Five years later, it was happening again.
I watched as Minneapolis erupted in unrest this spring with a sinking sense of déjà vu. George Floyd’s death had set off an all-too-familiar pattern: A Black man is killed in police custody, his death mourned by thousands who take to the streets in protest, clashing with law enforcement until the tension breaks into violence.
It was the same story that played out in Baltimore, my home of nine years, when Freddie Gray was killed. Or so I thought.
Half a decade ago, when the whole world was watching Baltimore, everyone’s eyes seemed trained on the destruction, their focus fleeting. But this time, they haven’t looked away.
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