Having lived in and around Baltimore most of my life, I was heartbroken to watch the city devolve into civil unrest and violence in the wake of the death of Freddie Gray. This isn't the first time this has happened here in my lifetime. I was a toddler when the King riots happened in April 1968. I have no real memories of them – other than my suburban parents being terrified by what they saw on TV, and my dad buying a lot of guns.
So, when I went to the Orioles vs. Red Sox game that night, I was horrified to watch a phalanx of Baltimore police officers in full riot regalia confronting looters smashing storefronts and attacking patrons of nearby establishments in the streets below where I was sitting.
This happens elsewhere, I kept thinking, but it doesn't happen in Baltimore.
Anyway, watching the rioting unfold in Baltimore made me think of another dark period in American history. From 1965 to 1967, race riots plagued Los Angeles, Chicago, Newark, Detroit and neighboring communities.
On July 27, 1967 — as the Detroit riots raged — President Lyndon Johnson empaneled a bipartisan commission to study the root causes of this violence.
In his order establishing what would later be known as the "National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders," Johnson chartered it to answer three basic questions: "What happened? Why did it happen? What can be done to prevent it from happening again and again?"
Being a student of history, I pulled my dusty copy of the commission's report off my shelf, and looked for some insight.
The commission called for another sweeping round of Great Society spending. It argued: "These programs will require unprecedented levels of funding and performance, but they neither probe deeper nor demand more than the problems which called them forth. There can be no higher priority for national action and no higher claim on the nation's conscience."
Its recommendations, all of which seemed designed to serve Johnson's partisan agenda at a time when his popularity was waning, were ultimately dismissed as unrealistic by LBJ himself.
Today the commission's report is regarded as a forgotten relic of a tumultuous era.
But out of that failure, I see a possible opportunity for Gov. Larry Hogan to learn from history.
A lot of questions have been raised in the wake of the 2015 Baltimore riots:
•At what point did peaceful protests devolve into rioting?
•To what extent did outside agitators play a role in turning peaceful protests into violence?
•What specific direction was given to law enforcement, especially when confronted with conspicuous examples of looting and violence?
•Can law enforcement do a better job delineating between peaceful protesters and rioters?
•How may communications be improved among different segments of the law enforcement community?
•What can be done to improve communications among different jurisdictions, as well as between certain localities and Annapolis?
•Who has the specific authority to declare a curfew in Baltimore City or in other jurisdictions?
•What was the exact economic impact of the curfew, and what can the state and city do to help local business and employees impacted during the six days it was in effect?
•Is there a need or opportunity to modernize existing laws?
•To what extent did status quo policies in Baltimore in social services, education, law enforcement, and economic opportunity contribute to events?
A Hogan Advisory Commission on the Baltimore Riots could help initiate the healing process. It would have to be bipartisan and its commissioners fully representative of a diverse swath of ideologies and stakeholders. Its goal should not be blame or recriminations, but positing solutions — especially if the upcoming prosecutions of six police officers result in verdicts that yield strong emotions.
This has been a painful chapter in the history of the community we share. The actions by some in the streets of Baltimore were not reflective of our values of our community. We know we're better than that. This is an opportunity to demonstrate it to everyone else.
Richard J. Cross III is a former Capitol Hill and Annapolis press secretary and speechwriter. He resides in Baltimore. His e-mail address: rcrossiii@comcast.net.