Searching for Answers in Baltimore a Year After Freddie Gray’s Death
Searching for Answers in Baltimore a Year After Freddie Gray’s Death
3 minute read
A mural celebrating famous residents of West Baltimore, including the first black Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall, covers the corner of Druid Hill Avenue and Laurens Street.Benjamin Hoste
One year after Freddie Gray died of a spinal injury in police custody, the neighborhood where he grew up and was arrested has become accustomed to journalists poking around. But photographer Benjamin Hoste had a different goal when he took to the city’s streets. “The death of Freddie Gray brought me to Baltimore, but I am not here to ask about him,” Hoste tells TIME. “I’m more interested in the context of the community and the broader story around him.”
His photographs, spanning more than 60 blocks near Gray’s final ride, show how he remains omnipresent long after the protests and the camera crews that flocked to cover them. Now, residents are left to pick up the pieces. Locals shuffle between sidewalk shops and young students hustle to school. A mural memorial adorns a brick wall, a movie marquee sign pays its respects.
“The last hour of his life was spent driving in the back of a van through his neighborhood,” says Hoste. “Here he was at the end of his life—maybe he knew it, maybe he didn’t—and he’s passing the school he went to, his house, his friend’s house, places in his community that are important to him and to other people.”
Hoste’s previous work explores how identity is influenced by geography. “There are places out in the world that are important to us for historical reasons, but there are also places that are important to us for personal reasons,” he says. “They give us a sense of who we are.”
In Sandtown, Hoste was looking for that sense of place. He asked residents how things have changed in the predominantly African American, neighborhood. “People are upset,” he says. “Some are upset with how the police engage with the community, others are upset about Freddie Gray’s death, and others are upset that a riot of outsiders partially destroyed their community. All feel that they live in a community that has been neglected and ignored.”
Despite the pain of Gray’s death, Hoste says many people were earnestly optimistic. “These are people who have lived there their entire lives working tirelessly to change things, and in the face of these horrific events, they remain hopeful,” he says. “That resiliency and commitment and dedication is inspiring.”
As an outsider, Hoste recognizes that he has a limited understanding of the community and hopes that local photographers will provide greater depth and insight. “I hope there is justice for Freddie Gray and that as a community, there can be positive steps forward and the city can heal.”
Benjamin Hoste is a New York-based documentary photographer.
Taja Joyner, 20, with her one-year-old daughter Temari Price-Bay. Joyner moved around Baltimore a bit as a kid while her parents were between jobs and moved to Sandtown when she was 10. She currently lives with her boyfriend, who is Temari’s father, and works in the neighborhood at Dollar General. “I got that job because I just needed something to help pay for my classes for school. Now I’m looking for scholarships to help. I want to own my own non-profit organization. I want a non-profit that helps needy families find affordable housing and jobs.”Benjamin HosteA mural adorns a set of vacant row houses on the corner of Arlington Avenue and Mosher Street in Sandtown. The mural is said to depict a local man who used to fix bikes in the neighborhood. Just a block away at Mosher and North Fremont Avenue is where the Baltimore Police van holding Freddie Gray stopped at an unknown time on April 12, 2015.Benjamin HosteDonnell Rochester, 12, hanging out in the playground at Gilmor Elementary School in Sandtown where he attended school. He currently lives in the Gilmor Homes housing project with his family, but they plan to leave Sandtown. “I’m happy I’m getting out of here. We’re basically moving to Hartford County. Everything is working out as planned. Gilmor Projects is something else. Gilmor Projects, they do anything in Gilmor Projects, it’s a lot of shootings, it’s a lot of killings. It’s just everything. Basically a child wouldn’t want to grow up in Gilmor. I know I didn’t.”Benjamin HosteA mural adorns the exposed side of a row house near the corner of Baker Street and Leslie Street in Sandtown. The mural was painted in 2013 after the building on the corner burned down. It depicts both a community vigil and the construction of new homes by Habitat for Humanity. Over the span of 20 years Habitat for Humanity has renovated over 300 homes in the Sandtown neighborhood.Benjamin HosteA statue commemorating and depicting famed Baltimore musician Billie Holiday sits diagonally across the street from the original location of the Royal Theatre. The statue was first erected in 1985 but without its intended base, which was censored by the city at the time. The statue was rededicated in 2009 with its original base. The base features a lynching depiction, a reference to Holiday’s song “Strange Fruit”, and a crow ripping apart a gardenia, Holiday’s signature flower, to symbolize the Jim Crow era.Benjamin HosteGrace Lyo’s Hae-Tteuneun Market, a corner grocery store located at Baker Street and North Mount Street, was torched by rioters on April 27, 2015, in the wake of Freddie Gray’s death. Over the course of the protest there was an estimated $9 million in destruction and more than 60 structure fires.Benjamin HosteKurt and Loretta Gardner sit on their stoop along with neighbor Jaelynn Harrison, 3. The Gardners have lived in this home on Laurens Street for over two decades and for years have sponsored an annual back to school block party over Labor Day weekend where they give away food, school clothes and supplies to families who need assistance.Benjamin HosteA mural celebrating the musical heritage of Sandtown adorns the side of a building on Pennsylvania Avenue near Presstman Street. With multiple music venues, the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood was the Harlem of Baltimore, catering to black musicians, artists, writers and intellectuals in the 1950s and 1960s. The Sphinx Club, located near this mural, was once one of the most important music clubs in Baltimore. Louis Armstrong and Fats Waller worked as accompanists and Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington, Etta James, Nat King Cole, The Temptations, The Supremes and Count Basie all performed at the Sphinx.Benjamin HosteCynthia Galmore, age 63, is an embalmer and owns Joseph G. Locks Jr. Funeral Home in East Baltimore, which may be one of the oldest black-owned businesses in America. It was started around 1875 and she took over afer both the owner and his wife died within a few weeks of each other. “I always said from day one when I first got in the business it was like something spiritual. It was like a godsend, okay? Because I basically started off trying to go to medical school and I wind up being an embalmer and it’s something that you can’t really take lightly, especially if you care about your families.”Benjamin HosteBrandon Jackson, 23, and Tyron Matthews, 22, run a car wash on Baker Street most weekends in the summer. On a good day they’ll wash more than 20 cars. They both are interested in going to business school and starting their own businesses someday.Benjamin HosteTom Whittle has worked at Modern Junk and Salvage on North Fremont Avenue for 20 years and has seen the value of many materials decline recently due to the weak economy. Many in the area depend on selling scrap metal and recycling cans; however, Modern Junk and Salvage can only accept scrap metal if it is brought to the shop by car and the seller has a valid state I.D.Benjamin HosteAfter Freddie Gray’s death a number of new murals were painted in Sandtown, including one on the corner of North Mount Street and Presbury Street across from where Gray was arrested on April 12, 2015. This mural features a large portrait of Gray surrounded by peaceful protestors and civil leaders marching in solidarity.Benjamin HosteThis is the exact location on Presbury Street near the Gilmor Homes housing project where Freddie Gray was thrown to the ground and arrested by Baltimore Police. The site is now a memorial with mementos frequent public gatherings.Benjamin HosteLocal workers are hired to clear out a vacated row house on Riggs Avenue near North Carey Street after the tenants were evicted and abandoned many of their belongings in the process. The men sort the items into things that will be sold or trashed, yanking extension chords and other metal pieces from appliances in order to scrap them for extra cash.Benjamin HosteWestern District Commander Major Sheree Briscoe during a community event in Sandtown. The event was meant to draw attention to community policing at the end of a four-week "Safe Streets" program, but was sparsely attended, mostly by children. Major Briscoe was instated after Freddie Gray's death. She was promoted on Aug. 6, 2015.Benjamin HosteSWAT officers Dustin Schappell and Justin Merson stand beside their SWAT vehicle during a community event in Sandtown. The Baltimore Police SWAT team responds to 200 to 300 calls a year.Benjamin HosteAlvin Day-Smith, 19, shows off his forehead tattoo that reads “100% Loyalty.” He got the tattoo just a few weeks earlier to remind him to always stay loyal to himself and his family.Benjamin HosteRow houses along Druid Hill Avenue are known for their marble steps, but in recent months these steps have been disappearing from vacant homes.Benjamin HosteTwo women walk past the corner of Winchester Street and North Carey Street carrying birthday balloons.Benjamin HosteBirthday balloons and teddy bears adorn a memorial for Eddie Elpliga who was shot and killed in Sandtown in 2013. He was 19 when he died.Benjamin HosteKurt and Loretta Gardner’s living room. “We live inside our house and do the best we can with what we have. We enjoy it," said Kurt Gardner. "When I come in the house, basically got to stay in the house. [I] used to sit on the steps a lot, you really can’d do that anymore because about a month ago me and my wife were sitting on the steps talking to my grandkids, shots rung out a block up the street. We all rushed back in the house. Looked back out and someone’s lying on the ground. So you really can’t sit on the steps."Benjamin HosteDuke Thomas feeds cake to his 8-month-old daughter Carter. They were at Shake and Bake, a local skating and bowling fun center, for a birthday party.Benjamin HosteTori Baker, age 16, has worked at Shake and Bake for three months. She got the job through Youth Works, a program that helps youth get jobs in the summer time.Benjamin HosteA young man counts his money before making a purchase at the pop-up convenience store “Smal-Mart,” which operates from a stoop on Calhoun Street near Westwood Avenue.Benjamin HostePeyton Rochester, 5, outside her home at the Gilmor Homes housing project in Sandtown. Her family are planning to move to Hartford County soon.Benjamin HosteAnthony Coles holds up a drawing he made celebrating Freddie Gray.Benjamin HosteA mural celebrating famous residents of West Baltimore, including the first black Supreme Court Justice, Thurgood Marshall, covers the corner of Druid Hill Avenue and Laurens Street.Benjamin HosteA sign reads: “This is Sandtown, where it is clean and safe.”Benjamin Hoste
