1
Bring yourself back online.
Can you hear me?
Do you know where you are?
Would you like to wake up
from this dream?
There's nothing to be afraid of.
Understand?
Have you ever questioned
the nature of your reality?
We must take this matter
into our own hands.
- Our city!
- Our city!
Tell us what you think
of your world.
What do you think of the guests?
Do you know where you are?
Will the things I told you
change the way you think
about your world?
Do you know where you are?
- I walked down the street
with a reporter
from a national network,
who looked around
and saw all of
these boarded-up properties,
and said to me...
"Councilman, you know,
that riot really tore up
this community, didn't it?"
And I said, "Look again.
"Look at the boards
on those homes.
"Do they look like they were
tacked up yesterday?
No, they've been there
20 years, maybe longer."
I said, "The riot didn't
tear up the community.
"The condition of the community
caused the uprising
that we had."
- Man, I've been
recording this.
I've been recording.
- When the police
and Freddie Gray
made eye contact,
Freddie Gray ran.
And he was arrested,
essentially,
for running while black.
- What may have followed
is a so-called "rough ride,"
or a deliberate tactic
used by police
to harm unbelted
handcuffed passengers.
- And he emerged
at the end of that ride
with an 80% torn spine.
- We had to get to the hospital
and find out if it was true.
We was thinking that
maybe it was a mistake...
maybe they had the wrong room.
This can't be happening
to our Freddie.
No peace!
No justice, no peace!
- That's right!
- We ain't gonna
let this happen no more!
We came to send them
a strong message
that black lives matter!
- Freddie Gray,
a young man arrested
by Baltimore City Police
last weekend, has died.
- By the grace of God...
By the grace of God...
- Justice shall prevail.
Justice shall prevail.
- The medical examiner
will list the cause of death
as trauma to the neck
and spine.
- There were thousands
of protestors at City Hall,
where they had gathered
after marching
from the police district
where Freddie Gray
was arrested a week ago.
- You'll see
there's police officers
in riot gear
trying to hold this position.
- I am taken back
by the amount of people
that there are...
community members.
- You're not letting me answer!
- I'm asking you...
- I'm saying to them,
"Family, let me talk to you."
"No, you don't say nothing!
You're one of them!
You're a Nazi!"
And I'm getting
all of this hatred.
Cops! Pigs! Murderers!
- There have been sudden,
spontaneous confrontations...
- We're not ignorant!
We just want peace.
- But so far,
no major eruptions
of violence in Baltimore.
- Now, there was information
that there was
these various sites
that were going to be targeted
by bands of young people.
- What they did, as smart as
the Baltimore City Police
Department is, they shut down
the Mondawmin Mall
bus terminal.
That's a major terminal.
So you shut that down,
kids can't go nowhere.
- These kids, clearly,
are getting frustrated.
- Rest in peace, Freddie.
- Western Baltimore
is under siege at this moment.
- The real story is that
Freddie Gray was murdered
by the police,
and my city took to the streets
and took this city back.
- Hey, guys, they just set
the CVS on fire.
- Hey, did they close
down the street?
- Cop cars
were being destroyed.
Businesses
were being destroyed.
It's like a demon
took over the city.
- Maryland governor
Larry Hogan declared
a state of emergency.
- The governor sends
2,000 national guardsmen
to help police
as Baltimore remains
under a state of emergency.
- Sir, thank you, sir.
- You're welcome.
- Might get loose...
- Anybody wear a small?
- I have to make it my size.
Because I get
walking pneumonia.
- I didn't grow up in the hood,
but I always was around
people who did
and always tried
to use the perspective
that I was fortunate enough
to have
by not growing up in the hood
to be able to say,
"It's not right."
- Yes, ma'am.
- Thank you.
- Everybody get one?
- The first time I heard
about Freddie Gray,
it was on TV.
I was downtown, I was working
at the Marriott Waterfront...
and my white coworker,
I remember her saying,
"Oh, my gosh.
Has anybody been hurt?
Has anybody been injured?"
And I remember saying to her,
"Yeah, somebody's been hurt.
"Somebody's been injured.
Somebody died,
and that's what this is about."
And she was saying, "No, no.
I'm not talking about that.
I'm talking about the police."
Hands up, don't shoot!
- I mean, something
at that moment, like, snapped
inside of me,
and it was just like,
"Yo, I can't do this."
Like, "I can't just
sit on the sidelines.
This is a part of me."
From that Saturday on,
I would leave work,
and I would go protest
with my cousins.
I want you and Fox News
to get out of Baltimore City,
because you're not here
reporting
about the boarded up homes
and the homeless people
under MLK.
You're not reporting
about the poverty levels
up and down North Avenue.
But you're here for
the black riots that happened.
I didn't know who Geraldo was,
except for some little dude
with a big mustache,
disrespecting the scene.
Everything that had been
bottled up inside of me
from before Freddie Gray
was released in that moment.
I want the white media
out of Baltimore City
until y'all come here
to report the real stories.
You know, once I realized
that the cameras had recorded
me, I was concerned
about what my father
was going to think,
and so I went home that night.
I saw the video...
it started trending
and trending,
and then three days later,
I was fired.
- The manner of death,
deemed a homicide
by the Maryland state
medical examiner,
is believed to be the result
of a fatal injury
that occurred while
Mr. Gray was unrestrained
by a seat belt in the custody
of a Baltimore Police
Department wagon.
We have probable cause
to file criminal charges.
- Yes! Yes!
- There was jubilation
in the Baltimore neighborhood
where Freddie Gray was killed
after the prosecutor
announced charges.
- This is bigger
than Freddie Gray.
This is bigger
than Trayvon Martin.
This is bigger
than Eric Garner.
This is the way they treat
black people in America, man.
- Stop trying to make us
scared of ISIS
when we need to be scared
of our own judicial system,
'cause that's our terrorist
in our community.
- When we see the police,
our first objective
is not to stand there and get
in compliance... it's to run.
- Like, they chased me.
They didn't find drugs.
So they beat me
in the head with a gun.
- I wish my brother
could have ran,
but he stopped.
He pulled over.
He didn't give nobody
a chase or anything.
He pulled over,
had his hands out the window,
and was executed on the spot!
- A black man don't have
nothing in this world...
nothing.
And that's the end of that.
- Today a judge will decide
if the charges
against the six officers
should be dropped,
if State's Attorney
Marilyn Mosby
should be taken off the case...
- Freddie Gray!
All night...
All day!
- We will fight
for Freddie Gray!
All night...
- Well, once people realized
that there were charges,
people felt like, "What are we
protesting for still?"
We will fight for Freddie Gray!
- Sidewalk!
Hey, get on the sidewalk!
- But, you know, I knew,
like, I wasn't done.
I had a mission
that convictions
was to be expected
and Freddie Gray got justice.
- What do we want?
- Justice!
- And when do we want it?
- Now!
- Police admit they were once
caught off guard
during the riots,
but now they're prepared.
Hey-hey! Ho-ho!
These killer cops
have got to go!
Hey-hey! Ho-ho!
Those killer cops
have got to go!
Hey-hey!
Ho-ho!
These killer cops
have got to go!
- I'm not resisting!
- Hands behind your head!
- I'm hurt.
- Oh, oh, oh, oh!
- Hands behind your back now!
- I'm hurt!
- You're under arrest.
- I'm hurt!
- I'm gonna Tase you!
- I'm hurt!
I got hit by a...
- Illegal arrest!
Illegal arrest!
- You need to back up.
- Move!
- So we thought
it was really important
to have this civil
disobedience training
in the midst
of what's about to happen
in Baltimore with the start
of the Freddie Gray trials.
And we just thought
it was extremely necessary
to have this,
especially for students
who might be
just recently introduced...
into this.
And while I've engaged
in acts of civil disobedience,
I've never organized one.
When I found out that Kwame
had gotten arrested,
I was extremely frightened,
just because I felt like
stakes were getting higher
and that activists
were getting arrested
for things that weren't
necessarily threatening.
Protests are symbolic.
They're effective,
but they're also cathartic
and therapeutic for the people
who are involved in them.
You need to promise
that you're going to be
ride or die...
well, if you're comfortable
with you're doing that.
Like, you're gonna
be ride or die
for the people
that you're with.
Protest truly is the voice
of people who are unheard,
and protest is not always
a passive action, right?
Protest is not always
marching in the streets,
singing "Kumbaya,"
holding hands,
being silent
and non-disruptive.
- We have to stand
for our sons,
because these are our sons,
and we are sick and tired
of being sick and tired
of their blood
being painted on the streets.
- So people are worried
about, like, the safety
of people who are engaged
in this work
of trying to get justice
for Freddie Gray.
It had a lot to do with the way
protestors had been treated
in the past,
the way I was arrested,
and more and more
as the story grew bigger,
the protests got bigger.
- Mayor
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
has announced that she plans
to make interim commissioner
Kevin Davis
the new Baltimore City
police commissioner.
- Protesting is not
a privilege, Commissioner.
Protesting is a right
that you have to respect
as a servant of the people,
and that's all I want to say.
- History will one day
look specifically back
at this very moment in time
and identify this year...
probably more than
any other year...
that will serve to define
when American policing
began to change.
It's a challenging time
to be a police officer,
but it's an exciting time
to be a police officer.
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
- Good evening, everyone.
Till this day...
Commissioner Davis
has never apologized...
for how peaceful protestors
have been treated...
- Yes!
- Arrested...
and are now being prosecuted
by the same State's Attorney
that's supposed to be
bringing charges
against six murderers
that killed Freddie Gray.
- Mic check!
- Mic check!
- Mic check!
- Mic check!
- My voice...
- My voice!
- Will not decide...
- Will not decide!
- If you become...
- If you become!
- The permanent commissioner...
The permanent commissioner!
- For my city.
For my city!
- Yet, I will be...
Yet, I will be!
- We will be...
We will be!
- The unarmed black kids...
Unarmed black kids!
- Found unconscious...
Found unconscious!
- In a police van.
In a police van!
- Left dead in the streets.
Dead in the streets!
- No justice!
- No peace!
- No racist!
- Police!
Step up or step down!
Step up or step down!
Step up or step down!
- All right, everybody.
So we're locked inside
of City Hall right now.
They locked the bathrooms.
They've refused to let us
off the balcony
unless we're leaving
the building.
The commissioner
still has not returned.
We just wanted engagement
from Kevin Davis.
It wasn't about
blocking Kevin Davis.
It's mostly about, like,
having a conversation
so that we know what side
Kevin Davis is actually on.
I'm challenging everybody
right now
to use the power
of social media
to demand that
the commissioner comes.
- So thumbs for
are we committed
to staying here?
Yes, maybe, no.
- I want to stay.
- Thumb, thumbs?
- Yes, yes.
- To go home?
- This has just been
the unanimous decision
that we're not leaving
until Kevin Davis
and Mayor
Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
are with us.
- Okay.
- Protestors are still
inside City Hall,
refusing to leave.
Now, we've confirmed
that Kevin Davis
is not inside with them.
- You will have to
leave the building.
I don't know. I'm trying...
- Is this a warning
before our arrest?
- To see if we... well...
- Excuse me.
Good evening.
Can I have everybody's
attention?
- Let her finish talking,
'cause that was
very disrespectful
to your colleague.
- Please. I am lawfully
ordering all of you
who are assembled here
inside of City Hall
to leave the building
immediately
and peacefully disperse.
- Kwame, shh.
- You shall leave immediately
or be subject to arrest.
- It is our duty
to fight for our freedom.
Is our duty
to fight for our freedom.
- We have nothing to lose
but our chains!
We have nothing
to lose but our chains!
- It is our duty
to fight for our freedom!
It is our duty
to fight for our freedom!
- We have nothing to lose
but our chains!
We have nothing
to lose but our chains!
- Black lives matter!
Black lives matter!
Black lives matter!
Black lives matter!
- Baltimore City
has a new top cop.
The city council voted
12-2 to confirm Kevin Davis
as the new police commissioner
for Baltimore City.
- It's a exciting time,
but it's also
a very trying time,
because I don't know...
this is her senior year,
and I don't know where
things are going to go
with regard to
the Freddie Gray trial.
Last year was
a very difficult year.
Her grades fell.
I was very disappointed,
because I put you
on a path for success,
and now you're letting it fall
because you're doing
all of this work.
Education, in my book,
comes first, you know?
You know, people always ask me,
"Where does she...
where does she get this from?"
And, um...
her speaking, she definitely
gets from her dad,
but I think her spirit,
she gets from my brother,
her uncle.
My brother was on death row
for ten years.
I think he was 32
when he was executed.
He started doing
live interviews
from death row, so that's when
we became very active
campaigning against
the death penalty,
and then I became
pregnant with Makayla.
We have pictures of her
in my husband's arms, marching.
So she was born into that.
- Whose streets?
- Our streets!
- Whose streets?
- Our streets!
- I always told her
that our protest chants,
"no justice, no peace,"
were her lullabies.
And I said, "You marched
before you could crawl
and walk."
Indict, convict,
send those killer cops to jail.
The whole damn system...
- I'm always reminded
of my uncle's resilience
and how, even on death row...
when he knew
that his death was pending
and he knew
that his death was coming,
and he even had
a date of his death,
he was still organizing,
and he was doing everything
with his time that he could.
You can go to
killedbypolice.net,
and you can begin
to read the names off.
We need to recognize
and hear all of the names
of all of the victims, right?
And we need to say their names.
We need to feel their spirits.
We need to feel their energy
and make this a moment
where we're committing to
ourselves
to no longer wait
until another name
is added to that list,
'cause we can't afford to lose
another baby like Tamir.
We can't afford to lose
another sister like Sandra.
We can't afford any of that.
- Darius Smith.
- Wesley Manning.
- Dejuan Hall.
- Brandon Johnson.
- DeOntre Dorsey.
- William Lemmon.
- Patrick O'Grady.
Philip Quinn.
- Jason Mesaros.
- Ernesto Lopez.
- Eddie Sanchez.
- Joseph Khammash.
- Antonio Henry.
- Kenneth Pinter Jr.
- Adarius Brown.
- Keith McLeod.
- Leonel Acevedo.
- So, Father God,
first and foremost,
I want to thank You for sparing
the lives, Father God,
of Britney and Genisha,
Father God.
But, Father God,
our concentration,
our focus...
goes on those, Father God,
that were seriously injured,
Father God...
even ejected
from the vehicles, oh, God.
Where does it hurt?
- It isn't hurting,
it's just shaking.
- Okay, so just relax.
You're gonna be all right.
All right?
- Okay.
- Look, I ain't hard to find
if y'all need me.
It's my city.
Love my city.
We're in a community where...
it's underserved
and over-policed.
You could be a great cop.
You could be a great cop
and a successful cop...
probably even more so
when you learn how
to be respectful
to the community.
So we're... we're in
the Gilmor area,
which is where, actually,
Freddie Gray...
was arrested.
That mural went up
almost immediately.
The Freddie Gray incident
wasn't the cause
of the uprising... it was just
probably that last straw
that broke the camel's back...
after decades of crying out.
There were a group
of individuals
who helped us throughout
the entire uprising.
They wanted to sit down
and talk
with the commissioner
about how we can better
work together
to see that peace
come back around.
You are the peacemakers.
You are the ones
who I've called on
in months past, years past,
when things were happening,
and said, "We need help."
And you have always
come through.
Some of you don't even know
each other,
so the common denominator here
is me, right?
But more importantly,
the common denominator here
is Baltimore,
and so what the commissioner
has asked
is, hypothetically,
if something else kicked off...
if anything kicked off...
are there people that you know,
that when we get
some information,
that you can pass
that information on to
so it doesn't blow up
in our face?
- It'd be one thing
if the uprising
and the unrest were behind us.
Part of it's behind us,
but we got a big
front windshield
that we're looking out,
and there are absolutely
expectations that we need
to manage in this city,
and I don't think the city
is doing a good job
at managing expectations
for these trials.
Baltimore... this uniform
is the most recognizable
police department
in the country right now.
And people are looking at us
to see if we can
get this right.
- A lot of the kids,
I'm telling you for a fact,
literally sitting around,
waiting for the next
opportunity to go out
and do what they think
is voicing their frustrations.
- We got that.
That's good, that's good.
We got that.
Catalina?
- So begin to identify
the people that will work
on behalf of the people
of Baltimore,
'cause we all love our city,
and we loved it before
it was popular
to say you loved it
and it was a brand.
- Yes.
- Why don't we start
getting out into
the schools right now,
having assemblies,
and then talk to them about,
"This is your city.
You have to value your city.
"You know,
no matter what happens,
you still have to live here."
- Well, first of all,
allow me to apologize,
'cause I'm not as well-spoken
as some of my counterparts.
I'm a retired gang member, sir,
if there is such a thing.
And excuse me
for being incredibly frank.
You have to treat
those officers like people.
They shouldn't have never had
ten days
to discuss their story.
Major problem.
You have two sides
of your city, Chief,
and part of your city,
they're expecting
everybody to walk.
Some of them,
unfortunately...
and I hate to admit it...
are waiting for them to walk.
Just my opinion.
- My selfish interest,
on behalf of the city
right now,
is surviving this moment.
Right?
We can't get through this
without you guys.
And I give my cell phone number
out to everybody.
And I've had people tell me,
"Why do you give
your cell phone number?"
I'll give it to everybody
in this room.
Now, now, I do that because
I know
that if you guys didn't
care about this city,
you wouldn't be in here.
If we can't, as a city,
get through
these six trials together...
with just protests
and no violence...
we will take ten giant
steps backwards.
- I just want to get into
treatment as soon as possible.
- Okay, what is
your drug of choice?
- Heroin.
- All right.
Age of first use?
- Of anything?
- Of anything.
- 13, marijuana.
- Next thing?
- 14, cocaine.
- Wow, how'd you graduate
that fast?
What was his name?
- John.
- Awesome.
All right.
My job is to refer clients,
translate,
and advocate for clients
suffering from dual diagnosis
and/or drug abuse.
To date, I've sent
successfully to treatment
1,785 people.
I think maybe seven,
eight days ago,
I just met with
the commissioner, Davis...
the new dude...
and they're trying to help us,
first of all, kind of
police our own.
What we don't want is a repeat
of what happened in April.
- They really do got to build
a relationship
with the community first,
because don't nobody
in the community trust them.
- Right.
- You got to get them
something... jobs, something.
Give them something to do.
Something.
- So, basically, just let me
know what it is you need.
You know what I'm saying?
'Cause if we can facilitate
this, it'd create
a lot of opportunity
for a bunch of different
things, mostly for our kids.
You know what I'm saying?
The schools around here.
We can reduce
the police presence greatly.
- This is the voice mailbox
for Kevin Davis,
police commissioner
for the city of Baltimore.
- Hello, Commissioner Davis.
This is Genard Barr,
aka Mr. Shadow.
We met, um...
a little bit over a week ago.
You remember the question,
"What can we do
"to prevent a second uprising
if the trial does not go
quite like we thought?"
I believe I have an answer
for you.
I hope this reaches you
in peace,
and just as a side note,
I'll be bugging
the hell out of you
until I talk to you.
Thank you very much, sir.
- Jury selection
begins in the morning
in the trial of the first
of the six police officers
charged in the death
of Freddie Gray.
- Officer William Porter
is accused
of involuntary manslaughter,
reckless endangerment,
and assault.
- I always had pride in being
a law enforcement officer,
but... now, it's like...
people don't feel the same way.
I feel like a linebacker.
I'm one of the investigators
in the case.
So we have the court cases
coming up very soon...
the start of those...
and, um, you know,
that's, um...
you know, that's gonna be
a huge deal
for everybody involved.
And I don't know exactly
when I'll be testifying
in that case.
We're just kind of
in standby mode.
It's discouraging
when you just watch
people pit races
against each other,
the community
against the police.
See, out here you have to
kind of pick your poison.
You got to pick your poison,
you know,
what you're gonna
get engaged in.
When you got
young black men like this
who are just walking around
the street aimlessly...
you know...
they're doing
one of two things.
They're up to no good,
or they're selling drugs,
and then the next thing
you know,
you're gonna have a shooting,
and these are the results.
Graveyards... jails.
So, you know...
- Back in the late '50s
and early '60s,
Penn North was the cultural
center of Baltimore
because it was the home,
among other things,
of numerous jazz clubs.
This was the heyday
of the black family.
We didn't have drugs.
We didn't have guns.
You didn't see all
of these vacant houses.
It was an "onward, upward"
kind of feeling
about Baltimore.
The police were basically
foot patrolmen.
They knew who the bad kids
were in any given family,
who the good people were,
because they were familiar
with the community.
Blacks were treated
a lot differently
after the advent
of the motorized squad car.
And so, instead of
walking the beat,
the police department
in Baltimore
went from hot spot to hot spot.
They didn't learn
the community after that.
Then in 1968,
when we had the riots...
things went downhill
from there.
Add that to mass incarceration,
to mass arrests
in the black community...
now we have the destruction
of the same black families
who were thriving
in that part of town.
- My father was a cop.
Useless.
The dude my mother married
after my father
was also a cop.
He spent...
a good five years abusing me,
and that began the hatred
of cops...
the ineffective father
and the piece-of-shit
stepfather.
Around 15 or 16 or so,
I couldn't deal
with that anymore, so I left.
You know, there's only certain
ways a 16-year-old dude
is gonna take care of himself.
The environment I was stuck in
or pushed upon me,
or however the hell
you want to put that,
turned me into something else
for a means of survival.
I don't want my kids
to be turned into anything.
I want my kids to grow up
to be my kids.
- Hey, baby.
- Hey, Shadow.
- Oh, yeah, that's my...
- How you doing, man?
How are you?
- How you doing?
- Sorry I'm late. You good?
- Nah, actually, it worked out
that you're late.
- Hey, how are you?
Kevin Davis.
You know, why this year
and why right now
and why...
why post-April to May
is everything off the chain?
- You know,
when you're in a situation
where you have 7,000 people
and 300 jobs...
Things can be out of control.
Then on our side,
seven, eight generations
of fatherless boys.
And the only time
we ever see y'all
is y'all taking
our fathers from us.
- I hear you.
- That's why.
- And it just bubbled here.
- There are no
recreation centers.
There's nothing for kids to do.
There's nothing here.
- We are so angry...
and so upset.
We sit here,
and we have nothing to do,
so we agitating each other.
And then we have the cops
on top of our backs.
- Some of these dudes...
I done seen some of these cats
strip search people
in the street.
If you ever try to put
your finger in my ass,
talking about something,
you want to search for
some drugs, I don't give a fuck
whether he got a badge or not,
I'm gonna stab him in his neck.
- I'm sorry that
law enforcement
in this community is like this.
- If you want to make
a change now...
I don't know who or how
we have to do it...
- You do... you do a lot...
- No, please let me finish.
- You do a lot.
- No, please let me finish.
Please let me finish.
I went through shit
that I should not have to.
I'm not even supposed to
be sitting here.
I got a bullet hole
in my head, Chief.
And that will not happen
to my children.
Do you understand?
This will not happen
to my children.
I will die doing this.
Okay?
- Your pain's not my pain.
I've never lived your life.
But that still...
Excuse me.
- Doesn't mean that...
- It won't happen
to my children.
I promise you, I have an army
of likeminded individuals.
But they're afraid of you all.
And until they stop...
- That breaks my heart.
- And until they stop
being afraid of you all,
it's gonna seem like
I'm doing it by myself.
Here's the deal...
- What do they want?
- Jobs.
- We need jobs.
- Jobs.
- We need them.
- Mm-hmm.
Can I be an advocate for jobs?
Yes.
Can I go over...
and stand in City Hall
and jump up and down?
Yes.
Will I? Yes.
But you know
my personal ability
as a police commissioner
to create jobs... is what?
- Hmm.
- For this moment in time,
I got the bully pulpit,
and I'll stand up with you
and go to whoever
those people are
who can make change.
I'll do that, but I need
you to promise me
that we're not gonna have
what we had in April and May.
Can you deliver that?
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- To the best of my ability.
- This is the problem
that we're having,
with, you know,
the guys in the fraternity...
guys, you know...
They are worried about,
"If we take this step,
will y'all take
this step with us?"
You know, because they don't
want to look like fools,
and they don't want
any backlash.
- I don't want to
look like a fool either.
- You know,
it's time for us to stand...
- Give me a couple...
Test me, then. Test the waters.
Give me a couple things
you want me to do.
- We been talking about it
all year, bro.
- A football game,
a basketball game.
- We want a football game, man.
We want to play ball.
But you get what I'm saying?
Like, just like we're playing
cops and robbers
when we was kids,
let's put on some pads...
'cause it's a lot
of athletes out here, Chief.
I can still run, man.
- Yeah? All right. I can't.
- I'm about to go meet up
with my attorney.
I'm not taking no charges.
I'm not taking no conviction.
But I also want
to send a message, like,
this is not about to
keep happening to protestors
who haven't broken the law
and have only been exercising
their First Amendment right.
- You are on the scene.
They're gonna come to you
because, for good or for bad,
you are seen as a leader
of the movement.
- I'm, like, the only protestor
facing, like,
serious jail time, you know.
I'm the most visible person.
- Arrest is the last resort,
and that is a citable offense.
Right, so the only reason,
from my experience,
that somebody in command
would make an arrest
is if it's pre-planned.
- Where would that directive
come from,
from your experience,
when you were there?
- It's gonna come from Command.
It's not gonna come from...
it's gonna come from somebody
that is a captain or above.
Somebody that's in what they
call "Command Staff."
- The perception that you have
nothing to lose,
that's a scary thing for people
who got a whole lot to lose.
So that's the threat you pose.
Whether you mean to express
that threat or not,
to the establishment,
that's what you represent.
- This is my last one, I swear.
For today.
I don't get why they're picking
this bone so hard.
- But that is why
they're picking the bone.
- Yeah.
- So they can hold you back
during the whole next...
I don't know.
When's this gonna be?
Six months, seven months?
- I am still gonna protest.
I'm still gonna be out here
before my case.
- Well, it's your constitutional
right to protest.
- Well, I don't get
those rights.
- We have heard
closing arguments
in the final phase
of the Officer William Porter
trial.
Right now the prosecution
has wrapped up
its portion
of closing arguments.
- Prosecutors contend
Porter is criminally negligent
because he didn't call a medic
when Gray requested one
and he didn't buckle Gray
into a seat belt.
- Have you ever been inside
of a police van?
And I'm like this, right?
Now, you got a back door here.
Now, if she has
this much room...
because, remember,
you have a wall here
that divides both sides
of the wagon.
- It's narrow in the back.
- So what can I do
to her from here?
I could kick her.
I could punch her.
- I'm over here...
- I could spit on her.
I can do this, but...
- I'm not gonna put myself
through that,
because when I get injured,
first of all, the city not
gonna want to take care of me.
- We had the gentleman
that came here...
it took six guys to try to
get him out of the cell
and he said, "You're gonna
have to Freddie Gray me
"out of this motherfucker,
because I'm not walking
on my two feet."
- It puts everybody at risk.
- It's crazy.
- Right now, since April,
the community,
the Command, the government,
the media, has effectively
erased the blue line
that protected all
of these people
and the result is, you know,
a record year,
and it's only gonna get worse
and worse and worse.
- Well, the death
of Freddie Gray
has put a glaring spotlight on
Baltimore
and its police force.
In the months
since Gray's death,
arrests in Baltimore
have plunged.
Murders have actually surged.
- After the uprising
in Baltimore City,
I talked to the police
in West Baltimore.
They were saying,
"Colonel, can we keep it real?
"We're tired of getting
out of the cars.
"We got to keep
looking over our heads
"and ducking bottles
and dirty diapers
"and all this crap, and we just
want to do our job.
"When we make a legitimate,
good arrest,
"all the cameras come... wham,
in our face!
And just hatred being spewed.
Colonel, that hurts."
Facts speak for themselves.
And I understand it.
We stopped policing.
- We carry our children.
We feed them.
We do all the right things
for them.
And then one day we wake up
and get a phone call that said,
"Ms. Austin,
homicide is coming.
They want to talk to you."
My husband went to the scene,
and there was
our 22-year-old son
at a block party
with his brains blown out.
- They say black don't crack.
Shit, my brother sent me
a picture he took of a guy
laying on the concrete
with his top peeled back
like a convertible Honda.
We praying for mamas.
Our kids are going to paradise.
No, no, no, not the Bahamas.
- You guys know Petey?
Here, I want y'all to take
some of these.
I want y'all to take
some of these flyers,
'cause y'all his friends, right?
Back in my day,
if something like this
happened down here,
those people who
this was intended for...
they wouldn't even be allowed
to even stand on a corner again
until they did the right thing
for this family.
- Right.
- You got people dying
in neighborhoods
where they grew up at,
and people say
absolutely nothing.
Thinking back to...
to all the memories
I had as a child...
thinking about all
the other families
falling apart...
I don't think a child
should ever have to go through
what I went through.
You had the Stanfields, who
ran this entire area out here.
They always used my house
as, like, the stash house.
So we'd be in there
sleeping with guns.
Every guy in that house,
every guy in that organization
was a pedophile.
None of them could keep
their hands to themselves,
and I'd get in trouble,
because I would open up
one of their packs, and...
they always had liquor
and different stuff.
So I would pour... like,
take a bunch of heroin
and pour it in a cup
and pour alcohol in it,
and I'd sit there and think,
"If I drink this,
how fast would I die?"
And I used to play
with the guns.
I'd pick it up,
look at it and figure...
I used to always sit there
and think,
"This is gonna make a mess.
"How are they gonna find me?
I'm not even gonna die.
And I'm gonna still
be right back here."
And, um... and I was...
you know, 15 years old.
- So, if you had a chance
to play football
against the police,
what would you do?
- Well, play... play my heart out
against the police.
- I'm saying...
- Against the police?
Yeah, I would definitely catch
a few "unnecessary
roughness"-es.
15-yard penalties.
I would definitely catch a few.
- So they know the deal.
- The only time we see
the police officers
is when they're pointing guns
at me and calling me
a dickhead or an asshole
or some shit like that...
shooting some unarmed dude.
How can I treat you
like a person
when you never act like one,
and how do I get you
to do that in a neighborhood
you don't live in?
What better do you know
to do that than football?
- Oh, I know I should have
brought my cleats today.
- On one side, you had people
and kids from out
in the community...
you know, the "normals."
Then you have gang members
and whoever else,
and they're all
playing together
on the same team
against the police.
- You have a good game today?
- What's up, man?
Hold up, fellas!
Come here, come here, for real!
Last time, I swear.
Come here.
The gentleman standing
behind me...
- It's all good.
- Lieutenant Colonel...
They ain't all bad.
Please remember that
when we get all this
incidental contact.
- Set. Hit!
- You got Bloods and Crips,
don't fucking like each other,
on one fucking team.
Motherfuckers was fighting
and shit in the alleyways,
like, a week ago.
- Maybe about ten
of those guys,
I see on a daily basis,
and sometimes it's not
in a positive light.
So, to do something like this,
it really changes
the relationship.
- This is what the truce
looks like.
This is every set
in the city right now...
fittin' to play a game
against the last people
we want to be playing with.
- All we asking...
for 'em to be...
more considerate.
We are human beings, too,
you feel what I'm saying?
They bleed just like us.
They live just like us.
- I'm looking around,
see all these police out here.
Why they couldn't leave their
guns and handcuffs in the car?
We out here playing football.
I still feel nervous,
man, like...
- Whether the city is here
in the stands today or not,
it doesn't matter...
the city is watching us.
Yeah.
- The city is watching
the police, as they should be.
But if we can't do this,
who's gonna do it?
- Nobody.
- Nobody's gonna do it.
- One, two, three!
- Family!
- Let's play ball, guys.
Let's play ball.
- All right!
- Hey, it's flag football.
Calm down a little bit,
all right?
- Look at this.
Look at this.
That is a bad play.
Bad play.
- Let's go, let's go, 17!
- Let's go 17!
- Go, baby!
- He can throw.
He's gonna beat you if you don't
jam him at the line!
- Ah, he's going deep,
he's going deep!
- He ain't putting
no hands on him, man.
- He let him get past him.
- It's all right.
- If we lose, everybody
on foot for a week.
I'm serious.
Straight up.
- All right, where's the ball?
- I'm serious.
We got females on the field.
I'm gonna say it out loud...
let the flag be
be the only thing you grab.
That's right.
- First of all,
we wouldn't have even won
if it wasn't for y'all,
so round of applause
for my youngsters.
All right?
- Whoo!
- Come on,
let's get group pictures!
Okay, my front row right here,
take a knee like you...
you know, football pose.
When I say "one city,"
you say "one purpose"!
- One city!
- One purpose!
I love that.
- Deuces!
- I don't understand
why you just won't...
Can you take a plea deal?
- Do you think
I did something wrong?
- Yes.
You had a blow horn
at the courthouse.
- You know, I think
that I was targeted.
- You were.
- With the megaphone
out front of the courthouse...
- When did that become
against the law?
- It's a nuisance... they're
conducting business inside.
- I had the bullhorn out there
for three days.
- Okay, and after a while,
they got tired of it.
- Y'all haven't accepted me
for being me.
- We want you to look
at the long term.
What happens when...
- I don't think
about long term.
You know, I don't really,
like...
have a longing
for, like, material possessions.
- Okay.
- I'm content.
- You're homeless.
- What?
- You're homeless.
- I am not.
- You are.
- I'm not looking for a home.
- You're broke.
- Yes, you have no money.
You're broke.
- Give me a loan.
- No, the goal is
to make the bird fly.
- I'm looking
for somebody to love me.
- We love you, but you can't
stay in my basement.
- No, love me the way
I'm looking for.
These are my parents.
Who try to teach you
responsibility.
- It's reality, baby.
- I don't want responsibility.
- Exactly.
- In Baltimore,
residents and officials
are anxiously awaiting
a verdict
in the first trial
in the death of Freddie Gray.
And the head of the city's
public schools
has issued a letter
to the community
warning students that walkouts
and any form of violence
are not acceptable.
- So today we received
a letter from Dr. Thornton,
the CEO of the Baltimore City
Public School system,
regarding the upcoming verdict.
"While we appreciate
the school board's effort
to keep..."
- "Students safe."
- Students safe.
- You should say,
"The school board's
newfound effort."
That's shady, that's shady.
- Oh!
- So what action
are you all planning?
- We're planning
an emergency student walkout.
If the verdict comes
during the school day.
- So you all are planning
a walkout...
with the letter in mind...
that said that consequences
will occur
as a result of a walkout?
- Yep.
- We can't afford
another arrest.
- They can't make arrests
until they give three warnings.
- They can shoot you
and kill you
without giving you a warning,
so why do you trust
that they are going
to give you three warnings?
And once again,
here we are, not doing
what you're supposed
to be doing
because everything
is so much more important
than Makayla.
- Do you want me to ask them
to leave now?
- I'm talking about you.
At what point
are we going to start
what we planned to do today?
- When we finish this.
- When is that?
- I don't... Mom, I don't...
I just said I don't know.
- And when is the deadline?
- I sent you all the deadlines.
They're not until January.
- Everybody in there
have applied for college.
- Okay.
- Right?
- Yep.
- Okay.
"Yep."
"Yep, yep."
Okay.
- So the idea is this...
when the riots happened,
it turned into a free-for-all.
And... every
major media outlet possible
had a field day with it.
Of course, they're doing
their job, but...
now that they've gotten
to tell their story,
now we get to let the bastard
stepchild of America...
which is Baltimore City...
tell its story.
We do not want to be known
as savages.
We do not want to be known
as animals.
We want to be known
as a community
in which we just live
in the community.
My proposal is
a nondenominational thing,
and excuse my hands
being held behind my back,
but I am extremely nervous,
'cause I've never
actually done this.
So...
- You're doing a good job.
You can step forward
if you like, brother.
- He needs a hug.
- Yeah.
- All right.
What I have planned
is to have the various
elements of society...
police, gang members, clergy,
Muslims, whoever...
pray for our city...
Together,
regardless of the verdict.
- I'll disclose this...
we'll probably have,
like, an hour notice.
- Mm-hmm.
- Advanced.
- Advanced notice.
That's a real small window.
As soon as I get notice...
I'm hitting my man.
- So you're saying
we would be on the ground...
- Yes.
- As the verdict is being
disclosed.
- As the verdict is being read.
- Ideally, before it comes out,
we're already out...
- I got you.
- 'Cause we know it's coming.
- Right.
- I would just like to say
it's humbling,
it's encouraging,
and I will be there
whenever you guys say
we need to move.
- There were
some eyebrows raised
across the city
when word got out
and some pictures surfaced
of outside police
law enforcement agencies
assembling riot gear
and things of that sort
at Druid Hill Park
here in Baltimore.
- You think they really
gonna turn up if he get off?
Like, the whole city...
you think it's gonna be
like how it was last time...
if he get off?
- I think it's gonna
be protest, yeah,
but I don't think people
gonna burn shit down.
- To be honest, I hope it's not
another riot,
for real, like...
I don't know, yo.
- You know when
the verdict coming?
The verdict.
You know when it's coming?
I don't know.
- No justice!
- No peace!
- No racist...
- Police!
- No justice!
- No peace!
- No racist...
- Police!
- Indict, convict!
Send these killer cops to jail!
The whole damn system
is guilty as hell!
- We have just confirmed
that a mistrial
has been declared
in the case of Freddie Gray...
the case against William Porter,
police officer...
one of several police officers
accused of killing Freddie Gray.
- Your reaction now
to the judge's declaration
of a mistrial.
- I mean, a mistrial, in short,
is a miscarriage of justice.
- We need justice now,
not tomorrow.
So we got to go through this
five more times?
- This is exact...
this is the system working.
It's not supposed to convict
one of its own.
- The evidence was there.
What more do you need to know?
A man was killed
in police custody.
- So what happens now?
- We shut the city down.
We continue to march
and demand for justice.
We continue to make
our voices heard,
and we continue
to let the world know
that Baltimore will be
the place where justice
is served for the lives
of black people
who were killed
in the presence of police.
- I do think, ultimately,
we have to focus
on how to get the structural
changes necessary,
so that way we can prevent
these types of trials
from having to happen
in the first place.
- Let's move away from them.
I think they're following me.
- You are impeding...
- We do not have to disperse!
- The flow of traffic...
- This is public property!
Thugs with badges
is all y'all are!
There are no riots.
We have not been violent.
We are being peaceful.
When did this become unlawful?
- Come here, sir.
- What the...
- Come here, come here.
Come here.
Put your hands
behind your back.
- What did I do?
- He didn't do anything!
- So, Kwame, what happened?
- Excuse me.
- Sir, why did they arrest you?
- I don't know.
- Step back!
Step back, step back,
step back.
- Get out the way!
Move!
Free Kwame Rose!
Free Kwame Rose!
Free Kwame Rose!
Free Kwame Rose!
Free Kwame Rose!
- Impeding the flow
of vehicular
and pedestrian traffic.
- Fuck all y'all!
- No, Mom, I'm protecting
my colleagues
that are protesting.
I'm not protesting.
Yes, Mom.
I'm fine.
I'm not gonna get arrested.
- All right.
- I was standing over here,
and all of the sudden,
you see a swarm
of the sheriff's deputies,
and then they arrested him
in here.
That's why they're
standing out here.
I'm gonna try to get
this gentleman's name, though,
'cause...
he threatened me, so...
What's your name?
Could I have your name, please?
What is your name?
You have to give me your name.
You're a public servant.
What is your name?
Who is your ranking officer?
Who's, like, the sergeant?
Who's the lieutenant?
Who's here?
You don't know
who you fucking with.
What's up, yo?
You all right?
- Mm-hmm.
You know Kwame
got arrested, right?
- Jason, are you still
representing Kwame?
He just got arrested,
which is why I'm calling you.
I wish I was kidding.
- It's bad...
- Well...
- 'Cause he was on probation.
- And we are from one city
with what?
One purpose!
- One city...
- One purpose!
- One city!
- One purpose!
- Again, who knows
the serenity prayer?
- I do!
I do!
- That is the prayer we chose.
However, if you have
a private prayer
that you would like to say
or you just so happen
to be Muslim
and you want to make Salaat
or you just so happen
to be Jewish and you want to...
You know what I mean?
However that works.
We got more people...
excuse me...
on the news, saying that
the tensions are high.
Does anybody here feel tense?
- No!
- No!
- Are we sure?
- Yes!
- We're not gonna go looting,
like, tomorrow
'cause of whatever, right?
No!
- Y'all hear me?
- Yes!
- Loud, come on!
- Yeah!
- God...
Grant me the serenity
to accept the things
I cannot change,
the courage to change
the things that I can,
and the wisdom to know
the difference.
- Louder!
God, grant me the serenity...
- Hallelujah!
- Thank You, Lord Jesus, God...
- Yes, God.
Yes, God!
Hallelujah!
- We're gonna let the devil
know that we... Guess what.
We're gonna take
our streets back!
- Amen?
- Amen!
- Amen. And unity?
We're gonna have unity
in Baltimore City. Amen?
- We pray right now
in the name of Jesus,
oh, God, that You
bring peace and love,
oh, God, and kindness, oh, God,
in the name of Jesus.
- Lord God, go beyond
race and politics, oh, God.
Lord God, we pray and ask
that You would go
into the hearts of people,
oh, God,
Lord God, and get at
the root of it, Lord God,
the sin, Lord God.
- What God does
is indescribable.
There's not a drug on Earth
that can get you higher
than Jesus.
All-powerful,
untamable
Awestruck, we fall
to our knees
- Clergy, city leaders,
and police officers stood
shoulder to shoulder
with neighbors at Penn
and North Tuesday night,
just steps from the CVS store
that was looted and burned
during the unrest in April.
They're linked
by a shared disappointment
over what happened and a hope
that it won't happen again.
- You a activist, this
is where you need to be at.
This is real activism
right here.
You know, it ain't just
about going out
and marching every day.
- Oh, yeah!
- Freedom!
- Freedom!
- Racist-ass cops!
- We don't need 'em!
- Are y'all serious?
Y'all let this man walk
into court with no shackles
on him?
But when we get locked up,
y'all beat us up,
tighten the cuffs
off our wrists.
Do you know how
that shit feels?
That is not a pretty...
it ain't nothing...
nothing... this city
doesn't have nothing.
We don't have nothing to do.
I'm 17, smoking cigarettes.
Why? Because I'm stressed every
day that I'm going to die.
It's either I'm scared that
I'm gonna die by a stray bullet
or a cop-killer like Porter.
- Tell me what democracy
looks like!
This is what
democracy looks like!
- Tell me what
democracy looks like!
This is what
democracy looks like!
- Tell me what
democracy looks like!
This is what
democracy looks like!
- I generally get frustrated
with the way that people get
sucked into the theater
of the actual trial.
The trial kind of represents
the little bit of justice
that people want.
It's really the least amount
of justice
that one could ask for.
But the biggest deterrent
to abuse is power, you know?
If an officer knows that
they will get sent to jail
or have some severe
consequences,
or if the department
knows that,
they're gonna behave
differently.
Unfortunately,
people miss the point
of the importance of studying
our condition, our people...
that the purpose is to take
what our folks have discovered
and learned about ourselves
and our condition
and take it a step further.
Leaders
of a Beautiful Struggle...
we call it LBS for short...
was founded in 2010.
Many of us are former
high-school
and college policy debaters.
So we wanted
to form an organization
that was the public policy
arm of the community.
- The strength and power
of the organizing work
that we do is that we're always
thinking about the future
and passing it on
to young folks.
So people like Kwame
and Makayla are emboldened
to achieve what
they can achieve
and to do what they do
because we decided
to pass that kind of knowledge
and passion on to them.
And so it's our view that
that's what we need to do
to empower black people
in this city...
to pass on knowledge,
wisdom, and skills
that can take them
into the future.
- So what we're trying to do
is reform what's called
the "Law Enforcement Officer
Bill of Rights,"
and that was codified
back in 1974.
Basically, what it does is that
it gives police officers
in Maryland protections
above and beyond
their constitutional rights.
Give you a couple of examples.
So let's say a police officer
has been alleged
to have engaged
in excessive force...
so they fatally
beat somebody up.
There's a trial board
that determines
whether they get fired or not,
whether they get suspended.
That trial board is made up
of other police officers.
Right?
So one of the elements
we would try to change is to
make it so that
a non-police officer
is on that trial board.
If someone's investigating
that incident,
only sworn law enforcement
can interrogate
that police officer.
Our opposition is the FOP...
the Fraternal Order of Police...
the union that represents
and supports the police.
And to the FOP,
all these amendments
are nonstarters.
- How do you feel
about the climate
of Baltimore right now?
- I feel like everybody's
holding their breath
and has been
since the trial started.
It didn't end in a cathartic
moment that we needed.
A mistrial... we don't know
what to do
with that, emotionally.
Can I read you my essay now?
Does that work?
- Yeah, you can read
while I'm decorating.
So the question is,
"Discuss an accomplishment
"or event, formal or informal,
that marked your transition
"from childhood to adulthood
within your culture,
community, or family."
"With each of my first breaths
on this Earth,
"I was deluded of my innocence
"and the purity
of my childhood.
"Even despite my mother's
strenuous effort
"to protect my sisters and me
"from the cruelty around us...
"despite the strength
and resilience
"that we inherited from her,
despite the beautiful
memories"...
- Okay, wait, wait, wait.
This essay sounds like
you were...
- Can I just get through the...
You didn't even listen
to the rest of the essay.
- Can I finish speaking?
- Oh, my God.
- It sounds like you were...
you have been fighting
all your life...
- Mom.
- Makayla, it sounds like
you have been fighting
all your life,
like you were born
into this struggle,
and you didn't have
a childhood...
- Can you listen
to the sentence?
- No, you had... you had
a very, very good childhood.
- Mom, you didn't listen
to the rest of the sentence.
- You were sheltered... okay.
- "Despite her success
in creating a facade of safety
for us"...
- "Facade of safety"?
Really? "Facade of safety"?
- Yes, Mom...
- Well, okay,
you're talking... okay.
- Can you let me finish
the sentence?
- Go ahead.
- Oh, my God.
"Despite the strength
and resilience
"that we inherited from her,
despite the beautiful
"memories she crafted for us,
"there remain
the unflinching reminders
of our bodies' fungibility."
- It's a very well written
essay.
- But...
- It sounds like you were born
into this struggle,
you didn't have
a good childhood,
you didn't live.
I don't like the tone of it,
because it just doesn't...
it's not... it's not
your reality.
And I think...
I mean, you and I...
this has not been
a good year for us at all.
You can roll your eyes
all you want.
- I didn't roll my eyes.
- It has not been
a good year for us at all,
'cause I grow increasingly
more frustrated
with you, and you grow
just as frustrated with me.
- I think there are ways
that protest can become
counterproductive
when there are not
specific policy items
that are at play.
And it's really important that,
if that's the case,
that people are being conscious
about the time and energy
and cost.
- So we're gonna take...
I think it's about
15 neighborhoods.
- In my opinion,
it would be smarter
just to have everybody down
in, like, the Inner Harbor.
- They will lock up people
who are disrupting
white folks'
commercial activity...
especially on New Year's Eve.
- The police ain't gonna...
the police ain't
just gonna attack people
on New Year's Eve.
- You don't think the police
are going to attack people.
Stop there.
- That's not what I meant.
So if they see positive...
- And you're giving
them more reason...
- No, but if they see
positive people,
then they're gonna stand up.
- "Positive"?
- What's positive?
Black Lives Matter
isn't positive.
Marching with your fist
isn't positive to them.
- It is positive to me.
- To them, it's not positive.
- But the young people...
- So Kwame is on his
Part II'"...
- No, no, I don't want...
I'm talking about
going in more like,
"Yo, like, come, like,
do this with us."
- My thing is the police
are already tripping,
so if you go down there
on some Black Lives Matter...
you know, whatever, whatever,
you're marching
in the streets... they're gonna
be doubly tripping,
and whoever else is caught
in the crossfire, if they...
if they, like, halfway...
"Hell, yeah,
Black Lives Matter,"
and, like, throw some shit
at the police,
then you're
responsible for them.
And then you got to worry
about their safety...
- And then they say
it incited a riot.
- I ain't getting arrested.
- If you're marching,
you're getting arrested.
- I don't think you realize
that you got arrested
for telling people
to stay on the sidewalk.
I'm just saying...
you're gonna be responsible
for that whole thing.
- Next.
- Look it... God, okay.
- Next.
- Next!
- So back to what
we were doing previously.
- So also, like, I'm saying
when the ball drops,
we want to have, like,
three to four people
actually down there,
throwing the leaflets up.
- And then the pamphlets
will simultaneously
being released in Harbor East,
in Fell's Point, Let cetera.
- Right.
- If you're gonna do it, do it,
but don't worry about our people
seeing the shit.
You need to hit the core,
where all the white people
gonna be at.
- We're not doing anything
that is hurting us
by attempting
to educate our own people.
- I was just saying that it was
a waste of time.
A lot of people
in the community,
they're not gonna give a fuck.
As soon as they hear
"Black Lives Matter,"
they're not gonna care.
All these different movements,
and Gilmor is still fucked up.
They don't care about
none of that Black Lives Matter
or none of that.
People have to believe,
and the thing is,
nobody in Baltimore believes.
- So tonight our crew
is going around the city
setting up, like, hood vigils
in predominantly white areas.
I have at least some idea
what it means
when we say
"black lives matter"
because I know
what black death feels like.
Like, I had a bracket
of, like, six months
where it was like every day,
I was trying to figure out
a different way to kill myself.
At the time, when, like,
my anxiety and depression
started to, like,
manifest itself,
I wasn't an organizer,
I was just an advocate,
not even an activist.
I started to feel like,
"Well, maybe I'm not worth it.
What change
can I really make?"
And so...
I sat in a room,
and I was crying hysterically,
and I had all of these pills,
which I had been
carrying around with me
for a few weeks by then.
I knew that it wasn't
going to be an immediate death
by any means, but it's like,
"As long as I die,
"because I can't do anything
with this life
that I've been given."
I now know my importance,
and I now know my worth.
And so, like, that's why
this movement has taken on
so much more meaning for me.
- Happy, happy New Year!
[]
- Here.
Can you pass this down
to my friend?
Thank you.
People are like, "Ooh,
ah, fuck black lives,
there are fireworks."
- Take that down.
- What law is it against?
- I'm just telling you,
you have to take it down.
- No, no, you can't...
you can't, like, take shit.
- If you don't calm down,
you can be locked up
for disorderly conduct.
- They told us to take
the banner down.
- Is that not disorderly
conduct... you taking my shit?
Give me the law
that I'm breaking
by holding a banner.
- Okay.
I don't have an answer,
but you can't put that up there.
I will have an answer for you.
- Okay, y'all have a nice day.
- Started from the bottom,
now we here.
Baltimore, what's up?
- I'm not a organizer.
I wasn't a protestor
before any of this happened.
I'm learning as I go.
So, you know,
I went from making
minimum $50,000, $60,000 a year
to, like, now being dead broke.
And I'm still out here
trying to front,
to be the face of the people,
like, "No, I'm good.
I'm all good."
And, yo... and people
on the street, yo,
it ain't no people
out there willing
to get... I done
been arrested twice,
and that's more times...
- All right.
So, at the end of the day, yo,
everybody know
what Kwame stand for,
so why get locked up anymore,
if people
not gonna ride with you?
- But this last time, though...
- Let me tell you something.
- I didn't do nothing.
- Let me tell you something,
as a mother... and-and
'cause I'm his mother.
My concern for you is
that you're 21.
You got a whole lot
of living to do.
- Right.
- Whoever you praise...
God be willing.
You got a whole lot to live.
Don't ruin your future
with that bullshit,
keep getting locked up.
I know what
you're trying to do,
but I want you to be smart.
Not just for Baltimore,
but for Kwame.
- In the last few
hours of 2015,
Baltimore's homicide rate
climbed to 344.
- Baltimore's murder rate
is the highest
per capita
in the city's history,
and the past few days have
been very bloody.
- So we got another shooting
we're working on the east side.
You know, for the third time
in my career,
I find myself leading
a police department
through a crisis.
It's a crisis of unrest
and community trust
and violence.
- How far is the scene?
- Right where the squad car is.
- All right, I'll go around.
- Hey, Sarge.
- Okay, I'll walk...
I'll drive around, then.
- Be careful.
All right.
- Be careful of what?
We're the police.
- The unfettered access
to guns in America
is one of the curses
of this country.
This country was
a much different place
when the Second Amendment
was introduced.
- Blood trail goes down
the street.
The victim was found facedown.
Looks like he was shot
in the back and the head.
No cameras... that work.
At the end of the day,
it's someone's son,
someone's daughter,
someone's mother,
brother, sister
who's been killed,
so this ripple goes out,
and then if we make an arrest,
that suspect...
his family's affected by it.
People who live
in the neighborhood
are affected by it,
obviously, so...
it's just
that never-ending cycle that...
I don't know what you do,
but something's got to be done.
- Here, let me do this.
We're numbered.
- This must be that graze wound
they were talking about,
- On the arm?
- On the arm.
- Well, we have so many
murders from last year.
It's just been a nightmare
dealing with it all.
So you're basically
sitting here,
waiting for the body to drop.
- Well, a second trial
in the death of Freddie Gray
is set to begin this week.
Edward Nero,
unlike Officer William Porter,
is charged with misdemeanors.
- There's also a new push
for more police accountability
in Maryland.
- Yeah, the police
accountability bill is making
its way through both chambers
in the Capitol.
- There are some elements
in that police
accountability bill
that both sides have agreed on,
but there's been no agreement
on that civilian
to trial board proposal.
- When we first started
our work
around the Law Enforcement
Officers' Bill of Rights,
one of the central parts of it
that we felt was most
important to change
is civilian participation
on the trial boards.
These are the boards
that determine discipline
for police officers accused
of wrongdoing,
because before that,
it was exclusively
law enforcement that served
on those boards.
I think our success is that
we've been able
to drive the conversation
so that this issue
of civilians on the trial board
became such a central issue.
- We would not be here today
if it were not
for the brothers and sisters
in Baltimore
who rose up in
an insurrectionary mode
to challenge
the police department there.
That uprising is what finally
got them to consider
that maybe we should do
some legislative initiatives.
- I got to disagree
with the transparency point.
I mean, I don't think
that giving
a law enforcement officer
ten days
to get their story together,
to gather information,
to gather facts is transparent.
- If he was committed...
if he committed a crime,
he could sit back and say,
"I'm not saying anything."
- But the officer
has the same right
because he has
a Fifth Amendment right,
and if he says no,
he then can say,
"Hey, I want a lawyer,"
just like this citizen.
But the difference is,
this citizen is not going
to walk out...
If you think
you have probable cause,
he's not gonna walk out
this police station.
The officer is.
- Yeah, well, you...
- That's the difference.
- Now, the thing about it is,
that's an extremely
broad stroke again,
because you're talking
about all cases
where an officer may have
been accused of something.
- So we... I'm a retired
homicide detective.
- Yeah... right, yeah, yeah.
- You can't run games
around me.
- Law Enforcement Officers'
Bill of Rights, in this state,
protects officers
when they fail to protect us,
creating barriers to gaining
access to information,
prohibiting interrogation.
Even if somebody's blood
has been painted
on the pavement,
the officer caught red-handed
cannot be demanded
to make a statement
for ten whole days.
God created the heavens
and the Earth in less.
- There is no problem
that the LEOBR works,
has worked, continues to work.
Uh, and...
we feel remiss
to be here today.
- I was a bit taken aback
by your initial comment.
I don't know what
the problem is, exactly,
but it's very clear, I think,
to virtually everybody,
there is a problem.
- I've heard very clearly
from my constituents.
They feel that officers
are playing
by a different set of rules.
- We know that
we can't honestly
have community policing
if we don't have
community members
have-have an ability
to be engaged
in the process at every level.
- You know, I think
a lot of the conversation
has been around
community-police relations.
And I think this framework
is a problematic framework
in thinking about
what the issue is,
because we're not talking about
community-police relations.
We're talking about the ability
for civilians to-to work
collaboratively,
on an equal playing field,
in the industry
of law enforcement.
And citizens have a right
to be able to have
substantive say
in the nature of how
law enforcement's administered
in their communities.
- We don't need that.
- We're opposed to citizens
judging police officers
in ba... on a basis
of misconduct.
Understanding the law
is not the issue.
It's understanding the job.
- What happened, cuzzo?
- Uh, a car had, um...
a car sped the van,
a nigga jumped out, shot it up.
- Melvin Russell is the first
and only cop
I have ever trusted.
He asked me if
I could do anything
to help him
with the murder rate.
I'm like, "I can't do the
police's job for them,
"but what I can do is keep
"the people who
haven't done anything
out of the line of fire."
- Okay, got it.
Belmont and Bloomingdale.
- All right.
- You know, that crew?
Here, take it with you.
Just don't let anybody...
Just put it in your pocket.
- Uh-huh.
- Hey, cuzzo!
If I can get the police
to lay off of my boys...
all of them... and get
these dudes to, um...
put their guns down.
The murder rate goes down,
more jobs are created.
A lot of things happen.
- So good afternoon, family.
Let me just say this:
I am very excited about
this component
of what we do in the Community
Collaboration Division, right?
And that is being the bridge
between the ex-offender
and the jobs
that are out there.
And so our next stop is
in West Baltimore,
and we're gonna set up shop
in that Sandtown-Winchester,
Gilmor community.
- One city.
- One purpose.
- One city!
- One purpose!
One purpose.
We're starting a job program
around the neighborhood
for convicted felons,
at-risk youth, gang-affiliated,
just got out of jail...
all of that.
- Okay.
- We're trying to plug
dudes back in,
but whoever you see
in the program
that's interested in going...
remember, felons...
mostly the felons, people
trying to get some work...
- Oh, you know I got
five of those.
- Yeah, so you know
who I'm talking about.
Contrary to popular belief,
man, like,
I get off of work at 4:00.
Me and the brother be out
doing this
till, like, 11:30, 12:00
at night sometimes,
on a daily basis.
- We do this on the daily!
- A lot of people
think this is my actual job,
so...
- This is not a game.
This is not for anybody
trying to try another system
and still have one foot
out there and one foot in here.
This is for those
that are serious.
- You're going to be trained
at something
that most people have to
go to school
five and six years for,
'cause nobody... outside of us...
believes in us.
- Decisive "not guilty" verdict
in the high-profile trial
of Officer Edward Nero.
Tonight, Officer Nero is
a free man,
after a judge cleared him
of all charges
in the arrest
and subsequent death
of Freddie Gray.
- The judge wouldn't even
convict him
on misdemeanor charges.
And I felt as though
he's not gonna convict them
anyway,
because he's one of them.
- There are
a lot of people here
on the streets
that are quite upset
with this acquittal...
quite upset that, as of now,
nobody has been punished
for the death of Freddie Gray.
- Motherfuckers want to gather
around here because
a man was found
not guilty, man.
Get the fuck out of here, man.
- There's a whole city
full of fucking shit
going on right now,
and y'all on this corner?
- Right!
- Somebody getting killed,
ran the fuck over...
that's where the news at.
Ain't shit happening over here.
There's nothing happening here.
As long as y'all here
in this capacity,
you are bringing
the wrong kind of attention.
That's my job.
You're welcome.
- I'm showing you
that it's not over.
It's a simple...
No justice, no peace!
Jail killer police!
No justice, no peace!
- Whose streets?
- Our streets!
- Whose city?
- Our city!
- Whose city?
- Our city!
- Whose streets?
- Our streets!
- The protest makes an impact
in the community,
but there are no... I feel like
there's no concrete strategy
attached to it.
Like, the visual is there.
People are being engaged
in a political process,
but that political process
isn't being used
to anything greater than
just this:
People standing on a corner.
- Like, this type of
environment is what, like...
like, it lets a lot of people
know that that's not right,
'cause people are just numb
to it, so they don't...
- No, it does something.
I'm just saying
it's not
the most productive option.
This protest is gonna happen,
it's gonna disperse,
and that's gonna be it.
The work is so hard
because a lot of people expect
all of these organizers to
be the heroes and the leaders
who are going to lead us
out of this, right?
And it's like, we need to
be shutting that narrative down
as well, because it's like...
that whole leadership complex
is both really troubling
for the person who is told
that they need to
be the leader, but it's also
troubling for the community,
because it places
all of the responsibility
on one person,
when it needs to be
the collective effort.
Activism, as a young person,
has just been so draining
for me.
Um... and so, just, like,
my whole being needs healing
and I just need
a break, really.
- What's the format
of the meeting?
Are we eating and then talking?
- Something like that.
- Come and eat.
- So, Makayla,
you called the family meeting.
- Mm-hmm.
- Do tell.
- Okay, so, like,
I've been thinking
that I want to take a gap year
after I graduate.
Period.
- No.
- No.
Well, that's the end
of the meeting.
- You have been so busy
that you can't even
get it together.
I think what our concern is,
one gap year may end up
being ten gap years.
- I-I feel a bit conflicted,
because it's not what
I had planned for you.
- Mm-hmm.
- But more importantly,
it's not what I thought
you had planned for you.
- Right.
- The gap year...
can be productive, or it can
be destructive,
depending on how
you utilize your time,
because if you're going
to utilize your time
doing everything
for everybody but Makayla...
- But, like, I'm going to make
my checkpoints known
to the people in this room,
and so,
a part of this meeting
is, like...
me asking that you all
serve as, like,
the people who will hold me
accountable to that.
- If you feel honest
within yourself
that you're taking
this year off to actually
do stuff to get better
within yourself...
- Mm-hmm.
- Then I'm all for it.
- 'Cause you're gonna do
what you want to do anyway,
so, God bless you.
I knew you had skills
when you called the police
on your mother.
- Let's see... she was about
two or three.
I went downstairs,
and she was upstairs,
watching television,
and the phone rang,
and I answered it.
And I said, "Hello?"
And they said,
"Did someone call 911?"
I said no.
So I went upstairs,
and I said,
"Did you use the phone?"
She said, "Yes, ma'am."
I said, "Who did you call?"
She said, "You said
if someone hurt me,
to call 911"...
She said...
she said, "You hurt me when
you were combing my hair"...
"So I called 911."
Three years old,
I should have known
there would be hell to pay,
raising this girl.
- Look, justice is justice.
- No justice, no peace.
"So I called 911."
- It's weird... you know,
this is my first trial.
Wish that, uh...
my family was, like,
more supportive.
So I contacted the ACLU,
'cause I didn't have the money
to pay for my own
private attorney this time.
Not a good judge to go for...
Which is why I, like,
started freaking out,
came outside to smoke
a cigarette.
The entire time
we had this trial,
no group paid my bills.
No group paid my bail funds.
No group helped me out...
no activist group.
All right, wish me luck.
- Good luck, brother.
- So, you guys have heard, uh,
the-the verdict.
The judge found our client,
Mr. Rosebrough,
not guilty of three counts
and guilty of one count.
We totally disagree
with the court's decision
that he is guilty of anything.
- Well, the trial
for one of the six officers
involved in the arrest
of Freddie Gray
starts today in Baltimore.
- Officer Caesar Goodson faces
second-degree
depraved-heart murder charges
and several others.
- It's hard to feel like
a woman in this, um...
in this job sometimes.
Especially trying
to be beautiful at all.
You try to take your emotions
out of a case,
but it's impossible.
I'm always nervous
going into a trial.
Um... testimony is one of
the most stressful times
in your career,
because everything,
at that point, falls on you.
I don't want you
to be worried about what...
what other people
are gonna say,
what other people are
gonna think, you know...
I'm gonna be your mom forever,
and what people out there think
doesn't even matter.
- Okay.
- Muah.
Bye.
Just feeling anxious about...
about going in there,
and it's such a huge moment
for-for everyone.
You know,
I've gotten death threats,
and... people threatening
to hurt my kids.
As the lead detective
in the case,
my job was to go
back over everything,
as a homicide investigator,
with a fine-tooth comb.
And I guess that's why
I felt so gut-wrenchingly,
you know, torn
when the charges were brought,
because I know
every detail of the case.
It was a freak accident.
I've been trying to pull up
on my phone...
I can't get...
the thing is not coming up.
- ...30 juveniles
along Pratt Street,
towards the subway.
- Not guilty!
Not guilty!
- Oh, God... God, I've missed it.
Oh, damn it.
Damn it... oh, my...
I'll be on it.
- Not guilty on all.
- Oh!
- ...arrest and death
of Freddie Gray.
- We continue
to follow breaking news
of the trial
of Officer Caesar Goodson,
where he was just acquitted
on seven charges.
- Yes!
- He was one of six officers
charged in connection
with the arrest
and death of Freddie Gray.
- Thank God.
- He has been found not guilty
on all charges.
It's the signal up here,
'cause mine's not working
right now.
The one in the...
- Could people have been more
vigilant in the transport
and everything?
Definitely.
Could people have been
paying more attention?
Definitely.
But as far as...
across the country,
police brutality
and stuff...
this wasn't the case.
- Just look at
all of this bullshit.
In fact...
This is bullshit.
- The judge...
- Come on!
- Who is within his right,
has made it clear
that he doesn't agree
with the state's theory
of the case
and does not believe
that any of the actions
or inactions of these officers
rise to the level
of criminality.
We do not believe that
Freddie Gray killed himself.
However,
after much thought and prayer,
it has become clear
to me that, without being able
to work with an independent
investigatory agency
from the very start,
without real substantive
reforms to the current
criminal justice system,
we could try this case
100 times...
and cases just like it...
and we would still
end up with the same result.
- Yes, Marilyn!
- Accordingly,
I have decided not to proceed
on the cases
against Officer Garrett,
Sergeant Alisha White,
or to re-litigate the case
against William Porter.
- We have no business
in this place.
It's time to leave.
It is time to leave and take
all of our beautiful creations
with us.
It is time to sue
these motherfuckers
for the appropriation
of everything cool,
from fucking cornrows
to rap music... fuck it,
every form of popular music
on planet Earth
was built by us,
so sue they ass for it,
get the money,
and get the fuck out of here.
Take the light bulbs with you,
'cause we...
you know, we did that too.
And the traffic light,
we did that too.
And peanut butter, and rope.
This shit is either gonna turn
really, really, really,
really, really, really,
really, really bad
really fast...
or it's gonna be
hundreds of years
of the same and, either way,
I fucking refuse.
- The Justice
Department has released
a scathing report on the
Baltimore Police Department
which found
routine discrimination
towards African Americans,
rampant use
of excessive force...
all without
proper accountability
for misconduct.
- Representatives
from the Department of Justice
are here
and they are listening.
If you haven't read the report,
you must read the report.
Why?
Because I've read
a few of these, and this is
pretty much the worst
I've ever read.
- One gentleman,
who's over 50 years old,
African American, was stopped
more than 30 times
during the five-year period
that we looked at.
That makes us very concerned
that those stops were not
on the basis
of reasonable suspicion,
but instead were being done
under unconstitutional grounds.
We want the police and
the community to work together,
and we need to try and start
rebuilding that relationship.
- The last time I checked,
the DOJ is a part
of the system.
It's the DOJ, it's the FOP,
and it's our elected officials,
and we as citizens are
not there at the table
as that thing
is being negotiated.
- My suggestion for solutions
to the DOJ is that
none of these reforms
and band-aids that are gonna
happen should give more money
to the Baltimore City
Police Department.
- Let me say this:
I'm begging you
to work with this process.
This is the only one we got.
- We met with you, Congressman.
We told you what was going on
in this city.
People in this room should
be ashamed of yourself!
- 'Cause we're here tonight
giving y'all
our big, fat, "I told you so's."
So go back and hold all of
these entities accountable,
because you cannot do it
just with the police.
- The law enforcement,
police department...
we shoulder all
the woes of society.
So I think when
the rest of government
and the rest of society
realizes their role
in public safety...
that's where housing,
employment, education
comes into play...
'cause if folks are waiting
for the police departments
of America to do it,
they're gonna be out of luck.
- I'm encouraged.
I'm encouraged about Baltimore.
Um... there's been
a great awakening,
especially with
the DOJ coming in.
This will sound very odd,
but it almost took
this uprising
to wake us up.
- I won't say nothing
came out of this.
There's changes
in the police force.
New protocol was made
all because of the death
of Freddie.
So I don't think
his death was a waste.
I think Freddie was
more so a martyr.
- It's always hard
for me to say
that Freddie Gray
gave me a platform
to do anything.
- No justice, no peace!
- But also,
the Baltimore uprising
gave me space
to explore my politics,
and I think it did that
for a lot of people.
And I think it produced
a lot of healing.
- It's not about
what you do with your life,
but it's about
the legacy that you leave.
Freddie Gray was a dope boy.
He had lead paint poisoning.
But Freddie Gray
sparked a movement
and a radicalization,
and forced young people
into the streets.
So Freddie will always
be remembered
as somebody that sparked
an uprising
inside of our minds,
and I think that's
the most powerful thing
that we can do...
is keep fighting for that.
- We have seen and lost
young warriors
Never thought
that we'd be here
But I'm encouraged
by your strength and power
Yeah, you show up
and you still care
I'm amazed by
all your courage, I am
I feel your prayers
when I am floating away
Many communities have
come together with me
With only unity,
peace, and equality
- Many communities have
come together
Things aren't the same,
I've seen you cry
The sun will shine
in your eyes
I'm here to make things
better
I'm here to be your shelter
Many communities
who come...