Newscaster: Cellphone video shows Freddie Grey screaming as officers drag him to a police van.
Darnell: Many assumed that the protests of the past year would tear the city of Baltimore apart.
That the relationship between black and Latino youth and local police would be broken.
"We don’t feel safe walking around our neighborhood
and we see a police officer because we feel like we're going to get shot."
"Someone got beat to death. Somebody who was innocent, didn’t have no weapon.
They got fucking beat to death on the ground..".
Darnell: This issue is not new in Baltimore
or other cities across the U.S.
But what if young people take the lead and work with police to repair the wounds
that stretch back way before the death of Freddie Grey?
DARNELL: Baltimore, a predominantly black city, remains largely segregated
and, in some places heavily policed.
Like most urban centers in the U.S.,
Baltimore has suffered years of political and economic disenfranchisement.
Chances of becoming a victim of violent crime is 1 in 70.
People like to emphasize the bad without recognizing the people trying to make it better...
like Dayonna Tunstall and Tiana Samuels.
They’re a part of that change through their work with a group called The Inner Harbor Project.
Dayonna: If all you know is the Wire and if all you know are the riots and what people say...
then you don’t know my Baltimore.
Darnell: Freddie Grey happened here. Do you see changes in the city after Freddie Grey’s death?
Tiana: Well I see a lot of positive interactions now.
I think it made a lot of people think more.
I think it educated people more on what was really going on.
So I feel like now is the best time, after the situation that happened, for us to really do our job.
People growing up in Baltimore face drastically different worlds.
For wealthier white families, unemployment sits below 5%,
and access to private schools is the norm.
But in areas like Freddie Grey’s neighborhood, unemployment is at almost 52%.
These kinds of disparities affect opportunity, security, and inclusion.
The Inner Harbor Project is a youth-led organization
that provides young students with the tools and training to counteract the culture of exclusion.
Diamond: Deep breath, deep breath... let it out, let it out.
DARNELL: A key part of project is a training series for police officers.
The kids lead the sessions, and they share their concerns, anxieties, and disagreements.
And they listen as officers like Lieutenant Olsen do the same.
Darnell: Before you came into real engagement with the young people at Inner Harbor Project,
What were the thoughts? What are people thinking about the young people here?
Olsen: The word of caution was “you have to be careful, you have to watch those kids”.
The phrase “those kids” was repeated over and over again.
So like anybody, I came down here and I wanted to get my own impressions.
I mean I quickly realized that there’s no such thing as "those kids".
Darnell: Some of these perceptions aren’t necessarily made up that the young people have.
I want to be real. As a black youngster, I experienced antagonism.
It isn’t just some young people deciding to not like police in their neighborhood.
Olsen: No, I get it, I get it. Perceptions are based in some sort of reality.
Experiences are real and just like yours, I can never take that away.
And what I can do is move forward.
One thing I was very – I impressed upon the people I worked with
that every action you have, every interaction that you have with somebody is going to have an effect.
Darnell: When the students aren’t meeting with police, they plan and prepare for fundraisers,
or work with shops in the area on discount deals for students.
But there’s always a team at the harbor itself.
They speak with community leaders, stop by and chat with store owners,
and just... hang out with their peers.
Dayonna: Us just walking around, and showing people that the stereotypes
or that the reputation is not true,
I think that’s a bigger movement in itself.
Once you get another picture that like contradicts with what you thought you knew,
it changes you.
Tianna: You can’t go based off of what you see in the media
Dayonna: Like CNN and FOX and every other news station there is called us thugs.
Houck: I think the word was owned by rappers.
They started coming out with songs and calling themselves thugs.
Kelly: I'm thinking thugs is not far off the mark, am I wrong?
Bryant: We have colorized the word thug...
Darnell: Using words like “thug” and “those kids” is an unmistakable form of coded racism.
Black people are no more criminal or violent than others.
And “black on black crime” is no more of a problem than other forms of intraracial violence.
Inner Harbor Project is critical because it gives young people a platform to be heard.
Baltimore native Celia Neustadt founded The Inner Harbor Project in 2012
after years of observing how these biases divide the community and harm black youth.
Celia: I began speaking with teenagers about the Inner Harbor and I would get two responses.
The first is that they love the Inner Harbor
and then in the second breath,
they explained to me that they feel excluded, unwelcome, and criminalized
when they visit the Inner Harbor.
Darnell: And that is why it’s necessary to remind black youth they are welcome
and ensure they are safe.
Dayonna: Personally, I hurt because I always feel like I’m not good enough.
Tianna: The anger everyone had is just like why are we being treated this way
or why do I have to settle for this.
Dayonna: Honestly, I didn’t want the protesters to stop.
I knew it was going like continue for a couple of days,
but then I knew it was going to stop.
We don’t need to stop.
We need to push, and we need to push, and we need to push until it’s equal.