Ed Reed on justice in Baltimore: 'It feels like the laws aren’t the same for everyone'

Domonique Foxworth grew up in Randallstown. Ed Reed spent the first 11 years of his NFL career in Baltimore. They were Ravens teammates for three seasons, Foxworth a cornerback and Reed a safety, but their grasp of life in the city made them distinctive in an itinerant profession.Though they've moved on to different professions, they reunited recently to talk about police, violence and politics broadly and Baltimore specifically. Foxworth, who retired in 2012, interviewed Reed, who is entering his first season as a Buffalo Bills assistant defensive backs coach, for The Undefeated, where Foxworth serves as a writer.Foxworth: What about the police being ambushed and killed, how does that make you feel?Reed: I never want to see any person die, regardless of their occupation. When police or civilians are killed, you have to look at the whole situation. What's going on? What's surrounding us? What's been surrounding us? That stuff makes a difference.Foxworth: What about Baltimore and the Freddie Gray situation?Reed: Something happened. Somebody did something wrong. Justice has to be served somewhere, somehow. There are different laws for some people. I have worked in Baltimore, so I know it's tough when you don't have the resources and you are given the short end of the stick. And when something happens with a regular person, the city is quick to lock them up for a long time, but it feels like the laws aren't the same for everyone. Something ain't right.Reed's words might be controversial, but they are not hollow. As he became a Ravens legend, he also took up a role in the community. After being picked in the 2002 draft, Reed purchased tickets for kids at West Baltimore's Booker T. Washington Middle School for every home game and raised funds for other city schools. His charitable foundation also donated the money to jump-start a football program at SEED, a public boarding school for at-risk youths on the former campus of Southwestern High.When Baltimore was being roiled by unrest in the wake of Freddie Gray's death last year — prosecutors have so far failed to convict four of the six police officers charged in the case — Reed told The Baltimore Sun's Mike Preston that he was disturbed by the city's rioting. His heart has &quot;always been in Baltimore,&quot; he said, and it was breaking.&quot;We all are one community,&quot; Reed said before he officially retired last year. &quot;We all work together. We all need to be back in the community. Even if you're not an athlete, you need to be in the community. Go back into the community and help somebody. Talk to somebody, talk to those kids, because it's the kids that are the ones that are our future.&quot;

Ed Reed on justice in Baltimore: 'It feels like the laws aren’t the same for everyone'

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