With widespread rioting going on in Baltimore last night after the funeral of Freddie Gray, who died after suffering a severe spinal injury while in police custody, Jacque Reid reached out to Senior White House Correspondent April Ryan on what to expect from President Obama and the White House.
“(The President) He’s definitely watching. And it’s escalating. When you have something like this, the White House has to be very conscious on letting the President go out and speak. It’s a fine line on how the White House can handle the situation,” Ryan said. “The White House has put out a statement saying that the President is in conversation with the mayor of Baltimore and the Governor of Maryland.”
Still, given that the Gray case ties into the wide-ranging problems of police killings and brutality nationwide, including cases like Walter Scott’s, people are questioning just what the official governmental response should be. With just one day on the job, newly minted Attorney General Loretta Lynch, a former New York prosecutor who successful prosecuted the cops who raped Haitian immigrant Abner Louima with a billy club, has had to hit the ground running.
“I have been in touch with people that are watching this via social media,” says Ryan. “Everything is popping off around North Street in Baltimore that also houses the Department of Education for Baltimore city. A lot of these officials are finding their students on the streets, not just the parents but the kids. The social media is helping identify some of these kids and also figuring out what’s going on and where they may be going next.”
Ryan has family all over Baltimore from, as she says ‘from the hoodie hood to the upper-middle class.” She says her family and friends are concerned about their businesses and the community.
“We need to utilize all of Baltimore whether it be the hood, the upper class or the middle class. There is no part of Baltimore that we are not connected to. I’m in that community. There are great churches in that community. People are fearful right now. They are scared.”
Click the link above to hear the entire interview.
Jacque Reid, April Ryan On What To Expect From POTUS & White House In Light Of Baltimore Riots was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
