Riot In Riverside! July 4th riot brings mayhem.

[Eazy E]

Well now I feel as though its time to call the emergency rooms.

Several people in Five Points last night swore that there were actual shooting victims.

Those people are wrong.

[Eazy E]

I think most people who hang out in Five Points assume that they (the alternative kids) have the official disapproval of the city, and that if anything this major happened and it was their fault, there would be hell to pay.

Which I think is partially true and partially paranoid assumption.

Everyone wanted to really make sure that I knew it wasnt 'local' kids who had caused the mayhem.

I think a lot of frequenters and business owners want people to realize that, no, the regulars weren't responsible for this. 5 Points is already unfairly maligned by Ortegans and Avondalers as 'dangerous' or 'run down', based on their perceptions that it's the same place it was in 1993.  Everyone is stressing that it wasn't the 'local' kids, because it wasn't and we are tired of seeing the neighborhood continually mischaracterized, and know that this event will only lead to more of that unless we all point out that it was because of a crowd and demographic that does not come to 5 Points all that often.
Plus, to be truthful, you can chalk it all up to the crowd-- nothing like this ever takes place, and then bam! you put a bunch of dumb, violent kids in there and look what happens.

[Ernest Street]

Well, I got pulled over randomly about 8:45 pm on Margaret st on my Mountain bike by an officer hoping to find some warrants on me...why else would you pull over a bicycle on the sidewalk.?  I was so tempted to say" Don't taze me Bro!" When I mentioned the riot he waved me off saying he wasn't on duty that night.

[Eazy E]

Well, I got pulled over randomly about 8:45 pm on my Mountain bike by an officer hoping to find some warrants on me...why else would you pull over a bicycle on the sidewalk.?  I was so tempted to say" Don't taze me Bro!"

I actually got stopped several times that night on my bike because I didn't have a flashing light.  Given it being the 4th, and all the craziness that goes with that, I totally understood being pulled over.  Did you have a light? If not, that is probably why.

[fpj]

Does anyone have any photos or videos to post?

NotNow, is there a video camera side by side with the searchlight on the police helicopter?

You know what? I can't believe it has taken me this long to remember, but there is a camera up at the top of the theatre building, installed by the guy who wants to put them downtown.
I assume there is absolutely no way to get this footage, but there IS a camera that probably got a LOT Of this.

That camera was removed a couple weeks ago...

[Ernest Street]

I got pulled over last night.(monday) I have a headlight, but the taillight fell off. Even though I knew my record was ok, It's unnerving when they walk off with your ID..

[NotNow]

Does anyone have any photos or videos to post?

NotNow, is there a video camera side by side with the searchlight on the police helicopter?

There are cameras onboard, but they are not normally recorded unless they are downlinked.  This is not done for normal patrol and I am sure that there was no down link for this.

[stephendare]

Does anyone have any photos or videos to post?

NotNow, is there a video camera side by side with the searchlight on the police helicopter?

There are cameras onboard, but they are not normally recorded unless they are downlinked.  This is not done for normal patrol and I am sure that there was no down link for this.

fleeing crowds and gunshots?   It seems like there would have been compelling reasons for them to record.

Its worth checking into.

[02roadking]

A comment at UJ

Travis Says: 07/08/2008 11:27 am
I still think everything was being blown way out of proportion. I was working at St. Vincent’s that night and absolutely nothing came in through the ER related to this sort of thing. Actually it was a lot more quiet than the last few 4th’s I’ve worked there.

When they’d have the parties and shit at the hall across from Shantytown, the kids would always get unruly and it wasn’t on the news either. We can try and be all PC about it but guess what? These type of shows draw in a bad crowd and shit always happens. Always. If it had been an actual riot, there’d be pics and vids of it everywhere. Everyone has a camera or phone now. The business owners around there aren’t going to say shit because then they’ll have to defend themselves against claims of racism and that the kids there were just looking to have a good time and that the lack of venue space led to “disenfranchisement and some physical manifestations of their urban plight”. I wouldn’t want to have to deal with that bullshit either.

[stephendare]

yeah I saw that too, Roadking.

It seems pretty orwellian that there are several people who are frantically trying to call it anything besides a riot because they are afraid of charges of racism.

That seems in and of itself pretty weird.

[Driven1]

It seems pretty orwellian that there are several people who are frantically trying to call it anything besides a riot because they are afraid of charges of racism.
That seems in and of itself pretty weird.

i agree...EazyE had this to report yesterday I believe...i think there was some racism there...

One 5 Points regular went to move his car, parked right in front of the line, and several 15 year olds began harassing him, calling him "whitey" and saying they were going to "shoot his punk ass". Unfortunately, in Jacksonville at this time, we have a demographic that respects nothing but violence and money, and that has no parental oversight or control being exercised-- it's the same crap that made me quit teaching. I would chalk this fight/riot up to our city's inability to instill in poor kids that violence isn't the answer and money isn't the be-all end-all of everything.  And, unfortunately, the kind of rap that this is-- the worst, crappiest, most unintelligent, and uncreative kind-- only fuels this by making every song about cars, drugs, violence and hoes.

[thebrokenforum]

Stephen, it's all good.

--

I'd just like to point out that this story and the way it's being reported and mulled over is very similar to how ancient history was created. You have numerous and different versions of the story that eventually get collected by an authority who then edits the story to their liking and then prints it. We may never know exactly what happened but there sure are some strong opinions about it - mostly by people who weren't there!

[stephendare]

It seems pretty orwellian that there are several people who are frantically trying to call it anything besides a riot because they are afraid of charges of racism.
That seems in and of itself pretty weird.

i agree...EazyE had this to report yesterday I believe...i think there was some racism there...

One 5 Points regular went to move his car, parked right in front of the line, and several 15 year olds began harassing him, calling him "whitey" and saying they were going to "shoot his punk ass". Unfortunately, in Jacksonville at this time, we have a demographic that respects nothing but violence and money, and that has no parental oversight or control being exercised-- it's the same crap that made me quit teaching. I would chalk this fight/riot up to our city's inability to instill in poor kids that violence isn't the answer and money isn't the be-all end-all of everything.  And, unfortunately, the kind of rap that this is-- the worst, crappiest, most unintelligent, and uncreative kind-- only fuels this by making every song about cars, drugs, violence and hoes.

even considering the source of this quote,  exactly.

You couple that with the demand that all the black kids LEAVE rather than telling them that the venue was no longer selling tickets and there is obviously a strong current of racism.

In my own opinion, and Im sure to piss off the anti cops crowd and police-as-the-source-of-all-ill believers by saying this, But the police showed the only response possible beginning the minute that there was gunfire.  Especially in the rarified condition of being under represented in the middle of a block in a sea of possibly hostile people.

It may come out that there was inappropriate actions, and certainly some of the eyewitnesses accounts are a little troubling, but at the present time it seems as though they took the correct steps.

After all, given the evidence in this quote, there was clearly a high level of racial tension long before the line was cut off.  what were the cops supposed to do?

[stephendare]

That said, it was a riot, and its troubling that it seems there are a few that would rather make up a different word or pretend it didnt happen.

[stephendare]

Stephen, it's all good.

--

I'd just like to point out that this story and the way it's being reported and mulled over is very similar to how ancient history was created. You have numerous and different versions of the story that eventually get collected by an authority who then edits the story to their liking and then prints it. We may never know exactly what happened but there sure are some strong opinions about it - mostly by people who weren't there!

awesome point BF.  its also how news stories are created in mainstream media.  We just don't get to see this process going on at their desks.