Betting on Hope: Black Baltimore and the Work of 2020
TWO BALTIMORES: THE “BLACK BUTTERFLY” AND THE “WHITE L”
Untitled #003 by Nia Clark-Dallas
Baltimore is a divided city, a phenomenon that Morgan State University Professor Lawrence Brown describes as a “Black Butterfly” and “White L," in which
The white neighborhoods on [the city’s racial mapping] that form the shape of an ‘L’ accumulate structured advantages, while Black neighborhoods, shaped in the form of a butterfly, accumulate structured disadvantages. Baltimore’s hypersegregation is the root cause of racial inequity, crime, health inequities/disparities, and civil unrest. (Brown, 2016)
This mapping of Baltimore is symptomatic of redlining – the institutionalized denial of services to residents of socio-economically and racially defined neighborhoods, either explicitly or through the selective raising of prices. Even with the passing of the Fair Housing Act in 1968, housing discrimination continues with serious effects.
Prominent and well-funded cultural institutions are located on the “White L,” such as the Baltimore Museum of Art, Johns Hopkins University, and the Walters Art Museum. Baltimoreans residing in the “Black Butterfly” experience insufficient access to healthy food, medical insurance and other public health services,and educational technology. They also suffer far greater Covid-19 infections and deaths.
“A Beautiful Ghetto” by Devan Allen | Featured in Time Magazine’s April 30, 2015 edition
A study conducted by Morgan State University’s Lawrence Brown, describes “Two Baltimores: The White L vs. the Black Butterfly,” illustrating how vastly different economic activity and access to opportunities are experienced between the two. The Black Butterfly pattern spans east and west Baltimore and the L shape is predominately white neighborhoods that receive greater corporate and state investment.
In the area of the Black Butterfly visitor see the human losses from the coronavirus compared to the Baltimore neighborhoods in the “White L.” Interpretive texts will contextualize the reasons for the disproportionate number of Covid-19 infections and deaths among black Americans and other people of color when compared to white residents. These factors include an inability to access food items, a lack of medical insurance and other public health services, underfunded schools, and limited access to educational technology– all symptomatic of redlining.
Systemic racism experienced in the Black Butterfly is told through the life and death of Freddie Gray, a twenty-five-year-old black man arrested on April 12th, 2015 by Baltimore City Police for allegedly carrying an illegal switchblade. Freddie Gray is essential to the exhibition as his brutal killing illustrates the same unjust police tactics that caused the death of George Floyd.
Freddie Gray’s murder infuriated Baltimoreans– some burned police cars and rioted in frustration with the failing justice system, while others stood peacefully in protest. The passions of the Baltimore uprising communicated to the entire nation the injustices of Freddie’s murder, along with the City’s inability to serve its black citizens through government support when it comes to food, education and medicine.
The Department of Justice investigated the Baltimore Police Department after Freddie Gray’s death and found that the BPD “engages in a pattern of conduct that violates the constitution”. This conduct includes “racial disparities in BPD enforcement along with evidence suggesting intentional discrimination against African Americans”. These are the same issues we see 5 years later with George Floyd. The system that was supposed to protect Freddie Grey and George Floyd, is the system that killed them. The silence during our days at home during the pandemic forces us to see how institutionalized racism is a reality that people of color face everyday.
The COVID moment forced the world to watch as George Floyd pleaded for his life for eight minutes and 46 seconds.
