Whenever I read such stories, as a Black man, I ask myself whether I would have intervened in the harassment of Wright, or the beating of Jones.
My guts says, I would … as I have done so before; but my question arises from the last time I got directly involve.
I saw three, 20-something, white punks harassing a teenage Black couple. They were right in front of me and Mrs. 1SBM. We both heard the teenage male saying, “why don’t you just leave us alone?” and, “Why are you messing with us?” (Everyone standing near us heard this)
The punks’ response was to become more abusive, verbally. Mrs. 1SBM, knowing me, was urging me to not get involved (and I had pretty much decided that so long as it was “just words”, I would not get involved … and it was killing me, because I could see the teenage boy was scared and looking for a way out).
Well, when one of the punks reached out and shoved the teenager to the ground at my feet I stood up and step over the teenager and motioned for the girl to stand behind me, and told the punks, “Okay … play time is over.” With that, I became the punks’ target.
When the punks started swing on and kicking at me, I defended myself. I could hear Mrs. 1SBM pleading with folks to call 911 and get mall security and for the bystanders to help me.
Fortunately, I held my own in the tussle and handed out, more than I got; but when mall security arrived, it was me that was put face down on the mall floor, under the weight of several mall security officers being handcuffed … and when Mrs. 1SBM protested, she was put to the fall next to me.
It took the mall security 30 minutes, to sort things out, with me on the floor and a security officer’s knee on my neck … though mall security, eventually allowed Mrs. 1 SBM to sit on one of the benches (still cuffed). I should mention that having been a Black guy, all my life, and being the son of a cop … I knew that any resistance, physical or verbal, leads to getting hurt, so I was quiet and did not struggle with the officers.
I should also mention that during the 30 minutes, I noticed (and Mrs. 1SBM, confirmed) that the mall security solicited accounts of what had happened from every white person in the vicinity, but none of the Black and Hispanic folks… And even after hearing (from those white folks) that I had not started the ruckus and that I was just defending myself and those two Black teenagers, I was still on the ground (with a knee on my neck).
I was then taken to the security office, where I was placed in a room, while they watched the security tapes. After another hour, I was released with a, “Sorry to inconvenience you but we had to be sure what was going on.”
I expected all of this; but what really surprised me (well, not really), was that, as I was gathering my stuff, I told the security chief that I wished to press charges against the punks, but was told “Sorry, we let them go … but we have their pictures, so they can’t come back here.”
That was 5 years ago, and I continue to think long and hard about whether I would intervene, again.
On a more positive note, though … Mrs. 1SBM and I kept in touch with the teenage couple and two weeks ago, we saw them off to college.
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