Baltimore Mayor: Cleanup, Peace Could be City’s ‘Defining Moment’
BALTIMORE, April 28 (UPI) — Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said the relative peace experienced on Tuesday could be the city’s “defining moment,” not the violent night before.
“Last night was a very rough period for our city but today I think we saw a lot more of what Baltimore is about,” she said Tuesday evening in a news conference will fellow city leaders. “People coming together to reclaim our city, clean our city and help heal our city.”
Rawlings-Blake said she spent the morning speaking with business owners and residents whose lives would be damaged by the previous night’s riots for a long time.
Police Commissioner Anthony Batts called Tuesday “a very good day” with people dancing and celebrating near the epicenter of Monday’s riots. He said there were one or two arrests of people “acting up.”
He said it’s clear there needs to be a change in culture within the Baltimore City Police Department.
President Barack Obama on Tuesday condemned the violence in Baltimore, saying there is “no excuse” for the arson, looting and destruction in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray who died after being injured while in police custody.
Describing the violence as counterproductive, Obama said, “When individuals get crowbars and start prying open doors to loot, they’re not protesting, they’re not making as statement, they’re stealing. When they’re burning down a building, they’re committing arson. And they’re destroying and undermining business and opportunities in their own communities.”
In his first public comments since the violence in Baltimore began, Obama said it is “entirely appropriate” that Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake work to stop the violence and destruction.
“That is not a protest. That is not a statement,” he said. ”That is a handful of people taking advantage of the situation for their own purpose and they need to be treated as criminals.”
The president’s comments come as volunteers and workers took to the streets Tuesday to begin the lengthy cleanup. About 200 arrests were made, and 15 police officers were injured, six seriously, when gangs of mostly young men became violent after the funeral for Gray, who died April 19 as a result of a broken spine while in police custody.
At the same time, Hogan and Rawlings-Blake walked through the city early Tuesday to assess the damage.
“We are seeing volunteers from across Baltimore joining together to clean up damage from yesterday’s shameless acts of violence,” Rawlings-Blake said on Facebook. “This is what Baltimore is about. I sincerely want to thank all those out there cleaning up streets and sharing their love for our city.”
Obama said the problems in Baltimore are not new and the country needs to do some soul-searching.
“If we really want to solve the problem, we could. It would require everybody to say this is important, this is significant and that we just don’t pay attention to these communities when a CVS burns, when a young man is shot or when his spine is snapped,” he said.
On her first day on the job Monday, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said that in the coming days, Vanita Gupta, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and Ronald Davis, director of the DOJ’s Community Oriented Policing Services, will go to Baltimore to meet with faith and community leaders, as well as city officials. A peace walk through the damaged areas was planned for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday beginning at the Amazing Grace Lutheran Church.
