No Lasting Change A Decade After Freddie Gray's Death In Baltimore

Ten years ago this weekend, Ericka Alston Buck heard that a young man she knew through the drug treatment center she ran in Baltimore, Freddie Gray, ,had emerged from a police transport van unable to walk. Two weeks later, after Gray's funeral, she heard rocks smashing through windows and saw cars in flames outside her workplace, signs of the uprising over his death that engulfed the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood for days and appear on TV screens worldwide. Buck remembers the money, food, supplies and sweeping promises of help that poured into the community, raising hopes a healthier Sandtown, as it’s might emerge from the rubble. In her view, that never happened, reports the Baltimore Sun. She says, “There was a time where people felt seen, heard and valued, where things felt as if they were going to change for the better, but that was while the cameras were rolling. Once the cameras went away, none of it proved to be sustainable. Nothing new and positive that came out of the Freddie Gray situation has really survived.”

Sandtown occupies 72 square blocks of West Baltimore. The violence that erupted there after Gray’s funeral after his death led to more than $9 million worth of property damage, hundreds of arrests, and murder, manslaughter and other charges against six police officers. It shone a global spotlight on racial and socioeconomic inequalities that have plagued cities for generations. Ask people in Sandtown whether they think policing has improved, and answers vary. Some say officers remain so haunted by the memory of their colleagues’ arrests that they’re reluctant to act. Others say training and diversity programs have created a more approachable force. Most believe it’s unfair to condemn all police because a few are clueless or badly trained. “I believe there’s a lot of good cops out here who put their best foot forward, but they’re scared,” says Darryl Phillips. “They have no backing. So what do you do? You’re between a rock and a hard place.” Sandtowners can’t believe it has been 10 years since the incendiary events of April 2015, and it’s hard to find anyone who believes they gave rise to lasting change.