Baltimore described as city on the brink

Television screens showed the Baltimore crowds in full riot mode Monday: stomping on police cruisers, burning cars and hurling rocks and other debris at officers who were holding shields and lined up shoulder to shoulder.

Fox News host Shepherd Smith said at one point "the city of Baltimore is lawless."

And that's not surprising, according to several analysts who concluded the city is on the brink, pointing, for example, to Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake's stunning statement that officials gave "space" to those who "wished to destroy" property.

She explained her desire "to do everything that they could to make sure that the protesters were able to exercise their right to free speech."

"It's a very delicate balancing act. Because while we try to make sure that they were protected from the cars and other things that were going on, we also gave those who wished to destroy space to do that as well. And we worked very hard to keep that balance and to put ourselves in the best position to de-escalate," she said.

The violence follows the arrest two weeks ago of Freddie Gray, a black man who was walked into a police van by police officers but then died a short time later of a nearly severed spinal column. Officers are under investigation, but there have been no charges so far.

Read all about one of the big battles over race in America, in "If I Had a Son: Race, Guns, and the Railroading of George Zimmerman" by Jack Cashill.

But civil-rights leader and author Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson blames Rawlings-Blake for her plan to permit demonstrators to destroy property.

She is "setting a dangerous precedent by allowing so-called protesters 'space' to 'destroy' property and assault people in that city under the guise of expressing their outrage over the death of Freddie Gray," he said.

"Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake is in over her head. It's insane to allow thugs space to destroy and loot. The police should not be hampered from doing their jobs. Allowing this lawlessness to continue will only encourage more violence in Baltimore!"

Seven police officers were injured Monday, including one who was left "unresponsive." The University of Maryland Baltimore closed early due to a recommendation from Baltimore police. The school's shuttle service was also cut off by early afternoon. Police told parents to take their kids home from their schools.

The Mondawmin Mall also closed early when rioters reportedly threw bottles at police. And several markets throughout the city closed to avoid being caught in potentially violent protests.

Peterson, author of the upcoming "The Antidote: Healing America From the Poison of Hate, Blame and Victimhood," says such consequences were easily predictable.

"Mayor Rawlings-Blake's decision has opened the way for angry black thugs to destroy businesses, smash police cars and attack innocent bystanders. Legitimate protesters don't assault and loot. These are thugs looking for an excuse to commit crimes and take their anger out on police and unsuspecting whites."

Jack Cashill, author of "If I Had a Son: Race, Guns, and the Railroading of George Zimmerman," expressed bafflement at the mayor's actions.

"I watched the video to make sure the mayor's 'safe space' remark was not taken out of context," he said. "Unfortunately, it wasn't. For perhaps the first time in American history, a public official openly and casually took credit for allowing citizens to destroy property and terrorize innocent bystanders. Scarier still, the major media have not found this admission remarkable.

"In a city with a black mayor, a black police chief, and a predominantly minority police force, the protesters have so thoroughly ingested the anti-white propaganda educators and the media have fed them over the years that they feel comfortable in blaming Freddie Gray's death on white people."

Colin Flaherty, author of "White Girl Bleed A Lot: The Return of Racial Violence To America and How the Media Ignore It," says the riots are simply part of a larger anti-white narrative that the mayor shares to some extent.

"The riots in Baltimore were not just about a black man who died in police custody. These riots and protests were all about how black people are relentless victims of relentless white racism. All the time, everywhere and that explains everything, especially why police arrest so many black people for apparently no reason whatsoever.

"Of course the mayor's 'safe space' for property destruction during what she called 'largely peaceful' protests led to more violence. This is just one more example of black mob violence and how reporters and public officials ignore, deny, condone, excuse, encourage and even lie about it."

As Flaherty pointed out, Rawlings-Blake has taken pride in working to reduce the police presence in Baltimore, even clashing with former Gov. Martin O'Malley, who is now seen as the progressive challenger to Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for president.

"Mayor Rawlings-Blake is saying out loud what has been a city policy for years: Baltimore is one huge No Go Zone, with entire areas of the city often off limits to white people," Flaherty said. "Two summers ago, Gov. O'Malley suggested the mayor needed to put more police on the street to stop a rash of black mob violence downtown and near the Inner Harbor. Mayor Rawlings-Blake blasted O'Malley, saying she was not 'returning to the days of mass arrests.'

"Now, the mayor openly proclaims she will give rioters a safe space to destroy property and create mayhem. That is what Baltimore is today."

Peterson also has authored "Scam: How the Black Leadership Exploits Black America."