80 NOBODY

offenses, though he had also been cited for assault and for destruction conditions for social
of property. Still, no less than Elijah Cummings, US Representative actions are an exter
for Maryland, gave a eulogy at Gray's funeral in Baltimore's New that does not dismis
Shiloh Baptist Church. As he did, three representatives from the it as an overarching
Obama White House sat among the congregation." The purpose of Violence is not f
their attendance was clear: to stop the violence that was likely coming ravage its once-stur
to these streets. Though his life was short and complicated, Gray, ranked among the tl
again like Michael Brown, had beS0ine a symbol to rally around. ity of this dubious d
The uprisings that followed Gray's death-the worst Baltimore a fire destroyed the
had seen since the assassination of Martin Luther King in 1968- neighborhood drug
were devastating to the city. Demonstrators destroyed storefronts about the dealers \
and threw rocks, bottles, and jagged slabs of concrete at police offi- police's response to
cers working to quell the uproar. They looted Mondawmin Mall, a stayed-that is, un
seven-hundred-square-foot shopping center named for the Algon- kicked in the front,
quian spirit of the corn. In one particularly tragic scene, the pro- the blaze that woul
testers set ablaze a sixteen-million-dollar Baptist church-sponsored dren, aged nine to
community center and apartment complex that, half built, had been ruin, a symbol of tl:
a sign of hope to the neighborhood's elderly." replaced by a cornr
Still, to suggest that the violence was unnecessary or entirely The city is she
unjustified would be to misunderstand the complexity of the story. HBO series The 1

Even calling the action's "rio'ts" rather than "rebellions" or "up- series producer anr
risings" obscures the principled outrage that animated many acts Streets.'?' Former 1
of resistance that occurred in the aftermath of Gray's death. For who pleaded guilt
many in Baltimore, as in Ferguson, the rebellions were an attempt served time in pri
to scar public tissue, to draw attention to a deeply troublesome now a morning F
and long-standing state of civic affairs. By destroying government reducing major cri
property, they were attempting to momentarily disrupt the affairs decline through 2
of a State that was systematically killing them. By tearing down are now roughly a
commercial businesses, they were aiming to strike a blow ~gainst are in New York,
the crippling machinery of late capitalism, which had creat~d the In July 2015, thre
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