Baltimore, Maryland

The city of Baltimore is the book’s primary geographical focus. Like many American cities, Baltimore bears many manifestations of racial discrimination and inequality. The city has consistently failed to invest resources into its Black communities, which are largely impoverished and are subject to heavy oppression via police. Following Freddie Gray’s death, many Black residents of Baltimore organized protests to express their frustration with the many injustices they have faced. Many white Americans attempted to frame the unrest in Baltimore as Black aggression, when in fact Black Americans are the victims of systemic oppression.

Protests

The 2015 protests in Baltimore expressed frustration with the profound levels of racial inequality in the city. Similar to Black Americans in general, Black residents of Baltimore have been subject to many state-enforced forms of social and economic oppression. Police clashed with protesters, which led the protests to become somewhat unstable...