Baltimore May 7-9, 2015

I attended a conference in Baltimore just a couple days after the curfew was lifted following the West Baltimore demonstrations and riots, which followed the funeral of Freddie Gray, who was killed in a police van.

I assume this is one of the corner stores we saw being looted on TV. It's on the corner of Fulton and North Street, in Sandtown. The Economist Magazine says Sandtown has a higher murder rate than Honduras, the most homicidal country in the world. It said that if Sandtown were a country the U.S. State Department would advise citizens not to go there. 

This is what a lot of the housing in Sandtown and the rest of West Baltimore looks like. The housing that was not boarded up had a lot of people sitting and visiting on the steps and sidewalks and kids playing on the sidewalks and streets. 

A typical street corner. A lot of convenience and liquor stores and people. 

The Mondawmin Mall. I think this was the epicenter of the riots and looting. The mall was closed as late as Friday evening. When I slowed in front of the Target store (I was looking for a Mother's Day card), a girl on the walk said it would open with regular hours on Saturday. 

This was a peaceful demonstration. I could not understand what the woman with the loudspeaker was repeating, but the sign says, "Don't Judge us by our hair or how we dress We're more than that we are #365 Empress #Royal". The Empress reference is to a "Baltimore Women Rock" movement. 

On the flip side, the Baltimore Inner Harbor is a big touristy place. The Inner Harbor has a bunch of restaurants, tourist shops, and boat rides of all sorts. 

This is a "floating wetlands" project designed to help restore the waterways for wildlife. 

The Hard Rock Cafe and Barnes and Noble are in the old power plant. 

This is a view of the Inner Harbor from room 910 in the Hyatt Regency. 

And this is also a view from room 910 (I didn't capture the jack hammer sound effects) Friday night until early morning, when the cement trucks showed up to fill in the concrete the Bobcats had hammered out. 

Fort McHenry is on my all-time favorites list for historical sites. I didn't take many photos here, because I've taken a bunch in the past, but I don't know if I ever posted them. This is the ammo barn that was hit by an exploding cannon ball that luckily didn't explode. The British fired on the fort for 25 hours in an attempt to knock out the fort and proceed to an invasion of Baltimore. The tiny fort held strong until the British ran out of ammunition. 

Cannons. 

I imagine this is similar to the view Francis Scott Key saw from the British ship he was being restrained to the morning after the British bombed Fort McHenry throughout the night, the view that inspired him to write the words to The Star-Spangled Banner as the British were retreating in defeat.