“Black Lives matter” they say — but perhaps not to Freddie Gray.
Gray’s April 12 death while in Baltimore police custody has sparked protests and been used as an excuse for rioting. Of course, it’s still not entirely clear what caused the criminal’s demise. A police report has been issued indicating that Gray injured himself, with a wound on his head matching a bolt in the police van in which he was transported. And the arrestee sharing that van with Gray, Donta Allen, reportedly says he didn’t see any harm done to the man, but heard him thrashing around “like he was banging his head.” On the other hand, it has just been announced that Baltimore’s top prosecutor is bringing criminal charges against the six police officers involved in the incident, alleging, among other things, that Gray was subject to a false arrest.
Whatever the case, something is clear. While Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake infamously has said “We don’t have thugs in Baltimore” (at least, maybe, not any more than they have homosexuals in Iran), they certainly did have at least one:
Freddie Gray.
It appears that Gray’s business, you see, was hurting black kids. Just take a gander at his body of work (rap sheet):
• March 20, 2015: Possession of a Controlled Dangerous Substance
• March 13, 2015: Malicious destruction of property, second-degree assault
• January 20, 2015: Fourth-degree burglary, trespassing
• January 14, 2015: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute
• December 31, 2014: Possession of narcotics with intent to distribute
• December 14, 2014: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance
• August 31, 2014: Illegal gambling, trespassing
• January 25, 2014: Possession of marijuana
• September 28, 2013: Distribution of narcotics, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, second-degree assault, second-degree escape
• April 13, 2012: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, violation of probation
• July 16, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession with intent to distribute
• March 28, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
• March 14, 2008: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to manufacture and distribute
• February 11, 2008: Unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a controlled dangerous substance
• August 29, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, violation of probation
• August 28, 2007: Possession of marijuana
• August 23, 2007: False statement to a peace officer, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance
• July 16, 2007: Possession of a controlled dangerous substance with intent to distribute, unlawful possession of a controlled dangerous substance (2 counts)
As Heavy.com points out, the above 18 arrests are only the ones we know about. To the point here, however, note that eight of the arrests involve “distribution of” or the “intent to distribute” illegal drugs, and another seven involve “possession.” There are burglary, trespassing, second-degree assault, and a few other charges to spice things up, but as Heavy.com also writes “Gray has been in and out of prison on drug convictions since 2008…. He was set to start a trial in May on drug charges stemming from a December arrest.” The site in addition quotes Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez as saying that when Gray was last apprehended he was “in a high-crime area known to have high narcotic incidents.” In other words:
Freddie Gray was a drug dealer.
This means, assuming he wasn’t a principled pusher who checked I.D. before making sales, his business was getting black youth hooked on narcotics.
Black lives matter?
Not to the protesters, rioters, and those enabling them it would seem. After all, with 93 percent of black homicide victims being murdered by other blacks, Gray seemed to fit the standard profile: a black criminal who preyed on his own community. Yet not only aren’t such miscreants objects of protest, they’re called “misdirected” children by misdirecting leaders.
Also note that the rap sheet here would merely be the adult record of Gray, who at his death was just a few months shy of his 26th birthday. Whatever juvenile record he has compiled would likely be sealed and thus unavailable. Moreover, his rap sheet only reflects the times he got caught and charged, which, according to author Colin Flaherty, is unlikely to happen in Baltimore these days. Why? Because Mayor Blake — even more infamous for saying that she gave her city’s rioter thugs “space” to “destroy” in what appears to have been a stand-down order to police — has an interesting “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” method for reducing crime: just stop arresting people.
So Freddie Gray had space to destroy — black kids’ lives.
Courtesy of Mayor Blake and other racialist “leaders.”
None of this is to say that what occurred that fateful April 12 was or wasn’t right. It is to say, however, that the media — just as they dubbed Ferguson thug Mike Brown the “gentle giant” — have to an extent beatified a drug dealer. They’ve turned Gray into a protest-worthy cause and Baltimore upside-down.
Commenting on this, radio host Rush Limbaugh noted yesterday that “there’s an interesting way to look at” the criminal’s multitude of arrests.
“Look at how many times the police did not kill Freddie Gray,” he quipped.
This humor gets at a truth: With Gray’s “deathstyle” of continual crime and police contact, probability was high that it was only a matter of time before he ended in prison — or dead. And if it was to be the latter and not in police custody, there was that 93-plus percent chance it would have been at another black person’s hands. But would this have mattered to Mayor Blake, Al Sharpton, and the other race baiters? Do they consider that maybe, just perhaps, Gray’s demise may mean a couple of black kids won’t become junkies?
Some certainly could get the idea that “Black Lives Matter” — when they can be used for political gain.
Photo: AP Images
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Sheriff: Baltimore Police Ordered to “Stand Down” Amid Riots
