the baltimore protests of 2015
a right to the city
In the summer of 2015, Freddie Gray, a young Black man, died in Baltimore police custody. Later, video of his arrest surfaced, showing the handcuffed Gray apparently incapable of controlling his extremities, appearing, essentially, paralyzed. Gray’s arrest took place after he made eye contact with a police officer and then ran. Police then pursued him and accosted him, finding on his possession an illegal knife. The video [1] of his arrest captures only his transition from the ground to the paddy wagon, where he would fall into a coma from spinal damage. Freddie Gray later died in Baltimore Shock Trauma from his spinal injury.
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Video of Freddie Gray's arrest [1]
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On the day of his funeral, violent protests began in Gray’s neighborhood of Sandtown-Winchester. The first people involved were students who had been let out of school early that day, but the mass grew to include hundreds of members of the Sandtown-Winchester and surrounding neighborhoods. That day police and protesters clashed, leaving members from both sides injured, dozens arrested and hundreds of cars burned and destroyed—many of which were police cruisers.
This photo of a destroyed cruiser came from the protests in Sandtown-Winchester [2]
The Baltimore protests came in the wake of the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson Missouri, the unarmed Black man killed by Officer Daren Wilson, who was eventually acquitted of all charges. The Michael Brown case was a part of a slew of highly publicized deaths of Black men and boys in police custody or by police officers. Naturally, the media and people across the country saw these protests as a continuation, or even reaction, to the growing conversation around police brutality against Black people. During and after the Baltimore protests, conversation in the media centered around the comparisons that could be made to similar protests and movements in Ferguson and Chicago. While these comparisons were, and continue to be valid associations, they overlook the many important, and unique aspects of what caused the Baltimore protests.
It would be impossible to give a singular reason to why these protests happened, and even more difficult to explain their turn to violence. Rampant police brutality of Black American’s with little oversight and infrequent punishment for officers involved was the catalyst for these events, but not the underlying reason what occurred. Often during analysis of these protests the numerous historical societal factors and makeup of the city that preceded these modern political occurrences are ignored due to the hyper-publicized and politicized police violence. Baltimore is, and, more importantly, has been, a divided city since its modern formation. Through myriad social, economic, and racial segregation tactics, only some of which can be addressed in this piece, Baltimore was formed and maintained as a divided city to the detriment of its citizens of color.
Above is a map of Baltimore City's racial geography [3]
To understand Baltimore as the segregated and inherently disenfranchising city it exists as today—one that propelled its citizens to violence and destruction—examination of those segregationist origins must be examined.
One series of housing policies that strongly affected the racial geography of the city was “Baltimore Negro Segregation Ordinance[s]” (BNSO). In effect from 1910-’17, these documents set a precedent for Southern cities, exemplifying the constitutional legality of racial segregation. These ordinances played crucial roles in the creation of the practice of redlining—the race based demarcation of land by banks for the purpose of withholding loans to people of color. The BNSO set the stage for legal segregation in the post Plessy v. Ferguson United states, paving the way for southern cities such as Ashville, Richmond, Norfolk, Atlanta, St. Louis, Birmingham and a whole host of others to follow in turn.
The first of the four BNSO’s, which passed in 1910, came on the heals of an influx of Black Americans into Baltimore, seeing just under 26,000 Blacks enter the city from 1880-1900[4]. But as this Black population swelled, affordable and quality housing did not. White landlords raised the price of rent in neighborhoods and buildings known to be Black without renovating or allowing the City to build more housing. Ghettos and slums began to form with open drainage, uncovered trash and animal feces becoming commonplace in the southwest parts of Baltimore—also known as Pigtown.[5] Apartments built for single families often instead held 2-3 families so that all of them could afford the rent. With the deplorable living conditions and overcrowding, many Black individuals and families with the means to leave did so, moving farther Northwest into the city (what was then the 17th ward), creating a geographical income gap between Blacks in Baltimore. This influx of Black residents in previously majority white neighborhoods incited the exit of the white residents who moved further out into the suburbs of Maryland. The spaces vacated by white homeowners and renters who moved out into the country allowed more Black residents who were low income, to come and populate these uninhabited houses, creating the beginning to more slum housing.These whites, and others who decided to stay within the city, became upset with their proximity to Black residents, fearing for their theoretical integrity, and also fearing for their property value, as it was likely to decrease with Black residents living so near.
These newly Black enclaves were threatening to bordering white neighborhoods, so in 1910 Baltimore signed into bill the first Baltimore Negro Segregation Ordinance. This first ordinance stipulated that a block made up of 50% or more of white residents could not have Black people move in, and a block made up of 50% or more Black residents could not have white people move in. Mixed race blocks that existed at the time of the ordinance passing into law were exempt from this ordinance.
These ordinances served to keep growing Black slums in the northwest and southwest parts of the city separate from the affluent white neighborhoods. Throughout each iteration of the BNSO, each nearly identical to the last, the goal was to contain the Black population to the areas they already inhabited and to the Northwestern areas (the then 17th Ward specifically) that whites were comfortable conceding. The changes in each Ordinance served to better accommodate mixed race blocks, so that whites could have the option of moving out without forcing the other whites on the block to as well because the ratio had shifted from 50/50 to a Black dominated block. At the same time as Black residents were being annexed and forced into the Western portion of the city, racist landlords were raising prices on rent in Black housing complexes and areas, causing even more families to live together in small apartments and homes, adding to the already unsatisfactory living conditions in the growing Black Baltimore
These ordinances served to keep growing Black slums in the northwest and southwest parts of the city separate from the affluent white neighborhoods. Throughout each iteration of the BNSO, each nearly identical to the last, the goal was to contain the Black population to the areas they already inhabited and to the Northwestern areas (the then 17th Ward specifically) that whites were comfortable conceding. The changes in each Ordinance served to better accommodate mixed race blocks, so that whites could have the option of moving out without forcing the other whites on the block to as well because the ratio had shifted from 50/50 to a Black dominated block. At the same time as Black residents were being annexed and forced into the Western portion of the city, racist landlords were raising prices on rent in Black housing complexes and areas, causing even more families to live together in small apartments and homes, adding to the already unsatisfactory living conditions in the growing Black Baltimore
The forceful movement of Black Baltimoreans through the racist segregation ordinances that Baltimore’s government pioneered have left lasting marks on Baltimore’s racial geographic makeup. The west side of the City is still overpopulated in the very spots (the 17th Ward specifically) where Blacks were forced to move. Comparing Baltimore’s racial map today with the racial map that has been described of 1910-’17 the similarities are shocking. With the initial push of the BNSO’s to segregate Black families to the Northwest side of the City, lasting impressions on the city were made. The urban squalor that these ordinances promoted by forcing the rapidly growing Black population into small sections of the city, and not providing quality and affordable housing perpetuated the cycle of systematic disenfranchisement of Blacks in Baltimore for the monetary gain and comfort of white Baltimore.
It is also no coincidence that the areas most directly effected by the Protests coincide perfectly with the areas where the BNSO’s forced Black Baltimoreans to live. Uneven development was propagated through these racist ordinances and maintained to today, where we can see the underdevelopment of land with vacant properties and high density living environments on the West side of the city.
It is also no coincidence that the areas most directly effected by the Protests coincide perfectly with the areas where the BNSO’s forced Black Baltimoreans to live. Uneven development was propagated through these racist ordinances and maintained to today, where we can see the underdevelopment of land with vacant properties and high density living environments on the West side of the city.
It is the persistent degradation, segregation and subjugation that Black Baltimore protested violently against in 2015. The actions of the many who destroyed stores and lit cars on fire were demonstrations of their acknowledgement of their confinement to these underdeveloped neighborhoods that the City has forced them to live in.
Baltimore’s history of housing discrimination does not end with the Segregation Ordinances, but rather balloons to the federal level. After the Ordinances were deemed unconstitutional in 1917 the Baltimore City government began to encourage landlords and housing agencies to not sell and rent to Black people. The government went so far as to threaten landlords with housing violations if they did rent or sell to Blacks. With housing being vacated by whites and not inhabited by anyone else because of the racial discrimination, the City would buy up the land or property and repurpose it as parking lots or spaces for commercial businesses. This segregation practice further confined Black Baltimoreans to crowded housing in apartments along with residential areas in general that neither landlords nor the City were willing to invest in for improvements, repairs, or housing development.
With the passing of the New Deal by President Roosevelt in 1933 many federal groups and programs came into being. Two notable groups created to deal specifically with the housing market were the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the Federal Housing Association (FHA). Home ownership after the great depression was extremely low, so to encourage and aid citizens to buy homes, the HOLC was created to loan money for short term loans (5-6 years) in the hopes of lowing foreclosure rates and giving the economy a much needed boost. The FHA had the responsibility of overseeing the HOLC’s loans. Both agencies had the capability and job of advising local banks on what areas were safe or dangerous to lend mortgage loans to. It was at this time, beginning around 1937 in Baltimore, that the system of redlining began.
To easily show local banks what geographic areas were likely to default on their loans, the HOLC (with oversight from the FHA) and local banks created color coded maps with rankings depending on loan credibility. These are the definitions of each grad, A, B, C and D—green, blue, yellow and red respectively—given to each area according to the HOLC:
Baltimore’s history of housing discrimination does not end with the Segregation Ordinances, but rather balloons to the federal level. After the Ordinances were deemed unconstitutional in 1917 the Baltimore City government began to encourage landlords and housing agencies to not sell and rent to Black people. The government went so far as to threaten landlords with housing violations if they did rent or sell to Blacks. With housing being vacated by whites and not inhabited by anyone else because of the racial discrimination, the City would buy up the land or property and repurpose it as parking lots or spaces for commercial businesses. This segregation practice further confined Black Baltimoreans to crowded housing in apartments along with residential areas in general that neither landlords nor the City were willing to invest in for improvements, repairs, or housing development.
With the passing of the New Deal by President Roosevelt in 1933 many federal groups and programs came into being. Two notable groups created to deal specifically with the housing market were the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) and the Federal Housing Association (FHA). Home ownership after the great depression was extremely low, so to encourage and aid citizens to buy homes, the HOLC was created to loan money for short term loans (5-6 years) in the hopes of lowing foreclosure rates and giving the economy a much needed boost. The FHA had the responsibility of overseeing the HOLC’s loans. Both agencies had the capability and job of advising local banks on what areas were safe or dangerous to lend mortgage loans to. It was at this time, beginning around 1937 in Baltimore, that the system of redlining began.
To easily show local banks what geographic areas were likely to default on their loans, the HOLC (with oversight from the FHA) and local banks created color coded maps with rankings depending on loan credibility. These are the definitions of each grad, A, B, C and D—green, blue, yellow and red respectively—given to each area according to the HOLC:
The First grade of A areas are “hot spots”; they are not fully built up. In nearly all instances they are the new, well planned sections of the city, and almost synonymous with the area where good mortgage lenders with available funds are willing to make their maximum loans to be amortized over 10-15 year period – perhaps up to 75-80% of the appraisal. They are homogeneous; in demand as residential locations in “good times” or “bad”; hence on the upgrade. The Second grade or B areas, as a rule, are completely developed. They are like a 1935 automobile – still good, but not what the people are buying today who can afford a new one. They are neighborhoods where good mortgage lenders will have a tendency to hold loan commitments 10-15% under the limit. The Third grade or C areas are characterized by age, obsolescence, and change of style; expiring restrictions or lack of them; infiltration of a lower grade population; the presence of influences with increase sales resistance such as inadequate transportation, insufficient utilities, perhaps heavy tax burdens, poor maintenance of homes etc. “Jerry” built area are included, as well as neighborhoods lacking homogeneity. Generally, these have reached the transition period. Good mortgage lenders are more conservative in the Third grade or C areas and hold loan commitments under the lending ration for the A and B areas. The fourth grade or D area represent those neighborhoods in which the things that are now taking place in the C neighborhoods, have already happened. They are characterized by detrimental influences in a pronounced degree, undesirable population of an infiltration of it. Low percentage of home ownership, very poor maintenance and often vandalism prevail. Unstable incomes of the people and difficult collections are usually prevalent. The areas are broader than the co-called slum districts. Some mortgage lenders may refuse to make loans in these neighborhoods and others will lend only on a conservative basis.[9]
Emphasis added
Above is an original redline'd map of Baltimore made by the HOLC [10]
Emphasis added
Above is an original redline'd map of Baltimore made by the HOLC [10]
These ratings were applied to Baltimore neighborhoods and, not surprisingly, corresponded most closely to the racial geographic makeup of the city. The East and West Sides (both of which are primarily populated by people of color but only the West Side has been discussed because of differing development patters) are completely in red, whereas Roland Park and Mt. Washington, both white suburbs within city limits, are in green and blue respectively.
Redlining had a number of adverse effects on the Black communities that fell under the red ink. Because banks refused to lend to these areas, when the small-scale businesses that existed in the areas eventually failed because of the inability of the neighborhoods’ to invest in them, they could not be replaced by new businesses. Banks would not lend to people trying to start businesses in those newly vacant buildings or lots because of their “D” lending status. Redlining accounts for much of the vacant buildings, lots and even blocks in Black neighborhoods in Baltimore. Acting as a positive feedback loop, banks lent for the creation of liquor stores and bars inside these redlined neighborhoods, fulfilling white peoples’ perceptions of Black people being alcoholics. This feature of inner-city Baltimore still exists. Liquor stores in residential areas are at their highest density in Black neighborhoods on the West Side.
The map above shows liquor licenses in Baltimore [11]
Redlining had a number of adverse effects on the Black communities that fell under the red ink. Because banks refused to lend to these areas, when the small-scale businesses that existed in the areas eventually failed because of the inability of the neighborhoods’ to invest in them, they could not be replaced by new businesses. Banks would not lend to people trying to start businesses in those newly vacant buildings or lots because of their “D” lending status. Redlining accounts for much of the vacant buildings, lots and even blocks in Black neighborhoods in Baltimore. Acting as a positive feedback loop, banks lent for the creation of liquor stores and bars inside these redlined neighborhoods, fulfilling white peoples’ perceptions of Black people being alcoholics. This feature of inner-city Baltimore still exists. Liquor stores in residential areas are at their highest density in Black neighborhoods on the West Side.
The map above shows liquor licenses in Baltimore [11]
It is data such as this that very directly illustrates the destructive effects of racist housing practices like the Segregation Ordinances and redlining, which was legal until 1968 when the Civil Rights Act was passed. Baltimore has literally been shaped by racism. This racism manifested as a physical environment has not been lost on its residents. The protests of 2015 were clear and visible declarations of that fact.
To the left is a map is of alcohol and drug related deaths by zipcode [12]
To the left is a map is of alcohol and drug related deaths by zipcode [12]
To understand Baltimore City as a singular entity would do great injustice to the people who it confines within its restrictive and numerous internal boundaries. As has been described, Baltimore is a city created and maintained out of a desire for not only separation, but subjugation as well. Baltimore’s history has shown nothing but a wish to keep Black people literally in their place, devoid of the recourses useful resources and in crowded living conditions that promote poor health and crime. It is this history and reality that Baltimoreans protested against in 2015.
On the West Side of Baltimore, stores were looted, cares were destroyed, pharmacies ransacked and police attacked. The death of Freddie Gray and the countless other publicized deaths of Black men sparked this aggressive demonstration, but were not the cause. Black people living in neighborhoods built to destroy their opportunities to live fulfilling, rich lives like their white counterparts who live just miles away, often less, caused these destructive protests. Freddie Gray only gave the people who have been screaming for their lives in the form of gang violence, alcoholism and drug abuse, and a life expectancy twenty years lower than people living in a different neighborhood[13] in the same city the platform to have the country, and the world, hear them.
It was out of the systematic and legally supported segregation and degradation of Black lives that these protests erupted. The people who participated in the destructive behavior were not destroying their own neighborhoods, rather reconstructing the environment that has been built to staunch their success.
The liquor stores built to debilitate them, the vacant houses taking up space that the City refuses to repurpose or redevelop and the abandoned cars that people cannot afford to pay insurance on because of the lack of immediate access to jobs were not representative of neighborhoods and built environments made by or for Black Baltimoreans. They existed as the long lasting chains from the Segregation Ordinances and redlining that the City has refused to remove from around the blocks of Baltimore’s Blacks. Baltimore wouldn’t provide the keys, so Baltimoreans burnt them down instead.
On the West Side of Baltimore, stores were looted, cares were destroyed, pharmacies ransacked and police attacked. The death of Freddie Gray and the countless other publicized deaths of Black men sparked this aggressive demonstration, but were not the cause. Black people living in neighborhoods built to destroy their opportunities to live fulfilling, rich lives like their white counterparts who live just miles away, often less, caused these destructive protests. Freddie Gray only gave the people who have been screaming for their lives in the form of gang violence, alcoholism and drug abuse, and a life expectancy twenty years lower than people living in a different neighborhood[13] in the same city the platform to have the country, and the world, hear them.
It was out of the systematic and legally supported segregation and degradation of Black lives that these protests erupted. The people who participated in the destructive behavior were not destroying their own neighborhoods, rather reconstructing the environment that has been built to staunch their success.
The liquor stores built to debilitate them, the vacant houses taking up space that the City refuses to repurpose or redevelop and the abandoned cars that people cannot afford to pay insurance on because of the lack of immediate access to jobs were not representative of neighborhoods and built environments made by or for Black Baltimoreans. They existed as the long lasting chains from the Segregation Ordinances and redlining that the City has refused to remove from around the blocks of Baltimore’s Blacks. Baltimore wouldn’t provide the keys, so Baltimoreans burnt them down instead.
References
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fztnOdFwEE
[2] Untitled. 2015. Baltimore. WND. Web. 24 May 2016.
[3] Engel, Pamela. "These Maps Show the Depth of Baltimore's Inequality Problem." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 29 Apr. 2015. Web. 26 May 2016.
[4] "Female Persons, Percent, July 1, 2014, (V2014)." Baltimore City Maryland (County) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. United States Government. Web. 26 May 2016.
[5] Garrett Power, Apartheid Baltimore Style: the Residential Segregation Ordinances of 1910-1913, 42 Md. L. Rev. 289 (1983) Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mlr/vol42/iss2/4
[6] "Wards." Baltimore City Archives. 2012. Web. 26 May 2016. [1] Theattorneydepot. "Raw Video: Freddie Gray Arrested By Baltimore Police!" YouTube. YouTube, 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 24 May 2016.
[7] Scheller, Alissa. "6 Maps That Show How Deeply Segregated Baltimore Is." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 28 Apr. 2015. Web. 26 May 2016.
[8] "Population Density in Baltimore, MD by Zip Code." Population Density in Baltimore, MD by Zip Code. Web. 26 May 2016.
[9] "Residential Security Map of Baltimore Md." Residential Security Map of Baltimore Md. Web. 26 May 2016. This document and map comes directly from the Home Owners' Loan Association as this site as a medium.
[10] Ibid
[11] Baltimore City Liquor Board. Alcohol Outlet Density Reduction in Baltimore City Summary. Issue brief. Baltimore: Baltimore City Government, 2009. Web. 26 May 2016.
[12] Arbelaez, Jose, Dr., and Ryan J. Petteway. INTOXICATION DEATHS ASSOCIATED WITH DRUGS OF ABUSE OR ALCOHOL. Issue brief. Baltimore City Health Department, July 2011. Web. 26 May 2016.
[13] Ingraham, Christopher. "14 Baltimore Neighborhoods Have Lower Life Expectancies than North Korea." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 30 Apr. 2015. Web. 26 May 2016.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fztnOdFwEE
[2] Untitled. 2015. Baltimore. WND. Web. 24 May 2016.
[3] Engel, Pamela. "These Maps Show the Depth of Baltimore's Inequality Problem." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 29 Apr. 2015. Web. 26 May 2016.
[4] "Female Persons, Percent, July 1, 2014, (V2014)." Baltimore City Maryland (County) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. United States Government. Web. 26 May 2016.
[5] Garrett Power, Apartheid Baltimore Style: the Residential Segregation Ordinances of 1910-1913, 42 Md. L. Rev. 289 (1983) Available at: http://digitalcommons.law.umaryland.edu/mlr/vol42/iss2/4
[6] "Wards." Baltimore City Archives. 2012. Web. 26 May 2016. [1] Theattorneydepot. "Raw Video: Freddie Gray Arrested By Baltimore Police!" YouTube. YouTube, 20 Apr. 2015. Web. 24 May 2016.
[7] Scheller, Alissa. "6 Maps That Show How Deeply Segregated Baltimore Is." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 28 Apr. 2015. Web. 26 May 2016.
[8] "Population Density in Baltimore, MD by Zip Code." Population Density in Baltimore, MD by Zip Code. Web. 26 May 2016.
[9] "Residential Security Map of Baltimore Md." Residential Security Map of Baltimore Md. Web. 26 May 2016. This document and map comes directly from the Home Owners' Loan Association as this site as a medium.
[10] Ibid
[11] Baltimore City Liquor Board. Alcohol Outlet Density Reduction in Baltimore City Summary. Issue brief. Baltimore: Baltimore City Government, 2009. Web. 26 May 2016.
[12] Arbelaez, Jose, Dr., and Ryan J. Petteway. INTOXICATION DEATHS ASSOCIATED WITH DRUGS OF ABUSE OR ALCOHOL. Issue brief. Baltimore City Health Department, July 2011. Web. 26 May 2016.
[13] Ingraham, Christopher. "14 Baltimore Neighborhoods Have Lower Life Expectancies than North Korea." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 30 Apr. 2015. Web. 26 May 2016.