A man who claimed to be a Marine appeared on CNN this afternoon in what quickly turned into an uncensored interview as the impassioned speaker addressed his dissatisfaction with the current state of race relations in the city.
Standing in front of a row of police in riot gear, the unidentified man shouted that people like him "gave their lives for this country. Look at you! Is this what it's coming to, man?" he asked.
"I love this fucking country too," the man said, "just as much as you do. We're fighting for a reason, man. I was willing to give my life for this country -- but look at this community now!"
At this point the CNN reporter approached him and asked him to explain the reason behind his outburst -- especially in light of the fact that Maryland State Attorney Marilyn Mosby had just announced that she was charging the officers involved in the fatal arrest of Freddie Gray.
"They tell me we are a part of this country. How can we be? How can we be part of this country?" he asked, before directly addressing the charges. "I don't believe anything until I see the end result. We got to stop being pacified every time they throw us a bone where they want us to calm down."
"We need to wait for the end result to come in," he said.
He later reiterated his frustration, noting that "when I was in the Marine Corps, they called me a patriot. A marine. But now that I'm fighting for my people they call me a fucking thug. I'm not sweetening anything up -- they called me a thug when I fight for my people."
Watch the entire exchange as captured by Real Clear Politics below.
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