Didn’t see that coming: grassroots movement declaring a ceasefire in Baltimore, challenging the city to ‘nobody kill anybody’ over a 72-hour period, results in two men dead from gunshots
I hate to (I really don’t) goof on what’s ultimately very good intentioned, but come on – this is Baltimore we’re talking about. This is a city in America where the life expectancy is something that sounds like medieval times, when the bubonic plague was ravaging the realm, that’s how much violence is a problem there. It may sound like a cliché to some, but there is a shred of reality in the notion of surviving each day, because violence in Baltimore isn’t just commonplace, it’s a way of life.
I’m not (entirely) saying all this because I love to take potshots at Baltimore; I’ve seen the looming threat and constant presence of violence in that god-forsaken city. I remember when my mom wanted to be alone for a weekend, she’d jettison my sister and I off to Baltimore to stay with an aunt and cousin who lived in the deepest, darkest part of Baltimore, and I remember hearing the nightly routine of dirtbikes and ATVs that buzzed down Monroe Street that were speculated to be MS-13 drug trails. I’ve seen fights on the streets, and I knew a friend of an acquaintance who was jumped and hospitalized in ICU during an Otakon, in a very populated area near the Harbor.
Baltimore’s a dangerous place, there’s no way to deny it. So it is not the least bit of a shocker when in spite of the efforts of the people, pleading with those with ill-intentions to put their guns down and just not kill someone for three days, that such a request could not be fulfilled. 72 hours without any killing was simply too much to ask of Baltimore, and the baby steps need to be reduced dramatically if the people want to have any chance at feeling any modicum of social victory.
Frankly, I don’t have much faith that Baltimore could last 72 minutes without a killing somewhere, much less 72 hours. When people are still getting shot in the midst of an unofficial ceasefire at 5 p.m. in the summer which is basically broad daylight, there’s not much hope that violence has any chance at being curbed in a place like Baltimore.
It’s really a gigantic crapshoot and luck of the draw that violent incidents don’t happen in Baltimore, and frankly I have to be amazed at my own survival, considering just how many times I’ve been in Baltimore in my life, in spite of the fact that I really do dislike the city. I’ve been to numerous Otakons and despite my dislike for the city, Camden Yards is still amongst the finest baseball parks in MLB. Needless to say, I’ve walked around the streets of Baltimore at nighttime a.m. hours several times, and the worst thing that’s ever happened to me was being propositioned by some hookers once. Looking back, I have to thank my lucky stars that I’d never been shot at once.
Seriously though, it is sad that in spite of the good intentions, Baltimore could not make it through an entire weekend without anyone getting killed. The world truly doesn’t need this much violence, much less one individual city on a planet full of major cities. But at the same time, given the history of endless and massive violence in the city, it’s not at all the least bit surprising that they failed. 72 hours is a bar set entirely too hard, and considering the rate of death is nearly one murder a day, Baltimore needs to prove that they can go 24 hours without a killing before, they can aspire to go 72.
