WENN
Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis recently took to social media to plead with those who have been rioting in the streets of Baltimore to protest the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old man who suffered fatal spine injuries while in police custody.
“Young kids, you got to understand something. Get off the streets! Violence is not the answer. Violence has never been the answer,” he yelled. “Freddie Gray, we don’t do nothing for him doing this.”
He went on to acknowledge that while he understands that people are angry about Gray’s death, violently demonstrating that rage won’t fix anything. In fact, it will probably make things worse.
“Too many hardworking people built this city. We put this city together. We put this city on our backs. We with you! We know what’s going on. We know the problems. We know there was wrong done. We know we’re not getting the right justice.”
Instead of rioting, Lewis encourages members of the community to protest Gray’s death in a more productive way.
“We must change this right now. Stop the violence, man. Go home.”
He also fired off a series of tweets on regarding the social unrest plaguing the city.
#Violence is not the answer. We must have #peace in our #city, we are a city that's built on #Believing in each other. #BaltimoreRiots
— Ray Lewis (@raylewis) April 28, 2015
No way, No way this can happen in our city…
— Ray Lewis (@raylewis) April 28, 2015
We must come together,we can stop the violence as a #community.These kids have to have real leaders,we need everybody to join this #movement
— Ray Lewis (@raylewis) April 28, 2015
Watch his emotional plea below.
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