The recent violence in Baltimore over the death of Freddie Gray in police custody reflects "a lot of self-hate that has been embraced by the black community, author Pastor Joseph Green told Newsmax on Wednesday.
"We have internalized the hatred and anger that has been directed towards us — and now we are practicing self-hate," said Green,
pastor and co-founder of Antioch Assembly in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
"If we feel like we have been marginalized as human beings, and the police have mistreated us, then my anger shouldn't be taken out in the way that is self-destructive.
"For me to destroy my own community means that I really have this hatred inside of me and a lack of self-love — and because I feel devalued as a person, I also devalue the things that I own or I possess. Why would I destroy something I possess, which is my community and a place that I live?
"It shows that we definitely have to do some soul-searching, and there has to be a transformation of our mindsets," said Green, 47, who founded Antioch Assembly in January 2010. "We look at injustice and we deal with it in a different way. We deal with it in a positive and a constructive way.
"If I believe the police are treating me badly and are taking away my rights and mistreating me, if I believe that, then burning and looting my own neighborhood is only going to make them treat me worse."
Green, whose latest book is
"Kingdom Business," reflected on the violence primarily by young people that led to stores being looted, vehicles and buildings torched, and more than 200 arrests on Monday after the funeral of Gray, 25, who died after suffering spinal injuries while in police custody.
Baltimore police are due on Friday to give their findings on Gray's death to prosecutors, but
they have said no information will be made public.
Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan imposed a 10 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew Tuesday, and police said 35 violators were arrested. Protestors marched peacefully Wednesday, as 2,000 National Guard personnel remained stationed throughout the city.
Other demonstrations were held in lower Manhattan, Boston, Washington and Minneapolis. Residents sought to bring attention to Gray's death and others of unarmed black men by police in such cities as Cleveland; North Charleston, S.C.; Ferguson, Missouri — and on Staten Island in New York City.
Green later told J.D. Hayworth on "Newsmax Prime" on
Newsmax TV that the unrest in Baltimore is far more cultural — and some racial — than economic at its core.
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"It has nothing to do with economics, because in 2015, we have probably more economic resources in our community than we ever have," he said, "yet the level of violence is still escalating.
"There is a certain level of disenfranchisement — and part of it may be from the communities around them. There is a certain level of racism that's still prevalent in certain areas, but we also have to look at internal issues that we have in the community and how we are meditating and gravitating on things that are not productive.
"If you listen to the music and the culture that these young people are part of, most of it talks about criminal behavior or aggression and misogyny and all these types of things that just breathe negative and hateful mindsets," Green said.
"It has to start with internally what are we doing, what are we looking at, what are we meditating on as young people — and then also address the issues of why a certain community feels disenfranchised."
Washington need not take the lead on this, Green told Hayworth.
"Absolutely not. It's not Washington's problem," he said. "The only thing the federal government should be is a referee, just to make sure that their playing field is leveled.
"But at the end of the day, it's our responsibility as a community to help each other, encourage each other and empower each other."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.