For anyone else that doesn’t get it.
It isn’t a false equivalence, it’s that it is working.
With riot the media is creating what many here would call a dog whistle. What’s disturbing is that many here are beginning to hear it.
3 Likes
Some local facts to help sort this out:
-
The Blackhawks don’t play at Wrigley Field. The only truly losing team in Chicago plays at Wrigley Field (the Cubs) and their fans are overwhelmingly white, as is the surrounding north side neighborhood. And yes, that neighborhood gets trashed every time there’s a game…by white people. It’s a magnet for white people getting very drunk and acting out whenever any local sports team wins or loses.
-
The Blackhawks play at United Center on the near west side. It’s a significantly more diverse neighborhood. There were no “riots” or unruly crowds of any kind near there.
So yeah, this is a pretty good example of how unruly white crowds are not treated the same way black crowds (ruly or unruly) are.
Having said that, Chicago handled the Ferguson vigils very well: the police were dispatched to HELP the demonstrators have a safe path to walk, blocking traffic for them and otherwise allowing them to fully express their Constitutional rights.
Perhaps we have learned our lesson from earlier times. (Yeah, no, there’s still a very long way to go with the police department here. But at least it’s not all bad all the time anymore.)
7 Likes
Thanks for mentioning how the Chicago police handled the Ferguson march. I was there and they handled it well.
Compare that to how cops in several cities dealt with the mostly white Occupy protesters (characterized by the press as dirty hippies**).
Perhaps over the top reaction by militarized police forces has as much to do with who they perceive to be the hated underclass as race.
**Edit: and I say that as a proud, ageing, usually clean hippy.
1 Like
The difference between these types of sports-related “riots” and what happened in Baltimore is that in Baltimore, about 145 cars and 15 buildings went up in flames, and something like hundreds of businesses were looted.
I’m a resident of Baltimore and have quite a nuanced view of what happened there. I went to one of the first main protests (which started to get a bit sketchy toward the end, in front of Camden Yards). But it definitely devolved into a full-on riot that spread through a surprisingly large swath of the city.
Ugh. The racial bias is alive and well in the media, but not in this case.This isn’t a racial issue- it’s about the intent of the riot. The Ferguson and Baltimore riots were protests. People were (and rightfully are) hurt and angry. They (again, rightfully) began a demonstration with anger on their minds. They congregated with an intent to put themselves in danger in order to fight the norms of their community. They had a position to defend. This makes for a frighteningly tense situation from the start, with everyone on edge, even if all involved try to remain calm and peaceful. A situation charged with those intense kind of emotions can escalate quickly leading to chaos, more fear, more anger, sensationalism, and misrepresentation of events.
The intent of the Blackhawks riot was not to display anger. They weren’t protesting anything, they had no agenda, no fear or hostility on the minds of people as they took to the street. It was started as a true celebration and in no way was it mislabeled a celebration because they’re white. It’s not acceptable that they got out of control and did horribly destructive things (which should be addressed and criminally prosecuted), but the lack of outcry over this riot is absolutely not because of race. It simply wasn’t a serious issue to report. In contrast, the riots in Ferguson and Baltimore were 100% serious and important to report. There is a huuuge difference between these situations.The author of this post (Caroline Siede) has unfortunately undermined the significance of the Ferguson and Baltimore riots by injecting false accusations of racism here.
2 Likes
So you’re saying that if the exact same thing were to happen in celebration of an event at which the fans were instead almost completely black, the police and media responses would be exactly the same?
5 Likes
Given the history of black people being treated unfairly, I would say no. Racism is an issue in America.
That said, to absolutely state that sports riots involving a predominantly white crowd are handled differently than sports riots involving a predominantly black crowd is conjecture. There have been numerous sports riots in this country and they’ve all been handled the same way. The crowds have been racially mixed. The author is trying to say that this white riot has been mislabeled a celebration and therefore, has not received the public admonishment it deserves because of the race of the fans. If there ever was a sports riot where the majority of fans were black and it was shown to have been handled differently than all the other sports riots, then the author would have a sound argument.
If she’s saying that all riots should be treated equally, than she should discuss the ethics and psychology of riots themselves and not make inflammatory remarks about race when it’s not warranted.
2 Likes
If the Ferguson/Baltimore riots had been labeled as a black celebration, would that have changed the tone of the way it was treated by the media and law enforcement? Would the importance of those riots been minimized by labeling them that way? Were they truly a celebration or was there a different intent?
I think you need to replace the battery in your sarcasm meter.
1 Like
What in hell are you talking about? Why label protests about police killings of black people a “celebration”? Who would ever even do that?
4 Likes
The post about the surfers investigates white on white violence and denounces riot behavior. It says nothing about how it would have been treated differently had it been a black riot. I’m not sure how it fits in with this conversation.
Exactly! The two types of riots cannot be compared. They’re 100% different, and not interchangeable. The Boing Boing post is trying to make them that way.
I’m not being sarcastic. Are you saying the Boing Boing author was being sarcastic?
Jefferson was using the language that would be used to describe that particular riot, made up of white surfer dudes, that is often used by the media to talk about African Americans. It’s a satire, meant to point out racism in the news media.
5 Likes
I don’t see how it’s satire. They talked about fist fights, looting, knocking over port-a-potties (spreading sewage in the streets!). That’s violent and frightening. Race has nothing to do with that either. If you believe they must be joking referring to white people that way; that only “violent and frightening” are words used to describe congregations of African Americans, you might want to re-read the article.
Le sigh. Yes, that’s what I’m saying.
No, it’s not trying to make them that way; it’s not saying that the reasons for the gatherings were exactly the same. It’s instead pointing out that if last night’s largely white “rioters” or “celebrants” or whatever had been largely black instead of white, they’d have been treated differently.
Did you read the thread here before commenting? That might help clarify things for you…
Methinks you must be driving trollies?
Are you now saying that you agree that, as that (clearly satiric) Gawker piece says, that event epitomizes a “white culture of lawlessness”? (Actually, in other contexts, I think there is such a thing, but that’s a different convo.)
Oh, where to start with you? Hmmm, how about here –
1 Like
I’m not confused.
Time and time again black people have been treated more harshly than whites. I’m not denying that. I’m not denying that if the sports rioters had been mostly black, they would have had a heavier hand on them.
If that’s all the author wanted to say, then she should not have brought Ferguson/Baltimore into the conversation. There’s no comparison between the two riots and she’s trying to draw one. That’s my problem.
And my problem, as stated upthread, is that that’s not what the post is actually about. It’s instead about differing treatments of differently raced crowds – whatever it is that the crowds are gathered for or in the name of, they’re treated differently on the basis of race, as you yourself acknowledge. The double standard in the treatment of the crowds is the topic and the point, not whatever caused the crowds to gather.
5 Likes
