Baltimore:
10 Years of Crisis after Freddie Gray’s Murder by Cops

Apr 28, 2025

Ten years ago 25-year-old Freddie Gray died in the hospital in Baltimore, a week after sustaining fatal neck and spinal cord injuries from being driven roughly while handcuffed in a city police van. Six cops involved had arrested him for running from them early on a Sunday morning. They claimed he had an illegal switchblade.

On the Monday of his funeral, city schools were released early while the subway and buses were closed. Youth rioting against the police broke out in West Baltimore. The rebellion spread and continued during the week, until city prosecutor Marilyn Mosby charged the murderous cops.

Ten years later, after endless revelations about police corruption, politicians are quick to say there has been progress for young people in the city and state. But, in fact, over 43% of young people aged 16–24 in Maryland are not in the workforce—not even in those few part-time, low paid, bad-benefits jobs that exist. They are not in the dilapidated and understaffed schools, either. In Baltimore over 48% of students are chronically absent from school. More than two in three students in Maryland cannot read proficiently.

Many young people have nowhere to go but the streets, where trouble is waiting. Homicides and non-fatal shootings of Maryland youth are rising. Over 12,000 juveniles are charged with crimes each year. Almost 5,000 teenagers were booked in adult jails since 2018, where they spend up to 23 hours a day in isolation, without schooling. More than 3,500 have sued state agencies because they were sexually abused in juvenile detention facilities.

This society offers nothing to poor and working class youth. No jobs, no future. The authorities’ solution is to throw young people in jail or in the cemetery. Ten years after Freddie Gray’s murder, rebellion against capitalism is even more urgently needed.