History of balt uprisings

History of slave uprisings, maroon colonies

Community mobilized by common struggle for justice for the murder of Freddie Gray. As those from the
East Side and West Side came together, the police, the establishment, became threatened and reacted
with violence.

Police bring violence into community

Mondawman Purge preemptive police action caused riot

Causes/results = capitalism (how), white supremacy (how) continuation of jim crow

policies/segregation (red lining creates inherent inequalities between communities/school
districts/public services making life that much harder for its inhabitants.

Struggle against police brutality Is not just a struggle to end the outright murders (lynchings) that have
become a regular part of life. It is also the struggle against the authority responsible for enforcing
gentrification by kicking people out of their homes at the behest of greedy property developers. It is
also the struggle against the abuse of power that comes with racist stop and frisk policies that rarely go
by that name despite being present in nearly every police department in this country.

Practices such as these are not necessarily a part of police policy and yet they are at the heart of police
practice.

Reform can only do so much, what we need is a revolution. Institution of the police is rotten at its core.
Its history of deep involvement in the preservation of the slave trade colors its current attitudes. As
slave catchers responsible for returning runaway slaves back to their rightful place on the plantation
they were hired labor for the large land owners. Today they are hired labor for the large corporations
and responsible for ensuring that us modern day slaves keep quiet about our exploitation. They are here
to make sure that you keep working, keep generating a profit for rich as they get richer and keep taking
home a small fraction of the fruits of your labor while you struggle to make ends meet.

We cannot forget the role the police played in murdering striking workers who were demanding the
right to organize. In Baltimore, Labor strikes ______

Capitalism forces competition among otherwise cooperative groups. Whites and blacks were used
against one another in order to preserve capitalist relations. If these two were to unite, their combined
force would rival that of the capitalist establishment. This is the fear of the 1%, and this fear is clear in
the reactions of the police. The disproportionate responses to roadside vigils and peaceful protests
demonstrates a strong fear of the coming together of oppressed communities. The police dogs and
military vehicles used to disperse crowds were examples of the need for the system to demonstrate its
power in the face of collective opposition. Increases in terror were meant to intimidate communities
and prevent them from coming together and organizing to end their exploitation by the racist capitalist
system. The arrests and high bails given to protesters

Intersectionality key among these most recent events and something missing in the past. A clear
recognition of the connectedness of the various struggles going on in the black community. For the first
time many are coming into contact with ideas about gender and sexuality and the conversation is being
had.

Black women in particular as well as black queer community highly represented among the
protesters and have been central in the discourse on social media.

70% of Baltimore police from outside of city