RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
Baltimore's residents were on edge last night. Early in the evening, a group of cars drove up to a line of police protecting the remains of a charred CVS. They honked horns, revved engines and eventually drove away. But one man, who didn't give his name, felt trapped by those police.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Look how they got us blocked off. This is our neighborhood. Would you go downtown in Baltimore? You go to the Inner Harbor, and you see they got the National Guard down there protecting white Baltimore.
MONTAGNE: Another man, named Lasean Robinson, was carrying a yellow sign that read, justice for Freddie Gray.
LASEAN ROBINSON: This is rebellion. This is years of frustration. This community has been ignored and would've continued to be ignored had not this happened. And it probably will, after this, you know, blows over, become ignored again.
MONTAGNE: Robinson is an academic adviser at Morgan State University. He hopes the riots will inspire people in the community to make things better - a sentiment echoed by teacher Katia Stokes (ph).
KATIA STOKES: I'm not waiting for Superman. I'm here, you know, with my sweats on and my tennis - it has to be us. We don't have to wait for someone else to come in and save and do something. This is our city. We have to - we have to do something about it.
MONTAGNE: And with that, helicopters above announced a curfew.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN #2: It is 10 p.m. The curfew is in effect until 5 a.m.
MONTAGNE: And most of Baltimore stayed indoors. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.