Baltimore Rising Page #3

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- I'm hurt!

I got hit by a...

- Illegal arrest!

Illegal arrest!

- You need to back up.

- Move!

- So we thought

it was really important

to have this civil

disobedience training

in the midst

of what's about to happen

in Baltimore with the start

of the Freddie Gray trials.

And we just thought

it was extremely necessary

to have this,

especially for students

who might be

just recently introduced...

into this.

And while I've engaged

in acts of civil disobedience,

I've never organized one.

When I found out that Kwame

had gotten arrested,

I was extremely frightened,

just because I felt like

stakes were getting higher

and that activists

were getting arrested

for things that weren't

necessarily threatening.

Protests are symbolic.

They're effective,

but they're also cathartic

and therapeutic for the people

who are involved in them.

You need to promise

that you're going to be

ride or die...

well, if you're comfortable

with you're doing that.

Like, you're gonna

be ride or die

for the people

that you're with.

Protest truly is the voice

of people who are unheard,

and protest is not always

a passive action, right?

Protest is not always

marching in the streets,

singing "Kumbaya,"

holding hands,

being silent

and non-disruptive.

- We have to stand

for our sons,

because these are our sons,

and we are sick and tired

of being sick and tired

of their blood

being painted on the streets.

- So people are worried

about, like, the safety

of people who are engaged

in this work

of trying to get justice

for Freddie Gray.

It had a lot to do with the way

protestors had been treated

in the past,

the way I was arrested,

and more and more

as the story grew bigger,

the protests got bigger.

- Mayor

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake

has announced that she plans

to make interim commissioner

Kevin Davis

the new Baltimore City

police commissioner.

- Protesting is not

a privilege, Commissioner.

Protesting is a right

that you have to respect

as a servant of the people,

and that's all I want to say.

- History will one day

look specifically back

at this very moment in time

and identify this year...

probably more than

any other year...

that will serve to define

when American policing

began to change.

It's a challenging time

to be a police officer,

but it's an exciting time

to be a police officer.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

- Good evening, everyone.

Till this day...

Commissioner Davis

has never apologized...

for how peaceful protestors

have been treated...

- Yes!

- Arrested...

and are now being prosecuted

by the same State's Attorney

that's supposed to be

bringing charges

against six murderers

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