SI has performed an interview with Dr. Jared Ball, associated professor at Morgan State University in Baltimore. Dr. Ball provided us with some answers, that might shed more light on the events in Baltimore.
SI: You live in Baltimore? Did you witnessed what happened out there with-last week?
DR.BALL: I do not live in Baltimore and never have. I teach in Baltimore at Morgan State University
SI: What do you think was the main cause for people to become unsatisfied and to get out on the street?
DR.BALL: Rampant police violence, wild inequality, poverty rates, joblessness, etc.
SI: Are there many cases like Freddie Gray’s in United States today?
DR.BALL: Yes. One source is the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement report that shows these killings, just of Black women and men by police, occur every 28 hours. More than 100 people nationally have been killed by police just in the month of March.
SI: What do you answer to people, who claim it’s not people’s rising, but rather thugs riot? (we see a lot of it in US media)
DR.BALL: First, given the conditions faced by many Black people in this country i would expect more uprisings. The real “thugs” are those in elite economic and political circles who assure the inequality so many face and the police who form their first line of defense against those abused by their public policies. As. Dr. King once said, the so-called “crimes” of those in the street are “derivative” of the initial crimes of capitalism and White supremacy. Secondly, regarding the “rioting” of “thugs” in this most recent case in Baltimore, this was largely a media and police-inspired set up of young high and middle school students.
SI: What is your prognosis for the development of the situation?
DR.BALL: My hope is that these events will expose existing contradictions and flaws in leadership, city, state and national policies and the need for further community organization. My hope is that more will organize around the fact that existing leadership (political, religious, economic, etc.) has been insufficient, unwilling or incapable of creating the kind of change necessary.
We’ve also managed to contact protest leaders, and hopefully we’ll provide you with more details in a while. Stay tuned.