Organizers from August’s failed ceasefire movement in Baltimore City, Maryland will be conducting the second citywide ceasefire on November 03-05.
Back in August, we reported on the first ceasefire, where Baltimore “gang leaders, drug dealers and others linked to the violence” agreed not to kill anyone.
The ceasefire ended in the 42nd hour, as a young male was shot to death near Ravens stadium. At the time we wrote the article, homicides in Baltimore stood at 208. Fast Forward to the end of October and homicides now stand at 295 honing in on the record high of 344 set in 2015.
According to The Economist,
If weighted to reflect the fact that the murder rate always climbs in the hot, fractious summer months, this suggests Baltimore may see more than 400 murders this year. That would smash the existing record of 344 killings, which was set in 2015, fuelled by violent rioting over the death in police custody of a drug peddler called Freddie Gray.
Despite no obvious slowdown in murders from the first ceasefire, The event’s founder Ericka Bridgeford, 44 remains optimistic for the second.
She cites “momentum has been really amazing” since the first event due to the awareness through citywide cookouts, marches, and vigils.
Bridgeford also said, “when we do it together and stand together often, it can shift something that we thought we could do nothing about. We can’t reach that goal if we just do it one time. We have to keep doing it.”
In the first ceasefire movement in August, Ruptly interviewed a pair of ceasefire members who described Baltimore as a “war zone”. Keep in mind, this is a much different narrative than the mainstream who think everything is awesome.
Calendar of events with the ceasefire starting on Nov 03-05.
The idea of the second ceasefire failing is a very real possibility. Baltimore citizens are twice as likely to be killed walking down the streets than Chicago. Oddly enough, both cities are long-standing Democratic strongholds that have completely destroyed the inner city through decades of de-industrialization and terrible policy decision.
Earlier this year, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh was over heard saying “murder is out of control” in the city. The Mayor even pleaded to the Federal Government for ATF and FBI assistance in attempt to regain control of the city, but that has yet to workout.
As for Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel really didn’t have an option, after President Trump said “I will send in the Feds!”, due tot the “carnage” of killings this year.
If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017
Bottomline: America’s inner city problem, as seen in Baltimore and Chicago are spiraling out of control.
Local governments in both cities are failing to maintain law and order, and the Federal government is now intervening. For Baltimore, some communities have banded together to form ceasefire movements in attempt to control the chaos. The next attempt for the Baltimore ceasefire comes later this week. One question we ask: will it work?