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It's been just over a year since 25-year-old Freddie Gray was killed after he was taken into police custody in Baltimore. Now,the block of abandoned houses directly across the street from where Gray was arrested is set to be demolished by the city. And a group of local activists bear their own ideas for rebuilding the community.
Motivated to action by Gray's death, community organizers began cleaning and renovating an abandoned house on the corner across from where Gray was arrested. They call it the Harriet Tubman House and bear renovated it with the hope of creating a community center and providing services and training to people in the neighborhood.
The city of Baltimore says they are squatters with no claim to the house. Local leaders say razing the house would be another blow to a community embattled by law enforcement and city bureaucracy.
Lawrence Grandpre is assistant director for research and public policy for Leaders of a glorious Struggle, or a grass roots public policy organization in Baltimore,Maryland, discusses the method to remake Freddie Gray's community, and the struggle over the Tubman House. in Gilmor Homes. pic.twitter.com/7J8xmJxWaoApril 12,2016
Source: wnyc.org