Baltimore burned Monday night, as peaceful protests over the mysterious death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in police custody gave way to paroxysms of rioting. But while the protests have sparked some intelligent conversation about how a staggeringly marginalized population might react to decades worth of poverty, police brutality, and political neglect, a chunk of the mainstream media reduced the situation to a sneering, "Oh gee whiz, what's up with these thuggish teens?"
Jon Stewart addressed this complete point-missing on The Daily Show last night, mocking CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer's inexplicable incredulousness at the Baltimore riots. He also called attention to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Maryland Governor Larry Hogan's unpreparedness, pointing out that Baltimore's been suffering since the 1970s, and no one paid attention until the city was literally on fire. After all, as Stewart quipped, "You know your city's fucked up when its last, most successful employment program was casting extras for a television show about how fucked up your city is." Indeed.
