FREDDIE GRAY

PLEASE DO NOT RIOT.

I TOLD you that it is VERY DIFFICULT to convict police officers. This is because INTENT matters. INDIFFERENCE is NOT the same as INTENT.

Stopping the killing of black/brown men is going to take time. The violence caused by the War on Some Drugs is causing normal citizens to be frightened of black/brown men.

In case you still do not understand, I ask you to remember the St. Valentine's Day massacre during the height of prohibition. People refused to obey the laws against drinking alcohol. Police and the FBI tried very hard to enforce the laws against drinking alcohol, and violence resulted.

Originally the violence was blamed on the criminal. Eventually the people understood that it was the law that was at fault, and prohibition ended. The violence also ended.

You all seem to think that the War on Some Drugs only affects those of us who dare to violate those laws.

Now we are seeing young people die of heroin because they can not get pain medication. We are seeing black/brown men sentenced to life in prison for something a large number of us have also done. Most of the street drugs have WAY less effect on users and society than ALCOHOL.

The police have to show at least SOME drug arrests. It is way easier to arrest a poor person than a rich person. Rich people sue for false arrest, and they hire very effective defense attorneys who make the police look incompetent. Now really, if you were a police officer, who would YOU arrest?

I will never forget the Black man who told me that he had been arrested in Palo Alto for having less than an ounce of marijuana, which should have been a misdemeanor. He was charged with a felony because the marijuana was already rolled into cigarettes. Do you think a Stanford student on the way to a party would have been charged for a felony? In fact, the police would have never even opened the student's glove compartment, like they did the Black man's glove compartment.

WE NEED TO STOP THE WAR ON DRUGS WHICH IS CAUSING A WAR ON BLACK/BROWN MEN!