# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Watching televised scenes Monday night of looting, burning and rock-throwing in Baltimore brought back memories for Jewell Chambers. The West Baltimore resident was a young reporter for the Afro-American newspaper the last time the city saw a similar upheaval.

In early April 1968, the city exploded in a rampage of rock-throwing, arson and looting following the slaying of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. By the time peace was restored four days later, six people had been killed, 700 injured, 1,000 businesses ransacked or burned and 5,800 people arrested.

"There was absolute fear," said Chambers, now 72.

She recalls dodging rocks while covering the unrest - something reporters did Monday as well. She witnessed a bar owner pleading with rioters not to torch his place, and flinched when a jittery National Guardsman poked a bayonet into her car after stopping her for being out after the curfew.

The legacy of that trauma lingers 47 year later, say Chambers and others who lived through it or studied it. It also offers lessons, they say, for how to get past the latest eruption.

"A lot of the same issues that existed in 1968 in a lot of these neighborhoods still exist today," said Elizabeth Nix, an assistant history professor at the University of Baltimore who co-edited a book examining the 1968 riots.

While King's murder in Memphis sparked the rioting, Nix said, the violence fed on discontent in the African-American community over economic inequality, housing discrimination and perceptions of being disrespected by neighborhood merchants, many of whom did not live there.

The underlying resentment over poverty and racial inequities remains today, Nix said.

"There's still a lot of people who don't feel like their voices are heard and that they're cut off from the economic and social life of Baltimore," she concluded.

The 1968 rioting began in East Baltimore, as supermarkets, furniture stores, taverns and other shops were ransacked and burned. After hours of trying to quell the violence, Mayor Thomas D'Alesandro III called in more than 5,000 National Guardsmen and imposed an 11 p.m. curfew. Some criticized D'Alesandro then for not being more forceful in heading off trouble, as others now are faulting Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

But even the National Guard was not enough then. Rioting broke out the following day in West Baltimore, prompting Gov. Spiro Agnew to seek help from the White House. President Lyndon B. Johnson sent in thousands of Army troops.

In one respect, the 1968 riots were not as disruptive as the current upheaval. The Orioles only had to postpone a single game, their season home opener. But two players, shortstop Mark Belanger and relief pitcher Pete Richert, missed the game, having been called up by their National Guard units.

The 1968 devastation had lasting effects, said Robert C. Embry Jr., who was a member of Baltimore City Council then. It accelerated an exodus of white residents to the suburbs, he said, and it removed a lot of stores from African-American neighborhoods - leading to a shortage of shopping opportunities that persists today.

Embry, who's now president of the Abell Foundation after a career in public service that included being the city's first housing commissioner, said he didn't believe the outburst of violence on Monday would be enough to scare off the recent influx of residents or investment into the city.

"But I could be totally wrong," he said.

Chambers said she's disgusted by the vandalism and looting. The CVS pharmacy that was looted and burned, she said, was there to serve local residents, including a nearby senior housing facility.

But she said she believes the rioting shouldn't distract from dealing with the festering anger over police treatment of residents in poor, predominantly African-American neighborhoods. Before the outbreak, there had been a week of mostly peaceful demonstrations over the death in police custody of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, an incident protesters contend is part of a pattern of abuse by authorities.

"What we need to be concerned with in Baltimore is not so much black or white, it's blue," Chambers said. "It's the actions of the police."
Baltimore Sun reporter Mike Klingaman contributed to this article. tim.wheeler@baltsun.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
City rioting evokes memories of 1968 unrest

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Watching televised scenes Monday night of looting, burning and rock-throwing in Baltimore brought back memories for Jewell Chambers. The West Baltimore resident was a young reporter for the Afro-American newspaper the last time the city saw a similar upheaval.

# data[].attributes.body
now

# data[].attributes.body
Baltimore riot 2015

# data[].attributes.body
Baltimore riots 2015

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.entities[].name
Baltimore Riots State Of Emergency Looting Tears Gas Clash Protesters Freddy Gray Protest

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Baltimore Maryland Freddie Gray Riot (FULL) 2015

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Baltimore Maryland Freddie Gray protest turns destructive. protesters smash 3 police vehicles, taking selfies in-front of damage, protesters also began to assault camera operators, police in riot gear push crowd back.

# data[].attributes.body
Baltimore Riot 2015

# data[].attributes.body
Baltimore riot 2015

# data[].attributes.body
calm down linda

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/27/us/baltimore-unrest/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Too many people have spent generations building up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs who -- in a very senseless way -- are trying to tear down what so many have fought for," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said.

Buildings and cars across the city were engulfed in flames. About a dozen businesses looted or damaged. At least 15 officers were wounded, six of them seriously, the police commissioner said.

Late Monday night, CNN crews saw looters breaking in through the roof of a Baltimore liquor store. They were tossing bottles and cans of alcohol onto the street below.

All this came just hours after the funeral for Freddie Gray, who died of a severe spinal cord injury while in police custody.

Gray's family denounced the violence.

"I want y'all to get justice for my son, but don't do it like this here," his mother told journalists.

Gray's twin sister, Fredericka, said she couldn't understand the riots.

"I don't think that's for Freddie," she said. "I think the violence is wrong."

The destruction was so bad that children can't go to school Tuesday.

Officers seriously injured

Six Baltimore police officers were seriously injured in Monday's violence, Police Commissioner Anthony Batts said. He said many of the instigators appeared to be high school students.

"I think they thought it was cute to throw cinder blocks at police," Batts said.

Video showed police in riot gear taking cover behind an armored vehicle as assailants pelted them with rocks.

More than two dozen people have already been arrested, Baltimore police Col. Darryl D. DeSousa said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries among the rioters.

Senior center engulfed in flames

An enormous fire broke out at affordable housing center for seniors. It was just months away from opening.

Pastor Donte Hickman of the Southern Baptist Church, which owns the facility, said 60 units of senior housing were lost.

The mayor said it's not clear whether the fire was related to riots, as the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Regardless, the loss has been devastating.

"My eyes have been filled with tears," Hickman said. "Someone didn't understand that we exist in the community to help revitalize it."

State of emergency declared

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard. The mayor of Baltimore said every possible resource was being deployed to "gain control of this situation."

Rawlings-Blake said the city will impose a mandatory curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. daily, effective for one week starting Tuesday night.

She stressed that the city already has a mandatory curfew for young people -- 9 p.m. ET for children under 14, while teenagers 14-16 have to be inside by 10 p.m. ET on school nights.

'Credible threat' to officers

Earlier Monday, Baltimore police said they had received a "credible threat" that gangs were teaming up to "take out" officers.

It did not say where the information came from, nor did it say whether the threat was tied to the recent death of Freddie Gray.

"The Baltimore Police Department/Criminal Intelligence Unit has received credible information that members of various gangs including the Black Guerilla Family, Bloods, and Crips have entered into a partnership to 'take out' law enforcement officers," police said. "This is a credible threat."

Reinforcements coming in

Up to 5,000 law enforcement officials will be requested from the mid-Atlantic region to help quell the violence in Baltimore, Col. William Pallozzi of the Maryland State Police said Monday night.

And authorities say about 1,500 members of the National Guard have been deployed.

Maryland State Police ordered an additional 40 troopers to Baltimore to join the 42 troopers already sent there Monday afternoon to assist city police. Since last Thursday, more than 280 state troopers have provided assistance in Baltimore.

"Today's looting and acts of violence in Baltimore will not be tolerated," said Hogan. "There is a significant difference between protesting and violence, and those committing these acts will be prosecuted under the fullest extent of the law."

New attorney general speaks out

Just hours after she was sworn in, Attorney General Loretta Lynch decried the "senseless acts of violence" in Baltimore.

She said the Justice Department "stands ready to provide any assistance that might be helpful."

"Those who commit violent actions, ostensibly in protest of the death of Freddie Gray, do a disservice to his family, to his loved ones, and to legitimate peaceful protesters who are working to improve their community for all its residents," she said.

'They don't deserve this'

Monday's violence came the same day as Gray's funeral. The 25-year-old was arrested on April 12 and died one week later from a fatal spinal cord injury.

"I am sure that the family is concerned, and I am positive that they are against what is beginning to develop here in town," said Billy Murphy, an attorney for the Gray family.

"They don't deserve this any more than Freddie Gray deserved it," he said about the injured officers.

The mayor said the city doesn't deserve what has happened, either.

"It is so frustrating that people think that this makes sense -- to destroy our community," she said. "People who live there that are already hurting are going to be the ones that pay."

CNN's Miguel Marquez and Ben Brumfield contributed to this report.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
baltimore protests turn violent; police injured - cnn

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Baltimore protests turn violent; police injured - CNN

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Too many people have spent generations building up this city for it to be destroyed by thugs who -- in a very senseless way -- are trying to tear down what so many have fought for," Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said. Buildings and cars across the city were engulfed in flames.

# data[].attributes.body
Baltimore Riots 2015

# data[].attributes.body
Now

# data[].attributes.body
Baltimore riots 1968

# data[].attributes.body
Baltimore Riots 1968

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.entities[].name
Donald Trump Inauguration INSANE Protests & Riots Compilation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.entities[].name
Baltimore Riots Looting Tears Gas Clash Protesters Freddy Gray Protest

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Baltimore Riots 2015 A Compilation All Angles Freddy Gray

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is showing the Riots in Baltiomore over the Police Death of Freddy Gray at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. These are multiple clips from different angles and timelines.