Five Days

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In April 2015, Freddie Gray was arrested for possessing an 'illegal knife' and was treated 'roughly' by police as he was loaded into a van. By the end of the ride, he was in a coma from which he would never recover. This incident, amid a long history of police abuse in Baltimore, sparked a week of protests and a five-day period described as either a riot or an uprising, capturing national attention. Wes Moore, a prominent figure in Baltimore and a Rhodes Scholar, attended Gray's funeral, witnessing a diverse gathering of grieving mothers, wealthy elites, activists, and the city's long-suffering citizens, all seeking comfort and answers. Understanding that the solutions lay in the collective experience of the city, Moore, alongside Pulitzer-winning coauthor Erica Green, narrates the Baltimore uprising. The story unfolds through various perspectives, including Partee, a conflicted police captain; Jenny, a young white public defender caught in the violence; Tawanda, a young black woman who had protested her brother's police-involved death; and John DeAngelo, heir to a powerful family facing moral dilemmas. Each viewpoint enriches the narrative, highlighting the deeper causes of violence and the seeds of hope that emerged in its aftermath.