#294. Peaceful 'Screen on the Green' Events

Black people are correct to call Atlanta the Black capital of America. Where else could a memo be leaked that called for Black people to unite together to keep a white women from becoming mayor of their city?

Some call Detroit the Black capital of America, a city which offers a glimpse into the strength and vitality of Black entrepreneurship and leadership, and acts as a microcosm for what the future holds for all major cities that lose any sense of racial diversity and become completely Black.

Atlanta. The home of Freaknic, Clayton County, Dekalb County (don't worry, this entry is coming), Georgia Tech students, near empty high-rise condo buildings and the largest concentration of homosexuals in the world is the true capital of Black America.

Though Atlanta is becoming increasingly white, the Black population of the city still sports a slight edge in maintaining racial hegemony and recently showcased that power in Piedmont Park during a showing of Transformers 2 at the recently returning 'Screen on the Green':

Mayor Kasim Reed said police and parks officials will conduct a comprehensive review of security protocols in wake of the melee that interrupted Thursday night's "Screen on the Green" at Piedmont Park.

Reed vowed the city will take "extraordinary steps to make sure that the security strategy for this event is adequate and fully-enforced."

In the meantime sponsors of the long-running summer film series have decided to postpone next Thursday's feature by one week, Peachtree TV said in a statement released Friday afternoon.

Sponsors Peachtree TV, City of Atlanta and the Piedmont Park Conservancy are "committed to continuing this summer tradition in the city's landmark park, and are working together to ensure that it remains a safe and fun family event," the statement said.

It was anything but that Thursday night, according to witnesses who said groups of marauding teens took over the event.

At a late-morning press conference, interim Police Chief George Turner said that the city requires that all special event organizers have a security plan in place that specifies the number of "personnel required for the event based on the information that is supplied in the application."

"While the Atlanta Police Department works in partnership with the event organizers and the Mayor’s Office of Special Events, the security personnel are responsible for ensuring the city-approved plan is followed," Turner said.

But, he said that in the future on-duty Atlanta officers will monitor the event.

That might be counter-productive, concert promoter Alex Cooley told the AJC.

"Nothing against the police, but when you have a uniform navigating through a crowd of people that can cause problems," said Cooley, who promoted the Midtown Music Festival.

Cooley, who's promoted events and concerts at home and abroad, said Atlanta's security policy is routine.

"I've been doing large-scale events for 35 years and that's how it's always been," he said. Typically the promoter will contract with a private security force that provides "T-shirt security," Cooley said. "They marshal a force and try to diffuse the situation. If that doesn't work, they go to the off-duty cops who are usually stationed around the perimeter of the grounds.

"Maybe I've been lucky, but I've never experienced any major problems with security."

But some witnesses at Thursday's screening of "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" said security was inadequate.

Ron Sweatland wrote the AJC in an early morning e-mail Friday that about 15 minutes into the movie, "everyone's attention was diverted to the back end of the event where a group fight was taking place.

"There seemed to be no police presence and after about 10 minutes of this brawl it broke up with a group of people running into the dark," Sweatland wrote.

Turner said approximately 10,000 people were in the park, with 23 off-duty officers providing security.

After the fracas – Turner said it started with girls fighting, followed by a group of boys scuffling – the movie was stopped and off-duty officers “dumped” the park.

“Then we got a call from off-duty and we responded with the blue lights,” Turner said, adding that one person has been arrested for an unrelated incident. The chief said there was no evidence of gunfire at the event, as some had reported.

Police continue to look for suspects. An incident report was not available when requested Friday afternoon from Atlanta Police.

Turner said the movie drew a larger crowd than anticipated.

“They had a young – if you will – movie,” Turner said. “And they had more people than they anticipated. It was a lot younger crowd.”

One movie-goer said free chicken sandwiches may had contributed to the brawl.

"It was an absolute mob scene, from the Chick-fil-A girls getting mobbed trying to hand out free sandwiches to the complete lack of respect for the people watching the movie," said Marc Freund.

"After enduring the first 30 minutes of the movie with people walking around and screaming, we decided to leave," Freund told the AJC.

Midtown resident Jeff Keesee said there were "gangs of kids roaming the aisles, doing stunts to get crowd reactions. People just standing around talking, yelling -- disrespect, rudeness, unruliness -- a total disaster."

Sweatland wrote that as his group headed to their cars, he saw a group of "high school-aged kids" throwing rocks at passing vehicles. One of the rocks "completely shattered the back window" of one of the cars, he said.

He said many of the children in the crowd were "scared and crying."

"I can remember a time when Screen on the Green was great family fun and we always looked forward to going," he wrote. "I think this will be our last time going and our friends agree that they will no longer go either."

"Up until the drought, I never missed a Screen on the Green in Piedmont Park," Keesee told the AJC. "I was so excited it was allowed back in. After tonight's debacle, I will work tirelessly to have it shut down unless something is done to improve crowd control."

Keesee said he didn't see a single police officer as the situation got "completely out of control."

Josh Hice, 26, of Newnan, was driving by Piedmont Park Thursday night with a friend when he said he was attacked by a group of high school-age people.

"There was a car stopped in front of me and a car stopped behind me, and there was this crowd of about 30 high school kids parading down the street," said Hice, who was driving an open-top Jeep.

First, a girl came up and spat in his face, Hice said, then he was punched in the face by another teen.

"It split my lip, then they start climbing all over my Jeep, and I turn around and my buddy is getting punched in the face and has blood pouring out of his nose," Hice said. "It was ridiculous. We were definitely victims of a hate crime."

Traffic ahead of Hice finally moved "and I just peeled out of there. I peeled out even with one of the dudes still hanging on the back of the Jeep, and he just jumped off."

"I felt like I was in another country," Hice said.

Last September, the Black Gay Pride Parade at Piedmont Park unfortunately descended into chaos. Reports of chicken being behind that event disintegrating into violence are unsubstantiated.

It is a well known fact that Black people are incapable of being quiet during movies. Now, imagine an outdoor festival where Transformers 2 (a movie that Black people found offensive for having two stereotypical Black robot characters) is playing in the unofficial Black capital of America. What happened in early June 2010 is sadly what transpires routinely at events staged across the nation when Black people gather in large numbers, as scores of Black people engaged in behavior that brought ruination and disrepute to the 'Screen on the Green' reputation:

The June 10 Screen on the Green showing of "Dreamgirls" has been postponed due to last night's melee. The series will resume with "Dreamgirls" on June 17, according to Peachtree TV.

"The Piedmont Park Conservancy, Peachtree TV, the City of Atlanta and other sponsors are committed to continuing this summer tradition in the city's landmark park, and are working together to ensure that it remains a safe and fun family event," according to a statement on Peachtree TV's website.

The popular Screen on the Green series at Piedmont Park ended abruptly last after several fights broke out and there were unconfirmed reports of gunfire.

Worse, another pattern is becoming painfully discernible, for once again a form of cooked poultry serves to create disadvantageous situations for Black people and anyone unfortunate enough to be near a ruinously diminutive supply of fowl.

Just like Tulsa's Chicken Hut and when Popeyes ran out of its prized offering, chicken contributed to the breakup of the peaceful viewing of the film in Atlanta.

Perhaps this is why block parties in the Black community have a habit of breaking out into violence: the supply of chicken is finite.

Stuff Black People Don't Like will include peaceful 'Screen on the Green' events, as Black people lack the ability to endure such an activity when a movie is showing with the simultaneous nuisance of free chicken sandwiches running out.

Black people don't like being quiet during movies and Black people don't enjoy shortsighted suppliers of chicken, especially when this delicacy is free.

You can bet no one shushed a Black person at this 'Screen on the Green'.

'Screen on the Green' video can be found here, showing a most unfortunate fight victim. Another story of the event can be found here.

UPDATE: SBPDL has learned that Chick-fil-A engineered a Flash Mob to promote the company's new chicken sandwich at the June 3rd 'Screen on the Green' event. A video of that is below, which helps those not from Atlanta understand the racial dynamics of the Piedmont Park event.

SBPDL Returns... Tomorrow

In the words of Arnold, "we'll be back."

Tomorrow. Unexpectedly, we had to take a couple days to attend to business matters outside the realm of SBPDL.

The World Cup preview will back on full-kick, plus a few new entries.

Quick update: the transfer (and re-editing of every entry) of this website from Google to another platform is underway.

By July, SBPDL.com will be the main home of this website.

Thanks to all the loyal readers of this website. We'll see you tomorrow.

The 2010 World Cup Preview (Part I): Future South African Leaders Cheated at Monopoly on Robben Island

Preparing for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, it was imperative to read every book possible that dealt with soccer and African history in an attempt to understand what to expect during this historic sporting event.

One book, More Than Just a Game: Soccer vs. Apartheid, The Most Important Soccer Story Ever Told, perfectly encapsulated that requirement:

There they suffered assaults by sadistic warders, who regarded them as subhuman, labored in a quarry under hideous conditions, and, beginning in the mid-60s, played soccer.

In “More Than Just A Game: Soccer vs. Apartheid: The Most Important Soccer Story Ever Told,’’ Chuck Korr and Marvin Close make the case that organizing and maintaining the prison soccer league increased the confidence, managerial skills, and morale of the inmates. Working together to convince the prison authorities that they should have the opportunity to build a proper field and to wear soccer uniforms rather than prison garb a couple of times a week helped the men to increase their sense of self-respect, and ultimately persuaded some of the guards and administrators to acknowledge the ingenuity, talents, and tenacity of the inmates. Perhaps more significantly, members of the various organizations dedicated to dismantling apartheid learned they could work together.

A review of this important book is forthcoming (as part of SBPDL’s towering multi-part preview of the South African World Cup), but one quotation from the book stood out from the rest as revealing the true character of the men who would one day rule South Africa:

“It was not football, rugby, or even athletics that brought such smiles to people’s faces but long-running games of Monopoly, a board game modeled on rapaciously acquisitive capitalism, here, ironically, played by men who, generally, strongly believe in socialism. One former inmate remembered that ‘no one could cheat as well at Monopoly as the political prisoners on Robben Island.”

How this passage found its way into this book is truly shocking, for it reveals the true character of those who now run South Africa. One wonders if Robert Mugabe was secretly held on the island?

Black men, especially the leaders of the Rainbow Nation, never engage in such duplicitous actions. Like Nelson Mandela, all leaders of South Africa have only numinous qualities – saintly even – and to print a rumor they cheated at Monopoly threatens to extinguish the hagiography of these courtly Black men.

Genteel and urbane Black leaders of South Africa – such as the ones who played soccer on Robben Island and engaged in crooked Monopoly dealings – are on the way out of power in South Africa. The new youth movement will ensure the policies of “land redistribution” (the stealing of white owned land and distributing it among the Black majority) that ruined Zimbabwe is enacted in South Africa:

The firebrand youth leader of South Africa’s ruling party, who has been tipped as the country’s next President, has praised Robert Mugabe’s land grab policy in Zimbabwe and compared himself to Nelson Mandela in an outspoken interview.

Julius Malema, who was disciplined by President Jacob Zuma for being 'out of control' by repeatedly singing anti-white songs and embarrassing the African National Congress, sought to defend his behaviour after being ordered to attend anger management classes and carry out community service.

In typically defiant tone, Mr Malema praised the eviction in Zimbabwe of almost 5,000 white farmers from their land in the last decade, although with a qualification that the policy ' was very good except the violent part of it'.

He added: 'In South Africa we must use the democratic means to redistribute the land.

'We've got a majority in parliament to make legislation that will give us power to expropriate land with compensation.'

Zimbabwe was once known as the ‘breadbasket’ of Africa for its ability to feed not only its own population but export large quantities of food to neighbouring countries.

Now, it relies on food aid and imports, a fact that appeared lost on Mr Malema who wore shirts printed with the face of Robert Mugabe during a recent visit.

Mr Malema is loathed by South Africa’s white population, who call him 'Kiddie Amin' in reference to Uganda’s former ruthless dicatator Idi Amin.

His latest outburst will further unsettle those who fear his growing influence and popularity within the all powerful ANC.

In an interview with the BBC, he refused to admit he had done anything wrong, and brushed aside the measures taken against him.

If you believe the film Invictus shows the real South Africa then you probably believe pigs fly. If Mandela dies before the World Cup (or during the soccer tournament), you will see the real South Africa unfold before your eyes and the new leaders don’t waste their time cheating at Monopoly.

That nation already has 19,000 murders a year, which The USA Today attributed to the sordid legacy of Apartheid:

When South Africa was named the host of next week's World Cup in 2004, the country was a decade into democracy.

South Africa was still recovering from 46 years of apartheid rule, which deprived its black majority of economic and political rights and left a legacy of violent crime. Skeptics said the country lacked the infrastructure, manpower and money to stage a secure tournament.

Six years later, the government and FIFA say the country is ready to welcome teams and fans from around the globe and, more important, will keep them safe. Organizers estimate 373,000 visitors will come for the World Cup.

"We are ready for any eventuality, from terrorism threats down to petty crime," South African Police Service (SAPS) spokesperson Vish Naidoo said.

South Africa has poured $180 million into World Cup security preparations, according to SAPS. That includes $89 million on equipment such as helicopters, water cannons, patrol vehicles and body armor.

While South Africa's murder rate has declined since 2004, it is eight times higher than that of the USA. In Gauteng, a province that's home to 10.5 million people and the World Cup host cities Johannesburg and Pretoria, there were 1,940 violent crimes reported for every 100,000 people in 2008. The violent crime rate in Michigan, which has a similar population, was nearly one-fourth that number.

While crime in South Africa is commonly portrayed in media reports as an attack against the white minority, much of the violence is confined to townships, underdeveloped areas on the peripheries of the city.

Still, there is a fear that criminals will prey on foreigners in the host cities. Naidoo said the main deterrent to petty crime will be increased visibility of police.

The nation is not run by the white people whose ancestors settled in the sparsely populated region that became South Africa anymore. No, South Africa is heading to the finality of Zimbabwe, but in a much more painful trajectory. It is a Black run nation and in Black hands does it crumble.

And to think, the characters whom helped it all came about cheated at Monopoly.

#108. Jam Bands

Black people love music. During the erection of Black Run America (BRA), sports and music were important integrating devices for helping white people gradually accept Black people into the social fabric of Pre-Obama America.

Sports played a significantly greater role in the various attempts at assimilating Black people into everyday life in America, but music was another avenue for white people to identify with a group of people completely alien to them.

Music helped break down societal boundaries that had been built to separate the races, but sadly some forms of music seem auditory pleasing to racially cohesive groups. Classical and country music have become solidly white forms of entertainment, while rap music – though it is declining from its gangsta roots – is solidly a Black form of music with a rabid white following (primarily because white girls enjoy dancing to it, guaranteeing that white males will too).

Interestingly, most modern music seems to bifurcate over time between how white and Black people appreciate it and adapt to the changes within the various genres that have some overlap between the two racial groups. No greater form of music could display this point save the Jam Band:

Jam bands are musical groups whose albums and live performances relate to a fan culture that originated with the 1960s group Grateful Dead and continued in the 1990s with Phish. The performances of these bands often feature extended musical improvisation ("jams") over rhythmic grooves and chord patterns and long sets of music that cross genre boundaries.

While the seminal group Grateful Dead were originally categorized as psychedelic rock, by the 1990s the term "jam band" was used for groups playing a variety of genres, including those outside of rock such as funk, progressive bluegrass, and jazz fusion. The term is also used for some groups playing blues, country music, folk music, world music, and electronica.

Attending a concert performance by a jam band is to step into a world seemingly out of the 1950s where integration was never mandated by the federal government and white people frequented establishments exclusively with other white people. However, jam band performances usually provide a plethora of disheveled and olfactory unpleasing white people moving inexplicably to music that ostensibly is being played extemporaneously.

The jam band normally consists of improperly nourished white males of questionable showering habits, performing music that Black people find shockingly unappealing and incompatible with their normal melody, harmony and tune predilections.

Talented at improvising and at actually performing with an instrument (and largely devoid of the synthesizer and other equipment necessary to create the sounds heard in rap or pop music many Black signer employ) jam bands perform in front of crowds teeming with white people who have rejected implicitly the manufactured musicals sounds so many embrace.

Token Black people are rare at jam band concerts as this form of acting white is anathema even to Black people desiring acceptance into 21^st century white culture. Black people find any situation where they represent but a fraction of the thousands of people in attendance totally untenable, and one that must be avoided at all costs.

Of course, college football games (and most sporting events) across America represent one such event that Black people proudly disregard this rule as tens of thousands of white people sit in rapt attention to the exploits of the players on the field.

But jam bands force Black people to be reluctant at embracing such an obvious white-dominated genre, where white hippies proudly grow dreadlocks, scorn proper hygiene and become completely indifferent to polite society and in holding down positive employment.

Though fans of jam bands proclaim to being open-minded individuals embracing the ambiguity of life and search vainly for some higher form of reason, Black people and Black performers are a rarity at concerts:

Although the post-hippie jam culture is generally considered one of the most welcoming communities in the music world, music from the African-American tradition has not been particularly well represented in the scene.

Perhaps the ultimate jam band event transpires in Tennessee each year at Bonnaroo, the Mecca for the white fans of this genre of music. Stuff White People Like individuals flock to Bonnaroo to revel in the jam band atmosphere, all the while failing to acknowledge the shockingly high lack of diversity in the attendees.

In an attempt at minority outreach, the 2008 Bonnaroo was to be home to a Glasnost when it came to an admitting the lily-white shortcomings of jam bands perennial event, as Kanye West was to perform. Sadly, he was booed by the stoned white people with the ferocity of a hypothetical Journey concert at the Apollo:

Kanye West’s late night performance at Bonnaroo was delayed nearly two hours, angering the festival crowd who responded by chanting “Kanye sucks” and pelting the empty stage with glow sticks.

West had been scheduled to take the main stage at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival at 2:45 a.m. Sunday morning. While the sleepy thousands in the audience waited, a message on the jumbotrons told them West’s show would be delayed until 3:15 a.m., and when that didn’t happen, that he would start at 3:30. West didn’t hit the stage until 4:25 a.m.

Stuff Black People Don’t Like includes jam bands, for performances by groups with names like Phish, String Cheese, Wide Spread Panic, etc., have little artistic appeal to Black people. The throngs of white people who show up to be entertained by this form of music leave Black people uneasy, and the fluid nature these bands actually play their instruments causes consternation among them as well.

Why do so few Black people – notable exception being Prince – that are deemed musically inclined lack the ability to be proficient with an instrument? These goofy jam bands comprised entirely of white people and followed with religious zealotry and fervor by white people appear to actually have musical talent.

Pulsating, symphonic beats manufactured by synthesizers and computers that accompany rap lyrics seem paltry and unimpressive compared to the originality on display by jam bands.