THE END OF THE GRAY ERA?

On Wednesday, all charges against Alicia White were dismissed.  She can go back to her job with – at least on paper – an umblemished record.

Who is Alicia White?  Ms. White is a Baltimore police officer, one of the six charged in the death of Freddy Gray, a career criminal and drug dealer who was arrested in April, 2015 and who sustained what turned out to be fatal injuries while being transported to jail.

There are a number of possible reasons Gray  sustained those injuries, several of which involved possible police brutality, several of which did not.

Six police officers were charged in Gray’s death.  Three were found not guilty by a judge, and charges were dropped against the other three.

But because Freddy Gray was Black, he was used as a racial paradigm by the POPPA (Professionally Oppressed, Perpetually Pissed Off) crowd.  His death made national and international headlines, and spurred an infamous, hugely damaging riot, which police seemed clearly to stand off and allow to happen – leading to Baltimore’s Mayor, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s astonishing explanation that “…we gave those who wished to destroy space to do that…”

Was this, in fact, a racial incident?  Well, the fact that three of the officers were Black, as was the judge who the charges, says no.  Pretty loudly.

But a racial firestorm was what the POPPAs wanted and a racial firestorm was what they got.

Freddy Gray’s family – grieving as I’m sure they were over their criminal, drug-dealing member, was paid $6.4 million dollars by the city of Baltimore to settle the civil suits it filed.  This, of course, was before any of the trials took place.

Brilliant.

Now that no one has been found guilty of a thing relating to his death, will the family be giving the money back?  Maybe paying the legal bills of the Black and White cops who were found innocent?  Don’t count on it.

And violent crime in Baltimore?  Through the roof.  What intelligent Baltimore cop would aggressively police even high crime areas (of which there are no shortage in Baltimore) and face the possibility of being treated the way the Freddy Gray six were?

For this reason, homicides in Baltimore – which had not been above 300 in 20 years – jumped from 211 in 2014, the year before Freddy Gray’s death, to 344 in 2015, 311 in 2016.  In 2017, the current total is already 316, with over a month to go.

And who are the victims of this murder rampage?  The vast majority of murders in Baltimore are Black-on-Black.  Therefore the people most victimized are just as Black as Freddy Gray was.

Do any of the POPPAs worry about that?  If so, show me evidence of their concern.  Show me evidence that they are interested in anything but the next real or imagined aggrievement to be exploited.

Well, now the litigation of these officers is over.  And, no doubt, a good many people will think things are back to normal in Baltimore.

Are they really?  With police fearful of doing their jobs and the murder rate soaring?

You tell me.