“Baltimore Rising”: Documentary Shows Blacks Endlessly Willing to Excuse Crime

The new HBO documentary “Baltimore Rising” has gotten loads of exposure in the last few days — raves from Salon and the Washington Post — and for most of its 90 minutes it’s watchable as it recounts the 2015 death of Baltimore drug dealer Freddie Gray and the subsequent riots and political soul-searching.

Producer-director Sonja Sohn focuses on several activists, including a 17-year-old high school student Makayla Gilliam-Price … {snip}

Okay, some of us may have a nephew who has been a screwup from the cradle. We support our families’ efforts on his behalf, to a point. But whites generally display zero tolerance for criminals outside their immediate family. The tribalism of Africans in America, to use Malcolm X’s apt term, is apparently expansive without limit. It’s the person from outside the tribe who is the enemy — particularly the outsider who wears a police uniform and enforces behavioral norms.

This quirk is on full display in “Baltimore Rising.” Activists curse cops as murderers. Actual murderers, including Makayla’s uncle who was executed in 1998, are mourned. The film’s focal characters include a “retired” gang member who canoodles with the groveling commissioner, who has turned to the “community” for help in discouraging another riot. A black lieutenant colonel tours a rough neighborhood distributing hugs.

Consequences of the reduced tension? For three years, the city has been the No. 2 murder capital of the U.S.

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