Feature: Baltimore rioting, a tale of two cities

Life in Baltimore is a tale of two cities: one is white and one is black.

After the city mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake imposed a citywide curfew as angry members of the local African-American community turned a mostly peaceful protest into a chaotic rioting Monday night, the two parts of the same city in some way merged into a same fate.

Roaming the heavily-white Charles Street corridor in northern Baltimore at dusk just hours before the 10 p.m.- 5 a.m. curfew starting Tuesday night, the atmosphere was relaxing as young white people sitting idly on the patio of restaurants lining the clean street.

Nearby in Inner Harbor, a district that boasts the city's premier tourist attraction, joggers continued their afternoon running along six-lane roads almost deserted as stores had already closed their business ahead of the curfew.

On one of the benches along the main road, spray paint reads: Baltimore, the Greatest City in America. However, in West Baltimore, only about five miles (eight km) from this quiet and prosperous white neighborhood, a tense atmosphere was almost tangible, and a different voice was crying out: Baltimore is divided.

"I have no tolerance and no acceptance for what has happened," said Pastor Joseph Parks, referring to the almost anarchic chaos late Monday that featured looting, arson and smashing of properties, hours after the funeral of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American who died on April 19 while in police custody.

"But we surely have understanding that people (in West Baltimore) want a vent. When you listen to the exchange over there, people feel like 'it's the only way I can express myself,'" said Parks.

Violence erupted Monday after a week of mostly peaceful protests over the death of Gray, who appeared to die of a spinal cord injury sustained during or shortly after his arrest, and Baltimore's Police Commissioner Anthony Batts acknowledged on Friday that Gray was not treated properly after being arrested.

But Gray's death was just the latest dot on a timeline of what African-Americans described as local police brutality and racial profiling that eventually render them voiceless in a city they called "divided."

According to an investigation report by the local news daily Baltimore Sun in last September, the city of Baltimore shelled out about 5.7 million U.S. dollars since 2011 over lawsuits claiming that police officers "brazenly beat up alleged suspects."

"Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26- year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50- year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson," the newspaper reported.

"The police had several wrongful death lawsuit against them over the years that have gone unanswered. There's a fear that the police would do the same type of things to you," said Christyn Wallace, a teacher from a nearby high school.

Standing on the opposite of the CVS pharmacy, which was torched down by rioters on Monday night, Wallace was one of the hundreds of thousands of people gathering in West Baltimore after that tumultuous night. There were 144 vehicle fires, 15 structures fires and nearly 200 arrests during the Monday unrest, according to police officials.

For the majority living in West Baltimore, Monday's unrest only aggravated economic situations in their already dilapidated neighborhood, whose black population accounts for about 96 percent.

"We hurt our own community, own stores, own pharmacy," said one resident Rodney Burns. "Everything is burned down. Everything is shut down."

According to census data, for those living in one of the areas where protesters clashed with police force on Monday, about one third live in poverty, compared to the overall poverty rate of 24 percent of the city.

Census data also shows that in the neighborhood where Gray grew up, about 57 percent of residents older than 24 have not advanced beyond a high school education, 15 percent higher above national average.

The white people seldom show up in this part of the city, said Latoya Parker, a colleague of Wallace. "A portion of it is stereotyping. Being fearful of what's going to happen if they are in this area."

"This is a very poor area. So they may not think there is anything to offer if they are coming here," she added. Endite