Baltimore’s systemic racism problem

The city of Baltimore has a Black mayor, a Black police chief and black city officials but it still has a systemic problem with racism. Racism is in America has been so pervasive for so long, electing Black officials may or may not be a way to address the problems nationally or locally. When Black cops beat up Black residents as was caught on video last month at a Baltimore bus stop, it is hard to argue that more Black cops will solve the problem as has been suggested in the wake of the murder of Michael Brown by white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson. Certainly this is not to say that more Black cops could not effective any change but it is to say that traditionally, cops have never protected and served Black communities regardless of their skin color. Often, individuals do not change the system, the system changes them assuming these were people who went into the profession for the right reason which is often not the case.

Dr. Ray Winbush recently sat down with former Baltimore Black Panther Party member and former political prisoner Eddie Conway to discuss structural racism in Baltimore and other cities across the United States.