Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Racism, a pool party in Texas and the Supreme Court [how dare you have a community pool]
The Hill ^ | June 10, 2015 | Noliwe Rooks

Posted on 06/10/2015 4:46:46 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

Despite the fact that in 2014, Money magazine named McKinney, Texas, a small suburb located just outside of Dallas, "the best place to live in America," for the past few days the town has been inundated with media attention in response to circulated images of a white police officer cursing, pointing his weapon at and physically assaulting black teenagers as young as 14 in an attempt to break up a pool party at a subdivision. A teenager at the party filmed and uploaded video of the incident to YouTube on Saturday and it quickly went viral.

The police were reportedly called to the scene following what was at first a verbal, but quickly escalated to a physical, altercation between two white female community members and two teenage partygoers (one of whom was white and the other black) after the adults hurled racial slurs at both young people, and then slapped one, while yelling that they should leave the area and "go back to your Section 8 housing."

The hate-fueled reference to the federally funded Section 8 housing program, which provides housing subsidies for low-income participants, is significant because it, as well as McKinney and surrounding areas, are at the heart of a soon-to-be decided Supreme Court case that has the potential to either reaffirm our commitment to, or fully gut, fair housing laws designed to promote racial and economic integration.

The events in McKinney make a stronger argument than could almost any lawyer for why the court should affirm the importance of racially and economically integrated residential areas.

The Supreme Court case was brought against the Texas State Housing Authority by a nonprofit organization that works to promote integrated communities. The nonprofit, Inclusive Communities, showed that the Texas Housing Authority assigned nearly all of the affordable housing tax credits to Dallas's black neighborhoods and almost none of it to white neighborhoods where residents, like those in McKinney, consistently organized to make clear that they did want to have many, if any, Section 8 families among them. The federal judge hearing the initial case ruled that there was no intentional discrimination on the part of Texas Housing Authority officials, but his opinion still held that the outcome unacceptably increased housing segregation and that the housing agency could have taken steps to ensure that affordable housing units were allotted more equally.

In response, the Texas Housing Authority appealed the ruling, but lost again. That would have been the end of the case if the Supreme Court had not asked to have it argued before them in January. An array of industry and conservative groups are backing Texas in its effort to roll back Fair Housing Act enforcement. Civil-rights organizations, along with 17 states and more than 20 large cities and counties, are siding with Inclusive Communities.

This case is important because it is well understood that housing segregation is the foundation of much of the racial inequality in the United States. Indeed, though the formal barriers to residential integration were long ago lifted, many African-Americans still face limited housing choices and live in poor neighborhoods that lack the infrastructure and environmental safety of close-by affluent neighborhoods that are often overwhelmingly white. Residential segregation also makes equal access to quality education, employment, homeownership and wealth accumulation far more difficult.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it denies the potential for white community members in neighborhoods such as McKinney to learn that they have nothing to fear from American citizens who may not share either their race or economic backgrounds. Let's hope our highest court thinks this is important, as well.

Rooks is an associate professor in Africana Studies and Feminist, Gender, Sexuality Studies at Cornell University.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; Politics; Society
KEYWORDS: community; fairhousingact; integration; mckinney; poolparty; privateproperty
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-43 last
To: Cincinatus' Wife

The thing that amazes me is the complete disconnect between the author’s agenda and the events at the “pool party” gone bad. They have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

I can remember respond to similar situations over the years where the police were trying to break up some sort of event that had gotten out of hand. A lot of the time we (firefighters) were there first and were actually the ones who had to request police assistance because the crowd was making it difficult or impossible to do our job of rendering aid to injured or sick people.

If the people in the crowd have an “attitude” especially if they are members of the young entitled class... it can be almost impossible for the police to get control of the situation. It is along the lines of herding cats. This actually looked quite tame compared to some situations that I have been at.


41 posted on 06/10/2015 8:24:38 AM PDT by fireman15 (Check your facts before making ignorant statements.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fireman15

Thank you for your informed post.

With the adm and the msm on their side, and salivating for “news,” there is no doubt in my mind that there will be more of these “incidents” and that the Obama phones will be recording it all and sending to the appropriate outlets for publication and required outrage.

2016 can’t get here fast enough.


42 posted on 06/10/2015 8:59:45 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: All
EXCLUSIVE: Brawling, ‘racist slurs,’ profane rap music and gatecrashers: What really happened at Texas invite-only pool party where cop drew gun on bikini girl, 15

The policeman who quit his job after throwing a black teenager in a bikini to the ground at a pool party was sent there to deal with a racially-charged all-women brawl and scores of gatecrashers, Daily Mail Online can reveal.

Officer Eric Casebolt - who was first to arrive at the scene after 911 calls - resigned from McKinney Police last night after mounting protests over his actions, which were caught on camera.

But Daily Mail Online can disclose the full extent of the violence and disorder he was dispatched to deal with after a 911 call by residents concerned after gatecrashers arrived and fighting broke out at the party - with the party organizer Tatiana Rhodes involved in a brawl.

More than 100 teenagers had already gatecrashed the private pool party in McKinney, outside Dallas, when violence erupted.

They had received the invitation on social media and the numbers who arrived from across the city rapidly filled up the area, where local residents had been enjoying the sunshine by the pool with their children...................."

43 posted on 06/10/2015 9:26:33 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-43 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
Bloggers & Personal
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson