This is one of the few times I'm very disappointed by the comments section of the NYT. I expect more from Times readers. If you are looking for a factual account of the recent incident in McKinney, there are hundreds of other articles you can read. If you want to argue about who was "right" or "wrong," call a radio talk show. But if you want context, real social history, insight into the nature of our country's deep-rooted problem of racism, then maybe you should read this piece again, but with an open mind please.
31
There is no excuse for the teens to come uninvited to the party, behave in an unruly manner, and not cooperate with police. But did anybody click the link and watch the video? Oh My God, the girl is a 14-year-old!! If a parent had done that to her, someone would have called the police and said that the child was being abused!! Yes, the police may have been needed to diffuse the situation. But when have those tactics ever diffused a situation? If a teacher or a parent or anyone had done that to any CHILD, regardless of race or offence, they would be called abusive!
20
Growing up as a black kid in Brooklyn, NY in the 80's I used to go to Coney Island as a kid regularly. we loved the beach but none of our friends ever wanted to go. When we invited them they would react like it was a foreign land even though it was a quick train ride from our neighborhood. People of all backgrounds shared the beach and I cannot recall any issues. I do however remember visiting family in South Carolina when I was 11 and how a white lady did not let her child into the pool at our hotel until we got out. That memory stuck with me I guess because to that point I had never been made to feel like I was less than someone else because of my color.
15
This article is so disgusting, trying to turn these people into a bunch of bigots who all but turned the hoses on some kids who just wanted to go for a swim. Residents who called the cops have said that a DJ who set up outside the pool area was the real reason they called the cops. Seems like it was an issue that plagues communities across America; neighbors playing their music too loud.
6
I think what disturbed me most about this incident was seeing a police officer pull his gun on unarmed civilians. Maybe we need to rethink the way we arm our police forces and do it the way the British do, only hand out the guns when someone in authority decides they are needed.
29
Ms. Bennett, thank you for your insightful article. Some commenters have dismissed it due to your use of the recent police actions in McKinney, TX. However, I would argue that your points should be considered on their own merit, even without recent events. We cannot ignore the strength of confirmation bias, especially when it blinds us to the possibility of racism/sexism/ageism inherent in our own thoughts and actions.
11
Patricia Williams wrote of an encounter in the mid 20th century when a black woman complained about being served sour milk. The cop called, along with everyone in the diner, was unwilling to taste the glass black lips had touched. We are all so afraid.
5
My comment was garbled at the end. I was going to say rough housing and running around a pool is a really bad idea, esp,if the kids involved largely are not swimmers. It was right to try to get control and just because a cop lost it doesn't mean the kids don't need to learn pool manners. And not to crash the place and run from the cops.
6
As a black teenager I went to a virtually all white high school back in the 90s. I tried out for the swim team and made it. At the time one of my white teammates asked me why I didn't try out for the basketball team? I told him the same reason he didn't try out, because we were both wasn't tall enough. We were both 5'7" at the time. Sometimes the racism can be subtle.
16
38 dead, over 500 injured and 1,000 displaced because their homes were torched. That was the week-long race riot in Chicago in 1919. It began when a black teenager crossed the invisible line in Lake Michigan that separated the "black" and "white" sections of the 29th Street Beach. He was killed by rock-throwers, and the police refused to arrest those responsible. The past doesn't seem so distant now.
24
I agree with the critique that the McKinney incident and the core of this column are only tangentially connected by water. I doubt the pool-keepers in McKinney were anywhere near the fanaticism of folks who would rather pave over a community pool than to let in non-whites.
But it probably is true that racism is more fierce when more skins are exposed. Athletic bodies look shapely regardless of skin color, just as beer bellies look clunky regardless of skin color.
Here's an article on race-related tension in a Southern CA pool from as recently as 2001 in a very diverse part of town. http://articles.latimes.com/2001/apr/16/local/me-51719
But it probably is true that racism is more fierce when more skins are exposed. Athletic bodies look shapely regardless of skin color, just as beer bellies look clunky regardless of skin color.
Here's an article on race-related tension in a Southern CA pool from as recently as 2001 in a very diverse part of town. http://articles.latimes.com/2001/apr/16/local/me-51719
1
I remember as a teenager in the South, discussing racial issues with a much older friend. "It'll take a few more funerals ", he said. He was partly right. In places like Atlanta, as the old guard has died off, a much more tolerant society has emerged. Unfortunately, in some of the smaller towns, we seem to be merely growing a new crop of haters.
10
This was a private pool and a large number of kids climbed the fence and rushed the place. The cop was a total failure in dealing with the kids who were pretty much out of control, but that doesn't mean the kids were somehow victims of society. We have private subdivision pools in our neighborhood, and no way were my kids welcome and they absolutely did not act as these kids did.
And yes, in my mixed high school there was a class called "swimming" as part of the phys Ed requirement. We were segregated by sex in swimming, because we were told boys didn't wear suits(?) Back in the sixties it was noticeable that not one black girl learned to swim, or even mostly progressed from sitting on the edge. I vaguely remember a threat that they would be flunked if they didn't at least get in the pool. i didn't like getting my hair wet either, but figured that since I was there I might as well work on the Red Cross swimming card, and got to intermediate. I think the kids in a place like Michigan really need to learn both swimming, and polite pool behavior, as I have seem
N a lot of roughhouse
And yes, in my mixed high school there was a class called "swimming" as part of the phys Ed requirement. We were segregated by sex in swimming, because we were told boys didn't wear suits(?) Back in the sixties it was noticeable that not one black girl learned to swim, or even mostly progressed from sitting on the edge. I vaguely remember a threat that they would be flunked if they didn't at least get in the pool. i didn't like getting my hair wet either, but figured that since I was there I might as well work on the Red Cross swimming card, and got to intermediate. I think the kids in a place like Michigan really need to learn both swimming, and polite pool behavior, as I have seem
N a lot of roughhouse
4
The presumption that people pollute swimming pools or water fountains conveys simply because they belong to minorities conveys distain for them that cannot be ignored by anyone. It showed not just a sense of separateness due to racial bigotry but considerable indifference to the dignity of people on the basis of purely imaginary considerations.
6
I agree that this incident is not ideal for illustrating historical racism at swimming venues. But I also agree that this manifestation of racism was - and perhaps still is in places - very real.
I'm white, grew up in Texas in the 1950s, early 1960s. Around age 8 or 9 I attended a birthday party held at a public pool, a bunch of kids and a few moms. In the middle of the fun, without warning, the moms began ordering us out of the pool. "Party over," they announced. "Let's go home."
When I asked one mom why, she just nodded her head in the direction of the pool: a single black child, frolicking in the water.
I'm white, grew up in Texas in the 1950s, early 1960s. Around age 8 or 9 I attended a birthday party held at a public pool, a bunch of kids and a few moms. In the middle of the fun, without warning, the moms began ordering us out of the pool. "Party over," they announced. "Let's go home."
When I asked one mom why, she just nodded her head in the direction of the pool: a single black child, frolicking in the water.
9
The fact that the nature of this one-sided encounter was a swimming pool is irrelevant and the symbolism of "water" being involved somewhat of a distraction. I found that the simple over-reaction of the police to such a seemingly innocent activity in such a heavy-handed manner the most frightening, and just the fact that supposedly civilized people's response to any situation that even slightly bothers them is to call in the armed police to bust things up. Would there have been any difference if the the whites at the pool who didn't like "Section 8" kids swimming there had just opted to "send out the dogs" on the kids?
No, not really, but also no because we're not a supposedly civilized society to begin with. Civility is a thing of the past and all that people understand of know how to deal in is along the lines of those things that involve the use of physical force and violence. When I was a kid at the public pool and a fight were to break out, probably the life guard of some other adult would have stepped up to break things up and calm the "waters". But alas adults are no more and now it's simply children held in check by and at the mercy of gun-toting cops who represent that element that wishes to keep us helpless and powerless as children, and dependency and exploitation as well.
No, not really, but also no because we're not a supposedly civilized society to begin with. Civility is a thing of the past and all that people understand of know how to deal in is along the lines of those things that involve the use of physical force and violence. When I was a kid at the public pool and a fight were to break out, probably the life guard of some other adult would have stepped up to break things up and calm the "waters". But alas adults are no more and now it's simply children held in check by and at the mercy of gun-toting cops who represent that element that wishes to keep us helpless and powerless as children, and dependency and exploitation as well.
21
Not much has changed in 2015. What was overt then has gone covert. In Jim Crow's time Blacks were segregated just for being blacks. An explanation or justification was deemed not necessary. Now the bigotry is hidden behind concocted justifications and lies. If it was an incident or two we could believe that it was an isolated incident. But it is not. There is a definite line, a definite pattern. The words now have to be politically correct but the actions belie the words. As matter of fact it has gotten deadlier with the advent of sophisticated guns. The current laws made so that they can be easily circumvented for justification of heinous crimes by the Law Enforcement Agencies. Videos after videos show this unequal balance but there is lie to explain circumstances, a sham judicial process and a sham justification in spite of all evidence and logic to the contrary. The killing of Tamir Rice and now this - dragging a 14 yr. old girl by her hair and pinning her face down with his muscular knee on her very fragile back is almost like out of a horror story. These are kids for Christ's sake! And the Police Officer resigns! Oh my! He has committed felony and should be arrested A.S.A.P. Instead he will lay low for a while and then have a fruitful life. One question no one seems to be asking is that, is there a parallel judicial system for the men with the badge in blue?
8
For an historical perspective see Andrew W. Kahrl's The Land Was Ours: African American Beaches from Jim Crow to the Sunbelt South.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Land-Was-Ours-American/dp/0674050479
http://www.amazon.com/The-Land-Was-Ours-American/dp/0674050479
These attitudes show the importance of Supreme Court rulings like Brown v. Board of Education and President Johnson's Civil Rights Act. You can't change people but you can make rules of law that protect people from unpunished use of such insults. I doubt today's Supreme Court would pass Brown today (Clarence Thomas would never approve) and today's Congress would never pass a Civil Rights Act. That says a lot about how little progress our country has really made regarding integration. So SAD.
7
The actions of that police officer weren't appropriate, but from what I've read of the situation (the account given to a newspaper by a black journalist), the black kids weren't invited to the party and crashed it. Perhaps since McKinney is a wealthy white suburb, black kids weren't invited because they didn't live there and weren't friends of the hosts. That's a matter of geological segregation, not prejudice. I think the whole issue is a lot more complicated than white cops beating up black kids, or a rookie shooting a 12-y/o with a toy gun. No, the cop didn't need to draw his gun, but, according to the account, a big group of kids was rushing him and perhaps he felt he had to defend himself. That cop was a veteran of the police force and had many commendations. In this particular case, I don't think the policeman was totally at fault here.
4
EAL: It was a "black kid" that hosted the part. Watching FOX news "interview" the big white man; he stated he called 911 because "he" didn't like the type of music the DJ was playing- which leads me (at least) to believe there no-doubt were several 911 calls by different people reporting [different things]. One can only imagine if every adult were to call the police over teenager's music they didn't like- including our own parents who probably hated the music we listened to. Finally, this 'wealthy white suburb is not an exclusive all-white compound; there are Black families residing there too- please fact check.
13
I don't know what you've been reading but there are black people who live in that neighborhood.
12
Can anyone with any sense please make a comment? If you watch the video - the entire video, and not just the 1.5 minute clip they show over and over again on the news - you will see that the situation was under control. The video does not show, however, why the girl in the yellow swimsuit was included in the mix. This occurs off camera. What happens next is that two large teen males approach the cop (which again, anyone with sense knows this is a bad idea), and one actually reaches toward the officer's gun. THIS is when the situation escalated. And this seems like an completely reasonable explanation for an officer to become agitated or worried or whatever. He draws his gun to get the kids to back off, and the holsters it when they start to run. Then he continues his arrest of the girl in the yellow. No one knows why he was approaching her to begin with. Furthermore, no one knows why the cops were REALLY called (rowdy kids is pretty vague, and could mean many things including violent behavior or drug/alcohol abuse - more reasons for the cop to be more forceful). So all suggestions that the cop was out of line are pure bandwagon frustration for a greater problem in our nation. I'm sorry so many people are so given to speculation and hearsay. I'm sorry people jump to conclusions before truly examining and considering evidence. I'm sorry this officer had to resign. I look forward to the outcome of this investigation.
5
The article seems to imply that this is a segregated pool, but it isn't. Blowing up the matter to make the community's residents (who are multiracial) into a community of segregationists is disingenuous.
15
This incident is probably the most clear, and for that reason most disheartening and in some ways frightening depiction yet of the fact that people can look at the same video and based on their mindset and how they perceive the world to be, see two completely different things. I do take some comfort in the fact though that the people who are blaming the kids, are in the minority.
7
Brit, I grew up and still live in Lake Charles, LA. When I was growing up the beach was still segregated. The sand beach was reserved for the whites and the grass beach for the blacks. Sometime in the late 60s the first black city council man asked why the grass beach could not be converted to sand and the excuse was that some people preferred grass beaches. The sand beach was integrated shortly after.
2
From reports I've seen, the racist woman who was yelling at a 14 year-old to go back to her section 8 housing, slapped the girl whose party it was when she tried to intervene. None of the kids was behaving badly or using inapproprate language. This woman should be arrested for assault. Most of the kids there that day lived in the neighborhood and were invited to the pool party by a member family. There were enough kids there who were pool members to host the others as guests. The mother of the hosting girl was present. A couple of kids tried to crash the party and were asked to leave. They did, peacefully. The people who called the police reportedly said there were "too many black people" at the pool. And the police arrived after the altercation with the racist woman was over. The white kids present were ignored by the police. Only the black kids were thrown to the ground and ordered about. This is what I've been reading on many sites reporting this story.
It will be sorted out. The racist woman should have her pool membership revoked. The officer should be charged. If you doubt this, just imagine what you'd want if it were your kids.
I feel for these kids, as this memory will be with them their whole lives. It's time for racism to really end.
It will be sorted out. The racist woman should have her pool membership revoked. The officer should be charged. If you doubt this, just imagine what you'd want if it were your kids.
I feel for these kids, as this memory will be with them their whole lives. It's time for racism to really end.
15
Ridiculous. These kids showed up at a private neighborhood pool, uninvited. A DJ set up on the other side of the fence and started playing loud music with offensive language. Someone blasted it out over twitter and was charging $15 a head. The kids started misbehaving, being rude, fighting with one another, shouting racial slurs at the (white) residence. The kids brought this on themselves. The cops absolutely needed to be called.
14
I guess you did not see the video with the older white woman yelling at kids or the kids who were not fighting, but who were watching as some policeman lost it and grabbed a young woman by the hair and then sat on her! It is all over the news- look it up.
2
I'm surprised there's no mention of the latest inequity: the rich get swimming pools and beaches; the poor (if they're lucky) get pop jet fountains. It's true. When they build a new park in a socio economically mixed neighborhood, chances are it will have pop jets. If they build new public housing, and there's any water at all, it will be the same. But when they build new suburban neighborhoods, they have elaborate pools, that sometimes are more water park than pool.
7
An early day at the summer pool and the neighbors are not happy about these young people in the sun. They call for Hate who shows up dressed as a policeman and he is smiling with rage because he is going to make all of us small. He drags an adolescent girl to the ground, makes her kneel and bow, before erasing her face in the soil. It is your face and mine.
And the people stand watching, while the eyes of the camera remain steady, watching the brutality of men towards women and the young, while Despair is grinning in the air, and you know that nothing will ever feel quite the same. We do not all swim in the pool. We saw a drowning where there was no life guard for you, or for me.
And the people stand watching, while the eyes of the camera remain steady, watching the brutality of men towards women and the young, while Despair is grinning in the air, and you know that nothing will ever feel quite the same. We do not all swim in the pool. We saw a drowning where there was no life guard for you, or for me.
8
In 2004, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in Superior Court against the Le Terrace Swim Club of Nutley, New Jersey. The club turned away "black" and "brown-skinned" customers. The lawsuit was settled with a $1 million dollar payment. However, there is no recompense for the enduring stings of hatred.
(Shepard, et al. v. Le Terrace Swim Club, et al.)
(Shepard, et al. v. Le Terrace Swim Club, et al.)
2
You have your history correct, but your understanding of this specific incident is shallow. Go back and review everything that was happening. (This is in no way a justification for the one cop who flipped out.)
6
Russ, I agree with your criticism of the article but I think that there were other cops who behaved recklessly. The video shows that several of them drew their guns and waved them around.
1
I don't understand that mentality. As long as the person using the pool doesn't have a communicable disease, a rash like poison ivy, isn't behaving badly, who cares what color the skin is? I feel the same way about work: if you're good at what you do, get your work done, are a team player when necessary, I don't care if you're black, green, purple, yellow, gay, or straight. Don't make passes at me. Don't take credit for what I've done. Just do your job and be a good work pal. That's worth more to me than your skin color or your gender, or sexual orientation. One last thing, don't foist your religious or political views on me unless you and I understand that it won't affect our work.
4
On the one hand, the writer begins with stating every single "fact" - whether true or purported, regarding this incident from the perspective of the teenagers. Then she goes on to an analysis of water and race. She entirely skips over the part about how the pool is a community pool that residents of ALL RACES pay for; that only 20 are allowed in the pool at a time; and that this was hundreds of teens breaking into the pool during a wild Deejayed party, accosting a young mother and her children. Why make it about race when it's not? Oh right...it's more dramatic and it sells papers.
17
My understanding is that this was a privately owned pool and the teenagers were trespassing. Yes, the police officer was completely wrong and discliplinary action toward him is more than appropriate. But lets not forget they were trespassing.
18
Perhaps if the girl didn't punch the policeman or didn't resist being restrained she wouldn't be showed.
The actual showing interaction ended a two-minute-long interaction where basically the girl didn't do what she was asked to do. While some of the actions by the policeman were excessive, I strongly urge the pundits to describe exactly how the situation where a teenager in a crowd simply doesn't follow orders from the police should be handled.
The actual showing interaction ended a two-minute-long interaction where basically the girl didn't do what she was asked to do. While some of the actions by the policeman were excessive, I strongly urge the pundits to describe exactly how the situation where a teenager in a crowd simply doesn't follow orders from the police should be handled.
5
Perhaps start by finding the adults in charge, and quietly getting the story from both sides.
It seems like an escalatory exercise in futility to start with a presumption of guilt and then conduct random foot chases in five different directions trying to catch a random group of tennages who are certainly not committing a felony and perhaps not even a crime other than merely being there.
They're mid-teens, they all know each other, they all live at fixed addresses. It's not hard to get names and go to houses and talk to parents.
It seems an odd contrast when real felons such as the homicidal motorcycle gangs in Waco who were responsible for 9 parking lot murders in one minute last month were treated with more dignity... even though deserving it not at all.
Even as an old white guy, I have to think race plays into it. Imagine white kids at that pool. Imagine 300 black bikers and 9 dead in a parking lot....
It seems like an escalatory exercise in futility to start with a presumption of guilt and then conduct random foot chases in five different directions trying to catch a random group of tennages who are certainly not committing a felony and perhaps not even a crime other than merely being there.
They're mid-teens, they all know each other, they all live at fixed addresses. It's not hard to get names and go to houses and talk to parents.
It seems an odd contrast when real felons such as the homicidal motorcycle gangs in Waco who were responsible for 9 parking lot murders in one minute last month were treated with more dignity... even though deserving it not at all.
Even as an old white guy, I have to think race plays into it. Imagine white kids at that pool. Imagine 300 black bikers and 9 dead in a parking lot....
11
I certainly didn't see her punch him. When?
I take it your position is that one should never argue with police officers, but should succumb immediately, physically and otherwise, anytime an officer appears and regardless of what he/she demands. I suppose that's a fair stance in some ways. On the other hand, it seems to me that a willingness to submit unconditionally and unquestioningly to police officers is predicated on a certain degree of mutual trust and respect that clearly does not exist between police and most citizens, particularly people of color. That is, if you fundamentally believe that police officers are there to protect you, that they have your safety and well-being at the forefront of their minds, that they are well-trained and prepared to act judiciously and avoid the use of force unless absolutely necessary, and that they are likely to act without racial or other biases, you might be likely to enter into an encounter with them submissively. However, if you don't believe those things--if experience and history has taught you that police officers do not respect you, that they are in fact antagonistic toward you, oppressive, unreasonable, quick to use force and slow to listen, then you might react quite differently when they appear in your midst.
Whatever her behavior, one might expect an officer--trained, paid to protect the public, a large adult, armed, with backup--to be prepared to handle a nearly naked female child less violently.
I take it your position is that one should never argue with police officers, but should succumb immediately, physically and otherwise, anytime an officer appears and regardless of what he/she demands. I suppose that's a fair stance in some ways. On the other hand, it seems to me that a willingness to submit unconditionally and unquestioningly to police officers is predicated on a certain degree of mutual trust and respect that clearly does not exist between police and most citizens, particularly people of color. That is, if you fundamentally believe that police officers are there to protect you, that they have your safety and well-being at the forefront of their minds, that they are well-trained and prepared to act judiciously and avoid the use of force unless absolutely necessary, and that they are likely to act without racial or other biases, you might be likely to enter into an encounter with them submissively. However, if you don't believe those things--if experience and history has taught you that police officers do not respect you, that they are in fact antagonistic toward you, oppressive, unreasonable, quick to use force and slow to listen, then you might react quite differently when they appear in your midst.
Whatever her behavior, one might expect an officer--trained, paid to protect the public, a large adult, armed, with backup--to be prepared to handle a nearly naked female child less violently.
10
It's all on video. If a cop can't handle being screamed at by a diminutive 14 year old girl, then he needs to stop being a cop. His first response was to violently escalate the situation. He made a fool of himself, and by drawing his gun he escalated the situation from one of unruly UNARMED teenagers acting out, to one of physical violence and possible death. And for what? Because he was disrespected? The police need to EARN respect. Respect for police is not a given, nor are they entitled to it, they just think they are. Yet again the police immediately opt for violent escalation instead of prudent assessment and deescalation of the situation. Poor training or just innate racism?
6
When I was 10, I lived in an exclusive area of Bombay (Mumbai) in India. My family was the first Indian family in a company-owned apartment building which housed expatriate Americans. Nearby was an exclusive swimming pool, the Breach Candy Pool. Indians were not allowed, only white foreigners, even 13 years after Independence.
American racial anxieties went with Americans overseas, while the British, of course, denied admission to Indians in most of their clubs in India until a few years before Independence.
American racial anxieties went with Americans overseas, while the British, of course, denied admission to Indians in most of their clubs in India until a few years before Independence.
9
Growing up in Detroit during the fifties, we enjoyed swimming at a beautiful pool located in Rouge Park, a multi-acre park with wonderful recreational facilities. The pool was completely integrated. But our nearby neighborhood was all white and the African American kids took a bus from the inner city to get to the pool. My neighborhood elementary school and high remained all white the entire time I attended. I didn't go to school with African Americans until I attended college.
3
I do not understand why, in the clear and concise video where it shows that officer Eric Casebolt specifically targeted black teenagers that anyone in their right mind would say that they don't know if this is about race. He bypassed white children as if they were invisible. We can't fix a problem if we are in denial.
21
This is beautifully written. I grew up in the Midwest in the 70s with a white mother and a black father. Neither parent felt that it was safe to take us to any pool. We were lucky in that my parents had the means to build a house with its own pool, but less so in that our white next door neighbors refused to allow their children, who were exactly the same ages as we were, join us.
Although I am now a good swimmer and a very good sailor with children of my own, I still have a highly problematic relationship with public pools and beaches. Fortunately, it doesn't appear that I have passed these fears on to my daughters. At least I hope not...
Although I am now a good swimmer and a very good sailor with children of my own, I still have a highly problematic relationship with public pools and beaches. Fortunately, it doesn't appear that I have passed these fears on to my daughters. At least I hope not...
14
Based on what I've seen I'm not certain that the officer overreacted...
What I hope for is a fair hearing...
What I hope for is a fair hearing...
7
I want to ask why the older white woman who was screaming and tussling with these kids and generally being offensive was not hauled in for instigating this mayhem. The cop waded in and just started grabbing people and then just sat on a kid in a bikini- He looked and acted insane.
Why was this racist lady never questioned for her role in this? At least one of the kids said that she was telling kids to "go back where they came from" and making slurs about low income housing as if she knew anything about them.
Why was this racist lady never questioned for her role in this? At least one of the kids said that she was telling kids to "go back where they came from" and making slurs about low income housing as if she knew anything about them.
23
I couldn't believe this video is being proffered as evidence of abusive or racist police conduct (just seeing it now for the first time). The girl supposedly being victimized appears to be resisting police efforts to control an escalating mob situation with rowdy teens in some cases (one burly guy in particular) lunging menacingly toward the officer (at one point the teen reaching into his pocket as if he may have a weapon there, the fleeting, slightly subtle move apparently a deliberate taunt); he springs away as the officer pulls his own weapon. The officer must have been extremely nervous at the increasingly frenetic crowd.
I think the kids in this video are entirely at fault, because they for the most part were menacing or resisting the efforts of police to bring an obviously potentially dangerous situation under control. To suggest this is some kind of Selma redux is a terrible insult to true victims and resistors of racism and the civil rights legacy, and to the police in this case who were in a potentially (realistically so) life-threatening situation. Having those kids (dozens) threateningly mobbing around me, not knowing if they had weapons or were alcohol or drug impaired, would have been traumatizing; all means short of deadly force were appropriate considering the real danger. I'll wait for the investigation, but it looks much better for the police than the kids here.
I think the kids in this video are entirely at fault, because they for the most part were menacing or resisting the efforts of police to bring an obviously potentially dangerous situation under control. To suggest this is some kind of Selma redux is a terrible insult to true victims and resistors of racism and the civil rights legacy, and to the police in this case who were in a potentially (realistically so) life-threatening situation. Having those kids (dozens) threateningly mobbing around me, not knowing if they had weapons or were alcohol or drug impaired, would have been traumatizing; all means short of deadly force were appropriate considering the real danger. I'll wait for the investigation, but it looks much better for the police than the kids here.
23
I just watched the video too and I couldn't possibly see it more differently than you do. I wonder whether you might react differently if it had been a 14-year-old white girl that the fat male cop was throwing around on the ground on a suburban lawn. Can you explain exactly why you perceived the situation as "an obviously potentially dangerous situation," "life-threatening" or "traumatizing" to armed police officers? To me it looked like a noisy teenage pool party that had been stormed by police.
19
Genevieve,
I appreciate your thoughtful response to my comment. But I cordially disagree and reaffirm my point. The kids were menacing the police and acting very 'out of control.' It takes just one irresponsible child (we all know from study after study after study that during adolescence the "responsibility", consequence-weighing faculties of the brain are still developing, which is why sentencing is often more lenient for heinous crimes by teens), whose already proneness for irresponsible behavior may be aggravated by the wrong pill, or liquor, to create an irreversible tragedy. It happens all the time, sadly. At a wild "pool party" where all the partyers are already scoffing at the law, an expectation that alcohol and drugs might very likely be involved is reasonable. Sometimes err on the side of caution: at least sometimes (summer temperatures, probability of drug/alcohol factors, kids already in clear violation of law) better some extra toughness to regain control than police funerals and orphaned kids.
I appreciate your thoughtful response to my comment. But I cordially disagree and reaffirm my point. The kids were menacing the police and acting very 'out of control.' It takes just one irresponsible child (we all know from study after study after study that during adolescence the "responsibility", consequence-weighing faculties of the brain are still developing, which is why sentencing is often more lenient for heinous crimes by teens), whose already proneness for irresponsible behavior may be aggravated by the wrong pill, or liquor, to create an irreversible tragedy. It happens all the time, sadly. At a wild "pool party" where all the partyers are already scoffing at the law, an expectation that alcohol and drugs might very likely be involved is reasonable. Sometimes err on the side of caution: at least sometimes (summer temperatures, probability of drug/alcohol factors, kids already in clear violation of law) better some extra toughness to regain control than police funerals and orphaned kids.
7
You are a troll. Either that or you need to have your eyes examined. These were children. Can't you see that in the the video? And, they were in bathing suits, too! Yes, there were a bunch of them. Have you ever tried to move a bunch of teenagers around? Yelling and cursing at them doesn't usually work, and that seems to be what the officer was trying to do until he threw one to the ground and pulled his gun. And, yes, we all saw that, but you seemed to have missed it.
2
This idea of not sharing water feels more racist than just about anything else I can imagine.
I suppose you can understand why one group of poor people feels threatened that another group of poor people might get scarce resources (just saw Klansville USA) to explain some racism, but this feels so "primitive," as if we can't evolve past it because some part of our human brain is determined to create "natural" differences of superiority and inferiority.
I hope I'm wrong here.
I suppose you can understand why one group of poor people feels threatened that another group of poor people might get scarce resources (just saw Klansville USA) to explain some racism, but this feels so "primitive," as if we can't evolve past it because some part of our human brain is determined to create "natural" differences of superiority and inferiority.
I hope I'm wrong here.
3
This one cop reacted horribly. It's been dealt with. However, a black neighbor actually supported him publicly! Almost everyone else it seems is elevating this incident to the level of fatal outcome killings by police officers. This article barely even mentions this case, and brings in segregated pools and beaches of the past, the intimacy of bathing suits and water and the way these relate to racism. Oh boy, this is just the conversation that will move us forward on the issue of police and the communities they serve!
9
Aren't the police supposed to be peacekeepers? Why didn't the police officers involved separate the white name callers from the teens attempting to go into the pool and try to get to the bottom of the situation? Why didn't they find out who invited the kids and how the group grew so large? Did the kids know this wasn't a public pool? The police should've kept tempers from flaring on both sides. They should've tried to allay fears and shown fairness to all involved.
7
I'd like to know what response these cops would have had if it had been a bunch of drunk white college students at an apartment pool. Surely they must be familiar with this situation? These were not even college age kids! I heard the 'yes sir' 'no sir' responses from the kids loud and clear in the video. Any high school principal, high school coach, or even mothers of teens should have been able to clear this up! And who were the fat white dudes walking around unconcernedly the whole time, as the white cop "subdued" a young black woman armed with a bikini while she cried for her mama? I suggest undercover cops. It made me sick to watch this video.
11
In another historical example, the 1919 race riot in Chicago was precipitated by a black boy who swam into the "white" section of water along an informally segregated Chicago beach. He was stoned by whites and drowned as a result.
5
As told to me by the recently deceased, iconic former governor of Arizona, Raul Castro - As a boy, he and his Hispanic friends were allowed to swim only one day a week in the pool at the old Tucson YMCA - and it was understood that no Anglos would be joining them. Not coincidentally but by careful design, the day chosen for the Hispanic kids was the day before the weekly draining, cleaning and refilling of the old pool.. Mr. Castro, however, was able to overcome such flagrant prejudice, Mr. Castro went on to become Arizona's first Hispanic governor - and today his forebears can swim anywhere they wish. But just try to run for governor...
4
About 10 years ago, I moved into a new townhome community in the south. The neighboring community was older and run-down, and there were a lot of minority families. We had a pool, and in the summer the kids from the neighboring community would frequently scale the fence and take over the pool. They were almost always African American. The HOA tried all kinds of security measures to keep non-residents out of the pool, and we got a taller fence. Still, the black kids kept showing up, and being teenagers, there were a lot of them, and they would rough-house, so it was sometimes annoying to be there when they were there. One day I started talking with some of them, and they told me that the developer of our community had promised them access to our neighborhood pool, when they raised concerns that the building of our community would raise their property taxes. We eventually moved out of the community because homes and cars started getting broken into a lot, but that experience taught me something about the mindset of poor minorities when the rich people move into their communities and things start changing. They feel like some of that is happening on their shoulders and they feel slighted. Perhaps developers could work with existing communities to find more mutually agreeable solutions, and make them enforceable instead of making empty promises.
52
Terrific essay.
4
EXCELLENT piece! Driving through Mississippi in about 1981 with a black friend, I noticed rest stops along the highway, but many said that there were no toilets at them. I asked my friend what this was about, since she had grown up in the south, lived in MS, and was a civil rights lawyer. There had been rest stops and toilets in these places but when they were forced to integrate, they closed the toilets instead, rather than allow blacks and whites to use the same facilities.
8
One of the more interesting op-ed contributions that I've seen here recently! Thanks!
6
I know what is presented is true but we as a society are nuts.
2
And here we go. Every article on this situation will inevitably dissolve into intense and often deranged arguing in the comment section. People will swear they saw this and they didn't see that and how do we know what REALLY happened and what happened before the video and there will be assumptions that quickly turn into facts and pretty soon who cares what happened as long as we get to argue about it! That's what's important! Being right!
Wake me when it's over.
Wake me when it's over.
4
I grew up in NY. The first time I remember becoming aware of racism was when some white guy knocked on our door and wanted my father to sign a petition against blacks swimming in a public pool. I was about nine. My father told the guy to get lost. Then, he explained to me what that was all about. I remember that day very clearly.
6
Why did the police have to respond to the pool party? Several 911 calls informing that teenagers were fighting. Did the teenagers listen to and obey the officer's orders? I would think not and therein lies the problem. From Ferguson, to Baltimore, to McKinney Texas, if people would just listen to and obey police officers orders there would be NO physical confrontations with the police.
13
Because often before they can even respond to the "order", the beat down begins. The order comes often unintelligible, with the raised club in the air.
5
It's the way police enter the situation. They come in and often start making the problem worse. They have only the word of the callers to go by so that description is the one that gets passed on. Then there is the small fact that the situation may be getting out of hand and they are wading into a fight that's already started. I'm not siding with the police here, just saying that there are many reasons why no one listens and not all of them have to do with defying authority. After all, how would YOU feel if someone came up to you and said a few nasty things for no reason and that was done to you day after day by any number of strangers? Or how would you feel if you had a handicapped person in your family and he was discriminated against for no real reason except that it could be done?
I can speak to the last situation because I've lived through it. It left a very bad taste in my mouth about the village we live in. Even though we won against their idiotic discrimination, not one person in the village stood up for him. I do not respect a single village official or the police. I refuse to do anything nice for the village after the way they've treated us. I'm sure that this is how many African Americans feel when the police get involved.
I can speak to the last situation because I've lived through it. It left a very bad taste in my mouth about the village we live in. Even though we won against their idiotic discrimination, not one person in the village stood up for him. I do not respect a single village official or the police. I refuse to do anything nice for the village after the way they've treated us. I'm sure that this is how many African Americans feel when the police get involved.
One must question why the police even responded to a call by white racists complaining that there were black children in the pool. That is not a police matter to begin with.
2
You are way off the mark. Even if what you say is true about the 911 call, the idea that white racists complaining about African-American children using a pool is definitely a police matter because things could easily escalate and someone could drown - by accident or on purpose.
In case future sociologists analyze these comments, put me in the camp that says the policeman seemed out of line, but I do not know enough to know whether the police should have been called in the first place. Based on comments allegedly made by some, race was most likely an accelerant in the situation.
1
I don't minimize the racial tensions that still exist in our country, but I think the author is reading too much into the incident in McKinney. Yes, the officer was white and most of the teens were black. And, yes, the reason that the police were called seems to have started with race baiting. But, the confrontation seems to, mainly, be about a single police officer that wasn't in control of his own actions or emotions.
5
Search for a lot more details on this story, including that organizers of the party had been tweeting for hours about it, inviting everyone. This was private property and the people there had every right to object to being overrun by outsiders. Two security guards allegedly were assaulted before the police arrived. Music with offensive lyrics being played at full volume. A disorderly large group of kids, whatever their color, is a harbinger of trouble. Not excusing the officer's conduct, but this was an inflammatory situation.
21
I was 20 years old in 1964 when I, my 18-year-old sister, and our 11-year-old brother drove from California to Tennessee to visit relatives. Since our car had California license plates and we were young, we stayed as far north as possible going and coming back.
We vividly recall how our otherwise gracious, even educated in rare cases, relatives abruptly changed character and became hateful and ugly when there was the slightest mention of desegregation. More interestingly, there was an unmistakable pre-occupation with the fact that "they" wanted to swim in "our" community swimming pool. There was only one community swimming pool in that area--a swimming pool supported by taxes on both blacks and whites--but our relatives were unanimously against blacks being able to use the pool.
As this article notes--it was all about having to share water.
We vividly recall how our otherwise gracious, even educated in rare cases, relatives abruptly changed character and became hateful and ugly when there was the slightest mention of desegregation. More interestingly, there was an unmistakable pre-occupation with the fact that "they" wanted to swim in "our" community swimming pool. There was only one community swimming pool in that area--a swimming pool supported by taxes on both blacks and whites--but our relatives were unanimously against blacks being able to use the pool.
As this article notes--it was all about having to share water.
7
Pools that are intended for residents of a neighborhood being of limited capacity is sufficient to result in outsiders being excluded and if not invited, to leave. The police officer who manhandled the teenaged girl and drew his side arm in response to teenaged boys moving around and flanking him was fired and his actions described by the police department as out of control and contrary to the policies of that department. You have one fool who acted wrongly being represented as an example of racial discrimination toward African Americans with respect to public pools and unreasoning fears on the part of whites. The whole mentality about racial prejudice is unreasonable, unjust, and for too many has not been rejected. The here problem is that while some people might still retain those attitudes it reflects the Jim Crow era rather than today, so the police officer's misconduct was just plain foolish behavior by one man who deserves to be criticized and terminated for his misconduct.
4
Why is the fact that a group of teens trespassed onto private property, were rude to the residents and the police. The innocent party was not sanctioned for more than 20 persons, and admission was charged, with the attendance buoyed by web invites. One resident of the apartment comples, Lamonica Birmingham, told KXAS-TV, an NBC affiliate, "We pay HOA dues to use that pool. So you can't come out here and throw unauthorized events. I do not, however ... agree with how the police officer handled the situation." So the kids were wrong, and yes, the officer was wrong.
18
When are you people going to learn to write an article. The cop was wrong. Way out of line. However were those kids members of the community or not. Was the pool only for the members of that community or not. Are private community pools legal?
5
McKinney has two public pools. The gated community where the incident took place has a private pool for residents and invited guest. Residents, including black residents, are permitted to invite two pool guests at a time. The trouble started when one black resident, who promotes parties at various venues, invited more than 100 guests. Denied access to the private pool, dozens of teenagers scaled the fence and began fighting with residents who complained. Security personnel asked the trespassers to leave, but they refuse, so the security personnel called police. When the police arrived, they pointed out teenagers who had been fighting to the police. These included the teenage girls Officer Casebolt arrested. (One video shows her fighting with a female resident.) Caebolt did not use his baton, Taser, or gun when she resisted arrests. He did not t apply a chokehold. When she tried to jerk away, he applied a wristlock to take her to the ground.
22
There's a racial component to this incident but the driving elements are 1) a bunch of young kids over running a private pool after being told that the the pool was already at capacity, and 2) a cop over reacting to such a degree that he would been fired had he not resigned. Ms. Bennett's conclusion that this was not much different from the horrible treatment that blacks received at the hands of whites when she was growing up is way off the mark and does a disservice to all involved.
11
Police officers need more training on how to handle these difficult situations. Please continue to report these incidents. The reporting will force the police departments to change their training methods and perhaps look a little closer at who they hire.
1
Get over it! Private pool owned by the Co-op. Rules state members limited to two guests. Refused to leave when asked. Cops called...refused to cooperate...big scene for the media play. Shame on NYT for encouraging these misguided youths to continue being obnoxious citizens by propagating this
20
The kids in question were at a birthday party at that pool is what I read.
And chaperoned by one of their mothers who had stepped out and then returned to find this crazy scene. Where did you get your information- what media?
You are not "obnoxious citizens" when some cop is sitting on some 14yo girl and grabbing her hair and chasing kids around. The cop had been in trouble before for similar and odd actions towards a citizen in 2007. You clearly have an edited version of this story.
And chaperoned by one of their mothers who had stepped out and then returned to find this crazy scene. Where did you get your information- what media?
You are not "obnoxious citizens" when some cop is sitting on some 14yo girl and grabbing her hair and chasing kids around. The cop had been in trouble before for similar and odd actions towards a citizen in 2007. You clearly have an edited version of this story.
What I find strangest about the pool incident is that the officer was clearly just a bad cop. He seemed to be in a bad mood, he escalated the situation, made it worse, and manhandled people when there was absolutely no need to. Surely we should all be able to acknowledge that a certain portion of our police officers just aren't very good at their jobs.
But when people can look at his behavior and still bend over backwards to justify it, that tells me that this incident is absolutely about race. If it weren't, people would be comfortable saying he wasn't good at his job.
But when people can look at his behavior and still bend over backwards to justify it, that tells me that this incident is absolutely about race. If it weren't, people would be comfortable saying he wasn't good at his job.
125
Let’s not forget about the 65 African-American campers from Northeast Philadelphia who in 2009 were turned away from a private swim club because -- "there was concern that a lot of kids would change the complexion ... and the atmosphere of the club."
The case was settled by U.S. Justice Department in 2012, awarding $1.1 million to the children, the camp, and its counselors who were involved in the case.
The case was settled by U.S. Justice Department in 2012, awarding $1.1 million to the children, the camp, and its counselors who were involved in the case.
6
How about waiting for the facts before jumping to conclusions? The facts may just knock your soapbox out from under you.
10
Stating your opinion in an 'op-ed' piece is no more a soapbox than writing a comment on the NYT website is; it's Freedom Of Speech. If you don't like it, you are free to move to a country that doesn't allow it--like Russia or Singapore. There are may facts that have yet to come, in, true--but some facts are already in; an unarmed girl in a bathing suit was forced to the ground by her hair by an armed police officer. Even if the girl was not a resident of the housing complex---and it's unclear whether or not she was--than she was guilty of trespassing. Seems a little harsh for trespassing.
The situation here is that the it was not a "PUBLIC" pool. It was a pool on private property and controlled by an HOA which has rules. When non-members were asked to leave they DID NOT. They did NOT show any respect for the property owners and their rights, who called in the police. I believe that first most of the kids were never taught any respect of others and their property but were taught they they have entitlements. NO one is entitled to something that belongs to others.
The main stream media makes the stories as they want. They are not telling both sides. People believe what they hear and the media MUST explain all of the issues.
The main stream media makes the stories as they want. They are not telling both sides. People believe what they hear and the media MUST explain all of the issues.
15
Nice eliding of the logic there, the way you twist unruly kids into a swipe at 'entitlements'--Fox has taught you well. 'I believe first most of the kids were nevr taught...,' yes I'm sue you believe this, though you have no way of knowing anything about any of these children were raised. So to believe that you do is racism, because you do not.
Yes, it was a private pool. But, if the crashers were all white, do you think the cop would have behaved so badly? No questions, no attempts at peaceful break-up - just violence from minute one. Treat them like animals to be subdued.
Too many commenters seem to answer "yes" to the question I pose. THAT is the problem of race in America. People finding excuses to deny racial inequality and mistreatment, just because it's soft and less blatant (albeit no less insidious).
I know no amount of cajoling on the comment boards will change people's prejudices and emotional response. I simply hope, in the stillness of the night or at church or wherever, that these people reflect on why they cast their human empathy and reason aside for an emotional reaction and self-rationalization.
Too many commenters seem to answer "yes" to the question I pose. THAT is the problem of race in America. People finding excuses to deny racial inequality and mistreatment, just because it's soft and less blatant (albeit no less insidious).
I know no amount of cajoling on the comment boards will change people's prejudices and emotional response. I simply hope, in the stillness of the night or at church or wherever, that these people reflect on why they cast their human empathy and reason aside for an emotional reaction and self-rationalization.
18
I would answer "yes" because I have been that white teen and seen white teens berated and cursed at by cops in similar situations. Again, I've never seen a cop tackle a white teen or pull his gun on them. But I've also never seen a group of white teens surround a cop when he ordered them to disperse or otherwise disobey the orders of a cop--white or black.
4
A good test here is to imagine white kids jumping the fence--like they do at, say Spring Break or when a sports team loses the Stanley Cup--and a black cop behaving the same way in a predominantly black housing complex where whites were a minority. You can already hear the accusations of 'who's tax dollars pay for that pool,'
This article is race-baiting and ignores the facts. The incident did not involve segregation or racism. If someone resists arrest, be they white, black or purple they will be restrained forcefully. The girl in the video was doing everything she could to make things difficult for the officer, physically and verbally. He treated her as he would any other unruly, screaming teenager.
The NYT should be careful about playing the race card; there are plenty of legitimate examples they can use, but not this particular case.
The NYT should be careful about playing the race card; there are plenty of legitimate examples they can use, but not this particular case.
23
Its an interesting focus on a sad story. There is more to the pool incident then just a few moments of video. I'm certain more details will arise as time passes. One great truth is evident. You can't fix stupid and bigotry is self-inflicted stupidity.
3
The issue of racism and pools boils down to white women. Protecting their virtue from the likes of black men and boys in swimming trunks. (Notice that a white man has free reign of a black girl's body.)
The issue of racism and black girls and women is that they're viewed as wanton, promiscuous tarts. A 14-year-old black girl is never considered a child. She's always older, sassier, and sexually adventurous. Hence, why would she wear a bikini at a pool party. (Nice white girls would never do that.)
If you're white and you would never sanction a grown man forcing your bikini-clad, 14-year-old daughter to the ground and sitting on her 100-pound body, but see nothing wrong when a man does the same to a black girl, then you're a racist.
The issue of racism and black girls and women is that they're viewed as wanton, promiscuous tarts. A 14-year-old black girl is never considered a child. She's always older, sassier, and sexually adventurous. Hence, why would she wear a bikini at a pool party. (Nice white girls would never do that.)
If you're white and you would never sanction a grown man forcing your bikini-clad, 14-year-old daughter to the ground and sitting on her 100-pound body, but see nothing wrong when a man does the same to a black girl, then you're a racist.
20
AB, you nailed it!
Protecting white woman virtue has always been at the heart of the issue.
While brutalizing black women bodies, white men projected their brutality onto black men and boys, fearing that what happened to black women would happen to white women.
Protecting white woman virtue has always been at the heart of the issue.
While brutalizing black women bodies, white men projected their brutality onto black men and boys, fearing that what happened to black women would happen to white women.
1
It's not just pools. The 1919 Chicago race riot was sparked in the water of Lake Michigan when a black teenager at a South Side beach floated across an invisible boundary into an area of water that whites claimed for their own. He was stoned, beaten and drowned by whites, but the police arrested a black man. The ensuing riot went on for a week and led to 38 deaths.
4
Thanks for memorializing this, Beth--I didn't remember these horrific details.
The cop was definitely in the wrong. However this article is a bit misleading. The pool was in a private, gated community, with strict rules governing how many guests a resident could bring to the pool. Word got around that there was a pool party, and a bunch of African Americans showed up. The security guard couldn't get them to leave, and so called the police. This wasn't a public pool or anything. The police should have calmly and patiently insisted the kids leave, and then if not start writing citations.
19
The family hosting the pool party is black, as were many of the invited guests. There were many pool members among the guests, black and white. Word about the party got out on Twitter, as I read elsewhere. So a bunch of uninvited kids showed up. It wasn't "a bunch of African-Americans" who showed up. It was a bunch of uninvited kids, black and white, who were asked to leave, and did.
2
The reason it happened at this pool is because it is a private community pool, open only to residents holding valid community issued ID's. There were dozens of teens there that were not residents/ID holders and they were jumping over the fence. This would be similar to a private swimming pool in an apartment complex that is built for residents only, or a pool at a hotel that is for guests only.
70
While that may be the case, it does not explain the behavior of the police. From the video, they appear to only be targeting the black children. They used excessive force, and only escalated the situation. I find it interesting that if you watch the very beginning of the video, one police officer is having a calm conversation with a group of the kids (black and white) before one of the other officers came charging through throwing kids to the ground. Your police may or may not be racist, but some are certainly lacking training. Your community needs to do some self-reflection.
5
this is what the 1% does: they take what should be a community amenity and privatize it, coopting what should be a public good for private benefit only. People jump fences when they are excluded and when the recognize the basic unfairness of the divisions among the classes. The moneyed will always try to keep the moneyless out. Government should prevent this from happening but it rarely to never does anymore. The signs are gone but the stigmas remain.
Whether what you write is true or not it's the police response to the youth that is under the microscope. Another commenter made an excellent point. There are teachers in schools all over the country not resorting to threats, violence or pulling out of guns to maintain educational, calm spaces in classrooms. I used to pool hop late at night with my friends when I was a teenager. Entering other people's property and swimming in their pools. One night we were caught by the police - and escorted home. We were all white.
1
From what I read, the problem was teenagers who were not invited into this private community deciding to take matters into their own hands and climbing over walls to get in. It doesn't matter what color they were. They were trespassing and didn't belong there. Period, end of story.
20
Doug, that is not the end of the story. I agree there were trespassers there. However these were still young children. This particular police officer came there ready for a fight and acted that way. There was no asking them to leave or attempting to reason with them. There were two young boys sitting on the ground pleading their case and kept referring to the police officers as sir. There were some that were unruly yes. But does that mean you as a police officer draw your gone on unarmed teens?
1
It's not end of story. It could have been handled without violence and roughness.
One of the worse race riots happened in Chicago in 1919 when a black kid inadvertently crossed over into the "white" section of Lake Michigan. He was stoned by white youth and then drowned. The police declined to arrest the white instigator who was identified by witnesses. That touched off a week of rioting between whites and blacks resulting in 23 black people killed, 500 injured and 1,000 black families losing their homes after they were burned to the ground by white mobs. Sadly, we've not come that far when it comes to living together and swimming together. Two years ago my 10-year-old and his friends were treated to a racial outburst from white kids who screamed that they didn't like black people at a Phoenix recreation center. Yep. It was at the pool.
3
The author admits that we don't know the circumstances of this pool incident, but uses it to express moral indignation about what happened 40 years ago in the Jim Crow era. He makes ridiculous blanket statements that basically every white person is a racist, saying for example that "for decades, white swimmers feared sharing a beach with blacks." Except for his mother, and except for him, of course.
12
So....we shouldn't be morally indignant about the racism of 40 years ago?
An interesting footnote to your excellent OpEd piece:
Robert Moses was notorious for his racism. The water in pools at Jones Beach was kept cooler than normal to keep blacks away.
I remember learning to swim in the East Bath House pools in the early 70's and shivering after a few minutes; evidently I didn't have the Nordic Temperment to which the pool water was chilled. Only decades later after reading more about Robert Moses did I put 2 and 2 together.
Robert Moses was notorious for his racism. The water in pools at Jones Beach was kept cooler than normal to keep blacks away.
I remember learning to swim in the East Bath House pools in the early 70's and shivering after a few minutes; evidently I didn't have the Nordic Temperment to which the pool water was chilled. Only decades later after reading more about Robert Moses did I put 2 and 2 together.
3
My Chinese-American dad was unable to use the public swimming pool and drinking fountains when he was growing up in San Diego. This was in the 1930s-40s. Sad to find out it's still the reality for so many non-white Americans.
50
Why would anyone want to be a police officer or teacher these days? They are better off taking a job in the private sector that way the entire country can't act as if they are an expert in your profession.
19
I'm sure the teenagers did not pause to read the HOA rule book. Holding them accountable for transgressing the rules is unreasonable.
4
I hail from Lexington, Kentucky. Years ago, I worked at a private Country club there. I was told that some years prior, say in the mid-late 1970's a Club member's child had brought a black friend to enjoy the pool. The next day, the pool was drained. This is also the same country club who denied Bill Cosby the privilege of playing golf on their course. Many of the staff were black, helping to maintain the step and fetchit attitude, and aura of white dominance and power. Always left a sour taste in my mouth.
4
I have given up hope that White America will ever confront it's racist demons and work to eradicate them.
10
On weekends, during the Summer of 1965 , I used to drive to Riis Park, to swim in the Atlantic.
I'm white, but I always chose the 'black' parking lot, b/c you could park near the beach.There were not that many cars, so
parking was easy.Did black people take the bus? Was there a bus? Moses constructed Southern State Parkway with beautiful overpasses, that were too low to accommodate buses.I don't remember the road to Riis Park.
We have made a system of 'social' apartheid---different schools, places of worship, neighborhoods, jobs, clubs---and we think we are superior.
We are the Deep South.
I'm white, but I always chose the 'black' parking lot, b/c you could park near the beach.There were not that many cars, so
parking was easy.Did black people take the bus? Was there a bus? Moses constructed Southern State Parkway with beautiful overpasses, that were too low to accommodate buses.I don't remember the road to Riis Park.
We have made a system of 'social' apartheid---different schools, places of worship, neighborhoods, jobs, clubs---and we think we are superior.
We are the Deep South.
7
No, we are not the Deep South. We have our problems, but there is a difference between NYC and Mobile.
As for the Southern State Parkway, Robert Moses mowed down miles of potato farms to leave golf courses and estates pristine. And yes, I know about the low bridges and water temperatures, but he also leveled miles of small homes and "white," middle-income apartment buildings in Brooklyn and the Bronx to build his highways and low-income complexes.
He was an equal-opportunity dictator. And he did build us those beaches and parks and pools that, these years later, everyone enjoys.
As for the Southern State Parkway, Robert Moses mowed down miles of potato farms to leave golf courses and estates pristine. And yes, I know about the low bridges and water temperatures, but he also leveled miles of small homes and "white," middle-income apartment buildings in Brooklyn and the Bronx to build his highways and low-income complexes.
He was an equal-opportunity dictator. And he did build us those beaches and parks and pools that, these years later, everyone enjoys.
2
As a schoolteacher in a racially mixed school on the West Side of Chicago I cannot help watch this video and others similar without thinking what poor training and decisions police have used when dealing with youth. I can't imagine a teacher in my building ever using screaming or threat of violence to try to "calm" a situation. When young people are upset and emotional screaming and threatening only escalates the situation in my experience. Assessing the situation, asserting calm, rational, and direct, commands to individuals instead of groups is a much better way to handle these situations. When young people - especially teens- feel victims of an injury - rightly or wrongly what they need to calm down is to perceive that they are being heard. As young people they will articulate this need to a varying degree of appropriateness but the one thing to calm down situations like this is to make a human connection and let them know that they are being heard by the adults.
Some might argue but he was in fear of his safety? Yet, no weapons were called in. The phone call only mentioned a disturbance. At no time was anyone in fear of their life or fighting in the video. The only people in danger were the young people from the police officer who choose to over react instead of using proven de-escalation tactics and crowd control measures.
Some might argue but he was in fear of his safety? Yet, no weapons were called in. The phone call only mentioned a disturbance. At no time was anyone in fear of their life or fighting in the video. The only people in danger were the young people from the police officer who choose to over react instead of using proven de-escalation tactics and crowd control measures.
166
A GENERATION GAP Many if not most of the younger generation have grown up in multi-ethnic surroundings. I think it's quite conceivable that, if there is such strong support for same-sex marriage among the younger generation, there may likewise be a greater level of comfort in sharing swimming facilities with persons of varied ethnic backgrounds. Even during the social upheaval of the 60s, I recall that seeing a couple of mixed ethnic backgrounds was a rarity. It is only in the past decade or so that it has become commonplace among the younger generation. I fully empathize with the writer about the indignities and violence experienced in the past that surrounded sharing swimming facilities. While I would refrain from stating that we've achieved a post-racial status in the US, I do think that we may be moving in that direction over the long run.
1
The reports of taunting and racial slurs being hurled at these young adults , I have to think that a 911 call to Police may have descibed the reveling at the pool as much more out of control than may have been the case. It is also my assumption that Police are trained to diffuse a situation before having to resort to a physical confrontation, especially with teenagers. The officers experience should have come into play and his assesment could have been that this is not a crisis situation. With all that we have seen and experenced over the past few years, it could be that video recordings should also be accompanied by audio recordings of almost every public area, the subject of Science Fiction a few short years ago. The recording and storage will be a cost incurred by municipalities and private entities in order to combat or support lawsuits. This will be more intrusion into our personal lives and cries of "big brother" by some. But we must weigh the cost compared to lives lost and carrying out Departmental Policy that Police must follow.
20
Officers are called to the scene by someone's accusation that some young people are out of control. You would think that when the police arrive they would ask those there what is going on unless they see something rather than rush in and push a young girl to the ground, screaming while she is on the ground to get on the ground. Not knowing what is happening would suggest the police ask, look around and assess before acting.
2
yes, let's have big brother as opposed to just being brothers...do you realize how ridiculous that sounds. Civility is a skill set like any other and can be taught---to cops as well as kids.
4
"The reports of taunting and racial slurs being hurled at these young adults..."
Rumors, actually. Is there any incident involving blacks in which these rumors don't materialize? Furthermore, I hear plenty of hate speech by young black people towards every other group and no one raises a fuss, yet any accusation of anti-black sentiment is treated like a crime against humanity. Even if someone made a derogatory comment about blacks it does not give these kids a free pass on their criminal behavior. Accusations of racism are used as a get out of jail card.
The questions are: did they have a legal right to use the pool? If not, did they leave when requested? If the answer is no to both of these then the kids are at fault regardless of whether someone said something unkind or racist towards them.
Rumors, actually. Is there any incident involving blacks in which these rumors don't materialize? Furthermore, I hear plenty of hate speech by young black people towards every other group and no one raises a fuss, yet any accusation of anti-black sentiment is treated like a crime against humanity. Even if someone made a derogatory comment about blacks it does not give these kids a free pass on their criminal behavior. Accusations of racism are used as a get out of jail card.
The questions are: did they have a legal right to use the pool? If not, did they leave when requested? If the answer is no to both of these then the kids are at fault regardless of whether someone said something unkind or racist towards them.
8
Every time we have an incident like this I am sickened to read many of the comments. They say: it is not about race. Racism is over. The media is making it about race again. Guess what? The horrendous burden of the past is not so easily removed. That is the legacy white America took on when it decided to enslave people and when it decided to implement segregation. Maybe you think - oh well I am only 25 years old so that wasn't me. Can't we just start from scratch? No you cannot. If I decimate your family for 200 years we can't just call it even when I stop. This is the burden your parents and your grandparents left you. If you love the USA and all the good that it gives you then you need to accept the burdens and responsibilities that come from its past as well. You can't take one without the other. If we started the world last week and a white cop assaulted a black girl then maybe it wouldn't be about race. But that's the fantasy world you need to live in to believe that. If you are angry and frustrated with someone it is your ancestors who put you in this position. And remember that on every metric the legacy of the past rears its head today, wealth, education, health, incarceration, etc. So be totally clear that every day white Americans TODAY are still coasting on the advantage that we set for them by the horrid past.
28
I agree with you wholeheartedly in large part. But, I would add that one complicating factor that gets a little oversimplified is that many white peoples' ancestors were not even in America when slavery existed, or were in America but had no slaves, or even (in some rare cases) actively opposed slavery. So I do not think we can say that we must pay attention because our ancestors were the root of the problem. But we must pay attention because, no matter where our ancestors were or what they did, today we get a pass because their (and thus our) skin happens to be white.
4
Your seeming endorsement of people carrying on historical resentments for generations (how long should that be Andrew, 50 years or 50 centuries?) is the primary cause of ongoing violence and hatred around the world. Look at the mess in the middle east , Indians vs Pakistanis, the Turks and the Armenians. The list goes on and on. Is that what you want for America? Why?
There is no time machine to go back and erase the past. We can only start with today and address the problems in front of us today. Or we can be bitter and stew in hate about what your great-great-grandfather may have done to my great-great-grandfather.
There is no time machine to go back and erase the past. We can only start with today and address the problems in front of us today. Or we can be bitter and stew in hate about what your great-great-grandfather may have done to my great-great-grandfather.
2
@AndrewH One of the problems with having a "real conversation about race" is that people like you and the NYT columnists react to any perspective that 100% of problems experienced by African-Americans aren't the result of White racism, overt, systemic, or otherwise with the following: "See! This is just more evidence of racism!!!" It's a little tough to discuss racism when any statement by someone with a different opinion, is automatically a talking point for the "other side" of the discussion.
Also, as an aside, and I'm sure this will get shouted down (if even published) as being racist, but "America" didn't "enslave" people. Do you know who enslaved Africans? Other Africans. Africans enslaved people long before Europeans (and later Americans) started trading African tribes for their slaves. Americans and Europeans didn't simply go over to Africa and round up the first people they saw. These Africans were already slaves--enslaved by competing tribes. Obviously this doesn't excuse the past sins of keeping slaves, but the distinction is necessary and apparently not widely understood.
Also, as an aside, and I'm sure this will get shouted down (if even published) as being racist, but "America" didn't "enslave" people. Do you know who enslaved Africans? Other Africans. Africans enslaved people long before Europeans (and later Americans) started trading African tribes for their slaves. Americans and Europeans didn't simply go over to Africa and round up the first people they saw. These Africans were already slaves--enslaved by competing tribes. Obviously this doesn't excuse the past sins of keeping slaves, but the distinction is necessary and apparently not widely understood.
4
In 1966, I visited friends, an African American couple who lived in an apartment complex in Sacramento, California. Originally from Atlanta, he was an officer now stationed at McClellan Air Force Base, and she worked in the press office of then, Governor Pat Brown. Their apartment overlooked the complex's swimming pool. As we were having a glass of wine before dinner, Mark jumped up, stripped to his swimming trunks and ran out the door. When I asked Alice what was going on, she just laughed and told me to watch the pool. A few minutes later, Mark came into view and dove into the water. A white woman who had been in the pool with a couple of children immediately hustled them out of the water. Alice explained that at first they ignored this women's aversion to sharing the pool with them but one day, when Mark was with their two-year old and she pulled her kids out when he took the baby in, Mark had had enough. So, after that, every time he saw the woman enjoying a swim with her children he joined her--albeit briefly. As a young white woman from the West, the racism was a surprise and angered and embarrassed me. I've never forgotten how this bright, educated African-American couple chose instead to treat it with humor and turn the woman's racism against her.
22
In my opinion, the party crashers were wrong and the overwrought policeman was wrong. The policeman also had a history of racial problems manifested in "pulling down the pants" of young black men and using racial slurs..
When my daughter was a teen, I asked her why she never had a party. She told me that people crash them and steal or trash your house. These were white kids. Perhaps if the kids hadn't been confronted with racial slurs and a literal slap in the face, the situation wouldn't have become so out of hand. Perhaps not, but it was very polarizing, to say the least.
When my daughter was a teen, I asked her why she never had a party. She told me that people crash them and steal or trash your house. These were white kids. Perhaps if the kids hadn't been confronted with racial slurs and a literal slap in the face, the situation wouldn't have become so out of hand. Perhaps not, but it was very polarizing, to say the least.
10
According to the host of the party, the kids in question were not party crashers; they were invited guests with the required passes.
1
We have a well maintained and staffed municipal pool open for residents during the summer. The catch is you need to pay an annual $350 fee for access. Those funds help with pool and staff costs. The fees are considerably less than what the local YMCA charges for the same summer period.
Despite that hurdle, the area is full on hot summer weekends with several hundred people in and around the pool. There is no race test here, but it's also not a free public good for anyone who just wants to use it. If it were, it would be overwhelmed with demand.
If some non-paying people tried to rush in, police would be likely be contacted if it got out of control.
The officer crossed the line, but the call to police was more about limiting access to those who don't pay so those who do can enjoy the pool. Invited guests included black people.
Mr. Bennett may want to take his racism goggles off the next time he wants to opine on current events.
Despite that hurdle, the area is full on hot summer weekends with several hundred people in and around the pool. There is no race test here, but it's also not a free public good for anyone who just wants to use it. If it were, it would be overwhelmed with demand.
If some non-paying people tried to rush in, police would be likely be contacted if it got out of control.
The officer crossed the line, but the call to police was more about limiting access to those who don't pay so those who do can enjoy the pool. Invited guests included black people.
Mr. Bennett may want to take his racism goggles off the next time he wants to opine on current events.
21
Matt
Sorry you missed the point... I believe that the young people were invited, and the adults got out of hand. Then watch the video closely and you will see police officers run past white kids to reach a black child. Why did the police not find the supervising adult to find out what was happening before attempting crowd control. If that was crowd control running into a crowd of kids someone really needs to understand police crowd control. That officer did not just cross the line he ran blindly over it, trampling it in the process. Matt if you have a 14 year old daughter let me ask you did he just cross the line when he threw her to the ground and knelt in her back? If you have a son that is 16 and have a policeman draw his gun on you?
Sorry you missed the point... I believe that the young people were invited, and the adults got out of hand. Then watch the video closely and you will see police officers run past white kids to reach a black child. Why did the police not find the supervising adult to find out what was happening before attempting crowd control. If that was crowd control running into a crowd of kids someone really needs to understand police crowd control. That officer did not just cross the line he ran blindly over it, trampling it in the process. Matt if you have a 14 year old daughter let me ask you did he just cross the line when he threw her to the ground and knelt in her back? If you have a son that is 16 and have a policeman draw his gun on you?
1
It takes a lot time ( generally several days) to empty, fill and adjust the pool chemistry, chlorine, pH etc in a large pool. This is a nice strong sounding quote but not possible in the real world of public or large commercial swimming pools. “And the next day they’d drain the pool and clean it so whites could use it the rest of the week.”
6
It also does not describe the pool chemistry adjustments of 2015. I assure you that this was the case for most public swimming pools in the west and southwest - altho the water was being changed because Mexican-Americans (or oh my lord, Indians!) had had a swim. Isn't it interesting to discover that things today are not always identical to things as they were?
So, because you don't believe it happened on account of your obvious expertise regarding pool maintenance in the 60s, it didn't occur. Makes perfect sense...
I'm sure the many frays and football tailgaters (old and young) would be met the same way by law enforcement. I've seen more agrees ion toward police by old white guys drunk as skunks at Coutryfest and not only were they not manhandled, they weren't even arrested.
I have no idea what these teenagers were doing, nor do I care. That girl was 14 and in a bikini. What threat did she pose. And pulling a gun out to break up a pool party? Maybe if they didn't immediately start handcuffing people and asked a few questions and told them to knock whatever it was they were doing, things might have gone differently.
I have no idea what these teenagers were doing, nor do I care. That girl was 14 and in a bikini. What threat did she pose. And pulling a gun out to break up a pool party? Maybe if they didn't immediately start handcuffing people and asked a few questions and told them to knock whatever it was they were doing, things might have gone differently.
4
An officer is photographed using excessive force that is obviously inappropriate to the situation. In this case no one knows if this is about race. One would need a mind-reader along with a camera to know that. So can we stick to the point here? Police need to make some basic changes in policing practices starting with dismissing those who are emotionally unfit for the job. Mr Bennett's very thoughtful and educational article is fine, just a little off topic.
42
You don't think race is part of this?
2
Yes I do think so, but what I know for sure is police misbehavior for any reason should not be tolerated.
1
Apparently the kid who videotaped the whole scene was white, and though part of the group of partygoers, was completely ignored by the police officer, who only accosted and verbally abused the black kids. Maybe that's not racism, but even the photographer noted that the cops seemed not to see him, that they only focused on the black kids ... just sayin' ...
The great basketball player and coach Bill Russell told a story about having his father join him in the locker room after the Celtics won one of their 11 NBA championships. Bill found his father looking into the shower where the team - white and black together--were washing up after the game, and his father was crying. His father--who had grown up in the very segregated South before moving his family to Oakland, CA, was clearly moved by what he saw and said "I never thought I'd live to see the day when water would run off a black man and onto a white man, and off of a white man and onto a black man."
21
I heard that story a couple of decades ago and have retold many times.
I must congratulate the policeman on his super powers.
A white teen who was one of the alleged crashers remarked that the cop in question acted "like I was invisible."
Instead, using his super powers, the policeman, without bothering to question anyone, was able to ascertain that only black kids were acting up.
What a wonderful gift.
A white teen who was one of the alleged crashers remarked that the cop in question acted "like I was invisible."
Instead, using his super powers, the policeman, without bothering to question anyone, was able to ascertain that only black kids were acting up.
What a wonderful gift.
17
Great comment, Lew.
Dear Lord, this is not about the pool or the barbecue or anything else. It's about a hot-headed cop who rushed in and started throwing bodies around instead of calmly assessing the situation and trying to settle things down. What kind of training did this man receive and why didn't his fellow officers restrain him?
19
A "hot-headed cop who exclusively targeted african-american kids." Not my assumption, actual testimony from white teenagers who were there.
FTFY
FTFY
2
I have to agree with you. The Times has this habit of trying to place every single news story into a larger context, thereby moving the public's attention away from the actual incident to a more academic perception. And then everyone can "debate" the context and pretty soon the actual thing that happened is pushed to the side if not forgotten entirely. In doing so, the Times undermines its own mission. It's a terrible way to keep the public informed but I don't think they care.
4
I agree that the police officer was ill-trained, and also his use of obscenities was shocking. But to be noted is the fact that the "bodies he was throwing around" were predominantly black. So yes, this may have been a problem beyond his lack of training.
1
In the summer of 1969, a couple of idealistic graduating high school seniors petitioned the Mayor and Council of Glen Rock, New Jersey for permission to bring a large group of black kids ages 5-13 in from Paterson to swim in the Glen Rock pool. The pool in Paterson was closed for repairs and it was a long, hot summer. The town authorities agreed, and the Glen Rock Pool was a majority black swimming venue for the first and probably only time in its history. Everyone behaved beautifully and a good time was had by all. Now that I'm a different kind of senior, I'd like to think that could happen today.
8
In 1930s Los Angeles, Hollywood elementary school children learned to swim at a nearby pool in Beverly Hills. Except that Japanese-Americans weren't allowed in the pool. So my Uncle Frank had to stay behind by himself except for an art teacher who was stuck watching him. Uncle Frank later became an accomplished graphic designer and ceramist in Chicago. Still, he said living as a kid in LA, he'd rather have learned to swim.
6
A very moving story. Thank you Jane.
This post is guilty of distortions, starting with a photo of a municipal pool, not the private HMO pool where the incident happened. While nothing in the article is blatantly false, it is a separate discussion from what happened at the neighborhood pool: Kids crash a private party. Cop behaves in reprehensible manner in response. It didn't start out racially linked but the cop turned it into what appears to be negatively biased behavior.
It was an out-of-control cop problem, not a systemic discrimination, public access problem. HMO amenities are not public.
It was an out-of-control cop problem, not a systemic discrimination, public access problem. HMO amenities are not public.
18
Discrimination is already systemic in this country. It's part of the fabric of our culture. You can't change that. And the cop was very angry before he arrived at the scene. That he was out of control is likely due, in part, to his authoritarian personality combined with his own prejudice that prompted him to react to these particular kids in the particular way he did. You can't separate all these threads ... people are not machines ... they operate from myriad motivations, and many of his were on display that day.
What is being missed here is the resignation of the police officer. He quit not because he is sorry or ashamed of his actions, but to save his future career. Also the IA investigation ends with his leaving, he saves his retirement, and will be able to enter law enforcement again.
The only loser here is the young girl.
The only loser here is the young girl.
10
Ms Bennett is clearly a talented writer who is able to be thought-provoking on many levels. Her acknowledgement of water as a battleground in the struggles for racial equality offers a timely analysis and examples of how long and how deeply conflicts with "otherness" has been rooted in US society. Recognizing that Sen. Thurmond would not swim with black people, but had a mixed race daughter is an especially powerful symbol of the challenges in the US march towards equality.
I am saddened that so many who comment are quick to defend --on the basis of property rights--the actions of the McKinney, Texas police in breaking up a daytime, teenaged pool party. While skin color was the most obvious factor in the conflict, the age of people the police attempted to control is also important. Many adults are threatened by groups of teens who are often loud and physically unrestrained. Still we expect well-trained police to know how to break up noisy parties without resorting to excessive force. Every day thousands of teachers face classrooms full of teens and few use guns or excessive physical force to establish control.
It is unfortunate that the reality of what happened in McKinney will disappear leaving only the misconceptions firmly held onto by those who want to use this incident to confirm long-held beliefs. Ms. Bennett has eloquently evoked the universal image of water touching us all and exposing racism-- to which I would add fear of the exuberant young.
I am saddened that so many who comment are quick to defend --on the basis of property rights--the actions of the McKinney, Texas police in breaking up a daytime, teenaged pool party. While skin color was the most obvious factor in the conflict, the age of people the police attempted to control is also important. Many adults are threatened by groups of teens who are often loud and physically unrestrained. Still we expect well-trained police to know how to break up noisy parties without resorting to excessive force. Every day thousands of teachers face classrooms full of teens and few use guns or excessive physical force to establish control.
It is unfortunate that the reality of what happened in McKinney will disappear leaving only the misconceptions firmly held onto by those who want to use this incident to confirm long-held beliefs. Ms. Bennett has eloquently evoked the universal image of water touching us all and exposing racism-- to which I would add fear of the exuberant young.
175
Private pool, closed to non-residents who don't pay bills. I don't see what's the issue here. If literally anyone else squatted in a private residence like these teenagers did, this would be a non-story. Again, America's worst racial anxieties are causing everybody to jump to conclusions. Police discretion is no doubt racialized, but their use of force in this latest outrage was entirely justified.
18
I agree (perhaps) with your premise about police protecting private property. OK. But when you say "use of force" there remains the questions "how much force?" "kind of force?". etc. When I saw the teenage girl in her bathing suits, I was quite upset and wondered, as I said "how much force?" "kind of force". I failed to see that she was a serious threat or that she couldn;t have been handled without so much "man-handling." (literally).
More an issue of police brutality than racism or property rights.
More an issue of police brutality than racism or property rights.
2
So Mr. Clarke, pulling out and POINTING A GUN at unarmed teenagers is "entirely justified" in your humble opinion?
Oh...and by the way - the person who threw the party was black and the vast majority of those black kids terrorized by that officer were INVITED guests so your point is moot.
Lastly - by what super power were you and that officer able to ascertain that only the african-american teenagers were "non-resident squatters?" I would seriously like an answer to that.
Oh...and by the way - the person who threw the party was black and the vast majority of those black kids terrorized by that officer were INVITED guests so your point is moot.
Lastly - by what super power were you and that officer able to ascertain that only the african-american teenagers were "non-resident squatters?" I would seriously like an answer to that.
1
Wrong. The kids were guests at the party. Do your homework, professor.
1
The pool is not a public pool but a private community pool open to residents only. Residents are allowed to bring two visitors at a time. All children under the age of 14 must be supervised by an adult. The young people causing the disturbance were not invited & came in response to a party promoted on Twitter. The party was not approved by the Homeowner's Association. Tickets were sold, a DJ arrived. The young people were trespassing & refused to leave when asked. An altercation occurred between a resident & a young woman at the "event", words were exchanged & when the resident attempted to leave with her young children, she was assaulted. That is when the police were called in. While it does appear that the police officer in question used excessive force, much of the media has distorted the situation with the introduction of the race card.
40
Out here in AZ we have lots of pools that are private, public, gyms, WMCA , hotels, resorts, waterparks. Most require some form of payment and rules to follow. If ya don't follow the rules or get too rowdy, it's adios, hopefully not a the point of a gun.
19
Here we go again. Another histrionic op-ed that instead of presenting and analyzing the facts of the event the writer is supposedly addressing lectures readers on the history of racial segregation. This is not constructive.
100
Histrionic? Really? Did we read the same piece?
1
It is an op-ed, not a news post. And I enjoyed the lecture.
1
Forgetting the past is very convenient for those who shared it its crimes, isn't it.
1
I wasn't aware that the McKinney pool was a municipal facility.
15
The police were called to a swimming pool. (Yes, a pool with --- WATER!) They arrive and find the environment untenable for investigation. They ask for calm & quiet; yes, to control the environment and conduct interviews. After all, the community is at expense to dispatch peace officers. If they were to leave, claiming ”there was too much commotion we couldn't find out anything”, leaving the citizens paying for the dispatch in a unruly environment, they would and should be replaced.
If some of the crowd would not follow instruction to be calm, then yes, deal with the unruly ones. What about the ones that did calm, as most did? Now they have to watch, as the scofflaws “cry foul” and try to get rich. Those that refuse civil obedience, are much more apt to engage in violence against those asking for civilly. The unruly and or disobedient child(ren) should've been arrested, for their and society's good.
If some of the crowd would not follow instruction to be calm, then yes, deal with the unruly ones. What about the ones that did calm, as most did? Now they have to watch, as the scofflaws “cry foul” and try to get rich. Those that refuse civil obedience, are much more apt to engage in violence against those asking for civilly. The unruly and or disobedient child(ren) should've been arrested, for their and society's good.
7
What an excellent essay!
6
Brit, how sad you never learned to swim. It is an essential life skill for a Californian, being surrounded by the oceans, lakes, rivers, and of course the very common community and backyard swimming pools. If you had learned, your commentary might be very different and would have focused on a beach like Venice, which my friend calls "LA's backyard beach," since it accessible on foot, bike, car, bus-- and is crowded with Angelenos of every ethnic group, enjoying the day TOGETHER. You may have spent time at a community pool like my town's, which every day during the summer is full with people of all incomes and ethnicities playing and exercising, again together. Not denying the past, but it is NOT the present. Oh, and BTW, many of these fully integrated pools offer adult swim lessons. Try it, see reality, cool down.
8
Teens crashed a pool party. Police were called to restore order. Police demanded teens to get on the ground. One young girl refused to obey the police order to get on the ground. The sound video was unclear, but I thought the cop said to the girl "get your face on the ground." If she had gotten on the ground like the kids around her did the cop would not have had to wrestle her to the ground. She fought him. Pulling out a gun while chasing after other youths was completely wrong, and shocking.
7
"If the person had just obeyed..." is not an adequate response to this video. Maybe with actual criminals who at least theoretically pose a threat, but not here. The girl was clearly leaving as instructed and apparently said something disrespectful to the cop (which is LEGAL last time I checked). Like a child, he took it personally and decided to show her who's boss. She sat down but that wasn't good enough. The 15 year old girl in the bathing suit had to be forced face down? The guy is a disgrace to the uniform.
18
Never would have gone this far if those were all white kids. In fact the white kids that were there were not thrown to the ground nor intimidated with pistols. So "Observer" what you are saying is that as long as the black children (and 14/15 is pretty much a child) are exceedingly compliant to cops going crazy around them, they will be fine. White kids don't have to worry about it.
Just for the record, the pool in question was an amenity located within a private community for use of the residents of the community who pay to maintain the facility with HOA dues, just like condo complexes and other private associations all over the country.
The association rules for hosting parties are available to read on the Craig Ranch website - Community Association, Resource Center, then follow the tree - Governing Documents, Master, Miscellaneous:
http://craigranchliving.com/ResourceCenter/DocViewer/10389?doc_filename=...
The rules for residents clearly state that pool parties are to be limited to 20 guests, a requirement for advance reservation, that the resident is responsible for conduct of the guests, etc. Surprised no journalists seem to have looked up such an obvious detail.
The association rules for hosting parties are available to read on the Craig Ranch website - Community Association, Resource Center, then follow the tree - Governing Documents, Master, Miscellaneous:
http://craigranchliving.com/ResourceCenter/DocViewer/10389?doc_filename=...
The rules for residents clearly state that pool parties are to be limited to 20 guests, a requirement for advance reservation, that the resident is responsible for conduct of the guests, etc. Surprised no journalists seem to have looked up such an obvious detail.
34
And you know for sure that there were more than 20 kids, that they weren't invited guests, that the resident who invited them didn't obtain the required advance reservation or that maybe two or more residence invited 10 guests each?
6
Then perhaps the HOA would hire someone to check at the gate for residents.
2
I thought that the kids WERE invited (or thought they were) as a result of a social media invitation. Were there more than 20 kids? The video doesn't suggest that there were. The suggestions that racism was not a factor in these events is absurd.
Can someone tell me if the pool in question is a community pool, or some kind of private club?
It is not a public pool, it is located within a gated community where those who live there pay HOA fees for its upkeep among other expenditures.
8
It was a private pool for members only, including the black teen who organized the party.
7
It doesn't matter. The cop was put of line.
2
As late as the 1970s, Ocean City, Maryland had "Black Sunday". Once a year, black people were allowed to walk on the Ocean City boardwalk. They were never allowed to step on the beach. They were only allowed to walk on the boardwalk 1 day per year. Where did a black family, who lived in Ocean City, go to the beach? The person I spoke with told me his family went to the beach in Coney Island, Brooklyn. (source: conversation with volunteer at the Harriet Tubman Museum in Cambridge, Maryland.)
7
it sound like an urban myth story unless they were going to visit brooklyn anyway. it is 241 miles with a minimum 4 hour drives between the two cities.
2
I relayed 1 story from 1 man. Carr's Beach in Annapolis apparently was popular. Here is a excerpt from an BET 2011 article: (http://www.bet.com/news/national/2011/10/18/remembering-the-happy-times-...
Decades ago, when the summers got hot in Washington, D.C., and Maryland, Black families looking to vacation were faced with a problem: Travel to Ocean City, Maryland, which was segregated and thus difficult to traverse, or find another beach to enjoy. Many Blacks chose the second option, which is how Carr’s Beach, a sandy spot near Annapolis, came to prominence in the Black community.
Decades ago, when the summers got hot in Washington, D.C., and Maryland, Black families looking to vacation were faced with a problem: Travel to Ocean City, Maryland, which was segregated and thus difficult to traverse, or find another beach to enjoy. Many Blacks chose the second option, which is how Carr’s Beach, a sandy spot near Annapolis, came to prominence in the Black community.
1
This is a myth. I used to go to Ocean City in the mid-1960s and the beach and boardwalk were not segregated.
5
The most serious race riot in Chicago history was over a black child swimming at a white beach. It was Hyde Park 1919, home of Chicago University, and home to black and white beaches. The black child was stoned to death and drowned when he drifted over to the white side of the beach. Afterwards white gangs invaded black neighborhoods and began the killings and riot. The national guard was called in on the third day of rioting.
11
Much has been said about the officer who's now "resigned" and will likely be prosecuted for excessive force. And much has also been written and discussed about the fact that only black teenagers were forced to sit, get handcuffed or cursed out before the gun incident and pinning of the girl (not allegedly as written - your lying eyes see it plainly). What about the large, overweight man who seems to hold down the young lady in the bikini before the officer pins her down? He should be arrested and charged with assaulting a minor. Why was he not arrested or cited? Also what about the black kids who also lived in the neighborhood? Why were they detained or told to sit while white kids, including the one who shot the video and was there attending the party - why weren't they told to sit down or detained?
Sure kids get rowdy but "training" or lack thereof does not explain the overreaction of the former officer or others in the neighborhood. And the ladies who told the kids to go back to Section 8 housing and cursed the kids and evidently started or inflamed the fracas should be cited too. A deplorable indictment on that community, some of the people and a few police there. This country still has not resolved race and based on the comments seems a long way off from doing so.
Sure kids get rowdy but "training" or lack thereof does not explain the overreaction of the former officer or others in the neighborhood. And the ladies who told the kids to go back to Section 8 housing and cursed the kids and evidently started or inflamed the fracas should be cited too. A deplorable indictment on that community, some of the people and a few police there. This country still has not resolved race and based on the comments seems a long way off from doing so.
39
"We don’t yet, and may never, know exactly what happened". Actually, we do, though the media doesn't seem to want to report it (or, more precisely, pundits, who dominate column space these days, don't want to consider it). Numerous eyewitnesses, including twitter posts by the person who took the video most commonly referenced, have said this was not a racist incident. It was instigated by a mob of unruly teenagers and loud noise.
Perhaps instead of reliving the glory days of the 50s and 60s, the pundits might consider reporting on CURRENT problems, such as HB 2258, which was signed into law in Kansas this year, and which would deny access to pools by children in families receiving assistance. This is the latest in a spate of mean-spirited, hateful laws that seek to punish the poor.
Perhaps instead of reliving the glory days of the 50s and 60s, the pundits might consider reporting on CURRENT problems, such as HB 2258, which was signed into law in Kansas this year, and which would deny access to pools by children in families receiving assistance. This is the latest in a spate of mean-spirited, hateful laws that seek to punish the poor.
29
Actually, no, we don't know and may never know. There are a lot of conflicting claims about what happened and why. You have apparently chosen to accept as the only true statements the ones that coincide with what you already believe. People are doing the same thing on both sides of the issue, BTW, which just goes to make the op-ed writer's point that we may never know exactly what happened.
1
Race is obscuring the real issue. The real issue is that too many police treat teenagers, irrespective of sex or race, brutally. We have a juvenile court system that locks children up for such trivial things as swearing at a teacher, being out after hours or stealing a candy bar.
In my opinion the cop was being abusive to the girl. Of course she was out of control too but the cop, proved he is a thug an a bully by pulling his gun. Notice that the other two cops did not pull their guns.
In my opinion the cop was being abusive to the girl. Of course she was out of control too but the cop, proved he is a thug an a bully by pulling his gun. Notice that the other two cops did not pull their guns.
15
Yes, the cop was abusive. The girl was already under control, sitting on the grass. He picked her up and made her sit in another spot, using an arm hold that could have easily broker her arm. He's an expert on self-defense and knows that. There was no need for that at all.
4
It's summertime. It's hot. It was a pool party. Kids get rowdy. This is not an uncommon occurance through many decades, no matter where you live. No lives were threatened. Perhaps it called for the cooling, mature demeanor of an adult who understands how to de-escalate such a situation. But seeing that officer pull out and point that gun, seeing that 14 year old girl shoved face down on the ground and thrown about was so monumentally wrong, it takes my breath away. Defending his actions is next in line for profound wrong-headedness.
28
The initial appropriate adult probably should have been the mother of the girl who hosted the party as she is the likely owner or leesee of the unit in the community.
1
In college I took a beginning swimming class. The students in the class were black or brown except myself. What stuck me was their profound fear of water. Most had never been in a swimming pool, lake or ocean. I now realize this fear is something culturally imposed on them by years of racism. This tragic and shameful, especially today when the swimming pool access is still limited to people of color 30 years later. I'm hopeful that the publicity of this incident will change that practice.
7
There are no segregated public pools in the United States--i.e., no "limited access". This incident took place at a private pool. (And yes, I think the officer in question used excessive force on the girl in the video).
2
How does the NY Times allow distortions like this to be "printed"? This was not a segregated pool, but instead a private pool established for the benefit of members. Membership being determined by residence in the established community that established and maintains the pool. I am a white Catholic one percenter who occasionally chooses (or forgets) to renew membership at the community pool for the town of North Hempstead. If I do not have a current paid membership pass to utilize the pool, I am no more welcome than the group of teenagers that tried to overwhelm the pool in this Texas community. If I try to force my way into the pool or climb the 10 foot wrought iron fence surrounding the property, I can be certain that onsite security and/or the capable officers of Nassau County's 3rd Precinct will get actively involved in stopping me. Stop the race-baiting and start accurately stating the facts.
72
Your assumption that at least one of the black kids who was hosting the end-of-school party was not a 'member' of the HOA is both bigoted and evidently wrong. Nevertheless, I am baffled that you seem to believe that a homeowners association member has some sort of absolute right to attack anyone for the act of existing where the member imagines they shouldn't be. Having been president of a homeowners association, with a pool, I can assure you that quite often people some member may not know will be found swimming in that pool. That does not give the members the right to attack the swimmers.
What it does do is provide grounds for a very winnable lawsuit against the attackers. I'm sure that the HOA's attorney and the McKinney police department are waiting for the paperwork even now.
What it does do is provide grounds for a very winnable lawsuit against the attackers. I'm sure that the HOA's attorney and the McKinney police department are waiting for the paperwork even now.
15
You either have not informed yourself of the facts or you have some other agenda underlying your post. The vast majority of those african-american children WERE invited guests. The fact that some children may have not been does not in ANY way justify the excessive, brutalizing behavior of that officer nor the racial epithets and assault perpetrated by grown adults on minors.
Perhaps you think that all the black people knew each other. Or maybe you think they all came as one group. I really don't know what you think but I do fail to see any factual basis for your post. Furthermore - race was ABSOLUTELY involved - not a single white teenager was verbally accosted or assaulted by that officer. Not
Perhaps you think that all the black people knew each other. Or maybe you think they all came as one group. I really don't know what you think but I do fail to see any factual basis for your post. Furthermore - race was ABSOLUTELY involved - not a single white teenager was verbally accosted or assaulted by that officer. Not
13
Would the Nassau County officer force you to the ground and pull a gun on you if you resisted? Would anybody even notice you didn't "belong" there?
14
My memory of growing up in Wichita in the 50s is tainted by the subtle but firm racism of the near south. Segregated restrooms and drinking fountains began in Oklahoma City just 160 miles south. The gradual and necessary changes in our sick culture were hard won in the 60s. The swimming pools? All the public pools that I knew as a child were paved over as tennis courts to prevent mixed use. The churches? All built private pools for the little white children that they taught to sing "Jesus Loves Me" with a picture of a white man with long brown curly hair surrounded by a group of multiracial children. It's still pretty segregated in Wichita.
85
When I was first assigned to work in the Pentagon in the 1990s one of the direction sets to get to our office was to turn at the Purple water fountain. Only the other civil service folks knew why that fountain was purple---it had been for the "colored" workers. What was truly astonishing is no one knew why this one was left when other had been taken out...turns out that it was simply missed, no one tracked how many "colored" water fountains there were and Pentagon's office of personal management saw nothing wrong when it was walled up behind glass so that it could continue as a direction reference---but with nothing to indicate what it was---a last vestige of inherent racism even in government organizations. So "subtle but firm racism" was alive and well when I left at 1999 and when I returned in 2004...within the federal system.
1
Oh, for heaven's sake, Ilaird. If Kansas is such a tolerant place than please do explain to me why, when I moved to Kansas from Atlanta my junior year of HS, a KKK pamphlet was put in my hand in the school hallway in Kansas the week of my arrival there. I must have been the correct hue.
Something like this never happened here in Atlanta between the grades of 2 through 10. We even had students who were brown and black in our school in Atlanta. In Kansas we didn't.
The pot calls the kettle black. If areas of Kansas still have racial problems all these years later, take a good long look in the mirror. Southerners aren't sending secret agents north to poison the well.
I have lived north, south, east and west. I never encountered more racism than when living in the north, but it was stealth racism. No overt rules about drinking fountains, just red lined neighborhoods where brown people couldn't buy at any price. You didn't see them anyplace whites went. When I moved back south, the even mix of races mingling in Atlanta was slightly jarring after years of Lilly white neighborhoods up north where perhaps even Italians aren't yet welcome.
Of course, we too have bigots. They mostly live outside the perimeter with people who "mirror" their own views. It's kind of like Fox News neighborhood watch.
Look in the mirror. It's good advice for anyone who presumes to pontificate on a subject so old and yet not corrected after all these years.
Something like this never happened here in Atlanta between the grades of 2 through 10. We even had students who were brown and black in our school in Atlanta. In Kansas we didn't.
The pot calls the kettle black. If areas of Kansas still have racial problems all these years later, take a good long look in the mirror. Southerners aren't sending secret agents north to poison the well.
I have lived north, south, east and west. I never encountered more racism than when living in the north, but it was stealth racism. No overt rules about drinking fountains, just red lined neighborhoods where brown people couldn't buy at any price. You didn't see them anyplace whites went. When I moved back south, the even mix of races mingling in Atlanta was slightly jarring after years of Lilly white neighborhoods up north where perhaps even Italians aren't yet welcome.
Of course, we too have bigots. They mostly live outside the perimeter with people who "mirror" their own views. It's kind of like Fox News neighborhood watch.
Look in the mirror. It's good advice for anyone who presumes to pontificate on a subject so old and yet not corrected after all these years.
2
Yep. Religion deserves none of the respect the racist dimwits demand for it. Clearly something got left out in those churches, like the "red and yellow, black and white, Jesus loves the little children of the world" in the old Sunday School nursery song. Added to that line for honesty about vile racism should be the note, "He may, but we don't." As with other aspects of racism, the pool situation is really sad.
1
Let's face it, America is becoming more racist, not less. While the government is trying to implement policies to promote equality and integration, the private sentiment has been to stick to their own kind. This phenomenon is also a result of the growth of enormous disparity in wealth that has been on the rise in the past 20 years. While most tech entrepeneurs, corporate CEOs and hedge fund managers (mostly white males) make stratorspheric incomes, the working middle class and lower working class are scrambling to get by with their livelyhood constantly under threat to improve the bottom line for the fat cats under the guise of improving "shareholder value". Therefore, the wealthy circumscribe themselves in their own little world and everyone else is viewed as a threat, because if greed is good, then jealousy is rampant. Jealousy, a natural outgrowth of greed, may lead to crime, and the rich, who have so many things, are dreadfully afraid of those who don't, blacks being their biggest boogeyman, since they generally fall in the category that is not the top 1.00%.
16
Don't let the facts of the event get in the way of your rant. This is a multiracial, middle class community,
5
While it sure looks like there was a racist component in this incident, the larger problem is the growing (or perhaps only more frequently video recorded) tendency for police to outrageously overreact to non-threatening actions with extreme and often lethal force. Those officers should be spending some time in prison.
What ever happened to police being screened for psychiatric issues before handing them a badge and a gun? Are we now actively screening for the abused pit bull profile?
I still do not believe that most police are like this, but the ones that are need to be prosecuted. Shielding them from punishment for criminal misconduct only serves to debase the entire force.
What ever happened to police being screened for psychiatric issues before handing them a badge and a gun? Are we now actively screening for the abused pit bull profile?
I still do not believe that most police are like this, but the ones that are need to be prosecuted. Shielding them from punishment for criminal misconduct only serves to debase the entire force.
15
In America in 2015, any citizen, regardless of color, race, or creed, is allowed to use a public pool --- as long as they act responsible, and not like a bunch of miscreants, which, apparently, these teenagers did.
Stop vilifying our local law enforcement who have the authority to stop someone, sort things out, and restore order.
Stop vilifying our local law enforcement who have the authority to stop someone, sort things out, and restore order.
11
But unfortunately found the only way to restore order was to pull a gun on unarmed teens.
9
To Skip Fuller: Being told "go back to section 8 housing" is acting like a miscreant? Now I've heard everything.
1
It is obvious that Brit Bennet is a writer of fiction. This account diverges wildly from the truth. The neighborhood where the incident occurred is peacefully integrated, according to the residents, and the pool party was hosted by a black teenager. Brit is trying to turn this into another race incident, and while the one renegade cop may have had it out for young blacks, the situation was not a black/white confrontation.
35
So then why were ONLY african-american children accosted and assaulted?
Why were racial epithets and "Go back to Section 8" screamed in the faces of exclusively black children.
Please save the disingenuous revisionism.
Why were racial epithets and "Go back to Section 8" screamed in the faces of exclusively black children.
Please save the disingenuous revisionism.
2
Fiction ?? I do not think so. The article had three short paragraphs concerning the McKinney pool incident. The writer then goes on with a very well written piece about the history around racism , segregation and water in the USA. As someone who grew up in the South, I still remember the separate but equal ( not ) of everyday life. The water fountains, the schools, the pools and even the movie theater. I am white, but being a Roman Catholic, I was considered on the same level as the blacks in our town, with some exceptions. Has racism passed in this Country? I think not. Just take a look at Facebook, or other social media. And even this comment section. It is still here, just under the water.
1
Thank you, Mr. Stenquist, for reading before you started writing, which many commenters in print and online obviously didn't. This was not about race, except for a few loud comments by bigots. The pool, which is not a public pool, has limits on numbers of non-residents who can be invited to the pool or to pool parties. A teenage resident of the gated community planned the party, then foolishly posted it on social media, and a really large crowd of teenagers responded. One source reported that residents were limited to 20 invited guests for pool parties, and some estimates said up to 100 showed up. Even some of the black residents were appalled at the crowd and the flouting of the community rules. This isn't a white versus black situation: If I, with my very fair skin and blond hair, tried to use the pool at this community I would be turned away unless I had been invited by a resident.
4
Do we know how full the pool was? What the stated admissions policies are? Obviously the policies do not exclude black families. (Or white bigots, like the lady who supposedly made the Section 8 comment.) For all we know, some of the kids could have been fighting or trespassing: legitimate reasons to call law enforcement.
Two instances of bigotry in the whole account. Do the actions of some obnoxious lady in a beach towel, and a menace cop who was properly dealt with really indicate a need to associate this with massive systemic racism?
Two instances of bigotry in the whole account. Do the actions of some obnoxious lady in a beach towel, and a menace cop who was properly dealt with really indicate a need to associate this with massive systemic racism?
18
Stated admission policy for hosting a pool party at Craig Ranch, found on the community's website:
http://craigranchliving.com/ResourceCenter/DocViewer/10389?doc_filename=...
Limit is 20 guests.
http://craigranchliving.com/ResourceCenter/DocViewer/10389?doc_filename=...
Limit is 20 guests.
2
Water has a certain elemental property which competes for attention with summertime revelers. I remember visiting Oklahoma one summer as a pre-teen & going down to the local watering hole with my girlfriend. We both were from LA where finding wildlife was a rare & wonderful treat. While we all took turns on a communal tire swing that hung from the gigantic Champion tree, we both were fascinated with the local Indian kids who we'd never had an opportunity to see in person other than on TV, stereotyped as either Noble Savages or a sidekick to the Lone Ranger. The Indian kids warned us about the poisonous Water Moccasins that slithered sinuously under the surface of the watering hole. My bgf & I were scared yet somewhat exhilarated by the whole encounter yet dove right in.
This incident was memorable in that there were no adults around to influence our thinking or choices one way or the other so we were left to our own internal navigation device to determine how much excitement & danger we would expose ourselves to. Another great thing about this cultural exchange was that there weren't any loud surfer bullies kicking sand in our faces to get our attention, which we were used to at So. Cal beaches. Nor were there any mean girls shouting us down with their wicked words, only some very water saavy Pawnee tribal kids who taught us a few things about nature. Needless to say, when we spied the snake we jumped out of the watering hole faster than greased lightening on a Summer's day.
This incident was memorable in that there were no adults around to influence our thinking or choices one way or the other so we were left to our own internal navigation device to determine how much excitement & danger we would expose ourselves to. Another great thing about this cultural exchange was that there weren't any loud surfer bullies kicking sand in our faces to get our attention, which we were used to at So. Cal beaches. Nor were there any mean girls shouting us down with their wicked words, only some very water saavy Pawnee tribal kids who taught us a few things about nature. Needless to say, when we spied the snake we jumped out of the watering hole faster than greased lightening on a Summer's day.
11
Adolescence is a time of questioning authority, challenging perceived injustices, defiant behavior and indignation. It is an adult's job to control his own emotions so he can teach the teen to control hers. The adult does this by showing respect for the teen, acknowledging her emotions, and setting limits on her behavior. Once again, a policeman didn't have control of himself so he surely could not help the teens get control of themselves. These were not a group of young black males on a dark street. They were a group of teenagers who planned to go swimming. One more time, an opportunity for one of life's (positive) teachable moments is lost because someone in authority couldn't control himself.
22
But a group of young black males on a dark street *would* be a valid threat, justifying his aggressive behaviour?
Which part of it is the threat? The youth, gender, skin colour, or dark street?
Which part of it is the threat? The youth, gender, skin colour, or dark street?
It's amazing how the New York Times and left-leaning media will bend over backward to maintain a narrative of black victimhood—even in the face of overwhelming evidence of the opposite—where blacks are engaging in anti-social and criminal behavior.
Whether it's errant behavior in schools, running from police, or dealing drugs, somehow normal civil behavior just isn't expected, especially from black teenagers. Or somehow it's caused by "society." Either way, the liberal gentry rarely encounter it from their homogenous enclaves.
These black kids were trespassing, threatening homeowners, essentially unleashing a flash mob (the criminal kind) on a community pool. Only with carefully edited video and a resistance to facts, do they become the victims when police show up.
I feel the most sympathy here for black middle-class homeowners in McKinney. They've worked hard in life to remove themselves from toxic underclass black culture, the kind seen in the behavior of black children at the pool that day (e.g., The young woman being subdued by the officer yelling, "I swear on my momma").
Not only are they confused with the growing underclass element, thanks to government social engineering efforts, but they'll shoulder the burden of negative externalities of further "diversity" efforts.
Bennett's agenda with the shoehorning of Jim Crow into this story is blatantly obvious. Sadly, she's another example of a black student who went the route of race-hustling for a living.
Whether it's errant behavior in schools, running from police, or dealing drugs, somehow normal civil behavior just isn't expected, especially from black teenagers. Or somehow it's caused by "society." Either way, the liberal gentry rarely encounter it from their homogenous enclaves.
These black kids were trespassing, threatening homeowners, essentially unleashing a flash mob (the criminal kind) on a community pool. Only with carefully edited video and a resistance to facts, do they become the victims when police show up.
I feel the most sympathy here for black middle-class homeowners in McKinney. They've worked hard in life to remove themselves from toxic underclass black culture, the kind seen in the behavior of black children at the pool that day (e.g., The young woman being subdued by the officer yelling, "I swear on my momma").
Not only are they confused with the growing underclass element, thanks to government social engineering efforts, but they'll shoulder the burden of negative externalities of further "diversity" efforts.
Bennett's agenda with the shoehorning of Jim Crow into this story is blatantly obvious. Sadly, she's another example of a black student who went the route of race-hustling for a living.
38
Those "black kids" were invited guests. The vast, vast majority.
and the person who threw the party was apparently a black teenager.
You have NO IDEA what you are talking about in your frothing rush to justify this flagrant incident of brutality.
and the person who threw the party was apparently a black teenager.
You have NO IDEA what you are talking about in your frothing rush to justify this flagrant incident of brutality.
5
Yes, a young, skinny black girl in a bikini is always part of a "flash mob." Or maybe she thought she might be able to go swimming. Certainly such presumptive nonsense on her part validates the unleashing of a psycho cop on her.
1
Your account seems to be seriously at odds with established facts. Many of the Black teenagers present at the party were certainly not trespassing. And what about the reports of racial taunting by a white woman, clearly a provocation? And what is supposed to be "toxic" about the Black teen girl crying out "I swear by my momma" while being wrestled to the ground by a clearly violent and out-of-control officer? Brit Bennett had no need to "shoehorn Jim Crow" into the story, Jim was there and wreaking havoc at the latest by the arrival of Officer Casebolt.
Based on some of the (predictable) comments here, are we to accept that even if the teens had been misbehaving, that a young, almost naked teenager thus deserved to be assaulted by a grown man pinned her down with his weight as she screamed? Is it therefore acceptable that guns were pulled on unarmed teenagers? Does this happen to white teens who are acting "unruly"? If so, where and when?
There will forever be those (white) people who need to hear more facts, need to see the "white" (i.e., trustworthy) side of the story before coming to any conclusion about what is plainly obvious. This is why racism continues to be the great shame of this nation, and why it will never disappear.
There will forever be those (white) people who need to hear more facts, need to see the "white" (i.e., trustworthy) side of the story before coming to any conclusion about what is plainly obvious. This is why racism continues to be the great shame of this nation, and why it will never disappear.
231
Evidently there is a "white side" to the story. It's been told on the news and social media by the 15 year old white boy who took the video. He made it quite clear that the black kids were the targets when the police got there. He reports that the cop was screaming at the kids to sit down and walked around him as if he were invisible to get to the black kids. Many of the black kids also live in the area and many of them have pool passes. This was about uppity racist white people calling in an unnecessary 911 call and a mean cop who was out of control. Anyone who doesn't see this as a racist incident is blind.
1
This was a private pool, not a municipal pool. Residents of the area who were members of the association were allowed to bring two guests. Instead, 70 arrived and overwhelmed the security guard who then had to call police.
A very bad example to connect to abuses of the past.
A very bad example to connect to abuses of the past.
83
Teen parties are notorious for attracting uninvited guests. Should they be treated that way by out of control cops? Would the scene have gone differently? Be honest.
4
First, this wasn't a "teen" party in the usual sense. The organizer was a 19-year-old, an adult, who was using the party to promote her business. It wasn't just a few extra friends who showed up--there has been nothing to indicate that she even knew the people. Nor did she have any clue as to how many people would be coming--it was an open invitation to anybody through social media. She did not have a permit from the neighborhood association for a party.
In addition, we don't know the ages of the party crashers. How many were "teens" and how many were adults? Was it really a "teen party" as you say?
The media portrayal that this was just a group of high schoolers having fun isn't supported by the facts. Many neighbors were afraid--there were many calls to the police. Most "teen parties" where a few people crash it are not on other peoples' private property and don't involve security guards being overwhelmed to the point that they have to call the police.
Can you imagine how frightened children would be to see a huge number of people climbing a fence to swarm their pool area, and watching a security guard being overwhelmed?
How different might the conversation be if there had been a video of that also?
Using the phrase "teen party" seriously minimizes what was really going on and makes it sound much more innocent than it was.
(and I'm being honest)
In addition, we don't know the ages of the party crashers. How many were "teens" and how many were adults? Was it really a "teen party" as you say?
The media portrayal that this was just a group of high schoolers having fun isn't supported by the facts. Many neighbors were afraid--there were many calls to the police. Most "teen parties" where a few people crash it are not on other peoples' private property and don't involve security guards being overwhelmed to the point that they have to call the police.
Can you imagine how frightened children would be to see a huge number of people climbing a fence to swarm their pool area, and watching a security guard being overwhelmed?
How different might the conversation be if there had been a video of that also?
Using the phrase "teen party" seriously minimizes what was really going on and makes it sound much more innocent than it was.
(and I'm being honest)
6
For argument's sake, lets say the pool party was unauthorized and promoted without too much thought as to the potential consquences. Let's say there were teenagers "crashing" the pool party who did not belong to the community and did not have permission to be there. This may all be true - but in no way shape or form, does it excuse Cpl. Casebolt in his treatment of that teenage girl in the bikini.
128
And Casebolt's unprofessional behavior does not excuse the behavior of the teens either.
6
What does the bikini she chose to wear have anything to do with anything?
3
Nothing Honeybee, it was simply a means to identify the person I was referring to since there were many in the video.
1
There are "environmental" reasons for improvement in civil rights: advances in medicine and public health. Years ago, people faced death from diseases when no antibiotics were available and there was no polio vaccine or other vaccines. I remember my childhood prayer with the line "if I should die before I wake." Women were free to pursue equal rights once flush toilets, public toilets and sanitary supplies became available. Sure it took a lot of work and human loss for us to enjoy civil rights and more opportunity for women but modern advances set the stage.
1
Oh please, do you really believe people acted that way because of lack of medicine? Then everyone would have been asked to provide medical evidence they were free of disease not just black pool goers.
Are you really trying to say Jim Crow was due to genuine health concerns?
Are you really trying to say Jim Crow was due to genuine health concerns?
1
As a small child growing up in the Bronx, on one hot summer's day in 1976, I accompanied a friend's family to Van Courtlandt Park, where, in those days, you could swim in the lake. When we got there, there were some black kids swimming and playing in the water (our group was all white). The mother who accompanied us would not let us go in the water. I was four years old at the time and I have a vivid memory, one of my earliest, of asking her why and being told that they were unclean, which answer made no sense to me, even at 4, because when they got out of the water, we were allowed to go in. But I figured since she was an adult she must know what she is talking about. On some later occasion, my mother brought me to a pool and I wouldn't go in because there were black children in it. When she asked me what the problem was, I related what my friend's mom had told me. My mom was greatly annoyed and told me that was nonsense and I proceeded to go in the pool. However, whenever I would go to a public swim area and see black people swimming, my first thought would always be about that ignorant woman's advice not to go in the water, and this happens to this day, although I know it's ridiculous and would never act on it. I really resent that this woman poisoned my young and impressionable mind with her racism. It is so sad to see that this ignorance continues and how easily and nonchalantly it gets passed down to the next generation.
54
I grew up near Asbury Park in the fifties and sixties. All of the beaches except for one tiny beach wedged between Asbury Park and Ocean Grove and not visible from the other beaches were whites only. There were no pools on the boardwalk open to African Americans. Not until I went away to college in the mid sixties did this begin to change. And then it led to "white flight" on the beaches as whites abandoned the beaches that were gradually integrated. The segregation extended also to jobs on the boardwalk and, I assume, hotels. White kids had no trouble finding jobs in the shops on the boardwalk; there were no black kids in any customer service jobs. This kind of segregation was simply taken for granted at the same time that whites in the north were horrified at the segregation in the South. And we won't even get into the residential segregation and the curious lack of African American customers in the shops along Cookman Avenue in those days. There were no "whites only" signs, but the segregation was real.
24
My hometown changed colors in the span of a few years back in the late 60s. In the aftermath of the protests and riots, our town attempted to heal itself partly by building recreational services for youth in the poorer, darker-skinned neighborhoods. So the West End got some pools. The East End had none.
As a child I resented this preferential treatment. In my mind the Black kids had a place to swim and we did not. It was hotter in summer back then because we were supposed to play outside all day long. Anyway, the only way to escape the heat was in a pool because nobody had A.C. And the only pools in our town were off limits to us because we were afraid to go there.
What I took from the experience was the memory of how vulnerable we felt at the thought of stripping down to swimsuits and wading into a world awash with hostility.
As a child I resented this preferential treatment. In my mind the Black kids had a place to swim and we did not. It was hotter in summer back then because we were supposed to play outside all day long. Anyway, the only way to escape the heat was in a pool because nobody had A.C. And the only pools in our town were off limits to us because we were afraid to go there.
What I took from the experience was the memory of how vulnerable we felt at the thought of stripping down to swimsuits and wading into a world awash with hostility.
9
In Montgomery Alabama in the 1950s, an entire park was closed including the pool to prevent integration of the park. The park was bordered on one side by a white neighborhood and on the other by a black neighborhood. Black maids were allowed to bring white children but not their own to the park. When federal courts ruled that a city run park could not discriminate against one race, the city closed the pool and the entire park for years. Also in the 60s at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, when two visitors from an African nation entered the Officers club pool most of the white swimmers swiftly exited the pool. My friends & I stayed in at because now the pool had plenty of room for those of us left. But it was embarrassing both for the visiting African officers and for the city. I believe there are fewer racists in the south now, witness the many mixed marriages & their children, but there are still too many.
14
For me, the video is just another example of the way we mistreat young people in our society. Everyone is so fixated on the races of the people involved, no one seems to realize that shoving a young girl to the ground, forcing her face into the dirt, and a grown man digging his knee into her back while she screams for her mother is completely unacceptable. The video was heartbreaking. Whether black, white, or some other color, this is a terrifying example of the way we think about and treat our young.
The police officer in the video wasn't dealing with a grown man who was out of control--he was dealing with a thin, 14-year-old girl wearing a bathing suit. She could not have any concealed weapons and clearly did not present a danger to him. All the other teens were also in bathing suits, and pulling a gun on them was completely out of line and a gross overreaction on the part of the officers.
In our culture, we talk a lot about loving our children, but in reality children are abused, neglected, assaulted and murdered by adults at an alarming rate. Many people still believe that it's acceptable for parents and/or teachers to beat even small children. So, we've come to believe that it's also ok for the police to mistreat children.
Children learn by example. What kind of future adults are we raising? How can they learn to be the kind of adults we want them to be when we constantly prove to them that they have no rights and no protection?
The police officer in the video wasn't dealing with a grown man who was out of control--he was dealing with a thin, 14-year-old girl wearing a bathing suit. She could not have any concealed weapons and clearly did not present a danger to him. All the other teens were also in bathing suits, and pulling a gun on them was completely out of line and a gross overreaction on the part of the officers.
In our culture, we talk a lot about loving our children, but in reality children are abused, neglected, assaulted and murdered by adults at an alarming rate. Many people still believe that it's acceptable for parents and/or teachers to beat even small children. So, we've come to believe that it's also ok for the police to mistreat children.
Children learn by example. What kind of future adults are we raising? How can they learn to be the kind of adults we want them to be when we constantly prove to them that they have no rights and no protection?
58
The incident happened in the Craig Ranch subdivision. People of all races, including blacks, live in Craig Ranch. One of the selling points of the subdivision is a private pool, open only to residents, although residents may bring guests.
I am white. If I drove out to Craig Ranch and tried to get in the pool, I would be turned away because I don't own a home there and pay HOA dues.
The pool is gated because pools (at least in Texas) are required to have fencing and signage.
This was not an innocent neighborhood pool party. This was a party hosted by a promoter and advertised with flyers.
To believe that this had anything to do with segregation and swimming pools is to willfully ignore the facts. Police misconduct is a separate issue in the case. But racism and segregation and exclusion played no part in this.
I am white. If I drove out to Craig Ranch and tried to get in the pool, I would be turned away because I don't own a home there and pay HOA dues.
The pool is gated because pools (at least in Texas) are required to have fencing and signage.
This was not an innocent neighborhood pool party. This was a party hosted by a promoter and advertised with flyers.
To believe that this had anything to do with segregation and swimming pools is to willfully ignore the facts. Police misconduct is a separate issue in the case. But racism and segregation and exclusion played no part in this.
92
Not sure how your statement makes it okay for a police officer to lose control and start pulling guns on unarmed teenagers.
I'll bet my last dollar that most parties that get out of hand because uninvited teens descend on them and there is under-aged drinking happen in white suburban areas.
Somehow if the cops are called, no one feels the need to swing under-aged white girls around.
I'll bet my last dollar that most parties that get out of hand because uninvited teens descend on them and there is under-aged drinking happen in white suburban areas.
Somehow if the cops are called, no one feels the need to swing under-aged white girls around.
7
Racism played no part?? Really?? How did Police Officers decide that only black kids were from outside Craig Ranch and hence rounded up? After all, people of all races live in Craig Ranch. Are there any reports of any white kids who were manhandled or rounded up? Kid who shot the video said it was as if he was invisible to the Police officers.
7
Comments by a white pool goer to black guests that they should go back to their Section 8 housing was just an economic argument, right?
5
During the 60s and 70s thousands of public swimming pools, built with taxpayer funds, were either sold to private "clubs" for a dollar, shut down, or allowed to decay into unusability because local whites refused to open them to black people. Now America has more swimming pool than ever before, but the vast majority of them are gated in one way or another. And we see in Texas how people react when "their" pool gets visited by "those" people.
There are depressingly few public goods in America that haven't been damaged by racism.
There are depressingly few public goods in America that haven't been damaged by racism.
49
Swimming pools in every state are legally required to be "gated" at least 4' high to keep small children from drowning. It is a safety thing not a racial thing at all.
1
GMB— please read the post by Honeybee, (directly above yours). This is a private pool, paid for and maintained by a Home Owners Association which is fortunately, NOT segregated. But when you pay (often dearly) to have a neighborhood-only amenity, you should expect to be able to control the usage of the amenity (parks, pools, playgrounds, etc).
The behavior of the cop was over-the-top stupid but the problem apparently did not seem to stem from racism but rather from private party crashing.
The behavior of the cop was over-the-top stupid but the problem apparently did not seem to stem from racism but rather from private party crashing.
3
It looks as if the party organizer is much at fault for advertising a pool party without renting the pool.
43
Sorry, but that's ridiculous. I have given and attended numerous pool parties, where everybody shows up to the pool at a designated time, and no one ever thought that we had to "rent the pool". How about a birthday party at a restaurant, or group movie going? Do you have to rent the entire restaurant or movie house?
• After all, some of the most potent symbols of Jim Crow involve water, from segregated drinking fountains and toilets to swimming pools and beaches.
“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.”
~ BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
“In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.”
~ BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
13
Franklin couldn't have said that, because the disease producing properties of bacteria were not discovered until the 19th century.
Unruly teenagers,some of them black trespass at a private pool in a mixed race community.Black residents say it was just a matter of one overzealous officer trying to disperse the crowd,not a racial incident.NYT and it's oh so smart contributors think otherwise.Why listen to adult witnesses when fanning racial flames and further dividing the white and black communities is so much more fun.It's fitting that the author of this piece is listed as a fiction writer.
92
The incident did start racially. According to witnesses two white females told the black individuals to return to their Section 8 housing. While the cops probably weren't planning that day to just beat up on some blacks kids, apparently when they arrived, they decided it was only the black kids at fault. This according to the white teen who videotaped the incident. He also stated although he was standing right there, he was ignored while the cops chased black kids. One white teen was put in handcuffs, although apparently not thrown to the ground.
Was it racial? Was it not? I guess it depends on whether you are black or white.
Frankly, I thought the kids were out of hand, but then I wasn't there. Did the cops make a bad situation worse? I think so. I think what we are starting to see are acts of civil disobedience, not necessarily the acts of black people who cannot control themselves or who have disrespect for authority per se. I think many blacks are simply tired of being treated like criminal suspects all the time.
I have been, too, driving home from work because the cops thought I was a black male. Guns drawn, cops approached my car one on each side. I could see the look of surprise when they realized I not. The weak excuse for U turning when I drove with traffic, legally, through a green light? I signaled a right turn too soon. No, you U turned long before then. I'm a middle-age black female with a baseball cap on coming from the gym after work.
Was it racial? Was it not? I guess it depends on whether you are black or white.
Frankly, I thought the kids were out of hand, but then I wasn't there. Did the cops make a bad situation worse? I think so. I think what we are starting to see are acts of civil disobedience, not necessarily the acts of black people who cannot control themselves or who have disrespect for authority per se. I think many blacks are simply tired of being treated like criminal suspects all the time.
I have been, too, driving home from work because the cops thought I was a black male. Guns drawn, cops approached my car one on each side. I could see the look of surprise when they realized I not. The weak excuse for U turning when I drove with traffic, legally, through a green light? I signaled a right turn too soon. No, you U turned long before then. I'm a middle-age black female with a baseball cap on coming from the gym after work.
4
This isn't just a Southern issue. Growing up in Jersey (a white family) we went now and then on family outings to Palisades Amusement Park, but we were never allowed to go into the pool. Once when we asked our grandmother why she said: "Because it's full of Puerto Ricans from New York." Oh?
Years later when I recounted this to a friend who also had grown up in Jersey and whose family was from Puerto Rico, she said: "Ha! My grandmother said the same thing about that pool."
Years later when I recounted this to a friend who also had grown up in Jersey and whose family was from Puerto Rico, she said: "Ha! My grandmother said the same thing about that pool."
19
The common thread in both stories seems to be that the issue was socioeconomic class rather than race.
1
Our country is becoming a shameful embarrassment and an utter disgrace on the world stage. We seem to be devolving in the blink of an eye. Admittedly I'm from a 99% white town but I grew up in a heavily Hispanic town where my mother and brother still live. I don't recall ever seeing the blatant racism that is evident today. Many of our friends were Hispanic. We always thought it was kind of exotic and impressive that they could speak two languages. They played ball with the neighborhood kids, ate supper with us and swam in our pool. My mother joked about our friend Tee always sinking to the bottom for some inexplicable reason. We attended his wedding and he attended ours. He phones my 87 mother on every holiday and Mother's Day and has for the last 35 years! Our children were taught to not judge a person by the color of his/her skin or his/her sexual persuasion but by what kind of person they are; their integrity, honesty, kindness. My son had his gay friend as his best man at his wedding. Our children judge by strength of character. We would expect nothing less of them.
I was struck by a comment in the movie "A Little Princess" where one of the youngest students explains to Sarah Crew that she is not allowed to speak to Becky, who is a black servant little girl. When Sarah asks why the little girl explains that she is a servant and has dark skin. Sarah responds "so?" The little girl asks "Well doesn't that mean something?" Our children are not born racist, they are taught.
I was struck by a comment in the movie "A Little Princess" where one of the youngest students explains to Sarah Crew that she is not allowed to speak to Becky, who is a black servant little girl. When Sarah asks why the little girl explains that she is a servant and has dark skin. Sarah responds "so?" The little girl asks "Well doesn't that mean something?" Our children are not born racist, they are taught.
37
All this is very interesting, but its relevance to the article is questionable. The details of the incident, not the spin, should be the topics under discussion, e.g., police behaviour notwithstanding, did the kids have a legal right to use a private pool paid for by residents of the community? Were they "trespassing?" What are the facts?
3
When he started waving a gun around willy-nilly at unarmed teens those *facts* ceased to matter. Take race out of it. This cop doesn't deserved to "protect" us. The gun is to protect himself from us, not protect us.
Every time we read of police abuse of power, particularly when in involves racial conflict, police officials point to the need for additional training. Training... maybe? The hiring of thugs... absolutely! No amount of process, sensitivity or professional behavior training will mitigate the problem when the people you hire to do an admittedly sensitive and dangerous job are thugs and bullies themselves. Where a culture of abuse exists, one will persist until better screening of employee and management candidates is exercised.
30
Interesting article, but totally irrelevant to the incident in McKinney. The kids did not have permission to have a party at the pool. Thus, they were the perpetrators, not the victims. When a policeman tells you to do something, my advice is to do it. This young lady needs to learn that lesson.
97
Yep, and if a young teen girl in a bathing suit doesn't immediately do what she is told, what better than to throw her on the ground and mash her face into the grass? That will teach her to respect the police and the rules. And if her friends see her being manhandled and make the completely inappropriate and foolish decision to rush bravely to her defense, what can a police officer do but immediately draw his gun and threaten deadly force? This was clearly a case of the police appropriately responding to the extreme danger of unauthorized teen swim parties. After all, unauthorized teen swimming is the single biggest threat to modern American society.
19
My advice to an officer of the law: Obey it. Follow the procedures to insure that you serve and protect. The real lesson here is the complete lack of professionalism that tarnishes the entire profession. I come from an "honor system" and I carried a weapon, as did those around me. We "policed" ourselves to preserve the integrity of our institution. Otherwise, you are out.
13
Of course the white woman who insulted some of the (invited) kids and hit one of them when she was asked to stop bears no responsibility for starting this whatsoever, right?
9
There do seem to be indications that the black teenagers were being unruly. So what? The rest of the story indicates that there was an ongoing attempt at segregation and the people who desired the segregation counted on the police to enforce it. They were not let down. Also, I don't care how much that girl was talking back to the cop in the video. If you cannot handle a bikini clad teenager being a smart mouth you should not be allowed to be a cop.
254
Was it the black teenagers who were unruly, or was it teenagers of all types who were being unruly? From what I've known, being a former teenager, a parent of three, a teacher, coach and mentor of many others, unruliness is not limited to black kids. The problem here is twofold: some alleged adults can't get past their childish racism, and some cops can't help but single out black people for attention when they are on the job.
9
I read the Interview from one of the residents who was at the pool and they said it had nothing to do with race, as he was black as well, but had to do with unruly teens and a pool guard who couldn't handle them without assistance. The issue is more that police need to be schooled in breaking up groups without getting their guns out of their holsters and waving them around,
146
You hit the nail on the head.
4
This cop was an immature incompetent ignorant unprofessional bigot.
This was all about race as in biological evolutionary DNA human. And race as in colored socioeconomic political educational colored American history. Blacks are primarily defined and designated by the latter and denied membership in the former. So what if he is black? That does not give him any more credibility than Clarence Thomas, Don Lemon, Juan Williams or Ben Carson.
The white boy who recorded the incident noted that the cops only went after the black kids. And he filmed two obese white women fighting with the black kids along with the obese white man who pushed the black kids away while hovering over the black girl. The white girl who witnessed the two obese white women hurling racial slurs, hands and fists at the black kids was more credible. So were the black kids who hosted the event and were properly there including the black girl who was assaulted and battered by the white cop in a scene straight out of the film "12 Years A Slave".
Cue "The Message " by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "Living for the City " by Stevie Wonder, "What's Going On?" by Marvin Gaye and "Choice of Colors" by The Impressions.
This was all about race as in biological evolutionary DNA human. And race as in colored socioeconomic political educational colored American history. Blacks are primarily defined and designated by the latter and denied membership in the former. So what if he is black? That does not give him any more credibility than Clarence Thomas, Don Lemon, Juan Williams or Ben Carson.
The white boy who recorded the incident noted that the cops only went after the black kids. And he filmed two obese white women fighting with the black kids along with the obese white man who pushed the black kids away while hovering over the black girl. The white girl who witnessed the two obese white women hurling racial slurs, hands and fists at the black kids was more credible. So were the black kids who hosted the event and were properly there including the black girl who was assaulted and battered by the white cop in a scene straight out of the film "12 Years A Slave".
Cue "The Message " by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, "Living for the City " by Stevie Wonder, "What's Going On?" by Marvin Gaye and "Choice of Colors" by The Impressions.
3
How do you explain the fact that none of the white teens, including the one who shot the video, was touched by the police? At least one of them described himself as invisible to the police.
1
An older example, from 1919: "They were separated by a line unseen and a law unwritten: The 29th Street beach was for whites, the 25th Street beach for blacks. An invisible boundary stretched from the sand into Lake Michigan, parting the races like Moses' staff parted the Red Sea...." http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/chi-chicagodays-...
8
But BenΘt Embry, a local radio personality who is black, said the police officer's action was not about race.
"This is not another Ferguson. This is not another Baltimore. This was a teenage party that got out of hand," said Embry, who lives in the neighborhood and said he witnessed the disturbance and police action.
Embry told The Associated Press that, according to neighbors, a woman who lives in the community reserved the pool for a party. Embry said that homeowners' association rules limit the number of guests each homeowner may have at the pool to only two. But about 130 people, mostly kids, showed up for the woman's party, he said.
At one point, several kids began jumping over the fence to get into the pool area and were causing a disturbance, Embry said, and a couple of fights broke out.
Embry said the situation was getting out of hand and that the police were right to respond.
"That's what they are supposed to do: protect us," Embry said. "I don't know any other way he could have taken her down or established order."
While he did not agree with the officer's profanity or belligerence, Embry said, "He was trying to defuse the situation."
"This is not another Ferguson. This is not another Baltimore. This was a teenage party that got out of hand," said Embry, who lives in the neighborhood and said he witnessed the disturbance and police action.
Embry told The Associated Press that, according to neighbors, a woman who lives in the community reserved the pool for a party. Embry said that homeowners' association rules limit the number of guests each homeowner may have at the pool to only two. But about 130 people, mostly kids, showed up for the woman's party, he said.
At one point, several kids began jumping over the fence to get into the pool area and were causing a disturbance, Embry said, and a couple of fights broke out.
Embry said the situation was getting out of hand and that the police were right to respond.
"That's what they are supposed to do: protect us," Embry said. "I don't know any other way he could have taken her down or established order."
While he did not agree with the officer's profanity or belligerence, Embry said, "He was trying to defuse the situation."
98
Yes, the best way to "defuse" a situation is to swear at, manhandle, and escalate.
Oh, and pull a gun.
Oh, and pull a gun.
125
no matter how many times you tell this to the editors of the NYTimes, as well as other major newspapers, they will ignore it and cry "racism". The question is why? Is it to sell more papers or simply a subconscious desire to always blame those of European extraction (i.e., another form of racism)?
15
Embry said, "He was trying to defuse the situation."
Taking out a weapon defuses a situation? And what's your next step?
Taking out a weapon defuses a situation? And what's your next step?
56
Be sure to watch the video of the interview with the 15 year old boy who recorded the video on his phone! It is very enlightening!
11
This article and most media coverage is grossly distorting what actually happened. This was not a "party" in the sense of a host inviting specific friends. This event was actively promoted online and was part of a for-profit business venture to sell tickets to more events. I suggest reading the link below to get a more complete picture. The NYT is not doing anyone any favors by its extremely narrow reporting of the facts.
http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2015/06/09/the-facts-behind-the-mcki...
http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2015/06/09/the-facts-behind-the-mcki...
46
You are seriously using "the conservative Tree house " which is someone's blog as your reference point. The website whose banner tells us to be Breitbart? Seriously, this is where you get your unbiased news from? No wonder our country is in the condition it's in. The lack of intellectual curiosity is astounding.
24
I do not read partisan sources to find the facts on police misconduct. The source cited is "the conservative tree house"....just check this source and find that in all cases.....of current national interest..they always support the police.
15
@Aurther Phleger
regarding the "narrow reporting of the facts"
The policeman, Eric Casebolt swore at these kids repeatedly, then slammed a 90 lb teenage girl, in a bikini into the ground, twisting her arm , then dragging her by her hair. So she started screaming for her mother ..Was that a threat to this 200+ lb policeman? At that point, Officer Casebolt put his full weight onto her back..
When black friends approached to help her, this policeman pulled a gun on them. Did he believe they had guns hidden in their swim suits?
Even the Police Chief in McKinney said, and I quote
“Our policies, our training, our practice doesn’t support his actions,” Chief Conley said. “He came into the call out of control, and as the video shows was out of control during the incident.”
regarding the "narrow reporting of the facts"
The policeman, Eric Casebolt swore at these kids repeatedly, then slammed a 90 lb teenage girl, in a bikini into the ground, twisting her arm , then dragging her by her hair. So she started screaming for her mother ..Was that a threat to this 200+ lb policeman? At that point, Officer Casebolt put his full weight onto her back..
When black friends approached to help her, this policeman pulled a gun on them. Did he believe they had guns hidden in their swim suits?
Even the Police Chief in McKinney said, and I quote
“Our policies, our training, our practice doesn’t support his actions,” Chief Conley said. “He came into the call out of control, and as the video shows was out of control during the incident.”
18
Another of many reminders how completely out of touch with reality the Roberts Court was in throwing out a major portion of the Voting Rights Act. A wicked decision.
62
Another example of Police brutality. It is unconscionable that citizen contine to receive this type of treatment at the hands of law enforcement. It is time for a new approach to community policing. It is time to retrain officers, remove their weapons and return to the gentler time of "protect and serve".
91
Dan Bank
It was more than Police brutality for this viewer, who rued the day after watching this unfold on camera. It was a history lesson in slow motion of the violence of men towards women. It took us back to the days of slavery, and it was the most powerful documentary on racism in America that I have ever seen. Tatiana revealed in an early summer's nightmare and I hope 'Bottoms' gets sued to high heaven.
It was more than Police brutality for this viewer, who rued the day after watching this unfold on camera. It was a history lesson in slow motion of the violence of men towards women. It took us back to the days of slavery, and it was the most powerful documentary on racism in America that I have ever seen. Tatiana revealed in an early summer's nightmare and I hope 'Bottoms' gets sued to high heaven.
1
Like millions of other folks, I watched the video and cringed. Had I been there, I would have been jailed or shot (I'm white and 68).
In addition to the brutality, racism and profanity, what "law" allows a police officer to tell anyone, including young women and men of color, that they cannot be on a public street?
The sweet, gentle young women and men (all black) who were shoved to the grass and handcuffed should find a good lawyer, sue, and perhaps bankrupt this community. Oh . . . this community is already bankrupt - morally.
In addition to the brutality, racism and profanity, what "law" allows a police officer to tell anyone, including young women and men of color, that they cannot be on a public street?
The sweet, gentle young women and men (all black) who were shoved to the grass and handcuffed should find a good lawyer, sue, and perhaps bankrupt this community. Oh . . . this community is already bankrupt - morally.
53
Ah, those "sweet gentle young women and men".... . Obviously you were there prior to this video and witnessed the "gentle" behavior of these teens. Please enlighten us as to the specifics of how their "gentle" behavior brought about this result.
4
I've just been reading James Bradley's new book "The China Mirage," highly recommended, and the vicious racism of white America is prominently featured, of course, including a vivid description of the pogroms, no other word fits, visited on Chinese communities by white mobs following passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. I'm an old guy now, and have been aware for a long time that USA is a racist country, but I'm now realizing that is really all it is. In other words, if you took away all the racists there wold be nothing left but a lot of empty space with nothing but maybe lots of buffalo roaming around, chased by sparse bands of indigenous dark people. Might not be so bad. Pete McGuire, Atlanta
18
I long for the day. I actually like to watch apocalyptic movies because the idea of all of us being wiped off the face of the earth but a few to start all over, have to depend and cooperate with each other to survive, mix race so we're all one, and get it right this time, actually appeals to me.
Although at some point, we'll figure out some way that one group is less than the other.
Although at some point, we'll figure out some way that one group is less than the other.
1
I have just read this presentation of the unvarnished truth about the America I no longer live in and agree completely with pieceofcake reporting from konstanz germany who calls this the most 'moving article' read in the NYT this year.
I will use a stronger charactization. It is absolutely impossible to explain what is told here by Brit Bennett to myself, let alone someone from outside the USA.
If I were to tell them that the most fundamental belief in America is that God created two "races" one black and one white each a pure product of God's work the majority would tell me I am crazy. I would have to reply, "No, not crazy, but American, and all Americans are taught this racist nonsense."
Brit Bennett's contribution should be given not only to every person coming to or visiting America, in as many languages as possible but also to every school teacher and pupil at some appropriate grade level. Then let the conversation Charles Blow called for but never produced begin.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
PS Do not know if pieceofcake is dual citizen German and American so will ask in a reply there.
I will use a stronger charactization. It is absolutely impossible to explain what is told here by Brit Bennett to myself, let alone someone from outside the USA.
If I were to tell them that the most fundamental belief in America is that God created two "races" one black and one white each a pure product of God's work the majority would tell me I am crazy. I would have to reply, "No, not crazy, but American, and all Americans are taught this racist nonsense."
Brit Bennett's contribution should be given not only to every person coming to or visiting America, in as many languages as possible but also to every school teacher and pupil at some appropriate grade level. Then let the conversation Charles Blow called for but never produced begin.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
PS Do not know if pieceofcake is dual citizen German and American so will ask in a reply there.
10
Amen. White swimming pools? How about a white Great Lake named Michigan along the shoreline of Chicago?
The 1919 Chicago white race riot began when a black teenager named Eugene Williams swam too close to the white only portion of a South Side Chicago Lake Michigan beach. He was attacked and stoned by the white mob and drowned. Whites rioted killing 38 including 23 blacks and 15 whites and injuring several hundred with the aid of the white cops. One of the most notorious white ethnic sectarian instigators of the riots was the Irish Roman Catholic street gang known as the Hamburg Athletic Club which included Richard J. Daley.
The only safe Lake Michigan Chicago beachfront for black African Americans in Chicago through my teen age years was located at Jackson Park. The only color that could not use Rainbow Beach located in a white Jewish South Shore neighborhood was brown and black. That hood including the country club is all black now. And Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan live and lead nearby. So do Barack and Michelle Obama.
The 1919 Chicago white race riot began when a black teenager named Eugene Williams swam too close to the white only portion of a South Side Chicago Lake Michigan beach. He was attacked and stoned by the white mob and drowned. Whites rioted killing 38 including 23 blacks and 15 whites and injuring several hundred with the aid of the white cops. One of the most notorious white ethnic sectarian instigators of the riots was the Irish Roman Catholic street gang known as the Hamburg Athletic Club which included Richard J. Daley.
The only safe Lake Michigan Chicago beachfront for black African Americans in Chicago through my teen age years was located at Jackson Park. The only color that could not use Rainbow Beach located in a white Jewish South Shore neighborhood was brown and black. That hood including the country club is all black now. And Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan live and lead nearby. So do Barack and Michelle Obama.
6
.
Why is it that when a cop overreacts, it is a racial national story, but, when a stalker gang openly poisons someone for 18 years and many racketeers get rich - with neither the threat of arrest or RICO - it is not a story at all?
.
Why is it that when a cop overreacts, it is a racial national story, but, when a stalker gang openly poisons someone for 18 years and many racketeers get rich - with neither the threat of arrest or RICO - it is not a story at all?
.
9
Bankers rearely carry guns or knives.
3
Could it be because we the taxpayers pay the salaries of those police officers? You seem to misunderstand the roles of criminals and cops; criminals are supposed to commit crimes, cops should be apprehending criminals. When cops commit crimes, yes, it's a story. You seem to wish that cops committing crimes would stop being a story.
7
Brit,
You just cannot go to any town pool and start swimming especially if you do not live in that town and haven't paid the required fees.
You just cannot go to any town pool and start swimming especially if you do not live in that town and haven't paid the required fees.
77
The author doesn't acknowledge that the pool was private, not public, or that the teenagers climbed the fence to enter the pool area when told they couldn't enter. That said, the policeman overreacted when he pinned down a teenage girl and drew his gun. No one looks good here.
6
Maybe you're right, they went to a pool where they "hadn't paid the required fees."
Does doing such a thing merit a response of being beaten and threatened at gunpoint? And if your answer is yes - REALLY?
You have never, and will never, see a white person thrown around and shoved to the ground for doing such a thing. Nor will you ever see a police officer pull their gun on a white person for such a thing.
Let me remind you of another recent outrage in Texas, when 7 people were KILLED at a (white) biker gang rally, and the police didn't treat those gangbangers anywhere nearly as bad as they treated these innocent black teenagers.
Wake up, for pity's sake. It's embarrassing how often NYTimes commenters are content to blame the victim when these things happen.
Does doing such a thing merit a response of being beaten and threatened at gunpoint? And if your answer is yes - REALLY?
You have never, and will never, see a white person thrown around and shoved to the ground for doing such a thing. Nor will you ever see a police officer pull their gun on a white person for such a thing.
Let me remind you of another recent outrage in Texas, when 7 people were KILLED at a (white) biker gang rally, and the police didn't treat those gangbangers anywhere nearly as bad as they treated these innocent black teenagers.
Wake up, for pity's sake. It's embarrassing how often NYTimes commenters are content to blame the victim when these things happen.
6
Although the author is correct in the history of swimming pools from Jim Crow days, we are discovering that this particular pool party was hosting a diverse bunch of teenagers. One African American girl was interviewed on TV. She had a pool pass, swam at the pool on a regular basis and was at the pool party. The problem came when uninvited teens showed up, a not uncommon occurrence when teens have a party, and an occurrence that often spells trouble. If it is true that one of the parents spouted racist rhetoric, that is unfortunate. "Returning to Section Eight" would be a remark about class, not race. That, too, is unfortunate. Perhaps parents need to hire off-duty police officers or the like to be at the pool to admit party-goers. That's a sad situation but I've kniw many parents of teens who have returned to a trashed house because of uninvited guests.
93
The Section 8 common was not about "class." The reason it was racial is because it was assumed that because the kids were black, they must be Section 8. If the offending kids were white, Section 8 would not have been a reference, and there certainly wouldn't have been cops pulling guns. The immediate assumption was "black kids mean welfare and trouble." That is why it was a remark about race, not class.
21
@ Yes Kathrine Cagle, even in Sweden univited guests appear in similar situations. You do not explain what your story has to do with the fact that a policeman drew a gun on an unarmed 14 year-old girl.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
8
He didn't 'draw the gun' on the girl. That's a misrepresentation of the situation. More importantly, I think the worry here is that while almost everyone agrees that the cop behaved badly, there are also lots of attempts, both on the part of the editorial writer and on the part of the commenters, to "spin" this story as just one more incident the long sorry history of white people not allowing black people to swim with them. Thus you get comments like "Those gentle and sweet black kids who just wanted to swim..." And that narrative is not entirely consistent with the facts of how things got out of control in the first place, which also involves groups of teenagers showing up and demanding admittance to a place where they weren't entitled to be. The local mall near me now has security guards at all the entrances weekend afternoons and evenings, and kids under 18 are not allowed without an escort who is over 21. The reason for this is precisely because of unruly mobs of teenagers, who make the place just miserable for everyone else, by, for instance, fighting. The unruly mobs of teenagers is part of the entire narrative of this swimming story as well, so any attempt to spin it as just another instance in our long, sad, history of racial oppression is just oversimplified and thus distorting. Being responsible here requires nuance and taking into account the whole situation, not just screaming 'racism' whenever there's an incident involving black kids.
3
If the goal is to increase racial animosity and divisiveness, this writer has succeeded.
Invoking a malicious statement made 67 years ago by Thurmond is purposely incendiary.
This opinion is not "Fit to Print" in the NYT" .
Invoking a malicious statement made 67 years ago by Thurmond is purposely incendiary.
This opinion is not "Fit to Print" in the NYT" .
84
That statement is just the legacy that has continued in America to the present day.
Hence the quote.
Perhaps one time hundreds of years from now, we'll read such statements and about such incidents and laugh and shake our heads about how unevolved we were back then.
Hence the quote.
Perhaps one time hundreds of years from now, we'll read such statements and about such incidents and laugh and shake our heads about how unevolved we were back then.
6
jck,
this article *increases the awareness* of racial animosity and divisiveness, and it shakes up the conscientiousness of our citizenry - as it should.
Invoking malicious statements made in history is not OK? Sir, you are dead wrong: history is never, never over, particularly if one tries to broom it under the rug.
And that is the problem: We Americans have never truly accepted our momentous guilt and shame over slavery. Only until that happens racial animosity and decisiveness will be with us.
BTW: I am as white as can be.
this article *increases the awareness* of racial animosity and divisiveness, and it shakes up the conscientiousness of our citizenry - as it should.
Invoking malicious statements made in history is not OK? Sir, you are dead wrong: history is never, never over, particularly if one tries to broom it under the rug.
And that is the problem: We Americans have never truly accepted our momentous guilt and shame over slavery. Only until that happens racial animosity and decisiveness will be with us.
BTW: I am as white as can be.
10
Because racism has no historical background whatsoever, correct? Pretending it didn't happen won't make it go away.
5
Using the historic suffering of black folks to defend the bad behaviour of a group of privileged middle class teens is digusting.
98
Using an article - who gives us some historical background for the suffering of some contemporary black teenagers in bathing suits - as a alibi to attack such an article is digusting.
21
@ pieceofcake - cake I submitted a comment that begins by my stating that I agree with you as concerns the importance of this OpEd. In that comment I note that it is impossible to explain to any outsider (European for example) how it is possible for such gun-drawing incidents to occur.
I also note that the comments are flooding in telling us that the policeman did the right thing, that the 14 year old girl was the perpetrator. Familiar pattern, sad to say.
Larry
I also note that the comments are flooding in telling us that the policeman did the right thing, that the 14 year old girl was the perpetrator. Familiar pattern, sad to say.
Larry
3
When was the last time your middle class kid was treated that way and thrown to the ground and threatened with a gun by a thug posing as a cop?
6
James McBride, in his his memoir, The Color of Water, asks his white mother
(his father is black) if he is white or black. She responds, "You're a human being." When he asks what color God is, she tells him that "God is the color of water." How sad and ironic that something as all embracing as water is a divisive element in our society.
(his father is black) if he is white or black. She responds, "You're a human being." When he asks what color God is, she tells him that "God is the color of water." How sad and ironic that something as all embracing as water is a divisive element in our society.
181
Except it's not. This particular swimming pool is open to anyone who lives in the subdivision and has an entry pass, including black people. In fact, black residents swim at this pool every day in the summer.
9
in 1962, as a teenager, I took part in an effort by the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, led by Rev. John Lewis, to integrate the municipal swimming pool in Cairo, Illinois, then a KKK stronghold. The pool had been built using federal funds, but the white racist power structure had turned the pool into an all-white "private club," a typical lame dodge to avoid integration. The only place that African-American kids were allowed to swim was a tiny beach where the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers meet. Many young people drowned in the dangerously swift and turbulent currents. So integrating the pool was a life and death issue.
I remember an afternoon when we lined up to try to get into the pool. A deranged racist man drove his pickup into the line of people, seriously injuring a little black girl. Ultimately SNCC's integration effort that summer failed. Rather than integrate the pool, Cairo's officials ordered it filled with cement. Someone later turned the site into, of all things, a car wash.
I remember an afternoon when we lined up to try to get into the pool. A deranged racist man drove his pickup into the line of people, seriously injuring a little black girl. Ultimately SNCC's integration effort that summer failed. Rather than integrate the pool, Cairo's officials ordered it filled with cement. Someone later turned the site into, of all things, a car wash.
239
Brit Bennett does a good job of explaining the importance of swimming pools to the civil rights movement. Along the way, he records a lesser known aspect of the fight for racial equality in America.
In the summer of 1960, my parents regularly took me and my brothers to a swimming pool that was open to the public. It was the only public outdoor pool in my small Pennsylvania town, other than a kiddie pool at one of the public parks.
As a three-year old, I wasn't aware that the pool excluded African-Americans. I don't know if my parents didn't know or just didn't think about it. The next summer, to get around court-ordered integration, the pool was closed to the public and became a private membership-only club. My parents wouldn't join, so we had no outdoor swimming pool until about ten years later, when another public pool was opened.
The episode was an important event in the development of my sense of justice. I knew not a single African-American in my segregated town, but even at that age I understood that exclusion was wrong.
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
In the summer of 1960, my parents regularly took me and my brothers to a swimming pool that was open to the public. It was the only public outdoor pool in my small Pennsylvania town, other than a kiddie pool at one of the public parks.
As a three-year old, I wasn't aware that the pool excluded African-Americans. I don't know if my parents didn't know or just didn't think about it. The next summer, to get around court-ordered integration, the pool was closed to the public and became a private membership-only club. My parents wouldn't join, so we had no outdoor swimming pool until about ten years later, when another public pool was opened.
The episode was an important event in the development of my sense of justice. I knew not a single African-American in my segregated town, but even at that age I understood that exclusion was wrong.
politicsbyeccehomo.wordpress.com
8
Sounds almost typical of the South.
1
And what? 50 years later with pools integrated, kids cannot be expected to behave?
Too often we forget that such attitudes were the norm in the north as well. I remember when I was a child (1950s) we would walk on the boardwalk in Asbury Park, NJ. As we passed a small ocean beach sandwiched between two huge pavilions which jutted out into the ocean, one or the other of my parents would say, 'That used to be the colored beach.' The beach always struck me as small and a bit dismal with those two pavilions standing there blocking any view except straight out to sea.
40
In the early 1970s, when I was living in rural Massachusetts in an area where there were a lot of swimming lakes, the neighbor boy told me that "black people like to swim in the weeds." Apparently, that's how his parents explained the black beach to him.
10
It remained "the colored beach" well into the middle of the 1960's. My first job was in the pavillion on the Ocean Grove side and I saw that segregation firsthand. It wasn't until I went away to college that it began to change as African Americans started to use the First Avenue Beach on the other side of the pavillions. During those same years, the business owners on the boardwalk only hired white teenagers to work there.
8
I love how the author includes the side of the Black teenagers (who claim they were told to "go back to their section 8 housing"), but she doesn't include the side of Black adult residents when were at THEIR pool. Who said it had nothing to do with race, who said the teens were unruly (swearing , verbally abiding residents, refusing to leave), and that a physical fight broke out between Black individuals. Because you know, young people involved in breaking the law NEVER lie. Ask Dorian Johnson.
90
"...the side of Black adult residents WHO were at..."
"...swearing, verbally ABUSING residents..."
I'm not expert in law enforcement, but yes the officers actions seemed over-the-top, and as a layman it doesn't seem like aggression and screaming profanities is the best way to de-escalate a situation. However, the tendency for anything and everything relating to law enforcement to become a racial talking point is nuts. As a White (former) teenager, I saw (and received) cops in similar situations where teens were gathering illegally yell, scream, profane, threaten, etc. I never saw a cop tackle a teenager, but then again I never saw anyone dumb enough to try and challenge a cops orders...
"...swearing, verbally ABUSING residents..."
I'm not expert in law enforcement, but yes the officers actions seemed over-the-top, and as a layman it doesn't seem like aggression and screaming profanities is the best way to de-escalate a situation. However, the tendency for anything and everything relating to law enforcement to become a racial talking point is nuts. As a White (former) teenager, I saw (and received) cops in similar situations where teens were gathering illegally yell, scream, profane, threaten, etc. I never saw a cop tackle a teenager, but then again I never saw anyone dumb enough to try and challenge a cops orders...
17
Of course you won't read that. It doesn't fit the narrative. The narrative is white+ bad, black + saintly. That's all you are going to read at the new york times. All the news that fits our agenda.
18
Why get the whole story when it's much more interesting to fan the racial flames?
I saw black residents interviewed saying that these kids were out of control. But that's not nearly as newsworthy as the video of the white cop throwing the black girl down.
I saw black residents interviewed saying that these kids were out of control. But that's not nearly as newsworthy as the video of the white cop throwing the black girl down.
20
This is (for me) - the most 'moving' article I read in the NYT this year - and if allowed we will turn it into moving pictures and show it everywhere we can.
19
Here we are in the 21st Century; the age that was supposed to bring us Flying Cars (George Jetson had one in the 1960s)- yet we are still stuck with the hatred of Pigmentation. White people are going to destroy themselves by this almost pathological wonderment; curiosity; loathing and hatred of seemingly, every aspect of Black humanity. The most pathetic part is- I seriously doubt any could cogently provide an answer why.
67
Fear.
3
Please see Honeybee's comment above.
The writer apparently went for the jugular instead of the facts and fanning the flames of racism where it doesn't exist and people are commening on this as if Brit Bennett's opinion is fact. It is not. Still there are some who will take it as gospel and continue the narrative.
The writer apparently went for the jugular instead of the facts and fanning the flames of racism where it doesn't exist and people are commening on this as if Brit Bennett's opinion is fact. It is not. Still there are some who will take it as gospel and continue the narrative.
6
Laura, did you read the same column as the rest of us? It doesn't seem you did.
5
In corporate capitalist America segregation by race lives on. Gated communities, private security companies, and "members only" signage are euphemistic manifestations of racial exclusivity. The bitter pill that black children must face begins in their financially strapped, de facto segregated neighborhood public schools where attendance is a major accomplishment and many of their teachers are marking time until retirement. Now, with cellphone video in hand, we are having our collective national consciousness raised and beginning the face the cruel hard facts. Police are required to act as human buffers and enforcers of a system that wildly tilts towards those who have the cash.
159
I'm white, I don't and have never lived in a gated community. I look around the neighborhood in which I live and I see people of all races and religions. So please stop generalizing and stereotyping whites. We saw one side of this story why do you take it as gospel? What led up to the fracas? Until we know all the answers please stick to the facts at hand.
52
In 1970, I lived in a home in a planned development, with a pool for homeowners only. The pool had a locked gate, but we finally had to pay for locked gates at all entrances to the development because of local teenagers coming in during warm weather to use the pool. Usually boys, who could easily jump the pool fence, always several, always noisy and abrasive and rude. The would not leave when the complex manager (a retired cop) asked them to, he had to actually call the police to get them out. The extra fencing was an expense for all of the homeowners. Our days off, and evenings after a long day of work should have been peaceful by the pool, but were regularly loud and disruptive. This was not a color issue, it was teenagers trespassing, refusing to leave, and having to have police come to get them out. I think the media is making this a racial thing. No homeowner wants a bunch of loud obnoxious teenagers running screaming and splashing around a private pool. Let them go to a public pool.
16
A lot of those teachers are doing a heck of a lot more than "marking time until retirement."
Stop bashing teachers! They didn't create the poverty and segregation, and THEY are there--while you write nasty things about them online!
Stop bashing teachers! They didn't create the poverty and segregation, and THEY are there--while you write nasty things about them online!
Let's not forget one other connection of race and water: one of the most searing images from the desegregation movement in the 1960s is the pictures of fire hoses trained on black demonstrators.
182
Times reporting, videos, Brandon Reed's interview, all comments provide excellent material for a review of the Times' treatment and of the positions taken by commenters.
To illustrate the possibilities here are some questions that could be addressed. I follow each with an opinion subject to change.
1) Was the Times initial reporting carefully fact-checked and were critical facts presented? Opinion: No.
2) Would it have been better to have devoted an analytical OpEd to the video, to the interview with Brandon Reed, and named interviews than to jump to Who Gets to Go to the Pool? so quickly? Opinion: Yes.
3) What would a careful analysis of the comments tell us concerning being "On Topic"and concerning reasoned presentation vs. assertions without backup? Opinion: A lot. The Times is missing a great deal here. The review columns by Times staff have not been substantial enough.
I can think of Verifieds I might recommend to write this column, but strangely not a one of them appears.
If you want to take this further my Gmail is at Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com