Juneteenth is the celebration of the day Union General Gordon Granger arrived in Texas in 1865 with news of the Emancipation Proclamation. (It took two years for the news to reach Texas.) It is celebrated annually among Black communities in Texas and elsewhere. I covered celebrations in Kansas while working for a small newspaper there. It’s a happy occasion usually marked with get-togethers, parades, barbecue and family.
Last night, here in Austin, Juneteenth got a bad mark.
A crowd of celebrants were in the area of a parking lot in the 900 block of Thompson Street in East Austin. Two men were pulling into a parking lot when the driver struck a small child, who’s age appears to be three or four, with his car. It’s reported that he got out to make sure she was alright and a crowd of angry individuals confronted him. The passenger, David Morales, got out of the car to try and protect the driver, a man so far only known as Victor.
Morales was beaten so bad he died from the wounds. The girl who was hit by the car went to the hospital, but her injuries were not life-threatening.
This is just embarrassing. All segments of Austin’s community needs to come together. Nelson Linder, specifically, needs to exercise his position of apparent leadership and work within his constituents to atone for this and to prevent it from happening again.
(It seems in Milwaukee, last night, there were similar disturbances and beatings, too.)
More: The crowd size is estimated at around 3000 people. The number of people who were beating Morales seems to be around 15 to 20, per APD, as reported on KLBJ 590.
Question, 15 to 20 people were doing the beating. Who from the remaining 2980 people were trying to stop the beating?
Updated on June 21: The crowd number of near 3000 people looks to be wrong. APD (Austin Police Department) may have that wrong. The large crowd was a couple of blocks away. The child that was hit was a boy not a girl as earlier reports stated.
How about the Mexican press for some tolerance? Cox reporter Jeremy Schwartz reports from Mexico City that headlines are playing up the racial differences and have even called it a lynching. Nice. </sarcasm>
12 responses so far ↓
1 Jay Tarl // Jun 21, 2007 at
As the update says, the crowd was not a crowd at all. African American tried to help the man, but were prevented by an onsite police officer dfrom rendering aid. An African American woman made the call to the police while the beating was taking place and described what she saw and how the Juneteenth traffice had accidently blocked the streets and EMS services. This sad event was not a lynching. The Adult was furious that a child had been hit by a car and took it personal. Do Americans not care about children if they are of African heritage? Rage over the possible death due to a hit and run was the cause of the beating. The 3 minute delay for EMS crews to get through the traffic was the contributing factor. In any other major event, EMS crews would have been in place along the route. African Americans were forced to be onlookers under penalty of arrest. Funny how bad news about a great family oriented event traveled around the world so fast and even misreported on the national news. I am not laughing.
2 Lee // Jun 21, 2007 at
Please, this was hardly covered around the country. This was on the morning news here in Boston Once!! It’s funny how the Black Americans (I’m so sick of the the PC African American term!) alway’s bring up the racial crap. And I love your comment that Americans don’t care about children of African heritage? What country in Africa was the kid from, stop using your race as a crutch and take responsibillity for your so called African (Black) Americans. This racial barrier will never stop until people stop classifying themselves, and finally move on with their lives. If your sick of being stereotyped then do something about it! And I love how the black community comes down on a black man or woman who acts too white, then is called a uncle Tom and is ridiculed for not being black enough? But if they dumb it down then it’s cool and keeping it real! Give me a break, I hope they catch these guy’s and put them away for a long time.
3 Robert // Jun 21, 2007 at
You have got to be kidding here. A traffic accident involving a child is turned into a racial incedent? Get your heads out of your ass folks, it was an accident and no one should have died. The crowd that did the beating has a gang mentality and needs to be treated as criminals. The fact that it was another Black Holiday was by chance only. I am tired of Blacks playing the race card because something bad happens. Matter of fact, it is making me sick every time I hear about it. I am white, but I am not supposed to be proud of my ancestors because it offends a black person? Give me a break. My family had and still has just as many struggles to make good on life as any other race. What a crock of crap to see these issues brought up. Tell you the truth, stop acting like thugs and treat others fair. Take away the gang mentality and create good will. It is amazing what you get in return for good deeds. Yes there will be problems so expect them. But live like you care about humanity and it is amazing what happens. Stop buying, selling and taking drugs that affect your brain so that you can create a life with what you have.
4 White Guy // Jun 21, 2007 at
Deleted for racist content.
5 everett // Jun 22, 2007 at
Alrighty then. The last comment is deleted and the IP is banned. There’s no room here for racist statements.
6 Luke Hogan // Jun 23, 2007 at
HAHA! White guy’s comments were deleted for “racist content,” yet Robert’s comments are left up. Incerdible! Robert effectively accuses all African Americans of “buying, selling, and taking drugs.” And as for the “my family has just as many struggles” thing, I don’t know how you can say that. Racism still exists in our society, and so does a lack of education that has been passed down from generation to generation that can be traced all the way back to slavery. Robert proves my point by accusing all African Americans of being drug addicts. How do you think these people are going to be able to fit into society when this kind of attitude is so prevalent? Robert, you can’t say there is no racism and blame the victim and then a few seconds later say the victims are all drug addicts. The hypocrisy is so thick in this post and throughout this page you guys can’t see an inch in front of you.
7 everett // Jun 23, 2007 at
Robert’s comments are ignorant. Giving him the benefit of the doubt, I’d say they are ignorantly worded, hoping he’s more intelligent than he is articulate. White Guy’s comments were something out of white supremacist literature, something I want nowhere near me.
Racism certainly does exist in society. It’s looking more and more like a human trait. A bad one, too. To deny that it exists would be fooling yourself. How you deal with it and how willing you are to look past someone’s skin color are the factors in determining how much you want to improve yourself and your community.
This mess could have been something horrid. Luckily it wasn’t. It wasn’t near the nightmare we thought it might be after that first press release came out from APD.
Unfortunately, a man was still killed for no reason and the people who did it haven’t been caught yet. We didn’t have another Reginald Denny on our hands, but we did have a murder. That’s where the attention needs to be focused.
8 John // Jun 26, 2007 at
Do officials care about black kids? Well, no. Not as much as white kids, anyway. A white kid is a victim of a crime and laws are passed in honor of the kid, celebrities lend their name to helping the white kid get justice. A black kid is the victim of a crime, even brutal ones like murder or rape…and it seems like nobody gives a damn. Flame away, you know it’s true.
As for this incident, I think the reaction would have been the same had it happened at a July 4th celebration. It was reactionary, brutal and horrible, but I doubt the perpetrators would have taken it easier on the victim(s) had they been black. They were mad because a kid got run over.
BTW, I’m black, if anyone cares. Not African American. Nobody in my family has been African for over a couple of hundred years. I have no ties to Africa. They fact that my great-great-great-great-great-great (or whatever) grandparents were African doesn’t make me feel a connection to that country, no more than the fact that would the fact that other ancestors of mine are Cherokee or French. I feel a connection to America because that is my familial heritage. Society determines race anyway. I’m black. Guilty white folks are really fond of these PC labels. I don’t need them, see, because black is not a dirty word. Someday African American will be a taboo term, too. I remember that my great-grandaddy referred to black folk as “Negroes”, which back in the day was PC, but now is just eeeevil, despite that it only means black.
9 Jennifer // Jun 29, 2007 at
I agree John about the PC labels…I mean my heritage is German predominantly….I have never been to Germany and frankly really have no desire to go…should I be calling myself German-American? I don’t think so…I am an American…I happen to be white…I am not racist or prejudice in any way whatsoever….everytime I say that…someone has to chime in and say…oh well everybody is in some way….and I say well yeah your right…I am prejudice against stupid people…which there are a lot of these days…My philosophy on people is pretty basic…If you suck you suck….if you don’t you don’t….I dont give a crap where you come from or who you are…just take care of your business…go to work….enjoy your life…help others in need if you can….just be nice to people…..people are so self absorbed at all social and economic levels….anyhow….I could go on for days…People need to be more rational in situations like what happened in Austin…yes its horrifying for a child to get harmed in anyway…if it had been intentional well then yeah maybe a serious beating is in order…but I am sure it was an accident….but people are like animals…when groups gather things tend to escalate much faster and higher…I dont know…at times I really believe that things have improved as far as racism goes but it is still here and always will be to some extent…so I just do my best to take care of my own business and view and treat everyone the same until they give me a specific reason not to….sounds simple to me.
10 halen // Jul 4, 2007 at
The usual politically-correct censorship, I see. Oh, the white “racist” made comments, did he? What did he say, that blacks are far more likely to commit murder than any other race? It’s in the official FBI statistics. Oh, the statistics are racist, too, I suppose. Did he say that blacks are more racist than anybody? Sure, that would get him banned, alright.
But left to stand are the endless stream of reverse-bigot remarks about how whites are evil racists and blacks are always innocent victims.
Then Robert is called “ignorant” for speaking the truth. The really ignorant bigot is the person who censors this page. Call it “The Politically Correct Ignorant Swank” blog, to be more truthful.. What a joke.
11 Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D. // Oct 31, 2008 at
Why are you associating the Austin Juneteenth Celebration with violence? Like the Austin American-Statesman Newspaper, you owe Juneteenth supporters an apology for falsely associating the Austin Juneteenth Celebration with violence.
This unfortunate incident of violence had nothing to do with the Austin Juneteenth Celebration or any crowds following the close of the event. The driver of the car that struck the child and the people involved following were all either residents or associated with people from the apartment complex. The apartment complex was several blocks from the site of the Juneteenth event.
I spoke with the editor of the American-Statesman Newspaper to request an apology and retraction from the statement in the newspaper “hitting a child with his car during the aftermath of the city’s Juneteenth celebration” and the improper headline “Trial begins in post-Juneteenth celebration attack.” Falsely associating Juneteenth with violence, especially with such an inflammatory headline, when no one involved had anything to do with the Juneteenth event, is a great disservice to everyone American who celebrates J uneteenth.
It is irresponsible for a newspaper to use language that continues to incite false beliefs about Juneteenth Celebrations and violence. A public apology is in order.
12 Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D. // Oct 31, 2008 at
What amazes me is that several of the media reports about violence at Juneteenth Celebrations were later found out to have happened after the festival ended and in areas outside the festival sight. In several cases police and city officials later apologized for affiliating random violence to their Juneteenth Festivals.
It was wrong to blame the violent actions of a few misguided folks on the Juneteenth Festival. The media is once again guilty of trying to place negatives on anything affiliated with something constructive in our community.
Year after year the national media has ignored coverage of the celebration of Juneteenth. Yet, when an opportunity presents itself to put out bad publicity with unsubstantiated reports about violence at Juneteenth events, all of a sudden Juneteenth is all over the news. I have yet to see a positive report about the National Juneteenth Holiday Campaign or interviewing national Juneteenth leaders about the significance of Juneteenth in American history.
What about violence at “4th of July” celebrations, or even that infamous St. Patrick’s Day Massacre, Al Capone, et. al.? The national media is again showing itself to be biased toward African-Americans.
Juneteenth is America’s 2nd Independence Day celebration. 29 states recognize Juneteenth as a state holiday or state holiday observance, the District of Columbia, as well as the Congress of the United States.
Together we will see Juneteenth become a National Holiday in America!
“DOC”
Rev. Ronald V. Myers, Sr., M.D.
Chairman
National Juneteenth Holiday Campaign
National Juneteenth Observance Foundation (NJOF)
National Juneteenth Christian Leadership Council (NJCLC)
http://www.Juneteenth.us
http://www.19thofJune.com
http://www.njclc.com
http://www.JuneteenthJazz.com
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