Response to the Current Events in Baltimore

Question

Brief Description of Events

Some riots involving violence and lootings have recently taken place in Baltimore, Maryland. Following the death of the 25-year-old boy Freddie Grey as the result of trauma obtained during the police arrest, many citizens, especially juveniles, came out to protest against the arbitrariness of the police. Their protest involved fights, stores looting, and cars and buildings arsons that resulted in numerous arrests.

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Personal Reaction

No one should be indifferent to the current events in Baltimore. Destroying the city is unwise and illegal. It was the police’s duty to protect the citizens and arrest the protesters. However, one can understand the rioters as well. The death of a boy after the arrest, which caused fatal trauma, can be regarded as police arbitrariness. It is normal for people to react this way, protect their rights, and protest against the lawlessness of police officers’ activities. Therefore, the rioters have the right to demonstrate their dissatisfaction. Still, the recent protest in Baltimore was not the way of showing disagreement appropriate for civilized human beings.

The situation proves that the looters decided to apply arbitrariness to their activities the way the police did, and this made the situation worse. They brought some extra work and losses to the community. The costs of their riot do not only refer to the economy of the city but also its social life. The behavior of these people did not contribute in any way to the solving of the main problem they indicated – police arbitrariness. The fact that the rioters prevented the firefighters from stopping the blaze demonstrates that these people did not really care about the welfare of the city. However, one may say that their initial aim was noble – they were trying to inform the citizens and the authorities about their dissatisfaction with the work of the police.

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Social Workers Response

Many people might support the opinion that the actions of the police officers cannot be tolerated any longer and they may follow the rioters without paying much attention to the methods the rebels use. As there are many chances that this might happen, social workers should do a lot to calm down the citizens and prevent similar situations. Many rioters were juveniles, so social workers need to pay particular attention to communication with this part of society. Moreover, parents of young people can be involved in the work if there is such a possibility.

To avoid such cases in the future, professionals should have meetings with high school students and their teachers to identify possible dissatisfaction and stop it. Social workers are responsible for explaining to the students (considering this very case) the ways they can adhere to demonstrate their dissatisfaction. As many students might feel extremely stressed because of the death of a young person, or about their future as they may occur in the same situation, social workers need to be very careful in communication with them. The individual meeting should be appointed with the students who are prone to protest in the same way as rioters in Baltimore did. Professional counselors should offer their help to the juveniles to calm them down, support them, and show that they are not alone with their grief and fears.

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Social workers must follow certain ethical guidelines in cases like the one that took place in Baltimore. First of all, they should have value for the human rights of every person, so they should respect the rioters’ right to show their protest. Moreover, they should provide their help to all parties of the conflict regardless of their personal opinion on the situation. For this reason, social workers need to communicate with rioters as they refer to the vulnerable and oppressed populations even though their activities break the law and do not guarantee respect for the human rights of all people (including peaceful citizens and the police).

Because professionals working in counseling have to establish social justice, they need to demonstrate their understanding of the rioters’ grief and aims but explain that the actions of oppressed people deprive others of living happily. In addition to this, social workers have to help all people, irrespective of their origin, age, gender, and deeds because everyone deserves attention and help.

Another important duty that the counselors should have performed right after the accident with Freddie Grey is the conversations with the family and friends of the deceased. If they have not done it yet, they should meet with these people and provide their professional assistance to them as soon as possible. Moreover, the counselors should provide needed information to all parties of the conflict. This evidence included the services people can use and the help of other specialists (psychologists, lawyers, and others). It is important that while communicating with the victims, rioters, police officers, and citizens social workers mention that they always maintain the privacy of their clients, so other people will not know the details of the conversation.

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Conclusion

To conclude, the current events in Baltimore provoked the reaction of many people. No single person remained indifferent. However, the situation has two sides: the rioters have the right to demonstrate their protest, but the ways they choose for that are absolutely unacceptable. Since the situation directly touches the social sphere, social workers need to be very active and do much work to help the victims and prevent further conflicts. In particular, they should have conversations with the family and friends of the man who died because of the trauma he received during the arrest. In addition, they should appoint meetings at schools and talk to the students as most rioters were juveniles, so the youth is the risk group. Social workers should also provide their assistance to the police officers that participated in the establishment of the order and the citizens that suffered the damage because of the looting.

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