A 6-year-old got shot. Caught in the crossfire, they say. On WBAL they interview another kid, can't be older than ten, maybe twelve, talking about shootings as if they were a way of life, as if it's normal.
And again we have to think about the police. The Sun gives a quote from a neighbor,
"The police was here in a flash," Thomas said. "They must have been in the neighborhood or something."
And in that short statement we have so much of what's wrong with this city. The police, the same institution that declares war on the citizens by arresting a 7-year-old one day, sends its people to risk their lives for those same citizens the next day. And the people who have to count on the police to protect them, regard the police, always, with (somewhat justified) suspicion.
Which means that law-abiding citizens in Baltimore allow their streets to be destroyed by shootouts, and when faced with the chance to make a change, they see institutions as enemies, and in the name of Stop Snitching, passively contribute to the decline of their own city.
0 comments:
Post a Comment