Brooding Cynyc

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

CHURCH SHOOTING IN SOUTH CAROLINA: NEW DEBATE ON THE SAME OLD FLAG?

THE FLAG IS NOT THE ISSUE

IT’S A MATTER OF FREEDOM OF SPEECH

SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR NIKKI HALEY CALLS FOR REMOVAL

OF CONFEDERATE BATTLE FLAG FROM STATEHOUSE GROUNDS

TAGS: SC CHURCH SHOOTING, CHARLESTON SOUTH CAROLINA, SIGNS AND SYMBOLS

OF THE CONFEDERACY, THE CONFEDERATE STATES DURING THE CIVIL WAR,

WAR BETWEEN THE STATES, FREEDOM OF SPEECH, FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION,

CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED

(Wednesday June 24, 2015 Charleston, SC) As the families and friends of the victims of the fatal shooting of nine black parishioners at the Mother Emanuel AME Church here one week ago during a weekly Bible study meeting, their deaths have ignited a public/political debate focusing on what is being called the enduring symbol of institutionalized discrimination in the Deep South (and beyond), the Battle Flag of the Confederacy. Here in South Carolina the Confederate flag flies on the grounds of the State Capitol while in several other states such as Georgia and Mississippi, the “stars and bars” are incorporated into the state flag. Long considered an emblem of defiance and rebellion not only in the former Confederate states, the flag remains an issue of great sensitivity to many and in particular African Americans across the country. For those it is an insulting and offensive symbol of what they feel was the primary purpose of the “War Between The States”, keeping slavery legal in the South.

There is no small measure of irony in that a racist 22 year old’s individual psychotic hateful psyche led him to commit mass murder in a Black Church has resulted in prompting an Instamatic cultural and political debate over the Confederate flag. Dylann Roof, a lone disturbed, if not deranged young man accomplished in one bloody heinous act of violence what over 150 years of legislation, Supreme Court rulings, affirmative action, the Voter’s and Civil Rights Acts of the mid 1960’s, and a long list of other actions, initiatives, programs and policies intended to improve the lot for African Americans could not; the flag itself was being scrutinized not only for what it represents historically but also what it signifies today particularly among hate groups, white supremacists, and other marginalized violent movements.

Within hours of the deadly attack South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley announced that she would begin the effort to have the Confederate flag removed from the State House grounds but cautioned that the matter would have to be addressed by the South Carolina State Congress. Other states will face similar challenges in their own efforts to have the flag and other monuments, large and small honoring the Confederacy, removed from highly visible state government property. The arguments pro and con each have merit but the entire issue ultimately can be reduced to a matter of Freedom of Speech, one of our most cherished constitutionally guaranteed rights. The lower Courts and the Supreme Court over the years have protected what some group or another sees as heinous acts of expression invoking the Freedom of Speech as the shield providing such legal security.

In the week since the deadly shooting several of the largest retailers have announced they will no longer produce or carry in their stores items of all kinds that have the Confederate battle flag displayed. A discussion has begun in Washington, DC about the propriety of some of the statues and painting adorning the corridors in our nation’s Capital, federally controlled public parks and other historical Civil War sites. In states across the South buildings such as schools and local government seats of power that are named for noteworthy Confederate generals, early discussions to have them be renamed have begun. Essentially some seek to have all traces of the Civil War no matter their nature banished from public sight forever. Obviously this nascent discussion will open a virtual “Pandora’s Box” that will have each side of the argument deeply entrenched in their beliefs with little or no room for compromise.

We can readily concede that the Confederate flag is an offensive reminder of one of the most ignoble, infamous chapters of our Country’s history almost akin to the systematic genocide that basically eradicated the Native Americans who’d inhabited this land long before it was ever discovered by Europeans. An entire civilization, an enormous population was killed off under the guise of “Manifest Destiny”. That centuries spanning atrocity is the “original sin” of the United States. The practice of enslaving Africans to work the fields in the Deep South and, for a time, in factories in the North, has left the unhealed wound of a legacy the repercussions of which are in evidence today; institutional and societal shadows of racism regarding Black America are alive and well throughout all aspects of life today. The irony in this reality is that in this day of the second term of the first African American President racial discord and episodes of outright bigotry and racism have emerged with many of these instances brought to the fore in the media. For many in the Black communities from coast to coast the imagery depicting their plight has been a well-kept secret from the majority of Americans, namely, White Americans. The importance of these issues is certainly of greater significance than the question of the displaying of the Confederate flag. Banning the public display of the flag is but a cosmetic gesture of a reactionary moment. Flag or no flag African Americans still must confront overt and insidious forms of discrimination, racial profiling in some very limited aspects of law enforcement, and in White society at large.

The question that needs to be engaged by all Americans is the meaning of Freedom of Speech. The Supreme Court has upheld the legality of many open forms of public expression that many find deplorable, disgusting, unacceptable and unpatriotic. The burning of the American flag is a protected legal form of expression as are any number of signs, insignia, acts of civil disobedience, highly inflammatory rhetoric, and what some consider offensive behavior are just some of the acts of expression deemed to be covered by Freedom of Speech. The flying of the Confederate flag is no less a form of expression, an act of Freedom of Speech, than any of the other questionable yet legal practices so common in public throughout the USA.

People of good will can engage in debate, politicians will take whatever the path of least resistance provides them political expediency in this topic of the Confederate flag but such pandering or divisiveness has little bearing on the reality of life in America in 2015.

The last 12 months alone have been crudely punctuated by episodes of young Black unarmed men being killed by White LEO’s. While this is an entirely different discussion and one that the Brooding Cynyc has addressed here previously, the ease with which the wounds of racism have been once again been ripped open are tangible examples at how far the gulf between White America and Black America is in some jurisdictions.

An odd backdrop to race relations today is that Black Americans serve at the highest levels in government and the private sector. The “pop culture” of today’s youth is clear evidence of the phenomenon known as the “Blackafiscation” of America. From music to fashion Black entertainers, athletes, celebrities, and others prominent in the culture geared to our youth, have a huge impact on White youth. This has been a trend that began more than 20 years ago and it shows no sign of tapering off. Sadly, some of the most powerful cultural influences at work on Black and White youth focuses and glamorizes the worst aspects of inner city life; “Ghettoization” in many respects only serves to reinforce White adult’s worst notions about young Black men and, in many fundamental ways only further marginalizes them. White kids can don the apparel of the “streets”, the “hood” but, once they take off those cloths they are White and do not face the same social challenges that Black youths do in attempting to gain employment and many other important facets of adulthood.

So for this latest moment in our struggle with race the Confederate flag is the issue du jour. Like racism itself it will not die a quiet, easy death; there will no doubt be vigorous debates and discussions and it will take a great deal of effort to have it and other “tributes” to the Confederacy eliminated from public property. As the presidential primary season begins to ramp up late next month the flag issue will no doubt be used as a litmus test. That might be a good thing since so often political primaries are such monumental wastes of time, money, and can profoundly alienate voters already apathetic to the concept that their vote matters.

We will see what we will see…

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/26/us/charleston-south-carolina-shooting-funerals.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3135494/White-supremacist-blogger-Kyle-Rogers-inspired-Dylann-Roof-devastated-South-Carolina-church-massacre.html

http://observer.com/2015/06/the-south-carolina-shooting-and-gun-control/

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/23/gessen-terrorist-idUSL1N0Z91PU20150623

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/24/bill-chumley-charleston-shooting_n_7653182.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America

http://news.yahoo.com/history-of-the-confederate-flags-190828285.html

http://www.rulen.com/myths/

http://www.livescience.com/18863-civil-war-myths.html

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/06/28/blame-jefferson-for-the-confederate-flag.html

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

ENFORCING THE LAW IN NYC: THE “HUMAN FACTOR” & HARSH REALITY

PROTECTING AND SERVING WHILE HAMSTRUNG

THIS IS NOT THE TIME FOR OUR POLICE DEPARTMENT TO BE TAKING

A PASSIVE STANCE.

TAGS: NYPD, NYPD “REFORM”, DE BLASIO’S ERRORS,

COMMUNITY LEADERS WANT “STOP, QUESTION, AND FRISK” TO RETURN

TO THEIR NEIGHBORHOODS AS CRIME RATES INCREASE,

BROKEN WINDOWS, BLUE LIVES MATTER,

LAW ABIDING LIVES MATTER

(Wednesday June 3, 2015 The Bronx, NYC) Policing New York City, has always been a dangerous, gritty, often violent endeavor; one taken up by men and women of a certain mindset. It is not a profession for the faint of heart. It requires a wide array of innate character traits, specialized skills acquired in the Police Academy and then on the streets, as well as a mature temperament. The NYPD by and large only admits to the Academy those men and women who have passed the initial screening process including the physical and psychological testing prerequisites. As any Cop would say, his or her real training began once they graduated from the Academy and began their first posting in a precinct. It is at that time each newly minted Cop must pass the most difficult tests, those monitored by the veteran Cops they work with. Those tests administered daily can make or break a career by weeding out those who simply are not suited for the work, those who will never be trusted by their peers to be reliable partners or good street Cops.

There was a time in the NYPD, up until the early 1980’s, when the unwritten rule among veterans was that it took seven years for a rookie to lose that status and be fully embraced and truly called a peer. The thinking was that within a seven year time frame every rookie would have at least been exposed to as many facets of the Job, as many situations and scenarios and have proved their mettle under pressure and the close observational scrutiny of the veterans they worked with.

THE SEVEN YEAR BAPTISM

Armed with nothing more than the fundamentals of the law and the basic skills, the rookie must prove themselves every day. That each of them pass muster, so to speak, among the veterans who supervise and work with them, is essential. During those years each Cop hones their physical skills, their abilities to control an arrest, deal with a crowd, rapidly process often conflicting observational stimuli, and the dozens of other unconscious and subconscious abilities that collectively evolve into real, reliable, actionable, instinct and intuition; the capability to know and feels the streets, the mood in the air, the wafting scents of impending danger all of which come together to make a Police Officer a Cop.

THE AMORAL APPROACH TO URBAN POLICING: STAND DOWN

Anyone who even pays the most minimal attention to the news knows that the incontrovertible decline in crime over the last 20 years here in NYC and in other large urban areas is beginning to be undone. Politicians, pundits and so called “experts” have been flooding the airwaves and taking to the editorial pages to offer their opinions and theories regarding the increase in crime, violent, gun-related crime in particular. For all their talk, the veritable ocean of blather they spew, none come close to being objective and recognizing the undeniable reality on the streets. While all these blowhards are busy making claims and skewing statistics and “trends” to support their pet theory, politicians such as NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, prove themselves to be not only living in a parallel reality but also to be apologists, imbeciles, and spineless. Some of Mayor de Blasio’s recent comments not only contradict each other, they are so far from the truth that he may as well be speaking about crime on Mars.

Never one to let an opportunity to lambast Cops pass by even the President of the United States views the spikes in crime rates as a matter of more stringent “gun control”. The absurdity of his statements alone disqualify him from having any “bully pulpit” from which to offer anything positive to the debate that is simmering towards a boil over Police practices, policies and procedures. President Obama, rather than support Law Enforcement, has chosen to condemn the police and call for a “softer police presence” in crime riddled areas such as Baltimore, a city that just weeks ago saw some of the most destructive civil unrest in decades. Baltimore, a city that had a dramatic increase in shootings and shooting deaths in May, the highest single month totals in over 25 years. But the story of Baltimore is a story for another time. It is mentioned here merely as an example of a city gripped by the scourge of street crime and a Police Department under fire – literally – and asked to “stand down”. Even the police Commissioner of the Baltimore PD, Anthony Batts, admits the low morale of his police Officers, he refuses to address the morality or rather the immorality of allowing his Officers to take a hands off approach to street crime. Instead he and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake are welcoming in the Department of Justice to conduct a “review” of all aspects of the BPD. If that is not demoralizing to the rank and file MOS, what is?

THE CURTAILING OF “SQF”: CAUSE AND EFFECT

Born out of the tried and true implementation of the “Broken Windows Theory”, the practice of “Stop, Question, and Frisk” was a powerful tool in the operational tactics of the NYPD. When then candidate de Blasio predicated virtually his entire electoral platform on the elimination of “SQF” he was widely lauded as a true “progressive” who recognized that “SQF” had outgrown its legitimacy in NYC. The New York City de Blasio inherited was the safest large city in the USA. Crime rates across all major categories were at 30, 40 and 50 year lows. The Broken Windows Theory and “SQF” were the double barreled practices that rescued our City from the dreadful abyss it was poised to fall into when Rudy Giuliani became Mayor. His Police Commissioner at that time was the same man on the 13^th floor of One Police Plaza, Bill Bratton. (We’ll not address the well-known Giuliani/Bratton divorce nor the Bratton of today who appears to have sold his soul to be NYPD Commissioner).

The results of Broken Windows tactics and “SQF” in NYC were nothing short of astounding. Quickly they were adopted by Police Departments in other major cities across the country. Only a fool or moron could dispute the sheer effectiveness of these two policies. But since candidate de Blasio has become Mayor de Blasio, a cold bucket of the water of reality has been dumped over his head. Clearly his ambitious “progressive agenda” the centerpiece of which was “reforming” the NYPD (reforming?!) has unceremoniously backfired as any Cop could have predicted it would.

“SQF” was beyond question the single most significant factor for getting illegal guns off our streets. Although nothing seems capable of staunching the flow of illegal handguns up the Interstate 95 Corridor destined for NYC, once in the hands of the criminal element here, thousands of such guns were confiscated during “SQF” incidences. As many Democratic, Liberal and Progressive politicians, “activists”, ministers, and commentators had applauded the curtailing of “SQF” after a controversial court ruling last year, the same rationale de Blasio cited for his efforts in the elimination of “SQF”, some of these vary same actors in neighborhoods that are experiencing the highest upticks in violent crime are calling for de Blasio to “bring back SQF”.

Long time and long winded opponents of SQF initially celebrated during the time the NYPD was allegedly “standing down” as a silent protest against a Mayor they have little to no respect for. The activists lauded the fact that the almost total abandonment of SQF, fewer police interactions with the public and a dramatic decrease in everyday arrests, did not result in higher crime numbers. Confident they were witnessing living proof of their position; they clearly were blind to the reality of a less active Police force in NYC. Gradually the numbers began to creep up; there were several high profile shooting incidents, broad daylight attacks on Officers on patrol, and in several precincts in The Bronx and Brooklyn, gunfire was returning to the soundtrack of life on those streets. The stark, bloody reality of fewer arrests was beginning to rear its ugly head.

Policing is an integral component of a civil society fulfilling a mission that is simultaneously hazardous and thankless. In our City of over eight million diverse residents, without a proactive NYPD we will most definitely continue to see crime and violence escalate. Summer is fast approaching; a season that typically has the highest rates of street crime. This is clearly not the time to be seeking widespread “reforms” of the strategy and tactics of our Police Department.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/analysis_and_planning/stop_question_and_frisk_report.shtml

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/02/nyregion/gunplay-rises-in-new-york-reviving-issue-for-de-blasio.html?ref=topics&_r=0

http://nypost.com/2015/06/03/we-need-cops-residents-plead-to-mayor-after-rise-in-shootings/

http://www.npr.org/2014/07/03/328120358/top-nypd-cop-stop-and-frisk-is-not-the-problem-or-the-solution

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2015/01/nypd_and_bill_de_blasio_why_new_york_s_mayor_was_wrong_to_count_on_police.html

http://www.lawofficer.com/articles/2015/05/why-the-soft-uniform-is-dangerous.html

http://www.azcentral.com/story/robertrobb/2015/05/21/tougher-on-cops-softer-on-crooks/27735059/

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/227924-nyc-returns-obama-to-center-of-debate-over-police-and-race

http://dailycaller.com/2015/05/14/a-police-week-plea-to-president-obama/

Friday, May 22, 2015

THE BALTIMORE SIX: PROSECUTION, PERSECUTION OR PACIFICATION FOR THE PUBLIC?

SIX BPD OFFICERS INDICTED FOR THE “IN CUSTODY”

DEATH OF FREDDIE GRAY

The six Baltimore Police Officers indicted for the in custody death of Freddie Gray

TAGS: BALTIMORE POLICE OFFICERS INDICTED, STATE PROSECUTOR MARILY MOSBY,

PROSECUTORIAL OVER REACH AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, SEEKING REAL JUSTICE OR PACIFYING AN ANGRY

PUBLIC ?, THE REALITY OF POLICING IN HOSTILE COMMUNITIES, PROSECUTOR HAS ALREADY CORRUPTED HER CASE,

“FAIR” TRIAL NEAR IMPOSSIBILITY IN BALTIMORE

(Thursday May 21, 2015 Baltimore, MY) A Baltimore Grand Jury decided today to level indictments of the six Baltimore Police Officers alleged to have been responsible for the death of Freddie Gray, a 25 year old they had arrested last month who died while in Police custody. The indictments, such as they are, ranging from misdemeanors to felony depraved heart homicide, came as no surprise given Marilyn Mosby, the Baltimore State Attorney’s announcement made just days after a week of protests and demonstrations that saw several nights of violent rioting, that she would seek such indictments.

Less than four months into her reign as the State Prosecutor for the City of Baltimore, 35 year old Marilyn Mosby has found herself confronting an arduous task. Before the Baltimore Police Department (BPD) has concluded their own investigation having assigned over 40 investigators, forensics specialists and crime scene analysts; even without the results of the preliminary official autopsy finding having been made known to the lawyers for the plaintiffs and defendants, Mosby announced her intention to indict six BPD MOS during a hastily arranged press conference on Friday May 3^rd. Her announcement was riddled with many of the same phrases employed by protesters some of whom participated in criminal activity during otherwise peaceful demonstrations; Mosby’s announcement was a biased, litany of charges against the Officers based on scant forensic data and absent the final autopsy report at the time. While the BPD was conducting a sweeping investigation of the episode with over 40 investigators assigned to that detail, Mosby came to her conclusion to seek Grand Jury indictments after having four investigators report back to her in less than 24 hours. She neither consulted with nor informed the BPD Chief Anthony Batts that she was poised to make her announcement at a press conference until “about ten minutes before”, according to Chief Batts, she stepped out in front of the wolf pack press. It was grossly obvious she was choosing to indict to pacify the radical element in Baltimore; parroting protestor’s language was a clear example of just how unqualified and inherently biased Ms. Mosby is. She amateurishly proclaimed that she “heard the calls for justice” and was prepared for “an aggressive prosecution” of the Officers allegedly involved.

During that May 3^rd press conference she repeatedly commented that she has “heard the voices of the protestors” and is aware of their “anger and frustration”. She made so many inappropriate statements that she might have just admitted her indictments were meant to pacify and quiet the vocal throngs expressing their anger peacefully as well as those who opted to riot, burn and loot destructively. Her announcement is being classified as one of the most “unprofessional”, “weak”, and “shoddy” criminal indictment many legal experts have ever seen. Without realizing it she has already so drastically corrupted her “case” beyond repair and if she will not recuse herself the Governor of Maryland or the State’s Attorney General should take the proper measures to remove her from the prosecution of this complex, volatile case that has garnered national and international attention.

Many prominent legal scholars, former prosecutors and criminal defense attorneys have lambasted Mosby for her “rush to judgement”, the subjective nature of her argument to indict and the host of conflict of interests that engulf her. She is married to Nick Mosby the Baltimore Councilman in whose district the Freddie Gray episode transpired. She has close ties to one of the attorneys representing the Gray family, Billy Murphy, and he was a financial contributor to her campaign for the Office she currently holds. Her objectivity must be questioned given her years long affiliation with various community activist groups and other organizations in Baltimore. It is very difficult to imagine how she can conduct a legal proceeding given her subjective history in matters addressing the alleged disparities in the criminal justice system regarding young Black men.

By the very nature of her elected Office, State Attorney Mosby as a sworn Officer of the Court is bound to conduct her duties in strict accordance with the body of law that governs our criminal justice system and jurisprudence. She is mandated to be as objective in her pursuit of justice and has the burden of proof; she needs to present her cases and prove the particulars of each indictment beyond the scope of “reasonable doubt”. By her public statements it appears that she has already corrupted her case to such a degree that a fair prosecution of the indicted Officers is not possible. In her youthful zeal, inexperience and misuse of her “public platform” she seems to have not only grossly mishandled the “case”, but has also set the stage for a mistrial at best, having all charges against the Baltimore Police Officers dropped at worst, if her prosecution ever even makes it to trial. The range of charges against the Officers alone will strain her ability to present arguments that go beyond the burden of proof. The Officers need not “prove” their innocence; Ms. Mosby needs to prove their guilt and, for Officer Caesar Goodman the driver of the Police van transporting Mr. Gray, the charge of “depraved heart” second-degree homicide is the most serious and will be the most challenging to prove. Actually, as many legal experts have commented, all of the charges will be very difficult to prove beyond reasonable doubt that is, if the empaneled jury functions objectively which is debatable given the publicity attending these indictments.

Compounding matters even further is the fact that the controversial arrest and in custody death of Mr. Gray did not occur in a social vacuum; his death is just the latest in a sad litany of unarmed African American men who have allegedly died by the hands of Police Officers in the last year or so. The inherent difficulty, some say impossibility, to adjudicate a “fair trial” for the Baltimore Officers, will necessitate Ms. Mosby’s ability to divorce Mr. Gray’s death from what most in the African American community see as a systemic pattern of Police abuses, brutalities and disregard for “Black Lives”. Six Baltimore Police Officers have been indicted specifically in this case but the broader indictment against the BPD as a whole and Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA’s) writ large will cast a heavy shadow over the proceedings in a Baltimore courtroom.

Despite this recent tragic rash of episodes of unarmed young African American men alleged to have died as a direct result of some interaction with a Police Officer or Officers, there is no statistical evidence to support the claims made by activists and self-appointed leaders in the Black community, that the Police devalue the lives of people of color. Many commentators and talking heads present anecdotal evidence as fact laying out numbers the source of which are dubious at best, blatantly contrived at worst. The Department of Justice, the top LEA in the country, admits there is no truly accurate data collected, collated and analyzed from jurisdictions large and small that indicates the veracity of the claims made by members of the African American community regarding LEA’s impropriety in their neighborhoods. Many have presented numbers as “fact” with no reference to the source of such numbers. Clearly, the Attorney General and the Justice Department have a vested interest in the collection of actual numbers, of real data but, as they readily admit, there is a paucity in this area. Given the number of public-police interactions on a daily basis across the country, the overwhelmingly factual record plainly illustrates for all to see that 99% of such interactions transpire without event or negative outcome. The jagged edges of these unimpeachable facts are what sticks in the craw of those who expend their efforts to portray each Police interaction with a Black or Brown skinned person, particularly young males, as an over reach of Police powers, racial profiling, endemic racism among Law Enforcement Officers (LEO’s), or an instance of aggressive bias. Are there bad Police Officers; LEO’s who are racist bigots all too willing to be heavy handed and short tempered with young men of color? Absolutely yes, there are. But, the number of LEO’s who fall into that category represent an infinitesimally small number of men and women who wear the badge. This fact is an untidy nuisance to those who hope to present their arguments otherwise. That is their prerogative; they have the Constitutional right to express their sentiments, record the actions of Police Officers on their cell phones, protest and demonstrate for a contrary truth but, after the dust settles, after the last embers of a burning building in a riot zone are extinguished, the objective truths remain intact.

In many respects this argument can be distilled down to the bare essentials. Most of the most bellicosely vocal opponents of the Police are far removed from the narrow concrete canyons of tough urban streets, densely populated housing projects, and the reality of street crime in all its many guises. While they may be earnest and well-meaning in their assertions and concerns about the Police they speak from distances that preclude them from some of the harsher realities of the streets. Isolated and insulated from the “front lines” of the gritty, often violent aspects of Law Enforcement, they make their judgments based on preconceived notions and beliefs unabashedly ignoring the perils the men and women of the LEC put themselves in every time they suit up to go to work. The profound misunderstanding between these two factions, the LEC and its detractors poses an unbridgeable gulf that is only spanned by irresponsible hyperbolic, inflammatory demagoguery. In this climate no honest exchange of ideas and perspective is possible.

The fate of the “Baltimore Six” will be determined one way or another in due process and time. Until that day life goes on, the ebb and flow of life on the streets awaits no vindication or validation.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2015/05/a-grand-jury-backs-marilyn-mosby/393914/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/six-baltimore-police-officers-indicted-in-death-of-freddie-gray/2015/05/21/182f2778-fe1b-11e4-805c-c3f407e5a9e9_story.html?hpid=z3

http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/21/us/baltimore-freddie-gray-death-officers-indicted/index.html

www.cnn.com/2015/05/21/us/baltimore-freddie-gray-death-officers-indicted/index.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/22/us/six-baltimore-officers-indicted-in-death-of-freddie-gray.html?_r=0

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/may/21/six-baltimore-police-officers-freddie-gray-indicted

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/15/us/freddie-gray-baltimore-police.html?_r=0

http://www.voanews.com/content/six-baltimore-police-officers-indicted-in-custody-death/2782582.html

http://www.cheatsheet.com/politics/how-have-reactions-to-freddie-gray-been-different.html/?a=viewall

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/02/us/marilyn-mosby-prosecutor-in-freddie-gray-case-seen-as-tough-on-police-misconduct.html?_r=0

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/blog/bs-md-ci-speedy-justice-20150501-story.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/09/us/justice-department-begins-civil-rights-inquiry-into-baltimore-police.html