What The Baltimore Orioles Are Saying About The Riots In Their City

The city of Baltimore is reeling today after an ugly day of violence, looting and rioting following the funeral of Freddie Gray. What started out as peaceful protests for a man killed in police custody quickly devolved into all out mayhem on Monday, with rioters destroying buildings and cars.

As a result of the 10 p.m. curfew and numerous safety concerns, the Baltimore Orioles postponed their game against the White Sox on Monday night. They will likely need to reschedule other night games this week as the situation intensifies.

The Orioles organization has not shied from voicing their opinions on the matter. Over the weekend (and before the riots), COO John Angelos tweeted about the socioeconomic issues of Baltimore:

Speaking only for myself, I agree with your point that the principle of peaceful, non-violent protest and the observance of the rule of law is of utmost importance in any society. MLK, Gandhi, Mandela and all great opposition leaders throughout history have always preached this precept. Further, it is critical that in any democracy, investigation must be completed and due process must be honored before any government or police members are judged responsible.

That said, my greater source of personal concern, outrage and sympathy beyond this particular case is focused neither upon one night’s property damage nor upon the acts, but is focused rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the U.S. to third-world dictatorships like China and others, plunged tens of millions of good, hard-working Americans into economic devastation, and then followed that action around the nation by diminishing every American’s civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state.

The innocent working families of all backgrounds whose lives and dreams have been cut short by excessive violence, surveillance, and other abuses of the Bill of Rights by government pay the true price, and ultimate price, and one that far exceeds the importances of any kids’ game played tonight, or ever, at Camden Yards. We need to keep in mind people are suffering and dying around the U.S., and while we are thankful no one was injured at Camden Yards, there is a far bigger picture for poor Americans in Baltimore and everywhere who don’t have jobs and are losing economic civil and legal rights, and this makes inconvenience at a ballgame irrelevant in light of the needless suffering government is inflicting upon ordinary Americans.

On Monday night, manager Buck Showalter talked about the psyche of the team:

“I don’t want to lessen it all so I’m very cautious about even talking about it. There’s so many things that go on that you get challenged with, obviously this is a different level. There’s not a lot of experience with it. So you try to take each moment as it comes and I know there were a lot of calls to some guys’ families about making sure they knew what was going on from a safety standpoint. But guys are watching it. They are all aware of what’s going on.”

Adam Jones briefly commented on the situation on Saturday night as fans and protesters skirmished outside Camden Yards:

“I understand they are fighting for a good cause. I just want people to be safe. I don’t want people to be hurt. I understand, fight for your rights. It’s what you should do. But try to be safe and be smart about it.”

Before Monday night’s game was cancelled, players in the locker room watched the riots on local TV. One anonymous player summed up how many of us feel:

“This is sad, it really is.”

*UPDATE: Tonight’s game has been postponed.