How Many Fergusons, Baltimores and Tulsas Must We Endure?

It seems to go without fail that almost every week we are seeing the shooting of an unarmed person, mainly a male, more specifically a black male by a police officer. Even though this is nothing new, with a 24-hour news cycle and social media, it’s harder to ignore than in past times. The latest is the questionable and mysterious death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland a couple of weeks ago. He was taken into custody, came out badly injured and eventually died. Now, the city has erupted into a cauldron of hostility, anger and raw emotions.

While it’s easy to sit on your couch and chastise people for turning to violence such as looting and rioting, how can you expect people to act in these sorts of situations? Freddie Gray was a part of Baltimore, his community, his family. How do his loved ones rationalize never seeing him again because of police brutality? How do you talk to his mother about being strong when he was taken way too young?

While nobody’s condoning violence, it’s easy to see how these types of situations can quickly get out of control. Human beings are imperfect with very real feelings that can often take over the best of a person, even the most rational of people. It’s not exactly fair to judge a person when you’re not in their situation.

But at the end of day, no matter how explosive these situations become, no matter how these images dominate CNN, FOX, Facebook and Twitter, there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. When will see the last Baltimore?

Here’s what some of our personalities think about the situation.