White Girl Bleed a Lot (10 page)

My daughter and I will NOT be back next year. “Daddy why are all those kids screaming, swearing and fighting?” “Because their parents didn’t raise them any better honey.”

Nothing better to see police in riot gear riding on the outside of a SWAT van as the fireworks celebrating our freedom from the English rule rush toward a crowd of idiots. Then police officers telling people that are there to watch the fireworks that THEY have to leave.

But I thought that the police would put an end to that. I was wrong.
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Over at the
Shaker Heights Patch
, Steve Smith had a similar experience. “It’s not fear-mongering to say that these people created a real, dangerous environment.”
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Linda Jenkins told the
Patch
: “We were patient and scared; it was so sad to see families sitting along the sidewalks trying to have a wonderful and traditional outing to be placed in the middle of madness that’s what it felt like for me.”
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The year before, Shaker Heights had a similar experience:

“We were watching fireworks on July 4th in Shaker Heights,” said a reporter for the
Plain Dealer
. “The only fireworks we saw were in the sky, but in another area, kids went wild. Some 500 to 1,000 showed up in a flash mob.

“Harmless fun? Not to the teen who ended up with a broken jaw.”
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On Twitter, a black woman from Cleveland who goes by the handle @Coke216, had another perspective on Shaker Heights 2012:

In Watts, Los Angeles, eight hundred black people setting off fireworks at the Nickerson Gardens public housing project did not take kindly to police and fireman who showed up to stop it. “During the incident, the suspects allegedly tossed rocks, bottles, and fireworks at Los Angeles police officers, according to City News Service.”
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That would be
live
fireworks.

Newspapers might not like reporting on black people in riots, but on Twitter, no one has a problem talking about it. On Twitter, both sides were represented:

Here two of the residents of Watts thought the riot was funny.

Three hundred police were there, along with a crowd of eight hundred revelers. (Couldn’t tell that from the news report, could you?) Several officers were hit by fireworks. There was no word on their condition.

In Waco, Texas, four hundred black people filled the streets of downtown following a fireworks show, throwing fireworks and destroying property. When police arrived, they threw explosive devices and rocks at the officers. “Officers’ attempts to move the
crowd were not successful and when they moved into the area, the people became hostile,” says KCEN-TV.

The crowd then started throwing rocks at officers and police cars. One officer received a minor injury when he was struck. Large fireworks that explode with a large flame were also thrown at officers by people in the crowd where attempting to use them as hand grenades.

An armored vehicle was used to try to clear the streets. When it was brought in, members of the group started throwing bricks and large pieces of concrete.
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When they refused to leave, the police brought in an armored vehicle and sprayed the crowd with “chemical munitions.” Twitter was on the case:

In Philadelphia, hundreds of black people streamed through the streets of downtown, beating, looting, and terrorizing. Right next to City Hall. One person was arrested for punching a police officer in the face. Several black people predicted it on Twitter hours before the violence and lawlessness began:

One person even looked forward to it.

The next day, anchor Rob Jennings at the ABC affiliate in Philadelphia began the report by saying several people were “brutally attacked by an unruly mob.” Out on the street, the reporter, David Henry, took a less dramatic view. He started out with the de rigueur claims that “this is perhaps the only blemish on an otherwise glorious Fourth of July weekend.” That and the two people who were shot nearby.

Other than that, how did you enjoy the play Mrs. Lincoln?

Then while video of the attack showed the mob streaming up the largest street in downtown Philadelphia, the reporter described some “scuffles” that left people with “minor injuries.” It’s almost as if he did not hear his own interview or watch the viewer-created video of the scene. “This Asian kid got punched in the face and pounded to the ground,” witness Jay Ingersoll told the reporter. “We heard ‘flash mob, flash mob, flash mob.’”
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By looking at the video, there were far more than “dozens of young people” on the street. The station may have been coy about identifying the race of the mob. The videotape is not.

No one went to the hospital. No arrests were made. It’s almost like it never happened.

Two days later, news stories on the holiday celebrations in
the
Philadelphia Inquirer
made no mention of the riots, other than to pronounce, “All in all, Philadelphia’s Fourth festivities ‘a resounding success.’”

In places like Quincy, Florida, riots with firework are a holiday tradition. In Quincy one black man was arrested and others were being sought after crowds of black people attacked police and others with explosives in 2012. WCTV news in Quincy reported:

Upon arrival and to their surprise police officers were ambushed by several suspects who threw explosive fireworks at them and their vehicles. Some of the explosives detonated underneath the vehicles with enough force to shake the vehicle.

Several hours later police were again called to the location but this time made contact with a witness who stated that four suspects had thrown a “bomb” at her. The witness also advised police that these same suspects were responsible for throwing explosive fireworks at police earlier.

Quincy police were the victims of a similar type assault last year on July 4th at this exact apartment complex. One officer was hospitalized last year and suffered minor hearing loss after a large explosive device was thrown at him and detonated next to him.
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That is the way it is in Gafney, South Carolina, too. In 2011 a group of five hundred black people threw fireworks and rocks at police after the July Fourth celebration. At one point, someone threw a cinder block through a Gaffney police cruiser. The officers were overwhelmed. Neighbors in the area have described what’s become an annual event as hell, saying it’s reminiscent of a war zone.
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In 2012, Gaffney police flooded the zone with extra officers and police were able to stop the “holiday tradition” that year.
The same was true in Dallas, where in 2011 mobs of black people attacked a television videographer with rockets. Dallas was quieter the next year.

In Greenville, South Carolina, in 2011, black people by the dozens “hurled fireworks at a Greenville officer.” Neighbors called police, and the officer reported they were shooting at his car and he had been hit in the chest. Within twenty minutes, twenty-five officers were on the scene. The local NBC affiliate called it a “holiday tradition that seems to escalate year after year.”
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In Greenville fireworks violence is a holiday tradition like Dickens’s Christmas Carol. All that’s missing is an old dude in a bathrobe hanging out a bedroom window:

“What’s to-day, my fine fellow?” said Scrooge.

“To-day?” replied the boy. “Why, Christmas Day.”

“It’s Christmas Day!” said Scrooge to himself. “I haven’t missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Hallo, my fine fellow!”

“Hallo!” returned the boy.

“Do you know the Poulterer’s, in the next street but one, at the corner?” Scrooge inquired.

“I should hope I did,” replied the lad.

“An intelligent boy!” said Scrooge. “A remarkable boy!
Do you know whether they’ve sold the prize Turkey that was hanging up there—Not the little prize Turkey: the big one?”

“What, the one as big as me?” returned the boy.

“What a delightful boy!” said Scrooge. “It’s a pleasure to talk to him. Yes, my buck.”

“It’s hanging there now,” replied the boy.

“Is it?” said Scrooge. “Go and buy it.”

“Walk-er!” exclaimed the boy.

“No, no,” said Scrooge, “I am in earnest. Go and buy it, and tell them to bring it here, that I may give them the direction where to take it. Come back with the man, and I’ll give you a shilling. Come back with him in less than five minutes and I’ll give you half-a-crown.”

Now
that
is a holiday tradition. Let’s head on over to Ohio.

Not Akron. Yes, Akron. If you were wondering if you lived in a “black world,” fifty black people in Akron, Ohio, had an answer: Yes.

No, they didn’t answer during a community forum on our Founding Fathers. Or in a letter to the editor. Or even in a rant on a blog. Instead, in the summer of 2011, a group of fifty black people clearly declared that we live in a black world when they kicked and punched and terrorized a mom, dad, and two kids leaving a Fourth of July party.

Out of nowhere, the six were attacked by dozens of teenage boys, who shouted ‘‘This is our world’’ and ‘‘This is a black world’’ as they confronted Marshall and his family.

The Marshalls, who are white, say the crowd of teens who attacked them and two friends June 27 on Girard Street numbered close to 50. The teens were all black.

They said it started when one teen, without any words or warning, blindsided and assaulted Marshall’s friend as he stood outside with the others.

Marshall was the most seriously injured. He suffered a
concussion and multiple bruises to his head and eye. He said he spent five nights in the critical care unit at Akron General Medical Center.

‘‘I knew I was going to get beat, but not as bad as I did,’’ Marshall said. ‘‘But I did it to protect my family. I didn’t have a choice. There was no need for this. We should be all getting along. But to me, it seems to be racist.’’
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Peoria, Illinois, was no better when in 2011 a crowd of hundreds of black people attacked police with fire, rockets, and explosives as they responded to a burning trash can.
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