Angeline (@starshineexx) April 28, 2015
One widely circulated image shows a young protester burning a sage “smudge” stick in front of a row of police in riot gear:
https://twitter.com/VanessaVeasley/status/593235339432558592
The practice, which has Native American origins, signifies the belief that the smoke ritually “purifies” people or places, and it’s become popular in some protests.
Despite the widespread images of burning buildings, activists and community members actually gathered to clean up the site of a highly publicized drugstore fire:
Cleaning up the burned-out CVS. #Baltimore https://t.co/2fwGD1gOdu
— colindaileda (@ColinDaileda) April 28, 2015
Only to be later driven away from their efforts to help by more riot cops:
#Baltimore Police clearing the block near the burned-out CVS. site of clean-up efforts – Via @ColinDaileda https://t.co/mOXYXgp0Ey
— Revolution News (@NewsRevo) April 28, 2015
Community efforts to celebrate or reflect,
Dancing in #Baltimore https://t.co/Hf4KSBiv1n
— colindaileda (@ColinDaileda) April 28, 2015
were disrupted time and again by police, as if police were determined to escalate the situation:
Police arrested someone. Everyone went nuts. Tear gas. #Baltimore. pic.twitter.com/9Jp3tFHsue
— colindaileda (@ColinDaileda) April 28, 2015
But the mood varied far more than many might realize:
Atmosphere on north ave and Penn ranging from street party to sermon to confrontation throughout the day #Baltimore pic.twitter.com/DfvY93qn7W
— Megan Specia (@meganspecia) April 28, 2015
Solidarity events have also kicked off in other cities around the country. Ferguson and Oakland both marched on Monday:
ALERT: #Ferguson marching in solidarity with #Baltimore right now. Crowd growing. #BALTIMORE #FreddieGray http://t.co/bFg8BL5HBY
— Jayron (@Jayron26) April 28, 2015
Oakland protesters took to the streets last night in solidarity with #Baltimore. #FreddieGray http://t.co/hrfWFukzEt pic.twitter.com/8L83pbydOS
— Kale Williams (@sfkale) April 28, 2015
New York City joined in with a rally on Tuesday:
BREAKING:#BaltimoreUprising protest surging in #NYC. From #Oakland to #Baltimore to #NYC the movement grows. pic.twitter.com/mAqBfqc0t8
— Bipartisan Report (@Bipartisanism) April 28, 2015
Also on Tuesday, protesters estimate a thousand or more joined #chi2Baltimore, an unpermitted march through Chicago that lasted for hours.
Over a thousand people marched in Chicago tonight in solidarity with Baltimore | #BaltimoreUprising #Chi2Baltimore pic.twitter.com/VcRCcZs2kN
— agitator in chief (@soit_goes) April 29, 2015
Chicago protesters blocked intersections:
https://twitter.com/constantnatalie/status/593243704648957952
At the time of writing, events in Minneapolis were just about to get going:
#ShutItDown with Baltimore. Wednesday 5:30pm. Location TBA. http://t.co/NCcJxOoKCB #FreddieGray pic.twitter.com/r98DozGmBf
— Black Visions (@BlackVisionsMN) April 28, 2015
And protests are expected to erupt in more cities on May Day, from a return to the streets in Oakland:
Oakland May Day – protesting police murder pic.twitter.com/2muHKQLRZX #FreddieGray pic.twitter.com/vtHDff6Vx2 @GlobalRevLive
— tree (@treekisser) April 29, 2015
to a call for protests in Austin, Texas, where 300 people have already responded to a Facebook event:
Austin plans for Friday! Share this around #shutitdown#shutitdownATX#FreddieGray#MayDaypic.twitter.com/GsrXsas1q7
— Bengar Gengar (@Doppelbengar) April 28, 2015
It seems that many throughout the nation are looking to the #BaltimoreUprising as a chance to continue the work that so many began in Ferguson — and a natural extension of the civil rights struggles of so many generations.
Jean & I were arrested just for walking down the street in #Baltimore. So many years since then, but so little change pic.twitter.com/Dr8C55VVxR
— Edgar Cahn (@EdgarCahn) April 28, 2015
