It has been three months since the public killing of Baltimore Arabber Bilal “BJ” Abdullah by the Baltimore Police Department while he was experiencing a mental health crisis. Since then the city has only intensified the police presence across the city.
Following the deaths of not only BJ but two other Baltimore residents – Pytorcarcha Brooks and Donte Melton Jr. – there were two city council hearings. In these hearings, the community expressed its long-standing concerns and problems with the Baltimore Police Department.
During this period of time, there were two mass overdoses in the Penn-North area of Baltimore, July 10 and 18. Following both of these tragic events, BPD launched brutal raids and intensified its patrols of Black communities. Notably, one raid at Douglass Homes saw apartment doors kicked in and rooms searched and trashed as men, women, and children were forced to line the curb and outer courtyards surrounding the public housing project. The police found nothing in that raid and no arrests were made, but a community was left shocked, uprooted and embarrassed.
The second council hearing took place as the same day a trial was to be held for Baltimore Police officer Curlon Edwards, who is facing many charges, including first-degree rape of a 16-year-old girl. No information has surfaced regarding this trial since the day it was posted to happen. Also, on this day, Aug. 27, the body camera footage of the death of Donte Melton was released. His death was ruled a homicide. The family is currently pressuring the city, demanding justice for their murdered son; the officers involved are believed to still remain in their roles.
The city claims that its approach to crime and violence is one that treats it as a “Public Health Crisis.” They applaud the use of “community-focused solutions” headed by nonprofits that work with the city government; however, in practice, it is these same nonprofits and services that were thrown under the bus following the deaths of three Baltimore residents.
Also, both city and state officials have sidelined these organizations by colluding to bring state troopers into Baltimore. Far from pursuing community-focused solutions, they have simply increased the police presence.
This move is a slap in the face to Baltimore residents. As the city claims to care for the welfare of its people, it orders in more police to terrorize and occupy the city. If the city was truly treating poverty, violence and crime as a public health crisis, why have they not moved to end the food deserts across the city? It should be noted that all three previously mentioned deaths happened in city council district 9. Within this district sit the Sandtown-Winchester, Upton, and Harlem Park communities, all of which reside in a food desert.
The city’s moves are all to satisfy the fascist Trump regime. Trump has continually threatened Baltimore with Federal occupation and a mobilization of the National Guard. While city and state leaders take online and to the media to bash and “fight back” against Trump, in reality, they will continue to carry out his wishes of “returning law and order” to what he views as “crime-ridden hellholes.”
At all levels of government, elected officials seek to maintain the racist occupation and apartheid of the city and its residents. Nationally, Baltimore’s fate is linked with that of D.C., Los Angeles, Memphis, New Orleans, Portland, and Chicago. All of these cities have been threatened or occupied by Trump and the federal government.
As city and state officials parade the idea that more police in the city, brought by the Maryland State Troopers, will “make communities safer” and “improve the quality of life in our city,” it is obvious that what the people need is not more police. In Baltimore, communities are demanding an end to food deserts, an increase in proper mental health services and crisis response, and an end to the violent and racist practices of the Baltimore Police Department.
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