Former Ravens great Ray Lewis pleads for rioting to end in Baltimore

No way this can happen in our city.

That’s the message Ray Lewis has in light of the horrible riots that have ensued in his adopted hometown of Baltimore the past two days, with the National Guard being called in for support.

The former Baltimore Ravens great posted a video on Youtube, calling for peace in a time of madness.

“Young kids, you gotta understand something,” an impassioned Lewis pleads. “Get off the streets. Violence is not the answer. Violence has never been the answer.”

Rioting began in Baltimore on Monday afternoon near where Freddie Gray was arrested earlier this month, and the rioting had spread across the city, forcing the postponement of tonight’s Chicago White Sox-Baltimore Orioles baseball game. In addition, the Ravens announced on Tuesday that their planned Thursday night draft party has been canceled out of respect to what’s happening in the city. 

After sending out a series of tweets on the matter, Lewis goes on to demand on the video that kids stay off the streets and help stop what appears to be an escalating problem, with rioters and police locking horns with increasing force and violence.

“You don’t have no right to do what you’re doing to this city,” he said. “Too many hardworking people built this city. We put this city together. We put this city on our back.

“We know the problems. We know there was wrong done. We know we are not getting the right justice. We know what’s out there. But rioting in our streets is wrong.”

Say what you will about Lewis. But he clearly cares about his city and can’t stand seeing it being torn apart.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm