Web of Problems Led to Baltimore Rioting

At WSJ, "Longstanding troubles include a steep drop in manufacturing jobs, drug use, abandoned houses and crime":

BALTIMORE—To 18-year-old high school senior Diondre Jackson, the causes of Monday’s rioting here go much deeper than boiling anger over the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray from spine injuries he suffered while in police custody.

The spasms of looting and destruction in predominantly African-American parts of the city sprang from long-festering distrust of police among young blacks, he said, along with what he called weakened family structures and inadequate leadership in the community.

“There’s nobody to tell them right from wrong,” he said of young rioters. “A lot of them don’t have parents. When there’s no leadership to raise a child, how can you expect the child to act civilized and adultlike?”

Cleaning up the damage will be far easier than addressing the complex web of problems that has weighed on inner-city Baltimore for decades, including a steep drop in well-paying manufacturing jobs, the scourge of drugs, high crime rates and what some call a prison pipeline that leaves many young black men with records that lock them out of jobs.

At Mr. Gray’s funeral Monday, several speakers highlighted these problems. The Rev. Jamal Bryant spoke of self-empowerment but also about the forces that he said have made some African-Americans feel “boxed in”: housing discrimination, high incarceration rates, poor schools.

Former Mayor Kurt Schmoke said that when he graduated from high school in 1967, the region’s largest private employer was Bethlehem Steel Corp. By the time he became mayor 20 years later, Johns Hopkins University and its health system had risen to No. 1, a perch they maintain.

Just since 1990, the number of manufacturing jobs in the Baltimore metro region has fallen to 55,000 from 131,000, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. During the same span, employment in education and health services has jumped to 258,000 from 146,000.

“There are jobs going begging,” said Mr. Schmoke, a Democrat who is now president of the University of Baltimore. But he said they are out of reach for many city residents.

“They are jobs that require a level of literacy that is higher than the parents or grandparents of these people needed to obtain,” he said, adding that improving public schools is critically important.

Another challenge many residents face in finding employment is a criminal record, often for low-level drug offenses, Mr. Schmoke said. He noted that a task force led by Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford, a Republican, is looking into making expungement easier.

“An arrest for marijuana possession when you’re 18 should not be a cross you bear for the rest of your life,” Mr. Schmoke said.

Drugs have long plagued the city. During the 1990s homicides topped 300 a year, fueled by a crack cocaine trade concentrated in black neighborhoods. Heroin addiction is also a long-standing problem.

Online court records show Mr. Gray had a number of arrests, mostly for drug-related offenses, some of which resulted in conviction.

He was arrested on April 12 after running from a police officer when the two made eye contact in an area known for drug-dealing, officials have said. When they caught him, officers allegedly found a switchblade in his pants pocket and loaded him into a transport van.

A family lawyer has said that while Mr. Gray was in police custody, his spine was nearly severed at his neck and three vertebrae were broken. Mr. Gray died of his injuries on April 19. Six police officers have been suspended with pay, and five have given statements to police. None has commented publicly on the case...

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