I
still recall the team’s whereabouts on Sept. 11, 2001 – they were the professional
baseball team in New York City on that day when two jets crashed into the World
Trade Center, triggering many bad memories for our nation.
NOW,
IT WAS the White Sox who were in Baltimore this week when rioting motivated by
people pissed off by the death of a young black man while in police custody is
giving the nation many violent images on our televisions.
The
rioting was considered so out-of-control that Monday’s White Sox/Baltimore
Orioles game was cancelled. Some of the violent outbursts were a mere three
miles from the Orioles’ ballpark, and many of the roads leading to the stadium
had restricted access.
The
last thing anybody wanted to see happen was some sports fan get yanked out of
their car by the violent protesters while trying to get to Camden Yards! As of
this writing, it is not clear when, or where, those ballgames will be made up.
Yes,
my bringing the White Sox’ presence into this circumstance is an attempt to
inject a touch of humor to what is an overly-serious situation. Although the
serious part of all this is perhaps how fortunate we in Chicago ought to feel
that we haven’t had similar incidents occur here.
BECAUSE
THE UNEASY sentiments that exist between law enforcement types and black people
are not confined to Baltimore. Nor Ferguson, Mo., or New York or any other one
city.
You
know it’s just a matter of time before the tensions heat up enough that we get
an incident that causes certain people to react in ways similar to what is
taking place now in Baltimore.
Let’s
be honest! We should feel fortunate that the death of Rekia Boyd did not create
such an outburst.
She
is the woman who was shot to death by a Chicago police officer – one who
recently was acquitted of the criminal charges he faced, and now has police Superintendent
Garry McCarthy going about on Monday saying that officer should never have
faced a criminal indictment.
EVEN
THOUGH SOME people are interpreting the comments made by the judge who tossed
out the criminal charges as saying they were the wrong charges and perhaps
should have been even harsher.
As
though this particular cop got off on a technicality and NOT some claim of
innocence, as I’m sure the police would want to believe. Just an officer doing
his job – one that is tough enough that I’m sure many in our society would be
incapable of handling it.
Just a couple of people handling things a little less rationally in Chicago,
and it could be our city with the images of a gas mask-clad man slashing the
hose of a firefighting crew that was trying to keep a CVS pharmacy from burning
to the ground.
It
could be the death of Freddie Gray (who suffered a spinal cord injury while in
police custody and whose funeral seems to be the motivation for Monday’s
violent outbursts) isn’t all that different in spirit than that of Boyd – or many
of the others whose ill treatment at the hands of police has caused public
outrage.
AND
YES, I realize in writing that sentence there are some people who are determined
to believe the police some noble creature who are dealing with people who
hardly deserve to be called human.
Although
I find their thought process to be as ridiculous as the face-covered boy in
Baltimore who told CNN how people aren’t going to calm down until some sort of “justice!!!”
is handed down.
We
have a serious problem in our society that way too many people don’t want to
have to acknowledge. That, ultimately, is the real problem.
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