Student Voices Focus on Frustration in Baltimore

Students on Baltimore campuses shared their thoughts on the protests in the city—and the events that inspired them.

Kellye Beathea, graduating law student, University of Baltimore School of Law

Wednesday evening, I participated in the march from Penn Station to City Hall in support of obtaining justice for Freddie Gray and countless others who have fallen victim to police brutality in Baltimore City.

This is more than just Freddie Gray. This is also more than police brutality reform. This movement is about how our times of lament have been wholly disregarded solely based on skin color; therefore, what would have been a full five-step process of grief has been halted at only one: anger. We can’t get out of the stage of anger, because the same foolishness keeps happening. And people may express their emotions in different ways, but it’s still anger nonetheless.

You want to know what scares me more than the unorganized protesting outside?

The attorneys and soon-to-be attorneys of Maryland who don’t realize that there’s unorganized protesting outside. Those who can legitimize a riot when their beloved Terps lose to Duke for the umpteenth time but can vehemently condemn those living in a city where the suffocating frustration of being intelligent and poor is reaching epidemic levels.

What I participated in this week was an example of controlled anger. What the world has witnessed in the past few days was an example of uncontrolled anger. While the rally this week was more socially accepted, rest assured that people can only control their anger for so long before they to shift into the socially unacceptable category.