The civil unrest that broke out in Baltimore after the death of Freddie Gray is rooted in a deeper frustration with the criminal justice system and a pattern of systemic injustice, said Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
In a column for
Time magazine, the six-time NBA champion makes the case that the protests in Baltimore represent a new level of anger on a scale comparable to the Boston Tea Party and the public outpouring in 1964 to hear Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington D.C.
"What happened in Baltimore isn't just a one-and-done situation. This wasn't just a slight sprain in the ankle that we'll be able to walk off by morning. This was a violently shattered bone that will have America limping forward on crutches for months to come, maybe even years," he wrote.
"Baltimore protestors weren't just expressing their anger over the treatment of Freddie Gray; they were expressing their frustration over living in economic circumstances that makes them seem less than human to those in power. Worse, they have little hope that these circumstances will change."
Abdul-Jabbar makes the case that the anger of the protesters is rooted in a sense of economic disenfranchisement. He notes that Maryland blacks' median income is about $40,000 a year less than the median income of the state, while the unemployment rate for young black men is almost four times the rate of young whites.
He also says that much of the commentary in the aftermath of the riots was racist, in that it conflated the looters and their criminal activity with the peaceful demonstrators.
"America was born out of protest. We felt economically suppressed and politically repressed, and we changed things. Slaves weren't freed by benevolent leaders wanting to do the right thing. No one gave the American worker better and safer conditions out of gratitude for a job well done. Vietnam veterans didn’t get their benefits from an Agent-Orange-denying government by sitting at home waiting patiently. Each time, Americans took to the streets to be heard," he said.
"I suggest we all pay attention to what's happening in Baltimore, because it's very likely that unless the economic and injustice issues raised there are addressed in a meaningful way across the country, we will be seeing many more Baltimores throughout the election season."
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