Mr. Gray's family

[sarisataka]

does not want violence

His family wants justice, hoping that multiple investigations shed light on why and how he died. They want police to be transparent and be held accountable.

What they don't want, though, is violence -- certainly nothing along the lines of what happened Monday, the day of his funeral. Gray's mother, Gloria Darden, had pleaded, "I want y'all to get justice for my son, but don't do it like this here."

A lawyer for Gray's family, Mary Koch, called what Baltimore woke up to Tuesday a distraction from the family's goals of getting justice for Gray and preventing more people -- including other African-Americans -- from experiencing their grief.

"The one thing they wanted was some peace and some calm on the day that he was actually buried, and (they) asked the community to do that," Koch told CNN. "And the community didn't honor their wishes. And, in that way, they dishonored Freddie's legacy."

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/28/us/baltimore-riots/index.html
Should their wishes matter? Does the violence dishonor Mr. Gray? Will the violence be a distraction that will slow, or even stop, the process to get justice and have accountability?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

1. No one in their right mind *wants* violence. No one here's condoning and encouraging the violence.

Recognizing and attempting to understand the underlying conditions that lead to this violence is not the same as supporting said violence. And getting caught up with the ugly pictures on TV while forgetting why people are upset is failing to see the forest through the trees.

[sarisataka]

3. I have seen several

Who have condoned the violence, either tacitly or explicitly.

But that really isn't the point. There are two intertwined issues at work.
1) investigation and justice for Mr Gray and his family
2) dealing with, and correcting, long term systemic injustice to the community

Is it necessary to slight one to achieve the other and does the violence we have seen actually work against both?

The investigation into Mr Gray's murder could be a key to making systemic change. Openly resolving one incident watched by the entire nation could shed light to all the dark corners of corruption.

However if that is overshadowed by violence, it will be very easy to offer up a sacrificial goat (or six) to placate the mob yet make no real change to the system.

[Capt. Obvious]

2. I will stop being violent then

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. 10,000 people honored that request and Mr. Gray by doing just that.

It would serve us well to remember that instead of getting sucked in by the media to become something that we would hope not to be.