Black Knockout Game and Black Flash Mob Violence in Philadelphia is Nothing New

Long have I wondered why something called "Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence" (SETI) exists, when it's incredibly rare to see intelligent life existing on earth.

Case in point, the incredible blowup this past week about black mob violence. Peddled by the New York Post, pushed heavily by Matthew Drudge at the Drudge Report, and shot like some intravenous drug into the minds of Fox News Channel viewers, the notion of black Flash Mob (we dubbed them "Mahogany Mobs" back in 2011) and black Knockout Game attacks went viral.

Why search for intelligence life in the heavens? So few examples of it exist on earth, where for four years, black flash mob and black knockout game violence has been a fixture in Philadelphia

Viral.

Every talking head on the so-called American 'right' addressed the topic of black Knockout Game attacks on white people, without daring to peak out how deep the rabbit hole actually goes.

People write to me and ask, "Why don't you address these black attacks more, and catalog the racial violence as you once did?"

It's a good question. In 2010, SBPDL went viral for providing research into this burgeoning phenomenon that exploded all across America like a pinata popping at some adolescents birthday celebration. By 2011, it was evident something frightening was happening, with massive black on white attacks at the Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee and the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.

But it's as if a collective amnesia has occurred since then, with only a few brave individuals pressing on and reporting the black racial violence in cities across America.

SBPDL has evolved, with the culmination of this evolution nearing publication (Guns, Blacks and Steel has been delayed until Black Friday... but it's coming).

Yet, in watching the meltdown by those who fill the ranks of Conservatism Inc. over the "new" discovery of black Knockout Game and black Flash Mob attacks, it dawned on me the importance of persisting with a simple, concise message: have no fear in documenting what so few wish to publicly state, but so many privately know.

Race matters. It matters in every decision we make in our lives; it matters in every decision we make for our children's lives; and those choices we make will impact the world our grandchildren will inherit.

The United States Constitution was drafted and signed by dead white males in Philadelphia more than 225 years ago. Now, Philadelphia is nothing more than ground zero for black Flash Mob and black Knockout Game violence. Those with platforms at Fox News and radio programs with a large number of affiliates will garner increased ratings for acknowledging these attacks now, but what's important to note is an elemental reaction is forming [Cyclist Beaten in "Knockout Game" Attack: Nationwide trend has led to several injuries and one death so far, NBC 10 Philadelphia, 11-23-13]:

A cyclist is recovering after being beaten in what detectives believe is a "knockout game" attack along a Philadelphia street.

The male victim was riding his bike along the 900 block of Catherine Street in the Bella Vista section of the city just before 8 p.m. on Friday when he was randomly punched by a group of teens, police said.

After being hit, police say the cyclist asked the group -- made up of five teen boys and three teen girls -- why they hit him. Without answering, the group then continued beating the man.

The victim met up with police at Broad and Carpenter Streets following the attack.

Philadelphia detectives tell NBC10 they believe the teens were playing the "knockout game" when they beat the man.

Two attacks at SEPTA stations over the past few weeks had officials in Philadelphia concerned the violent trend had come here. However, authorities say those attacks were not related.

As for Friday night's attack, the cyclist's injuries were not life-threatening and he did not need to be hospitalized, police said.

The teens remain at large.

Meanwhile a local group of concerned citizens calling themselves "Taking Our South Philadelphia Streets Back" have launched an online campaign to bring the "knockout" game to the attention of the city's leaders, including Mayor Nutter and Commissioner Charles Ramsey.

"Our citizens are sick and tired of living in fear due to teens thinking this is a game," wrote the group's leader Marc Ferguson. "I am here by calling upon the District Attorney, Mayor Michael Nutter, City Council and all of Philadelphia’s legislators to come together and KNOCK OUT, “The Knock Out Game”."

Ferguson writes that he wants the culprits to be charged with a hate crime, aggravated assault, conspiracy, attempted murder reckless endangerment and "anything else that can be added on."

"Then once this is agreed upon, we will stand as one, at a press conference and announce what we will be doing to ensure that this game is only won by us, the city of Philadelphia and it’s citizens," he wrote.

But Mayor Nutter has already addressed this problem. He did it back in 2011[One Tough Nutter: Philadelphia’s Democratic mayor has cracked down on crime, reformed the city’s finances, and spoken frankly about black family breakdown, City Journal, Spring 2013]:

In the hot summer of 2011, Philadelphia was beset by “flash mobs.” Dozens of teenagers, mostly black, would gather suddenly and riot through popular tourist neighborhoods, assaulting pedestrians and robbing stores and people. Other cities experienced flash mobs in 2011, but they presented a particular problem for tourist-dependent Philadelphia, where millions of visitors come every year to see the Liberty Bell, Independence Hall, and Franklin Court—not to mention the famous corner of Ninth Street and Passyunk Avenue, where Pat’s and Geno’s vie for cheesesteak supremacy.

Mayor Michael Nutter, a black Democrat who had governed the city since 2008, was not pleased. And so, one Sunday that August, he took to the pulpit at Mount Carmel Baptist Church in West Philadelphia and launched into an impassioned, 25-minute speech, punctuated by cheers and applause from the pews. “This nonsense must stop,” he said, his voice rising. “If you want to act like a butthead, your butt is going to get locked up. And if you want to act like an idiot, move. Move out of this city. We don’t want you here any more.” Nutter grew increasingly heated as he blasted the city’s absentee fathers—who, he implied, were responsible for the crimes that their children committed. And he wound up his speech by telling the flash mobbers: “You’ve damaged your own race.”

Leftist critics quickly lit into the mayor. Columbia University political scientist Frederick Harris even used the R-word: “If this discourse was led by Ronald Reagan, for instance, people would call him on his racism, but now that you have a black face to these explanations it gives it legitimacy.”

But Nutter didn’t stop at rhetoric; he threw the weight of the Philadelphia Police Department against the rioters. In mob-afflicted areas, he ramped up police patrols and imposed a weekend curfew of 9 PM for minors. Backing up his tough talk on absentee parents, he increased fines on the parents of kids repeatedly caught breaking curfew, from $300 to $500. Local judges pitched in, sentencing flash mobbers to hefty service terms instead of slapping them on the wrist. Ten first-time offenders who had raided a Macy’s, for example, had to work there for eight weeks, dressing mannequins and greeting shoppers.

Again: how can so many people have forgotten what just happened two short years ago?

Why search for intelligent life in the heavens when so few examples of intelligent life exist on earth?

The lawlessness found in Philadelphia 2013 via members of the black community is the exact same a police officer named Frank Rizzo confronted in the early 1960s. It's the same lawlessness the New York Times noted was making large areas of Philadelphia only one year into Barack Obama's first term [Mobs Are Born as Word Grows by Text Message, New York Times, 3-24-2010]:

It started innocently enough seven years ago as an act of performance art where people linked through social-networking Web sites and text messaging suddenly gathered on the streets for impromptu pillow fights in New York, group disco routines in London, and even a huge snowball fight in Washington. 

Flash mobs are not unique to Philadelphia, but they have been more frequent here than elsewhere. Others that resulted in arrests and injuries have been reported over the past year in Boston, South Orange, N.J., and Brooklyn.

Philadelphia officials added that they had also begun getting help from the Federal Bureau of Investigation to monitor social-media networks. And television and radio stations are helping to recruit hip-hop artists to make public service announcements imploring teenagers to end the practice.

In the past year, at least four of the flash mobs have broken out in the city, including one on Saturday in which roving teenagers broke into fights, several onlookers were injured and at least three people were arrested.

“It was like a tsunami of kids,” said Seth Kaufman, 20, a pizza deliveryman at Olympia II Pizza & Restaurant on South Street. He lifted his shirt to show gashes along his back and arm. He also had bruises on his forehead he said were from kicks and punches he suffered while trying to keep a rowdy crowd from entering the shop, where a fight was already under way.

“By the time you could hear them yelling, they were flooding the streets and the stores and the sidewalks,” Mr. Kaufman said.

The ad hoc gangs have scared many pedestrians off the streets.

City residents are also starting to complain about the number of unsupervised children, and child advocates are asking if there are enough activities to keep young people busy after school.

“We definitely need more jobs for kids, we need more summer jobs for kids, we need more after-school programming, and we need more parent support,” said Shelly Yanoff, executive director of Public Citizens for Children and Youth, a children’s advocacy group in Philadelphia.

Ms. Yanoff added that libraries and after-school programs had been reduced and a program for youth offenders had been cut sharply. On Friday, officials said, two preteenagers assaulted a woman as part of a violent game called “Catch and Wreck,” in which children pick out people who appear homeless and then beat them and take any money they have.

The police, who say these assaults are unrelated to flash mobs, arrested an 11-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl in the attack. The police said they also planned to charge the boy in an attack on a 73-year-old man who was beaten and robbed in the same area on March 13.

The flash mobs have raised questions about race and class.

Most of the teenagers who have taken part in them are black and from poor neighborhoods. Most of the areas hit have been predominantly white business districts.

In the flash mob on Saturday, groups of teenagers were chanting “black boys” and “burn the city,” bystanders said.

In a Feb. 16 melee, 150 teenagers spilled out of the Gallery shopping mall east of City Hall during rush hour and rampaged through Macy’s, knocking down customers and damaging displays.

The police arrested 15 of the teenagers and, according to one report, some had not been allowed to call their parents six hours after they were detained.

Clay Yeager, a juvenile justice consultant and former director of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention in Pennsylvania, said he believed the flash mobs were partly a result of a decline in state money for youth violence prevention programs.

Financing for the programs has dropped 93 percent to $1.2 million in this year’s budget compared with $16 million in 2002. City financing for such programs has dropped to $1.9 million in the past three years compared with $4.1 million from 1999 through 2002, a 53 percent drop.

Mayor Nutter, who is black, rejected the notion that race or the city cut in services was a factor.

“I don’t think people should be finding excuses for inappropriate behavior,” Mr. Nutter said. “There is no racial component to stupid behavior, and parents should not be looking to the government to provide entertainment for their children.”

 Philadelphia was where this nation was born; isn't it fitting that it's in the streets of this same city we see the very fabric of social capital being violently violated and ripped out by the type of black mob violence those dead white males who founded this nation would have had no problem stamping out quickly?

There's no need to search for intelligence life in the heavens, when so few signs of it exist on our terrestrial home.