At the top of Wednesday’s NBC Nightly News, correspondent Ron Allen reported from the streets of Baltimore with the crowd protesting the death of Freddie Gray and gushed that the crowd was “so loudly and eloquently” chanting “no justice, no peace” like those had done in Ferguson, Missouri a few months ago.
In the moments prior, Allen described both the crowd and path that they were taking: “We're in the middle of a huge crowd of young people who have been marching in the heart of Baltimore’s Penn Station train station. They're heading in that direction to City Hall. This is one of several marches going on all day in support of Freddie Gray's family, demanding justice.”
It was following that backdrop that he made his remarks about the crowd’s chanting: “You hear the chants that we heard so loudly and eloquently in Ferguson, Missouri. No justice, no peace. So on and so forth.”
Allen turned next to ask a female protester why she was participating in the demonstration. She responded by saying that “we want freedom” and that police “need to stop killing young black men and women.” She also called for a separate “investigation” into what happened to Gray since “police can’t investigate themselves.”
When Allen moved to seek comment from a male protester if what was taking place was “more than Freddie Gray,” he responded: “This is about more than Freddie Gray. This is about – this is about educational, social, environmental decadence that has plagued this city for eons that no one wants to address.”
The NBC News correspondent then closed by summarizing their demands:
Mostly young people. Look like university-aged people. Some are from Baltimore, some from out of town and they're marching and you hear their demands. They're not satisfied. They don't believe that the justice system is going to work for them. They're out here. They're going to stay out here until they see justice.
The relevant portion of the transcript from April 29's NBC Nightly News can be found below.
NBC Nightly News
April 29, 2015
7:01 p.m. Eastern[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE CAPTION: City on Edge]
LESTER HOLT: Good evening. In Baltimore at this hour, protesters on the move again. Police keeping a very close eye on marchers in the streets as they prepare to enforce another night of mandatory curfew there. We have been watching as a growing crowd of peaceful marchers have made their way to Baltimore's train station, then onto City Hall with a large police presence awaiting them. They're demanding accountability for the death of Freddie Gray, who suffers fatal injuries while in police custody. Let’s get right to the streets. NBC's Ron Allen is in the crowd.
RON ALLEN: We're in the middle of a huge crowd of young people who have been marching in the heart of Baltimore’s Penn Station train station. They're heading in that direction to City Hall. This is one of several marches going on all day in support of Freddie Gray's family, demanding justice. You hear the chants that we heard so loudly and eloquently in Ferguson, Missouri. No justice, no peace. So on and so forth. Can I ask you --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE PROTESTER: Sure.
ALLEN: Why are you out here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE PROTESTER: Because we want freedom. They need to stop killing young black men and women. We need to be out here every day pressuring them to make sure they do an investigation and the police can't investigate themselves.
ALLEN: So, this is about more than Freddie Gray?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE PROTESTER: This is about more than Freddie Gray. This is about – this is about educational, social, environmental decadence that has plagued this city for eons that no one wants to address.
ALLEN: Mostly young people. Look like university-aged people. Some are from Baltimore, some from out of town and they're marching and you hear their demands. They're not satisfied. They don't believe that the justice system is going to work for them. They're out here. They're going to stay out here until they see justice.
