Commentary: Black Guerillas, Baltimore & Martin O’Malley

Mark Fuhrman believes the prosecutor in Baltimore City is bowing to public pressure.  He also claims she’s burnishing her image among some voters.  Fuhrman was one of the detectives investigating O.J. Simpson during an infamous case twenty years ago.  The snoop now writes books and is a frequent media talking head when it comes to policing issues.  I heard Fuhrman yesterday afternoon on Sean Hannity’s radio show.  Just a few hours earlier the prosecutor announced 6 police officers face charges following the death of Freddie Gray.  He was arrested, tossed into a paddy wagon and then died days later from a severe spinal injury.  While 3 of the police officers under suspicion are black it didn’t stop the race-baiters on the left from whipping up rioting, which led to innocent people being hurt and some serious property destruction.  The race industry calls it collateral damage.  Hey, just the other day some black fellow was explaining on TV they didn’t care about the business losses because the business owners didn’t live in the community.  Now many may never come back.  Who ultimately loses?

From what I understand the police department in Baltimore had issued a new directive just days before Gray’s arrest.  Those pinched by cops were to be belted in the vans.  If this is the only violation of police policy then a homicide count won’t fly against any police officer.  This story is being compared to the shooting deaths by police of black men in Missouri and South Carolina.  The first justified and the latter looks like an execution.

The comparisons are only as strong as the skin color of the dead in all three cases.  A much closer analogy for Baltimore comes from Staten Island, New York.  A black man selling untaxed single cigarettes was arrested and wrestled down by a small army of police.  Shortly thereafter he died.  The police were under instructions to figuratively break the back of the illegal cigarette trade.  A man on a sidewalk selling smokes deprived New York City and New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo of a few pennies in taxes.  The poor man paid with his life for his effort at unfettered capitalism.  Cuomo and the leaders of New York City are socialists who insist they’re doing this for the downtrodden even when down means 6-feet-under.

In Baltimore there is a similar dynamic and its history is tied to a man who could be the next President of the United States.  Time magazine has the story here.  The creator of the fictional TV series The Wire, set in Baltimore, blames Martin O’Malley.  As Mayor of Baltimore a decade ago old Marty dreamed of political advancement.  In a state dominated by liberal voters in a handful of urban pockets the Mayor was embarrassed by presiding over the most dangerous city in the United States.  He needed evidence he was making progress and demanded statistics be compiled for arrests.  The numbers would impress the media and allow voters the illusion O’Malley wasn’t a squish when it came to crime.  As an election for Governor approached he needed higher and higher numbers.  Police were ordered to sweep the streets.  When I hear some black preachers from Baltimore refer to city police as an occupying force this is what they’re talking about.  An American standing on a street corner is now presumed guilty as police pass a neighborhood.  O’Malley served two terms as Governor after his draconian efforts to raise his arrest and incarceration figures.  The irony is David Simon, creator of The Wire, will vote next year for O’Malley if the former Mayor/Governor leapfrogs Hillary Clinton as the liberal nominee for President.  Why?  Well, those evil free market Republicans could ignore untaxed corner sales of individual cigarettes.  Rand Paul might even go so far as to recommend we pull back police nationwide and allow them to handle more serious cases versus cigarette and speeding ticket quotas.

Since O’Malley left Baltimore his immediate successor as Mayor went to prison.  Stephanie Rawlings-Blake then became Mayor-by-Default.  While she make look like a “sister” she is the graduate of a prestigious and exclusive college and a member of a family with several generations of political connections.  Since assuming her current office her city jails have been scandalized.  A gang calling itself Black Guerillas made the lockups look like Stalag 13 from Hogan’s Heroes (no relation to Maryland’s newest Governor).  Guards were birthing the babies of gang leaders.  Gang leaders inside were running their businesses via smartphones and eating like the imprisoned mobsters in Goodfellas.  Another benefit is being inside provided castle like protection against rivals.

Now, no sane human being can look at this situation and blame the average police officer for the troubles.  You’ve got to start by housecleaning at the top.  In government, media and in the race industry.