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Baltimore riots, voices of the unheard: Analyst

Police confront protesters near Mondawmin Mall in Baltimore, Maryland, the United States, April 27, 2015. © AFP

Press TV has interviewed Wilmer Leon, a columnist and political commentator based in Washington, to discuss the ongoing riots in Baltimore.

 

Following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: I would like to begin with this breaking news that we are getting, ‘Mayor imposing a curfew for a week in Baltimore.’ What do you make of it?

Leon: I am not sure that Mayor Rawlings has many options, because the police force in the city cannot really seem to get a grip on the actions that are taking place there. So I do not know that it is actually going to last a week. I am sure after a couple of days that things calm down that that would be lifted because there is business that has to be transacted, there are baseball games that are going to get played, so I think it probably will not last a week.

Press TV: He governor now has also declared a state of emergency in Baltimore, obviously anger is rife when it comes to racial profiling, the targeting of African-American young men, most of them were unarmed, just like Freddie Gray, whose only crime, as lawyers have put it, was running while black. What do you make of this? We keep coming to this issue over the past months, the Black Lives Matter campaign, if you could assess how effective it has been.

Leon: I think it has been very effective by the fact that you and I internationally are having this conversation. But I think it is very important to reflect upon some words from Dr. [Martin Luther] King back on March 14, 1968. The speech was called, the other America. In that speech Dr. King talked about being committed to non-violence from a direct-action point of view; but saying that you cannot condemn the riots without understanding the circumstances that cause the riots. He said in these types of circumstances when countless number of African Americans have been shot down, choked out and, in this instance, had their necks broken by the police, that these reactions are really the voices of the unheard. And that you have to, on one hand, condemn the violence, but you also have to condemn the intolerable circumstances in this country that lead to these circumstances, and he said that the reason for this is, America is truly still failing to hear those voices of the unheard; that all they really care about is not a more just society, but a more tranquil society.

Press TV: Speaking of which, as long as states of emergency or curfews are being imposed and the people feel they are not being heard, this situation is going to persist.

Leon: Not only is it going to persist, but as long as police officers who are sworn to protect a community still view that community as enemy combatants, it is going to get worse before it gets better.

 

MTM/HSN

 


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