Baltimore, MD – Use Of Word ‘Thugs’ Over Baltimore Violence Adding Fuel To Conflict

Baltimore – The use of the word “Thugs” by both Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and President Barack Obama have set off a new debate amid the violence that erupted in Baltimore Monday, with some not understanding the seemingly innocent use of the word and saying there are bigger problems at hand, and others taking a stand, saying using thugs to describe “misguided” youth in cities such as Baltimore is equivalent to using the n-word.

During a press conference on Monday, Rawlings-Blake used the word “thugs” when describing the violence in the city following the death of Freddie Gray.

“I’m a lifelong resident of Baltimore and 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. Tearing down businesses. Tearing down and destroying property, things that we know will impact our community for years. We are deploying every resource possible to gain control of the situation and to ensure peace moving forward,” she said Monday in a press statement.

Following criticism, the mayor took to Twitter Wednesday to clarify her statement. She tweeted that she commented out of, “frustration and anger.”

“I wanted to clarify my comments on ‘thugs.’ When you speak out of frustration and anger, one can say things in a way that you don’t mean,” she posted on Twitter. “That night we saw misguided young people who need to be held accountable, but who also need support. And my comments then didn’t convey that.”

A curfew was set in place citywide Monday from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. after the city was inundated with looting, fires and violence.

President Obama first used the word in his press conference Tuesday,  and urged police to hold those accountable who commit acts of crime. But in an interview on the “Steve Harvey Morning Show” Wednesday, the president used what one reporter said was almost the same speech he gave on Tuesday, only he left out the word “thug.”

When asked if that was deliberate, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest “I can assure you it was not.”

During Wednesday’s White House briefing, press secretary Josh Earnest reiterated President Barack Obama’s Tuesday remarks, calling the acts of rioters in Baltimore Monday “thuggish.”

Earnest told CNN’s Michelle Kosinski that it was not a deliberate decision by President Obama to exclude the use of the term “thugs” during a Wednesday morning interview with radio host Steve Harvey, adding that he would not “revise” his Tuesday remarks in any way.

“…what did get the lion’s share of the coverage out of Baltimore were the actions of a small minority that were nothing short of criminal actions. And whether that was arson, or the looting of a liquor store, those were thuggish acts. I think the president felt it was important, and continues to think it’s important to draw a clear distinction between those actions and the efforts of the vast amount of people in that community to draw attention to the legitimate concerns that they have about the treatment of Freddie Gray,” continued Earnest.

In a heated interview on CNN, (http://cnn.it/1bEWoNR), Baltimore City Councilman Carl Stokes disagreed with Erin Burnett over the use of the word, saying it’s not the right world to call  children “thugs,” and that the children of Baltimore are “marginalized” and have been set aside.

“Just call them n—–s. Just call them n—–s,” he said. “No, we don’t have to call them by names such as that,” said Stokes.

The Rev. Jamal Bryant also said the use of the word is offensive, and is the 21st century word for the n-word.

But Kweisi Mfume, a Baltimore native and former president of the NAACP, says that what word people use doesn’t matter, what matters is the situation at hand in Baltimore and what should be the focus I the movement of taking back Baltimore’s streets.