WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says it’s “absolutely vital” that the truth about what happened to Freddie Gray comes out.
Obama commented Friday shortly after Baltimore’s top prosecutor announced criminal charges against the six police officers who were suspected after the 25-year-old Baltimore man suffered a fatal spinal injury in police custody. His death under mysterious circumstances angered the community and led to violent protests, including looting and fires, after his funeral earlier this week.
Obama says justice needs to be served and all the evidence needs to be presented. He says the individuals facing charges are entitled to due process.
He added that what the people of Baltimore want most is the truth.
Obama commented during a media availability at the White House.
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It’s vital but it’s not likely we will “get to the bottom of it”
One thing we could do is think about this mess from Mr. Gray’s perspective. He was Black and always had been. So he’d lived a life of being Black in a place with an authority structure hostile to Blacks. He just had to live with that ( no one thought it vital to fix it ) and adopted self preservation measures to do so. Avoid Cops even when stone cold innocent of any wrong doing was one of those measures. It’s doubtful blonds on CNN or W.A.S.P.'s on FOX can emphasize with Freddie’s life.
But on that day even though he did his best self preservation moves the Man got him . He ran like he knew he must but they caught him. Freddie KNEW he was innocent of any wrong and KNEW he was being pinched because he was Black. It was probably not a first time for him. They hog tied him and we can only imagine how he, as a citizen deserving protection and service was addressed. “Shut the fuck up”…the stuff we’ve seen Cops say when they didn’t know a camera was on.
Pile all that up and try to imagine what emotional frame of mind it would put you in. Innocent but you’re going down for the color of your skin ( that in a BPD Cop’s mind implies guilt ) and you’re going to get the shit beat out of you for the same. The law requires you to be cool and calm under those circumstances or you are “resisting”. Any instinctual involuntary attempt at self defense is “assaulting a police officer” and it all washes away your initial innocence and the initial false arrest. Those laws require you conduct yourself outside the scope of the human condition and were constructed to legitimize unlawful police conduct. Resisting, disturbing the peace and my favorite ‘resisting without violence’ are laws against instinctual behavior. They are laws against self preservation if you live in Freddie’s town.
That’s why a thousand Freddies were in the streets of Baltimore. They all know the “vital truth”. You and I probably don’t. Obama probably doesn’t and Hannity sure as shit doesn’t.