White Girl Bleed A Lot

by Colin Flaherty

  As he was walking to his apartment, he saw three black males loitering. One was on a bicycle. The suspect on the bicycle rode up beside him. Suddenly the thug smashed him in the side of the head with a chain. He was hit two or three more times in the head with the chain before he broke loose and ran to the nearest home.

  All three of the black males then attacked him on the porch. They yelled “this is what you deserve you white piece of shit.” Jacob was hit in the head with the large chain more times.

  All seven known victims were attacked within about six blocks of where Jacob was attacked. The victims were in their 30s, 40s, and 50s. Some of the victims were attacked during the day in broad daylight.11

  Seven known episodes of black mob violence in one small town and one small period, that adds up to one big story.

  Memo to Kyle Rogers and Jesse Lee Peterson: You need to work on those happy faces.

  38

  A ROUNDUP

  So many riots. So little time.

  Some riots slip through the cracks. Rather than ignore them, let’s take a look.

  Labor Day is a busy time for black mob violence and lawlessness in Erie, Pennsylvania. At the end of each summer they hold a festival called Celebrate Erie Days in the downtown area. In 2012, as in the past, hundreds of “unruly teens” disrupted several nights of the festival with violence and mayhem. “The teens kept Erie police busy for three hours” on the first night of the festival. “Eight juveniles were taken into custody.”1

  Twitter traffic and local websites identified the teens as black, even if local media did not.

  Down in Savannah in August 2012, a white man was beaten unconscious by several black men. Andrew Quade and his black girlfriend were walking through Ellis Square in downtown Savannah when the group of black men jumped him, “beating him and leaving him barely conscious.” Quade said that he didn’t want to freak out on the group that was taunting him and his girlfriend. But “everything happened so quickly,” he said. “He doesn’t even have a clear picture in his mind of the fight.”2

  Savannah Chief of Police Willie Lovett does not call it a hate crime because that is a “serious” label that could “taint our community unfairly.”

  Also in August 2012 several black men in Sacramento taunted a “gay” man on the public transit. “When the man tried to get off the train … the suspects repeatedly punched him.”3

  In September 2012 in Buffalo a woman was “mercilessly beaten by six to ten people” after she tried to help a deli owner stop a mob of black shoplifters. The woman “suffered broken bones above her right eye and a fractured nose after being assaulted by some of these teenage boys.” Of course they don’t identify the race of the boys even though the attack is on video. They are all black.4

  SCAN ME!

  VIDEO: Buffalo Beat Down

  In the two weeks after the deli store beat down there were two other episodes of black mob violence at nearby Buffalo State College where three people were robbed. “Three young men were jumped” by a mob of black males “who punched, kicked, and robbed the victims. One of the victims was then shot in the arm.” Police did not return calls for comment on a description of the suspects.5

  In Illinois for the second time in 2012, a group of black women assaulted their waitress at the Fairview Heights Red Lobster. According to a witness, they thought she was coming by too often to fill up their water glasses. One of them threw a water glass at the server, hitting her “in the back of the head. The witness said as the server turned around, the customer hit her in the face with one of the dessert books.”6

  In Durham, North Carolina, black mobs are suspects in almost two dozen assaults and robberies since 2010. The attacks have taken place at the recently opened American Tobacco Trail, a seven-and-a-half-mile walking and running track that goes through Durham.

  The race of the attackers was not reported in the press. Even so, Police Chief Jose Lopez has it all figured out:

  “The simple assaults don’t appear to be motivated by robbery,” Lopez said. “It appears to be motivated more by mischievousness and the locations where they find individuals who are clearly running by themselves.”

  “So if you look at that, versus the thousands of people who run the trail on a daily basis, it’s pretty safe,” he said.7

  Lopez said crimes on running trails occur throughout the United States. Mimimize. Explain it away. Next.

  Out in Tacoma, during Halloween 2012, a group of six to ten black people used a gun to rob several families of cash and candy and cell phones in six separate robberies.8

  Five people were arrested, at least one of whom was under house arrest at the time of the crime. The local paper removed any comments from readers that pointed to the race of the criminals. The liveliest discussion took place on Facebook. Colleta Pearson identified herself as a family member of one of the accused robbers.

  I ain’t saying what they did was right but I got my brother an the homies bacc no matter what an like I said the news an the newspaper ain’t telling what really happen. … An at the end of the day y’all would be sitting in the courts sticcing up for your family!!!! Y’all act like y’all fam just perfect I know for sure someone in y’all family has hit houses or something!!!9

  In Rockford, Illinois, the local paper is not quite so squeamish in describing a flash rob attack at Dick’s Sporting Goods:

  About eight black men and women entered the store, toting garbage bags, which they filled with an unspecified number of coats. When the employees approached to chase them out of the store, two of them took out vials of Mace but did not spray anyone.10

  In November 2009 Denver police arrested thirty-two black people in the downtown area for a series of racial crimes against primarily white males—twenty-eight of them.

  SCAN ME!

  VIDEO: Hate Crime Roundup

  This was probably the most organized and sustained race riot in the country. Right there in the middle of the Rocky Mountains.

  When I told my friends I was working on a book about a tsunami of racial violence in America over the last two years, they all said, “I haven’t heard about that.” When writer and attorney John Bennett told me Denver was the site of one of the most organized and violent and sustained examples of racial violence in the country, I told him: “I haven’t heard about that.”

  People in Denver remember the story. Even if the rest of us do not. In 2009 Denver police arrested thirty-five black men for systematically beating white and Latino men over a period of four months. Some people were hurt badly.

  In September 2011 the CBS affiliate ran a headline on their web page: “Motive Unclear in Attack by Group of Teens.” They identified the “teens” as black or Hispanic.11

  In July 2011 a gang of four or more black men conducted a series of assaults and robberies in downtown Denver with baseball bats.12

  In June 2012 a black police officer trying to break up a fight among black people at a free jazz concert was shot and killed. The suspected killer’s aunt, Roxanne Shaw, expressed shock and disbelief that the boy who attended East High School could have killed someone. “I don’t think he did that,” she said. “I didn’t ever know that boy to carry a gun.”13

  And the beat goes on.

  39

  WE GET LETTERS FROM REPORTERS

  You are not going to believe this either: They are not very nice.

  I know the breed. I was a reporter. I know lots of reporters. I taught a class at the University of California for reporters on research and writing and interviewing. I’ve done everything from getting a guy out of prison to trying to kill a story that won the Pulitzer. (My bad. Sorry, Dave.) I ghostwrite for national columnists when they get sick. I won lots of awards. I party with them in Vegas. I tell you this just to let you know, reporters are squirrelly.

  Think of the most liberal person you know. Your average reporter makes that person look like Bill Buckley. So when you roll into a town with a book that challenges some of their most deeply held (and u
nexamined) liberal beliefs, they do not like it. Reporters confuse what they like and dislike with what is good and bad, with what is true and false. That is what I found out from dozens of reporters during the many interviews for the first edition of this book.

  My favorite came from Chicago, an ABC news reader by the name of Ravi Baichwal. He calls himself a reporter and anchor, and I think he won some Emmys, which I thought were for acting. He probably has a good looking wife and well-behaved kids. But I digress.

  I emailed Mr. Baichwal telling him I was going to be in Chicago and suggested he do a story about how Chicago has lots of race riots. I told him I would be happy to help.

  Dang, he got angry:

  Not sure what your point is besides demagoguery. So blacks are implicated in crime in the summer.

  Not news. Your perspective is not fresh or particularly interesting.

  If you’re such a great writer and commentator, work to solve problems … not put this trash out—and expect someone like me to ape your perspective.

  Well, I did something I am normally not that good at doing. I walked away from a fight and tried to engage the gentleman in civil discourse:

  Do you feel better now?

  There are two things interesting: 1) the crimes, 2) the denials.

  I personally think the second is more interesting.

  So why is it such a big deal to say: ‘yes, Chicago has race riots?’

  He did not much like that either:

  It isn’t riots. It’s disaffected youth for sure but you’re just race-baiting here and it’s meaningless.

  I waded in for more:

  Feel even better?

  So the fact this is happening all over the country has no meaning? None?

  And anyone who notices is just a racist?

  I thought that was it. That my brief and unhappy encounter with Mr. Baichwal was over. But then the next day, I opened my email to find this letter bomb:

  I re-read your stuff and looked at your website.

  It was late last night when we were conversing and I wanted to double-check my sense of you and your thesis.

  I was right. You are an idiot.

  At this point, I knew one thing for sure: the guy was obviously talking to one of my ex-girlfriends. He had to have been. It usually takes people a lot longer to figure that out. I pressed on and wrote back that “It’s about facts. Not thesis.”

  He didn’t like that either. You should know, fair reader, I did not target Mr. Baichwal. I did not say he was a lousy reporter because an epidemic of race riots and violence and crime happened on his news watch, and he was so busy being sanctimonious that he did not even notice, which in my book is even worse than the crime reporter in Colorado Springs who missed the train wreck on a Sunday in downtown because he was playing basketball and turned off his police scanner.

  Nope. I did not say any of that. I was still hoping he would invite me on his show and dispute my facts in public, which would be impossible because I don’t explain the facts, I just report that the race riots are happening. I give the who, when, where, and how—with lots of links—but not the why.

  And why isn’t anyone noticing?

  This time he really was through.

  I’d appreciate it now if you wouldn’t bother me anymore.

  Guys like you fit “facts” into a thesis. Anyways, over and out.

  When the conversation reaches this point, I always ask: Can you give me an example?

  Still waiting, Chicago. Ask your Emmy-winning wife. She probably knows. And if she does not, ask one of the old dudes who remembers Mike Royko.

  Anyway, here’s a smattering of some other reporters’ comments from around the country.

  FROM: Steve West, Host of “Live & Local” WKVT-AM, VT

  TO: Colin Flaherty

  DATE: October 14, 2011

  SUBJECT: Race Riots

  Are you freaking kidding me? I won’t take the time to write the long list of reasons why I’m not interested in your premise. Don’t write me again, please.

  Steve West

  FROM: Craig Clough, Patch Editor in California

  TO: Colin Flaherty

  DATE: October 10, 2011

  SUBJECT: Commentary on Racial Violence

  I do not find this interesting, only massively offensive on an astonishing level. I feel ill just having read it.

  I’m not a liberal, sir. I only responded to your ridiculous email because racism cannot be ignored by decent people in the 21st century.

  Craig Clough

  FROM: Mark Schieldrop, Rhode Island Patch

  TO: Colin Flaherty

  DATE: October 9, 2011

  SUBJECT: Commentary on racial violence

  This piece is woefully unsubstantiated and has nothing to do with Cranston. Sorry, I won’t publish something like this.

  Mark Schieldrop

  FROM: Tony Dondero, The Patch.com

  TO: Colin Flaherty

  DATE: October 10, 2011

  SUBJECT: Racial Violence in Washington

  I check the police reports regularly and what you are saying is simply not reality here. The building where I currently live has quite a few black residents in it. And I don’t see “black on white” violence.

  I haven’t been beat up, had my car broken into, etc. Actually, I had my car broken into Bellevue and Arlington, Wash. in places that are predominately white or Asian and have few blacks.

  So no, I will not run your piece, now or ever.

  Maybe where you live is some completely alternative reality. But other than maybe some isolated incidents, I just don’t see any pattern or anything.

  Frankly, I don’t think there’s any more black on white violence than any other violence. In Seattle and Portland?

  Am I missing something? I just don’t see it. Are you sure you want to squander your credibility on this?

  Really?

  Tony Dondero

  FROM: Perry Robbin, Suffield, Connecticut Patch

  TO: Colin Flaherty

  DATE: October 10, 2011

  SUBJECT: Racial violence commentary

  I also consider this submission inflammatory, to say the very least. I respect your right to free speech but I do not want to get submissions like this from you ever again in the future, they have absolutely no place in my publication.

  Perry Robbin

  FROM: John McKay, Michigan Patch

  TO: Colin Flaherty

  DATE: October 10, 2011

  SUBJECT: Racial violence commentary

  Wouldn’t invite this type of content even if it did come from a local voice. It is absolutely irrelevant to our community, not to mention inflammatory and agenda-based. It would be grossly irresponsible for any reputable media outlet to run this.

  John McKay

  Don’t get me wrong, this book is also attracting a lot of good reviews and kudos from some reporting quarters, but the quotes above are pretty representative of how reporters in big city newsrooms look at the world. Or in this case, don’t look at the world. And that is why race riots, racial crime, and violence do not get widely reported.

  Note to reporters: The sanctimony thing probably works better on someone who has never broken real stories.

  40

  THE KITCHEN SINK

  The hits just keep on coming.

  In researching this book, I interviewed lots of people who simply did not believe racial violence was sweeping the country.

  On my radio show, a former state-wide president of the NAACP said white people have been violent toward black people for a long time, so what is the difference? A black leader in Wilmington, Delaware, told me on the air that rioters in Greece were white people. Weren’t they? And what about Ohio State football games? They always riot after those.

  They don’t, but that didn’t matter. As long as it led to his main point: How could we single out black people in America when white people are doing the same thing?

  It’s all the same.

  No difference
.

  That is what they needed to believe. True or not.

  Book agents said the topic was too “inflammatory,” or simply refused to believe it. One agent from New Jersey was in the middle of the Guendelsberger race riot in Philadelphia, and he just wanted to forget the whole thing. Others pointed to the news stories and said if it were racial, the newspapers surely would have reported it, right?

  Right?

  I helped an old friend write a book. Whenever I said anything stupid, he never said I was stupid. He said he admired my innocence. So for all the innocent people in the world, this chapter is for you.

  GAITHERSBURG

  Almost two hundred black people at a night club had a riot. They fought, stabbed, and shot each other. Guess they will have to take their karaoke rap night somewhere else.1

  http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/18869975

  ALABAMA

  On June 6, 2011, Alabama Adventure Land had to close because of a “borderline riot’ by crowds of black people. There was lots of fighting, fence climbing, and general mayhem at this popular water park.2

  http://blog.al.com/spotnews

  NASHVILLE

  In Nashville’s Wave Country in 2011 crowds of black people became “unruly” and “chaotic” and started climbing over fences. There were fights inside and outside the park. “Hundreds of people were jumping over the fence.”3

  http://www.newschannel5.com/story/14750758

  ST. LOUIS

  A bicyclist group in St. Louis issued a warning after one of its members was beaten by a group of fifteen to twenty black people.4

  http://stlouis.cbslocal.com/2011/08/29/alert-for-swarm-and-slug-mobs/

  GREENSBORO

  Greensboro is stepping up. Of all the cities in America that experienced black mob violence during the Fourth of July 2012, Greensboro might not have been the most vicious or the most violent, or even the most damaging, but at more than one thousand people, it was the largest.