Wiedmer: Empty baseball stadium a symbol of racial strife in Baltimore, nation

In this aerial photo, Oriole Park at Camden Yards sits empty Tuesday, April 28, 2015, in Baltimore as unrest that occurred after Freddie Gray's funeral continues into a second day.
In this aerial photo, Oriole Park at Camden Yards sits empty Tuesday, April 28, 2015, in Baltimore as unrest that occurred after Freddie Gray's funeral continues into a second day.

As President Obama stood in the Rose Garden early Tuesday afternoon, discussing Monday night's riots in Baltimore following the death of Freddie Gray -- the 25-year-old who died April 19 from spinal cord injuries suffered while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department -- the song came drifting back.

"We're all built up with progress," Curtis Mayfield sang in 1972. "But sometimes I must confess ... what does it mean? Ain't nothing said. 'Cause Freddie's dead."

The Baltimore Orioles said a lot about progress, or the lack thereof, in dealing with this nation's long history of racial strife when they decided to close today's game against the Chicago White Sox at Camden Yards to the public due to concerns for its safety.

photo President Barack Obama speaks about recent unrest in Baltimore during a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Tuesday, April 28, 2015, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

So no fans. No crab-mac-and-cheese hotdog. No organ music. Just two teams, an umpire crew, a few media types and hopefully enough security to protect them all. Major League Baseball believes so dramatic a precaution for spectator safety has never previously been enacted.

"I think there are police departments that have to do some soul searching," the President said, undoubtedly referring to the cause of the unrest. "I think there are some communities that have to do some soul searching. But I think we as a country also have to do some soul searching. This is not new. It's been going on for decades."

Sadly, he's right. In 1992, in the wake of the Rodney King verdict, the Dodgers had four games postponed in Los Angeles. In 1967, the Detroit Tigers postponed a game against the Orioles in Motown because of riots. The next two games were played in Baltimore.

In fact, the long, hot summer of '67 produced a stunning 159 race riots nationwide, the worst coming in Detroit and Newark, N.J.

Consider that for a moment as black leaders intend to stage peaceful demonstrations to support Gray in both Chicago and Minneapolis in the coming days. Fifty years have come and gone since the Watts riots in L.A., and we still can't seem to get along -- our diversity a wide divide, filled with distrust, fear, bitterness, anger.

And it all came rushing back Monday night as a CVS pharmacy, a community center still under construction and 13 other buildings were burned beyond recognition or seriously damaged. Watts. Newark. Detroit, the night sky menaced by towering flames, angry anarchy on every street corner.

But this time such disturbing behavior has forced this: a major league baseball game staged in an empty stadium, presumably to protect the innocent from those who believe an innocent 25-year-old was killed by those we pay to protect the innocent.

No one is yet saying what happened to Gray between the time he was arrested on April 12 after running from police and being thrown into a van less than 15 minutes later, and the time he was taken less than 30 minutes later to a trauma center, where he would die exactly one week later.

But the following words from Baltimore Deputy Police Commissioner Jerry Rodriguez are known, and while no words justify the violence that rang through that city Monday, they certainly justify a city's anger and concern.

Said Rodriguez of the initial arrest: "(Gray) gave up without the use of force."

Added Rodriguez of Gray's exit from the van upon reaching the trauma center: "When Mr. Gray was taken out of that van, he could not talk and he could not breathe."

So now the nation holds its collective breath to see how and when this ends.

"They're not protesting," Obama correctly said of those who rioted and looted Monday night. "They're not making a statement. They're stealing."

Added former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, himself no stranger to violence both on and off the football field, much of it by his own hand, in a video message: "Baltimore, get off the streets! Kids, go home, stay home. You don't have no right to do what you're doing to this city. Too many hard-working people built this city."

They're right, of course. Violence is never the answer. Wasn't in the 1960s. Or the 1990s. Or now. But the anger and distrust that has led to that violence -- whether it be in Ferguson, Mo., Baltimore or 50 years ago in Watts -- needs to be addressed.

"If we think that we're just going to send the police to do the dirty work of containing the problems," Obama said, "... then we'll go through this same cycle of periodic conflicts between the police and communities, and the occasional riots in the streets and everybody will feign concern until it goes away and we just go about our business as usual."

photo Baltimore police officers stand guard outside of Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Monday, April 27, 2015, in Baltimore. The baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Chicago White Sox has been postponed. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

There is nothing business-as-usual about playing a baseball game for the first time in MLB history minus all spectators. At the same time, Obama's additional words that we must, as a nation, "change these communities to help lift up those communities and give those kids opportunity," ignores all the billions of dollars we've poured into programs to presumably help those communities in the past.

At some point, parents must act like parents, demanding better education but better behavior, better choices. At no point will anything dramatically improve in this country until every individual of sound mind and body becomes personally responsible and accountable for their actions, be they good or bad.

Yet if you're a citizen of Baltimore today, particularly one who feels far closer to Freddie Gray than those normally fortunate enough to afford Orioles tickets at Camden Yard, you're also right to seethe over what happened to Gray inside that police van.

You're right to let the words the late Mayfield sang 43 years ago fill your head and your heart.

"Why can't we be brothers?" he wrote. "Protect one another? No one's serious, and it makes me furious. Don't be misled. Just think of Fred."

Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.

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