There’s been a lot of talk in the recent week focusing on the assault/brawl that occurred on the Montgomery, Ala. Riverfront on Aug. 5. But the silence has come from the right-wing media and pundits. It’s mainly because there have only been white people charged and arrested in the brawl that started when Dameion Pickett, a riverboat co-captain, was attacked on a dock by several people.
If you’ve been living under a rock, on Mars, for the last week, you haven’t seen the video which probably helped Pickett and several others who rushed to his aide from ending up in jail. Pickett was doing his job because a pontoon boat that was being operated by some people was blocking where the the riverboat was allowed to dock. It was the boat’s spot. The pontoon was illegally docked. Pickett tried to get the owners to move it. He was doing his job.
And he was attacked. At that time, it was on. People rushed to his aide. It wasn’t just black people as Pickett is black but others as there was no justification for Pickett being assaulted. One of the most intriquing helpers was a man who literally dove into the waters to swim to the dock to help. No one else has been arrested or charged as of this posting. Zachary Shipman, 25, Richard Roberts, 48, Allen Todd, 23, and Mary Todd, 21, have all been charged for assaulting Pickett and an unidentified 16-year-old juvenile, who is white, and was helping Pickett.
There are reports that there were racial slurs spoken, but Pickett has disputed this and the authorities don’t appear to be treating this as a hate crime, even though it probably was. I’m also certain alcohol was also involved. That might help explain it but it doesn’t excuse it. But it shows that certain people still feel they can push other people around.
It’s a good bet that if we didn’t have the video, it could’ve ended up with Pickett maybe being initially arrested. Montgomery Police Chief Daryl Albert is black himself and he has defended Pickett. But there’s likelihood it could have went the other way. We are talking about Montgomery, Ala., here where less than 40 years ago George Wallace lived nearby in the governor’s mansion. Wallace, who infamously said “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” during his first inaugural speech, used racial tension of the south to get himself elected but later regretted it and renounced his racist ways.
Wallace may have died in 1998 but there are people who still remember those days and want a return to them. That has risen more in the wake of Trumpism amidst fallout from the Obama Presidency. And people are getting fed up with it. People rushed to the aide of Pickett and the juvenile because they saw a wrong. I’m almost certain cops are watching the video with an unease. Reggie Ray, 42, was arrested on a complaint of disorderly conduct for using a folding chair to hit one of the attackers, but it’s not as serious a charge.
Law enforcement should be watching this incident closely because it shows what happens in America when people get fed up. As of this year, Alabama, similar to other states in the south that are mostly conservative, have become permitless carry. All it could have taken was for one person on the dock to pull out a firearm. Thankfully, no one was carrying. But because they were civilians, many people rushed to Pickett’s aide.
But what would happen if a police officer showed up and told Pickett to leave the others alone and began to detain him? We don’t have to imagine it because it happens a lot. About 250 miles to the west of Montgomery in Rankin County, Miss., two black men, Eddie Parker and Michael Jenkins, were victims of gruesome torture and sexual assaulted by six deputies on the night of Jan. 24. Parker had been living at the house, taking care of the woman who lived there, and Jenkins had been staying temporarily. All it took was for a neighbor to report there were black men there and there was “suspicious behavior.”
The case here has resulted in all law enforcement involved being fired or having resigned and charges in both federal and state courts. Imagine a cop showing up seeing Pickett or one of the other men who came to his aide in a fight with the white aggressors. There’s a saying, “It’s not the one who hits who gets in trouble, but the one who hits back.” Thankfully, there was video to prove that Pickett was innocent.
But there’s been a lot of silence from the right on how the people who were on the pontoon should’ve complied. They weren’t suppose to dock there. All it would’ve taken was someone saying, “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Then, they move the pontoon and the problem solved. It would’ve been excused as an honest mistake and an amicable end to a situation that didn’t need to escalate as much as it did.
But the people on the pontoon didn’t feel this way. How dare a black man tell them where they can and can’t dock? Some people thought they could push around someone and that didn’t happen. And one day, it might get the point where people grow tired of seeing cops assert this same behavior will have people fighting back. Law enforcement is only as powerful as people allow it.
And the bootlicking is starting to grow slim. I think most people 50ish and over still hold out a belief that law enforcement in this country is still needed even if it gets out of hand. But a lot of younger people are realizing that they are out of control. And while more younger white people are seeing the racism they’ve only heard about, it’s harder to care about people in a profession where they are nothing more than high school bullies with Glocks and Tasers.
The irony that conservative people have pushed for less firearm restrictions is that more people are arming themselves and able to buy firearms easier. Most towns and cities are heavily outnumbered per capita when it comes to the ration of police to regular civilians. Most small-towns only have a dozen or so full-time officers while a 5,000-10,000 population. The only thing keeping civilians from turning against the police is a tacit agreement police don’t abuse their authority and when it does happen, the powers that be deal with it.
But how many more times can we watch a man cry for his mother while dying from not being able to breathe before the people watching in horror shove the officers off of him. A decade ago, the New York police unions tried to get “Resisting Arrest” a felony to no avail. Resting arrest is not a realistic charge. I’ve seen most of the complaints dismissed by the courts. It’s like the “Puffy Pants” charge from The Simpsons. You have to have a reason to detain/arrest someone before you can charge them with resisting.
While conservatives want to install a more police state in America with Project 2025, incidents in Montgomery show that people are fed up and not going to take it anymore.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 