TRNN Correspondent Eddie Conway speaks with residents of Gilmor Homes about the charges brought against six Baltimore police officers.
TRANSCRIPT:
EDDIE CONWAY, PRODUCER, TRNN: I’m Eddie Conway from The Real News, and I just came down to Gilmor Homes to get an assessment of the residents’ attitude about the State’s Attorney’s indictments against the six officers that killed Freddie Gray. And we’re interviewing people and getting an idea of how they felt about it.
GILMOR HOMES RESIDENT: Oh, great. Great. It’s a start. It’s a start. And hopefully it’ll come through.
CONWAY: Okay.
KEVIN MOORE, WITNESS TO FREDDIE GRAY’S ARREST: Me, I’m Kevin Moore. I filmed that video. And when I first filmed it I’m thinking, we’re about to get railroaded again. Even just the loss of another brother, another person that we love dearly, you see what I’m saying? I just felt like it wasn’t—it wasn’t going to be, not justice. You know what I mean? And then Marilyn Mosby come in, and she’s locking it down, dude.
They talk about, we free. We ain’t free. Look around you. This is my freedom for us. This is like another jail, man. You understand what I’m talking about? We’re fighting for freedom and I see it can happen. Because they’ll keep on happening. And we’re gonna keep on fighting.
CONWAY: Yeah, that’s right. And we [will keep] here.
RESIDENT: [Inaud.] we got, it’s a shame it took something like this to get these people’s attention that’s high up. We’re not animals.
CONWAY: That’s right.
RESIDENT: We’re not animals.
CONWAY: That’s right. And you shouldn’t be, nobody should be treated like that. Yeah.
RESIDENT: I don’t care what color you are. You shouldn’t be treated like that.
RESIDENT: Like, now that I know that they, that we got justice, like the whole city got to stop what they’re doing, you feel me, like—and like, I’m thinking, I think anybody probably feeling the same way I feel like. The police been doing this for years. I don’t know—you probably know. I’m 20, I know. You way older than me, you feel me? So only thing I think my man ain’t do is run fast enough to save his life. You feel what I’m saying? Like, I’m just happy that the officers got charged. That was one of us, we’d have been booked.
RESIDENT: Kids got out of school, they want to play ball, that’s why kids grow up doing what they do now. Because there’s nothing for them to do when they get out of school. Yeah they go home, do their homework. They also like to come outside, play basketball, ride their bike. There ain’t no playgrounds around here. There ain’t nothing for the kids to do but run in and out of these buildings. And they just did that growing up. They don’t want to do that. Kids want to play ball, play sports and grow up and be something, you feel me?
I got—also I wanted to say is like, growing up your parents also told you to call 911 when you get in trouble. Right? When I was growing I had to call my family when I got in trouble. It’s for shit like that. Now my brother gone, how can I call them? They might do something to me, too.
RESIDENT: That’s where the kids—they make their own goals around here. The place, you feel what I’m saying?
CONWAY: I see it. I see it.
RESIDENT: That’s not—that’s crazy, man. These—there’s only been one [goal] around here since I been growing up.
RESIDENT: That’s what I said, he should have gotten [inaud.]
CONWAY: Yeah.
RESIDENT: You know what I mean? He should have gotten medical attention. Why’d you move him here, there, take him all around the damn world? And he was in pain from day one, right there. That’s why they, it’s really going to need to get [inaud.] because first of all, he was hurt right then and there. For all we know, all that shit probably could have been prevented. We been slaves long enough. So when this town wants to get [inaud.] these people get over on us. You feel me, doing it like you’re the [inaud.]. We got to fight back.
CONWAY: Okay. After talking to the residents here, it seems like they are very excited, very happy that something happened at last after 111 deaths at the hands of the police. That finally, the residents feel like there might be justice, but they also feel like they should watch this and follow it so that it doesn’t disappear in the near future or get reduced further, and people get away with what everybody down here is still saying was murder.
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