BALTIMORE — The question a lot of people are asking is if these protesters were predominantly black and brown, would the reaction from police have been the same?
What kind of punishment are we going to see for the people responsible for storming the capitol on Wednesday?
In total Capitol Police reported 14 arrests.
10 for unlawful entry, two for assaulting a police officer, and two for unregistered weapon charges.
There is also this booking log from Metro Police here.
In it you can see a long list of curfew violations and unlawful entries, a few unlicensed weapons charges, and one riot act felony.
If you look at the same report and go back to the charges during the Black Lives Matter you will find a lot more riot act felony charges.
“You see videos of the police not in riot gear against angry rioters, you can’t help but think if they were black people, if they were a 21-year-old kid standing on the sidewalk with a bullhorn they would have been attacked," said Kwame rose.
In 2015, Kwame Rose was that 21-year-old.
He was arrested twice during the unrest following the in-custody death of Freddie Gray.
“The last time was for like the most ridiculous thing it became known as the battle of the bullhorn. They charged me with improper use of a bullhorn. I guess they explained it my bullhorn was louder than the Sheriff officers and so I was arrested.”
The ACLU stepped in and helped to overturn a conviction.
He said 2015 changed his life.
He committed to helping Baltimore Communities in need.
When a gas explosion devastated a neighborhood in Northwest Baltimore, he partnered up with World Central Kitchen to get food to victims.
Still, he was one of the loudest voices and biggest peacekeepers during the protests this summer.
He said what happened at the Capitol goes to show exactly why people are going to the streets to yell
“Because there’s two different reactions. The police yesterday expressed everything and showed everything that black folks are asking for. We ain’t asking police to shoot white folks like they shoot black people. We’re just asking them to not shoot us like they don’t shoot them.”
