Anchor Struck

I’m befuddled by the news coming out of Baltimore, and that’s confounded by the slew of GOP presidential hopefuls who assure us that they can set things straight within minutes after their inauguration.  First we had the death of Freddy Gray, a young black man who died in police custody last month.  Six Baltimore cops have been charged in his death.

Violent protests followed.  In one of them, Toya Graham made national headlines by smacking her son when she recognized him at a protest.  Her 16-year-old Michael was wearing a hoodie and mask, and holding a rock (or “boulder”, as Fox News reported).  When they made eye contact, she started whaling on him.  Ms. Graham hoped that it would be a teachable moment.  She was widely lauded for this.  Some dubbed her “mom of the year”.

So: death of person in police custody bad; violent response to that death bad; violent response to that violent response good.  You can understand my confusion.  What did Ms. Graham think she was teaching her son?  Whatever it was, it has yet to affect the Baltimore police.  The Nightly Show just ran two clips of cops enforcing a curfew.  White protestors were told politely but firmly to move along.  A black man got a blast of pepper spray in his face.