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Maryland’s investment in police militarizationīaltimore, like other localities in Maryland and across the country, received a surplus of military equipment from the Defense Department’s 1033 program to provide to local law-enforcement agencies. Protesters are targeted and legal and medical observers are arrested for adding service to the community resisting state violence. Joseph Kent’s arrest made headlines internationally as activists on social media demanded answers from Mayor Rawlings Blake and the Baltimore Police Department.

Well-known Baltimore activist Joseph Kent was kidnapped by police live on television. Though we should be applauding the efforts of those involved with brokering a truce between street organizations, we should also be wary of fear-mongering and the ongoing criminalization of black communities.Īcross the globe, communities are watching thousands of protesters take the street and become victims of state repression and police violence in Baltimore. Just like occupied territory in Ferguson, Baltimore viewed those demonstrating as enemy combatants and thugs. The presence of militarized police sent a message of intimidation to black and Latino civilians in the community. These practices are far too common and are perpetuated by a failure to hold police officers accountable for excessive use of force against black and brown communities.Ĭommunity members are grieving the loss of Freddie Gray and black transgender woman Mya Hall, and now they must experience continued trauma and violence by the state through police repression. Most recently in February, a mentally ill black woman died in Fairfax County jail when a sheriff’s deputy shocked her four times. Officer Joseph Weekley, fired a single shot at Aiyana’s head. The SWAT team threw a flash-bang grenade through the window that landed next to Aiyana, burning her blanket. In a nighttime drug raid, a black 7-year-old girl, Aiyana Stanley-Jones, slept on her grandmother’s couch as half a dozen masked officers of Detroit’s version of SWAT-Special Response Team-held their guns drawn at the door. Police militarization has been the state’s tactic to clamp down on dissent and directly target communities of color with racially biased policing and excessive use of force. Thanks to the wars on drugs and crime, police militarization has been one of the most unnoticed developments of our lifetime.

The response to the killing of Michael Brown last year in Ferguson opened up a national conversation around police militarization and how militarized police disproportionately affect communities of color.