All.
Twenty years after the fact, a reporter suddenly discovered Greek Week was a multi-ethnic funfest that some people mistakenly thought was some kind of race riot:[76]
“Way too many people showed up for an end of the summer celebration in Virginia Beach during the 1989 Labor Day Weekend. Yes, many were black fraternity members (hence the "Greek" in "Greekfest), but there were lots of non-students as well. People just wanting to drink, flirt, and hang out. I'm convinced there had to be a few Renaissance fair actors in the mix. And maybe some flamboyant tap dance instructors.”
Isn’t that a cute lie.
But during that time, no one questioned or poked fun at whether 50,000 to 100,000 black people were creating incredible levels of mayhem by destroying 100 shops, fighting cops, breaking the law.
They killed a horse. They threw a huge brick at its head.
All while blasting out the two big hits of that summer: Fuck the Police and Fight the Power, from the Spike Lee movie sound track, Do The Right Thing.
Afterwards, most of the media discussion centered on how the people of Virginia Beach must be racists to have caused such an outbreak. Many of the students blamed the locals for not making them feel welcome.
If you are playing a drinking game, please do not guzzle whenever you hear someone say they committed violence because the people who live there did not make them feel welcome. You will be way too drunk to finish this book.
There are so many contemporary accounts of Greekfest. This one from a police blog.[77]
I was living in Va. Beach when we had the riots. It started off as 'Greekfest' whereby mostly black fraternities would come to the Beach every Labor Day. Thousands of young college age people would pack the Beach oceanfront every year (mostly students from historically black colleges, such as Norfolk State, Hampton, Howard, etc.)
The crowds got rowdier and larger, the year of the riots the crowd was estimated at 100,000. Anyway, some drunken student fell from a balcony and when the ambulance responded a crowd that had formed began throwing bottles and other debris.
The crowds began throwing rocks through store windows and looting the stores. Cars would pull up and everyone would jump out and do a 'smash and grab'.
While reporters try to convince us that Greek Week 1989 was really a mis-remembered collection of rowdy belly dancers, other residents insist it really began in the years before: By 1988, large groups of black people were looting stores in the middle of the day, vandalizing hotel rooms, destroying property, and police took a hands-off attitude.
Everyone involved on the wrong end of this mayhem agrees on this: White Racism caused it all. How about an eyewitness account:
Letter from Virginia Beach
There were no Greeks at Greekfest.
Colin,
I grew up in Virginia Beach and never even noticed Greekfest until my senior year in HS, 1984. I was surfing in the ritzy area of Virginia Beach and saw a couple hundred black college kids holding Greek banners on the beach. No problems that I saw.
I went away to school and came back to the beach in 1986, I lived blocks from the beach and I can’t remember any issues that year either.
In 1986 and 1987 I worked in the oceanfront Tourist Shops. Truth be told we had issues with blacks shoplifting, urinating or defecating in the stores, and harassing our mainly high school age help, all summer.
But in 1987 is when it really started. I lived a block and 1/2 from the oceanfront. My roommate of 2 years was a mixed race guy named Mike, we went to HS together. Well Labor Day Weekend 1987, I worked the day shift Sunday I scored Sunday Night and Monday morning off.
When I got off work, Mike's younger sister come by for a visit, she was a very attractive light skinned mixed race girl. I decided to run up to the liquor store and Mike's sister Monica was going with me, she rode on my handlebars of my beach cruiser.
We got harassed the 4 blocks to the Liquor store, college age black girls and boys cussing at us and trying to grab her off my bike.
I ran into the store and when I came back out, Monica told me, don’t stop till we get home! She was 16 and scared for her life. Cars up and down the street were pumping loud rap music, Jeeps and Suzukis w/ no tops, huge speakers so loud they almost caused a concussion.
Open drinking and weed smoking, cursing all over. Just out of control.
I went out that night w/ another friend and the traffic was logged-jammed everywhere, I stayed off the main street, Atlantic Ave, I was getting intel that you risked your life going down there.
After the weekend, I got reports from friends that worked in the oceanfront bars and restaurants. 15 people coming in and all wanting separate tabs. No one tipping. People being threatened and white girls being groped. Hotel rooms being totally trashed. Smashed furniture, urination and defecation everywhere. Sex in public.
Packing 20 kids into a room made for 4. Typical College "Spring break" behavior. The Police began to make some arrests but not too bad.
The next year, 1988, people were ready for it.
Hotels tried to deny access to college age kids, but it didn't work. Noise ordinances, loitering laws, anti-cruising laws, anti-profanity laws were all used to try and calm down the crowds.
I went down to the beach with my now old roommate, Mike, he drove and there were about 6 of us in his car. He got on the strip, (Atlantic Ave). We couldn't get anywhere because all the pedestrian traffic (Jaywalking) wouldn't let a car move.
Mike gunned it to get out of there when another guy in the car screamed, "run them over!" Bad move. We got swarmed by college kids kicking and hitting the car. Then two undercover cops jumped in our car and said, “Shut the Fuck up, you guys are going to get killed! Get out of here."
I bailed out of the car with another guy and headed for a bar. The Bouncer said we should all leave after a while. It was getting too dangerous.
The next night, Labor Day 1988, people had been kicked out of their rooms for trashing them. Some had left their possessions in the rooms and were locked out. They got pissed and started a small riot. It lasted a few hours.
1989, I had moved to Norfolk to go to ODU. My gf at the time worked for a boutique that had a place in Norfolk and at the Oceanfront. It became a war that weekend.
The college kids came back in force, all pumped up from the stories on how bad they had been treated the past 2 years, they came for revenge. Organized gangs came as well.
I watched the riot from the TV in a bar at ODU. ‘They stayed all weekend.’
"FIGHT THE POWER" & Spike Lee's "Do The Right Thing" fueled the madness.
The rioters tore up everything in sight, from hotels to tourist shops to long old beach landmarks. The rioting and looting had organized. Cars following the rioters got filled up with looted goods. Parking lot attendants were threatened with guns and death if they towed cars that didn't pay to park.
Locals, mostly whites, were beaten. Including friends of mine. All of this is well documented. Rioters were arrested and the National Guard was sent in.
Public Enemy’s "Welcome to the Terrordome" mentions Virginia Beach.
We in Virginia Beach were labeled racist because we tried to protect ourselves.
It didn’t stop there. Every Weekend and every Summer Holiday, (Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day weekends). Blacks poured into the beach for Years. Some not even checking into rooms or spending money but to harass and loiter and commit petty crimes.
The years after Rodney King had the College kids filming every arrest on their camcorders. My wife's gf's husband worked undercover for VBPD. He gave me an ear full about the nastiest.
Cops being sprayed with urine and other body fluids, etc. This went on for YEARS! Virginia Beach got a reputation as the "Black Beach", white people stopped coming because of the unruly behavior of the blacks. And it wasn't just black college kids anymore, it was blacks of all ages.
This past April, during public school Spring Break my wife was jogging on the boardwalk on th
e beach w a girlfriend and witnessed about 100 kids, gathering for a fight. A black girl beat down and stripped naked a white girl while everyone took pictures/videos and laughed.
All escaped before police responded. My wife was terrified. This happened 2 blocks from our church.
I called my City Councilmen about it and the Chief of Police responded by calling me personally. I warned him that the off-season wasn't "off" anymore. I told him the oceanfront needed more officers. It was a prelude to what happened later that month.
After 20 years it seemed to calm down, then last year and this year, the college kids returned for Spring "Beach Weekends", This past year was the worst, stabbings and shootings and all the same types of behavior as the Greekfest weekends.
Black Mob Violence at Christmas 2014.
Including more than a dozen malls.
Holidays are a special time for practitioners and deniers of black mob violence. The Fourth of July, Memorial Day, Labor Day and of course New Year’s are among the most popular.
But not Christmas. Not usually. Not until the 2014 holiday season: Black mob violence and resentment erupted across the country during the few days before, during and after Christmas. And not the “carry signs and send out a press release” kind of political violence.
That year’s Yuletide racial violence was more spontaneous. More deadly. More old school. Not connected to the recent political protests over Mike Brown, Eric Garner and fill in your favorite atrocity that racist police inflicted on black people For No Reason What So Ever.
Let’s start in a small town near Houston called Texas City, where hundreds of black people decided to celebrate Christmas Night at a party promoting “Hood Night.’[78]
Near midnight, one of the patrons found himself in the parking lot, shooting a handgun. When police arrived, he was shooting toward the crowd and ignored orders to drop the weapon.
That is when Hood Night got real: The man with the gun turned towards police and they shot him dead. At least that is what the nightclub owner told local news stations after he reviewed the footage from his security cameras.
And what is Hood Night without a riot? “Police had to dispatch reinforcements after some people in the crowd starting throwing rocks at officers and police vehicles,” reported the local Fox affiliate.
The dead man’s mother and sisters said he was a good person and not prone to violence and people should not believe the police or witnesses or videotapes or anything else because the 20-year old man had recently graduated from high school and was getting his life together.
Next stop, Pawtucket, Rhode Island, Christmas night: Police responded to a large group of black people fighting and destroying property at a nightclub. When police suggested to Aderito Andrade that he refrain from the violent behavior that he appeared to be exhibiting, he declined.[79]
Andrade punched one cop in the face, knocking him out. Then he assaulted another. By this time, the crowd of 50 to 100 black people was fully aware of the injustice of trying to arrest a man who had just attacked a police officer, so they responded in kind by attacking a female cop:
“Police said during the officers’ struggle to arrest Andrade, a large group of people surrounded the officers and began yelling obscenities,” reported Channel 12 news. “A third officer was kicked several times by men in the group. Police then sprayed the crowd with pepper spray, causing them to disperse.”
In San Antonio, police responded to a noise complaint at a party. When they found the host, “things got out of hand,” said the Fox affiliate. "Instead of helping the officers, he stepped aside and into the middle of the crowd and began yelling things about the police,” Sgt. Joe Mckinney said.
That is when partygoers started punching the police and throwing rocks and bottles at them. Several black people were handcuffed. One of the people who threw the party was charged with inciting a riot.
But this all happened a few days before Christmas, so maybe it does not count as part of this Holiday roundup.
And by the way, that is three large-scale attacks on cops, if you are the type who keeps track of that kind of thing. As I am.
So here’s your challenge: If you were writing this chapter, you would probably try to put the most interesting part first. Hood Night, shootings, attacks on police, and denials were pretty interesting to me.
But it could just as easily have been the black mob violence at more than a dozen malls and shopping centers during the same period.[80] So let’s get started on that:
Off to Chicago, the day after Christmas: The Navy Pier hosted a holiday gathering called Winter WonderFest. During the party, 100 to 200 black people fought, raged, rampaged, destroyed property and fired guns. [81]
In almost every episode in this report, people said guns were fired, but police said they were not. Unless someone got shot.
Back at Chicago’s most popular tourist destination, Navy Pier, one pregnant woman was injured and taken to the hospital. Five black people were arrested. For a fuller picture of the holiday chaos, let’s turn to Chicago’s most reliable source for crime news: The Second City Cop Blog, a must read for law enforcement in the area. Or for anyone who wants a realistic account of black mob violence there. A few comments:
“It wasn't a disturbance, it was a battery in progress. It wasn't 50, it was more like 1000. There was also a report of a man with a gun and shots fired, although never verified. Not to mention a call for teens smoking weed in the Imax theater.”
Said another:
“Every race is getting sick and tired of the black teens running around acting like thug fools. No black mommas coming out to condemn their actions. The media continues to conceal the race of the thugs...although they mention the race of every white officer and every unarmed and armed black victim.”
And one more: “Gotta love it. A large group of blacks male and female got to an area where it's mainly white and they cause all this damage. Does the news report how this group hurt white citizens???”
Like Jacob Marley explaining to Scrooge, this holiday tour is just getting started. Let’s be on our way to the Monroeville Mall near Pittsburgh, the day after Christmas. Prior to this Yuletide riot, this mall was chiefly known as the setting for the 1978 zombie movie classic, Dawn of the Dead.
The day after Christmas, as many as 1000 black people descended on the mall and chaos, violence, property destruction, defiance, and other mayhem ensued, much of it on video.
So much so even the local news anchors had trouble believing what they were seeing. Two people were hurt and no one was arrested.
Despite the video evidence, police and mall officials tried to downplay the widespread violence. Commenters at local web sites insisted on some truth instead:
Said Kayla Valerina to WTAE: “I was a witness of a teenage boy getting jumped in JC Penny's while I was shopping. He was kicked until he had bruises all over and probably a concussion. They took things such as his phone and things he had bought. I called 911 later bringing cops to the mall before everything went crazy.”
Said another: “Pictures and VIDEOS are worth a 1000 words.... So if you think I am racist for this comment.....then you are a special kind of Stupid.”
Off to the Wolfchase Mall in Memphis: Basically the same as the Monroeville Mall, except the crowd of 250 black people was smaller. Though many in the area say racial violence has become an every day fact of life in Memphis, and this is just the latest example.
Said Frank G Bilbro to a local paper: “Wolfchase will soon go the way of the Mall of Memphis, Raleigh Springs and Hickory Hill malls. Ghetto will take over and no decent person will want to go there. It will happen slowly at first with one store closing, then another and another and no retailers to take their place. Wolfchase will become an empty hulking monument to lack of decency and lawlessness.”
In Sacramento at the Arden Fair mall, a large group of black people were fighting and destroying property first in the food court, then outside. First upstairs, then downstairs, lasting sever
al hours.
Police closed the mall 90 minutes early at 7:30 p.m. the day after Christmas and hauled two dozen people away in handcuffs, said KCRA News. One police spokesperson did tell Fox 40 that this kind of violence is normal because of “heightened emotions.”
In Orlando the day after Christmas, a group of black people was fighting inside a Publix grocery store. One person was shot, several fled. A man only identified as Eric said he saw the suspects flee. He told the Orlando Sentinel: He “was not surprised by the gunfire: "I've lived here for a long time. I've seen a lot.”
No one was arrested.
At Independence, Missouri, near Kansas City on the day after Christmas, Independence Center locked down some stores early Friday night after large groups of youths congregated at the shopping mall and some fights broke out,” said the Kansas City Star.
Hundreds of black people were fighting in and out the mall. More from The Star: “Ashley Jones of Independence had just finished eating with friends at Applebee’s when they walked out about 8:20 p.m. and saw multiple police cars. One officer opened his trunk to retrieve a large gun,” Jones said. “We said, ‘Is it that bad?’ And he said, ‘Better safe than sorry,’” Jones said.
Then they saw a second officer getting a gun from his trunk. That officer told them a riot had broken out. “We heard screaming and yelling, and we took off running,” Jones said. “It was very scary.”
At least one congressman can say, “I told you so.” That would be former mayor of Kansas City, Emanuel Cleaver. When last year, the Kansas City Council discussed imposing a curfew to curtail the regular and frequent black mob violence at the upscale Country Club Plaza, Cleaver advised against it: “All we are going to do is make a lot of black kids angry,” he said. “And they will just take out their anger someplace else.”
'Don't Make the Black Kids Angry': The hoax of black victimization and those who enable it. Page 5
