Relying on documents made available exclusively through a Freedom of Information Act request, we can add another face to the growing picture of racial “flash mob” violence in America. It is a face that the media have concealed from public view. This writer was forced to use the local Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to ascertain the facts about the racial identity of one of the victims of these attacks. The media concealed the identity of the white victim apparently because of misguided racial sensitivity.An earlier (2011) article by African-American teacher Jerry Walker points out that some in the community are speaking out:
On the evening of Friday, July 29, 2011, in a district similar to the Plaza called Center City located in Philadelphia, a ‘wilding mob’ descended and brutally assaulted and robbed numerous Caucasian patrons. According to the Washington Times, “the worse injury was a man kicked in the head so savagely that he was hospitalized with a fractured skull”. According to the Times, there were four arrests including an eleven-year-old juvenile. Michael Nutter, an African American and the Mayor of Philadelphia, was outraged. According to the Associated Press while addressing the congregation of the Mount Carmel Baptist Church one week after the attacks, he stated that he was speaking as a “proud black man”. He then chided black parents for abrogating their responsibility for “doing a better job raising their children”. Addressing the young thugs he said, “You’ve damaged yourself, you’ve damaged another person, you’ve damaged your peers and, quite honestly, you’ve damaged your own race”. He continued, “Let me speak plainer. That’s part of the problem in the black community… We have too many men making too many babies they don’t want to take care of and then we end up dealing with your children.” Later in an interview with the Associated Press Mayor Nutter reiterated the point that he spoke as “a proud black man in this country”. He went on to say, “It was a message that needed to be said. It needed to be said at this time… people have had enough of this nonsense, black and white”. “This is about personal responsibility “, he concluded, “We have to be straightforward.” Mayor Nutter had many detractors within the black community disparaging his remarks. These critics, almost without exception, invariably blamed the “white man” for the existence of the ‘wilding mobs’. However there were those who supported him.The author also predicted:
Note also that these “wilding mobs” incidents in 2010 and 2011 took place during the months April through August, warmer months when school is not in session. Be assured if a more direct, confrontational and preemptive approach is not taken by law enforcement, we will witness these violent, horrendous events again during the summer of 2012, only on a wider more destructive scale.And he appears to have been right.
-- Nick
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