Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Freedom of Speech is not the Space to Destroy


After the unrest in Baltimore around the death of Freddie Gray on Saturday night, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D-Baltimore) gave an interesting press conference.  Mayor Rawlings-Blake wanted to show sympathy towards the black lives matter protests while simultaneously showing responsibility.  So the Democrat Baltimore Mayor talked about the balancing test between peoples' right to protest and keeping people safe.  



Mayor Rawlings-Blake infamously uttered the assertion: "We also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that." So the exercise of free speech includes property damage?  What else can we conclude from Mayor Rawlings-Blake's assertion?

After the Baltimore Riots erupted on the West side of Baltimore on Monday afternoon, Mayor Rawling-Blake held a press conference in which she condemned the senseless violence by thugs.  The Mayor also denied saying that she gave protesters a space to destroy and that the press was mischaracterizing her comments. Apparently Baltimore Mayor did not appreciate that #SpacetoDestroy trended on Twitter during the #BaltimoreRiots. 

The technology for the memory hole is not so advanced that those bold words have disappeared. In fact, with the internet "a space to destroy" is part of Mayor Rawlings-Blake's permanent record. 

Even if Mayor Rawlings-Blake did not mean to say "a space to destroy", one can observe the leadership which she displayed and make informed inferences.  Why did the adult curfew not start until the night AFTER Baltimore burned?   Residents of the vandalized neighborhoods wondered why the police phalanx stepped back and watched rioters loot stores, steal cars and set fires on the streets. Were the police on orders to stand down and let the "protesters" have their space for free speech and a space to destroy?

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