white riot
When I first heard about the Election Night incidents at N. 7th and Bedford, and read some of the comments over on Free Williamsburg, I have to say that my immediate reaction was: stupid entitled white children acting as though only they matter, I am sure they did not help themselves very much.
On the other hand, I do not like or trust the NYPD. So I was completely certain that they were wrong, at least to a certain extent.
Now that I have seen the footage, and talked to a perfectly respectable citizen of our community who was handcuffed and taken in for giving a cop the finger, I will say this:
The NYPD was completely over the top on this. They were wrong.
I will also say this:
The stupid kids exercising white privilege and blocking traffic and keeping people up all night under the guise of entitlement are also wrong. Not everyone had the luxury of staying up all night celebrating. People had to get home to kids and family and to and from jobs. You can cry out for a car-free Bedford another time, right now, it’s a transportation artery - and that also goes for PUBLIC transportation, like the B61 (which should go down Berry and not Bedford, but that’s another story too).
There is no question that the cops were out of line, however. There is very little justification for their behavior. And they only got away with it because they were doing it to white kids in Williamsburg. If they had tried to pull an action like this in Bed-Stuy it would have been an international incident.
susan Miller said,
November 7, 2008 @ 6:32 pm
This party was not about car free zones. All accross the New York City, and many other cities. People of races took their celebration to the streets. In Oakland underpriviledged african americans partied until after 3 in the morning blocking traffic and keeping up their neighbors all night long too. . . This was not about entitlement. It was a bonafide celebration that was acted upon by people from all walks of life. So please do not confuse the issue of car free zones and overpriviledge white kids with this historic celebration.
admin said,
November 8, 2008 @ 1:58 pm
As a member of the privileged class, and someone who’s NOT EVEN FROM NEW YORK, your standing to 1) lecture me on history and 2) assert that it wasn’t about privilege, is moot.
I do not need a college student to lecture me on the history of the protest movement or what was going on around the country. Because, gee gosh, I would have no idea unless you came here and told me.
The comments on other sites, including Gothamist and Free Williamsburg, from people involved in the celebration, ranged as follows:
1) so what people had to get up for work
2) so what that cars and buses couldn’t get up bedford, this is a pedestrian city!!
3) everyone should have taken part in the celebration or they were lame - e.g. WE DETERMINE THE RIGHT AND PROPER WAY AND TIME TO CELEBRATE
I didn’t make this shit up. It certainly was about entitlement in this case.
And, I said the cops were wrong. But so were a lot of the people who were “celebrating”.
newyorkshitty.com » Blog Archive » From The New York Shitty Photo Pool: We Baracked! said,
November 9, 2008 @ 2:12 am
[...] the conduct of the 94th Precinct Tuesday night out of line. Follows is my favorite passage from her spot-on post on the subject: …There is very little justification for their (the N.Y.P.D.’s) behavior. And they only [...]
tony said,
November 14, 2008 @ 10:08 am
Not everyone in the burg that night was white, but that is so far beyond the point that it’s insulting to read once again.
The election of Obama was one of the biggest events of my life, like the opposite of 9/11. Celebration and tears were to be found everywhere.
And everyone knew way before it happened that people would be celebrating in the streets. And an intelligent person, this may be excluding our local police, knew that one of the epicenters of this celebration would be at n. 7th and bedford.
If I knew there would be people dancing in the street because of Obama, I assume the police would know too.
Let it happen.
Let people celebrate.
Once every twenty years or longer people want to dance in the street and celebrate our country’s historic election and the police are pushing 20 year old girls around so people can get get their beauty sleep.
I say tough shit to anyone who missed some sleep who lives at n.7 & bedford.
The NYPD’s behavior was disgusting and makes me want to see bad things happen to them.
admin said,
November 18, 2008 @ 8:27 pm
all you hipsters are doing is proving my original point.
this is not just your neigborhood. you don’t get to decide who sleeps and who doesn’t. you want to celebrate? there was no shortage of places you could have gone to and made noise until 4 in the morning. you could have gone to times square. you could ahve gone to the bell house. you could have gone to harlem. you could have gone ANYWHERE.
you don’t get to shut down the streets so you can have a drunken revel. and just because daddy pays your rent and you don’t ahve to worry about what your performance at work is the next day, doesn’t mean that no one else does. you haven’t run off all the original residents of williamsburg just yet.
in a million years i never thought you idiots would gather at THE HISTORIC INTERSECTION OF 7TH AND BEDFORD OMG. seriously? could you stop and listen to yourself for a minute?
all you’ve done is prove my point right. rich spoiled brats.