BALTIMORE — "It's just hard to think that that's been 10 years ago."
On April 12, 2015, Congressman Kweisi Mfume got a call about an incident involving police at the Gilmore Homes Housing Project in West Baltimore.
What he didn't know at the time was the community and people who witnessed Freddie Gray's arrest were angry at law enforcement.
"Now, I did not anticipate the level of outrage at that time because people were still trying to get to the facts, not knowing how to really react," Congressman Mfume explained.
The initial arrest happening weeks after the Maryland legislative session.
"And so, like, I grew up in that neighborhood all my life, and in 2014, I got elected to represent this area in the Maryland House of Delegates," said State Senator Antonio Hayes.
Hayes, who ten years later is a senator in Maryland, said it was difficult having an uprising in his district within the first 100 days of being in office.
"Part of me was, I felt a sense of guilt, and I never forget this moment when I was on the campaign trail, and a young lady got out the car in a nurse uniform, and she's like 'you running for office? What y'all gonna do about these police that keep harassing? And so I heard it, but I didn't hear it," Senator Hayes said.
The following weeks, Baltimore witnessed the largest uprising it had seen since 1968, when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.
Another uprising Mfume saw firsthand.
"That anger in the street really ran parallel to the anger that was in 1968 on April 4," Congressman Mfume said.
He said the 2015 uprising was a sign that people in Baltimore were tired of seeing police brutality in their neighborhoods.
"I went to the funeral," said Congressman Mfume. "It was at my church. I remember it like it was yesterday, but most of all, I remember after the service walking out onto the lot and just seeing and hearing a lot of young people on Monroe Street, on the side street, on the parking lot, and they were saying, 'Come on, Mr. Kweisi, get off the street.' What do you mean, Get off the street? They said, 'Well, you shouldn't be out here because something's getting ready to happen'."
After the funeral, tensions were higher.
What started as just peaceful protests would be overrun by violence, looting, and destruction.
"The CVS burned down. For some people, it was just like another pharmacy, but for those people that live in that senior building, that was their grocery store. That was where they got their prescription drugs and stuff like that. And so, for me, it was just, like, so personal," Hayes said.
Hayes added the destruction had lasting effects on communities in Baltimore. Effects that lingered way beyond that year.
"It's an interesting juxtaposition 10 years later. If I had my way and a great big microphone, you'd want to want to go to everybody in the community and 'say what has changed for you?' And many of those people will say 'Nothing has changed'," said Congressman Mfume.
Although impoverished communities have seen little change in ten years, the tide is slowly changing.
"I would say the greatest success, and the greatest reductions in the amount of violence we are experiencing, is because the people have lived the experience in those communities are stepping up in a way where they are redefining the norm of their community," Senator Hayes said.
Looking forward to the next ten years, both Congressman Mfume and Senator Hayes agree the only way Baltimore will change is if everyone works together to create the change they want to see.
