We’re all feeling the heartache this city is showing in one way or another. While Fusion’s grassroots agents of social change are no stranger to the suffering that many members of Baltimore’s disenfranchised communities have endured for generations, we’re still not immune to the consequences brought on through the history of systemic injustice here. As we stand firmly behind the constructive work our partners have been doing to address these issues long before the national media rolled in, we now stand firmly in support of the assessment and reaction of Fusion Partner Lara Law of Youth Empowered Society (YES) in the wake of damages suffered to the YES Drop-In center related to Monday night’s revolt. Please read the article for some important perspective on recent events in Baltimore and please consider making a donation to help YES re-open it’s doors ASAP.
If it was a similarly-frustrated city youth who torched the center amid the riots in Baltimore, Law said, “the anger is legitimate and understandable” — even if the actions were not.
“I don’t condone the violence and the destruction, the tearing down of what we need in our community, but the young people out on the streets are some of the same young people we’re serving – filled with trauma and violence and a lack of opportunity their whole lives,” Law said. “It’s understandable. We have to fix our way of doing things so they feel included and that there are opportunities for them.”
From the Baltimore Sun article: Director of youth homeless center burned in Baltimore riots: ‘Anger is legitimate’
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