By Tim Anderson
As rioters in Baltimore threw rocks at police, burned cars and buildings, and looted businesses on Monday night, some living near the city knew that someone would have to clean up their mess.
One of those people was Michael Bell, a student at Towson University and graduate of nearby Calvert Hall High School.
“I feel like this is my responsibility if I am going to say this is my home,” Bell said.
Bell, along with his two roommates and a third friend from Towson, arrived in West Baltimore at North Avenue around 11 a.m. on Tuesday and cleaned the area near the burned and looted CVS pharmacy. Bell said he helped to clean the area for about an hour and was back in class at Towson by 12:30 p.m.
“It was probably the most peaceful street in Baltimore,” Bell said about the area he helped to clean. “It was a very unity-oriented event. People were coming together saying let’s clean, let’s get things together, let’s have the kids out here cleaning, let’s have the old ladies out here cleaning. People were handing out waters, even waters to the police officers who were standing there.”
Bell grew up in northeast Baltimore and has spent his entire life in the city. He said he lives 15 minutes from the area of North Avenue that he helped to clean. He said he had even shopped in the CVS that was destroyed.
Bell grew tired of seeing people on social media sites such as Twitter expressing their love for the city but not doing anything to improve its current condition.
“Everybody wants to tweet about things, but rarely do people actually get out and do things,” Bell said. “I’ve never been the type of person to just promote what I do on social media. People just want us to have all these opinions and things like that, but, does it really hurt to go down there and help clean up? Does it really hurt to go down there and check out the situation that these people are living in?”
“I don’t want to be one of those people that just talked. I don’t like talking. I like action,” Bell said.
According to Bell, during the hour he was cleaning, police in riot gear arrived in the area and requested that those cleaning leave the street despite it already being closed to traffic.
“I was just confused to why they wanted us to move away from trying to help people,” Bell said. “Those people [were] not armed and dangerous. They’re armed with brooms and dustpans trying to clean stuff up. They’re armed with water bottles trying to hand them out to people.”
Bell said that the actions that stood out most to him as he watched the news on Monday night were not those of the rioters, but those of the police officers.
“I would say the thing that most stuck out to me was probably the police throwing rocks back at the kids,” Bell said. “I think that was the worst.”
“I think people need to also remember where these rocks and bricks come from and that they just didn’t appear there,” Bell said. “If that happened in another area, those kids wouldn’t have had rocks and bricks to throw. Why? Because the houses would have been fixed and the streets would have been fixed. If they fixed the streets, those kids wouldn’t have had any rocks to throw at the police. If they fixed the houses, those kids wouldn’t have had any bricks to throw at the police.”
Bell plans to clean the streets of west Baltimore as long as there continues to be destruction, even if that means weeks.
“This is something that is very near and dear to me,” Bell said. “I love this place, this is my home. So I’m not going to let my home go through a civil war without trying to do what’s best for the community.”
He also plans to participate in the peaceful protests that are planned for across the city this week and into the weekend.
“I think that there’s solutions that we can come to, but it starts with discussion,” Bell said.
Bell, also a rapper who recently performed at Towson’s Tiger Fest, said what is happening in Baltimore will find its way into his writing and his music.
“I’m not necessarily saying I’ll share it, but I definitely do plan on writing about it,” Bell said. “I have pieces that are written about things similar to this, but this is something very special to me.”
For those in the greater Baltimore area who want to help clean the city, Bell suggests to do so with appropriate caution, work in groups, and be with people who are accustomed to west Baltimore.
“I would say be safe, be with someone who knows the area. Be with someone who understands the situation,” Bell said. “I would say, if it’s your first time and you’ve ever done something like that before, I wouldn’t advise anyone to go because they might not know how to conduct themselves in an area like that.”