I grew up in Baltimore in the 60's and 70's. I have watched the inner harbor and its surrounding area being built up and corporate serviced based corporations replacing blue collar work. Gentrification is a fine thing to revitalize areas in cities but one must wonder where do the folks who lived in those areas go. For many years people in the areas where the riot took place have been waiting to be able to take part in economic equality, new jobs and self worth that permeates the new parts of the city. Instead they have received violence, anger and a blind eye to justice! See justice is a nice word but when you do not receive any and are held to be blamed for the neglect, it festers. And in this country we are very good at looking at symptoms and not root causes. So we abuse and lock away the down trodden so we never have to address the cause. Yes the majority of people in those areas are african americans and race is one issue. But it misses the whole point to narrow it to that, as the media often does. We have come from Lyndon Johnson's vision of the great society to punishing the poor and widening the inequality of wealth, health and learning. Barack Obama said it best when he said we can change things but do "we" want to? "We" of course means those who cannot see beyond their blindfolds to see that budget cuts, ripping apart the fabric of the Voting Rights act, getting more guns on the street, and boosting corporate welfare and dismantling education have aided, if not directly caused the conditions in which these people live. If they feel the need to create wars to create a free world in the image of our country then they should consider what the world sees when riots erupt and this democracy resembles their country. I love the city of Baltimore and was at least heartened by all of the groups working together to repair the after affects of the riot. That is the Baltimore I know. These are the good citizens who take pride in their city. But once the rubble is clear, the stores that can reopen do, and the neighborhood is nothing more than area to be passed by without stopping, who will see to it that these same people are lifted up? You see once again this proves it really does take village!