Posted on 12/29/2005 4:38:21 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
ST. PETERSBURG - A six-hour period of black on white violence 19 months ago has earned St. Petersburg an unflattering distinction in a new state report: the city with the most hate crimes in 2004.
Police Chief Chuck Harmon cut short his holiday vacation to hold a news conference about the numbers, contained in an annual report by Attorney General Charlie Crist. The figures were an aberration, Harmon said, largely the result of one evening of civil unrest on May 12, in which a group of about 125 people, mostly black, threw bricks and bottles at drivers, mostly white. One man's face was beaten so badly that he needed reconstructive surgery.
Harmon noted that the disturbance accounted for 29 of the city's 49 reported hate crime victims. Without those, the number would have been 20, similar to the previous year. In 2005, police said, the number of reported hate crime victims in St. Petersburg has fallen to 13.
The high number of reported hate crimes in St. Petersburg meant that in 2004 Pinellas County topped the state, with 63 victims of hate in all. In comparison, Hillsborough County had 27, fourth in the state. Pasco and Hernando counties each reported six victims. Citrus reported none.
Throughout the report, the attorney general's staff cautioned against making overbroad generalizations about any area. Some agencies, they noted, report hate crimes far more vigorously than others. Municipal police departments in Miami, Tallahassee, Sarasota, Daytona Beach, Fort Myers, Ocala and West Palm Beach didn't have any hate crimes to report in 2004.
Of the 20 arrests made in the wake of the St. Petersburg disturbance May 12 and May 13, none was classified as a hate crime, police said. Most of those arrests were burglaries, drug charges and attempted homicide of police officers.
But police did mark as hate crimes 19 incidents - 17 reports of people throwing objects at cars, one aggravated battery and one burglary/battery. In those, nearly all the suspects were black, and all of the 29 victims except one were white. No one was arrested in those incidents, but police still classified them as hate crimes.
"We felt that, through investigating that night, they were motivated by race," Harmon said.
The disturbance came two weeks after a black teenager was shot and killed by two sheriff's deputies, and in the midst of a wrongful death trial involving another black teen who was fatally shot by police in 1996.
Harmon and others said race relations have improved in the city since that turbulent evening in 2004.
"We've grown as a community," Harmon said. "We've put that behind us."
However, others say the city is perpetually on the edge of another civil disturbance.
"When something goes wrong, we try to patch it up, then we go back to business as usual," said the Rev. Louis Murphy of Mount Zion Progressive Missionary Baptist Church in St. Petersburg. "We should be dealing with it in a time of peace."
Statewide, the number of reported hate crimes rose by 21.5 percent in 2004, the third-highest annual number since reporting began in 1990. The total, 334, was only one shy of 2001, when police believe anger over the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks led to a spike. The majority of crimes were fueled by race, followed by sexual orientation, ethnicity and religion.
"We'd certainly rather the numbers be down instead of up," Crist said, adding that he believed the increase was a result of better reporting.
"On first blush, the numbers are pretty disturbing," police Chief Harmon said. But behind them is a small group of people who were determined to cause trouble in Midtown on May 12, he said.
The violence started shortly after 9 p.m., when members of the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement staged a protest in front of their headquarters at 1245 18th Ave. S. On their minds: the May 2 fatal shooting of Marquell McCullough, a black teen who was shot by two sheriff's deputies who said he was driving toward them in a pickup truck.
For the Uhurus, the case resembled that of TyRon Lewis, an 18-year-old black man who was fatally shot by a white St. Petersburg police officer during a traffic stop in 1996, sparking two nights of violence. A trial was under way in a lawsuit Lewis' mother filed against the city in the death of her son when the disturbance started.
Groups of black residents, many of them teens, hurled bottles, bricks and concrete blocks at passing cars, damaging at least 60 vehicles, police said. Some people fired shots at police officers. At least 16 people were treated at hospitals.
Some community leaders said the report is not a reliable barometer of race relations in St. Petersburg. "There are a lot of comfortably integrated neighborhoods," said Karl Nurse, president of the Council of Neighborhood Associations, which represents 73 city neighborhoods.
In part, he blames the Uhurus for giving the city a bad name.
"I don't think it's very much about race, I just think it's about punks," Nurse said. "To me, the Uhurus is a hate group."
Chimurenga Waller, leader of the group in St. Petersburg, has said the Uhurus did not start the disturbance on May 12. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
To the Rev. Murphy, the issue is more about economics than race.
"There is a very small minority of whites who don't like blacks because they're black, and a very small minority of blacks who don't like whites because they're white," he said. "The real issue is the disparities."
Despite recent public and private investment in Midtown, black residents get frustrated by the lack of economic opportunities and a less satisfying experience in public schools, Murphy said.
"A lot of the things that we're experiencing today can be traced back to slavery, segregation, oppression," he said.
Part of the answer, he believes, is to talk about race and equality all the time, not just after violence.
Race historically has been the dominant factor in hate crimes. However, religion and ethnicity trumped race in 2001, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Now, the proportions are back to pre-9/11 rates.
Jamie Thompson can be reached at 727 893-8455 or jthompson@sptimes.com
In Russia, even the whites of non-Russian ethnicity sometimes face trouble.
When you throw bricks at a person because they are white, it is a hate crime. If you were just throwing bricks at anyone, it would be punk violence. I would like to know why these people were not prosecuted for hate crimes.
>>"We've grown as a community," Harmon said. "We've put that behind us."
Because you said so?
What, exactly, has caused this "growth", and what evidence do we have that it has actually had a desireable effect?
Because "hate" crimes only work one way: white on black or white male on homosexuals. That's just how it is.
Links of Interest on the Cincinnati Riots
Far from a complete list. It's possible more than Thread 8 has been deleted.
Free Republic "15 black men killed since 1995" Cincy Post
Read this so you understand what fine citizens the police have been shooting in Cincy. This summarizes the cases of the men shot over the last several years.
While this latest case is very questionable and deserves a serious investigation, most of these are pretty open-and-shut: Perp actively commits mayham, is challenged by the police, ignores police, perhaps actively assaulting them, perp takes the eternal celestial dirt nap via police action.
And, Oh!, Yeah! - Barry Horstman of the Cincy Post doesn't want you to know this (see the item two lines down).
Free Republic Thread #1 "Fresh Rioting Erupts in Cincinnati" UPI
I think this one started it all off
Free Republic "Cincinnati Post's Barry Horstman Blows Smoke on The Factor"
My first originating Free Republic post!
Free Republic Thread #2 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #3 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #4 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #5 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #5a on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #6 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #7 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #8 on the Cincinnati Riots
(Yanked due to content unacceptable to Jim Robinson. His playground, he makes the rules. Deal with it.)
Free Republic Thread #9 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #10 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #11 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #12 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #13 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #14 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #15 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #16 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #17 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #18 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #19 on the Cincinnati Riots
Free Republic Thread #20 on the Cincinnati Riots
Cincinnati Police 'fed up,' union chief says - Cincy Enquirer
I found this revealing.
Free Republic "15 black men killed since 1995" Cincy Post
Free Republic "Protest erupts in day of rage" Cincy Post
Free Republic "Fresh rioting erupts in Cincinnati" UPI
WCPO "Days of Distress"
Free Republic "Police Officer Shot in Cincinnati Rioting" Yahoo/Reuters
Cincinnati Mayor Declares Emergency
Cincy Police Scanner
Where's the outrage for black racists? Free Republic/Houston Chronicle
Post Script:
The above links were collected contemporaneously with the events of April 2001. The following links are follow-ups on this story later in time.
Cincinnati: Return of the Lynch Mob
LOL! I was wondering exactly what "black" meant in Russia.
I detect a joke coming up with "Black Russian" in the punchline!
Russia?
This article is about Florida!
Don't feel bad. When I started reading this, I thought it was about St. Petersburg, Russia also.
The good reverend is dead wrong. That's the same old Liberal excuse. Slavery, repression, etc.. was generations and a transfer of trillions ago (the Great Society...which ruined black families). Blame the democratic party, mass media, MTV, movies, and con artists like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Maxine Waters, etc., who shout victimhood and line their pockets at the expense of people they pretend to care about.
And a popular culture that glamorizes athletes beyond belief. So little kids dream of being another McNab or Shack. They take things literally. What they see on TV is more real to them than what goes on in their own lives. Who needs school? Just shoot baskets or throw a football, and you've got it made. Or sell drugs. You can make more money selling drugs on a weekend than some dope with a fulltime job earns in six months.
I thought it was about Russia because I couldn't believe an article about black on white hate crimes was appearing in a US paper!
I guess riots can be expected any time police kill a black suspect, no matter how deadly or how much of a threat he is.
Wasn't there some racial violence in 1996 in St Pete, shortly after the vice presidential debate was held there? As I recall it was the same kind of thing. White motorists were assaulted and their cars were pelted.
We have a wonderful voluntary neighborhood association (completely integrated) and a wonderful crime watch (also completely integrated). We have the same problems any other neighborhood might have -- occasionally getting annoyed if a dog barks too much or if the trash cans are left at the street too long! Nothing racial. If anyone tried to harm my neighbors, hate crime or otherwise, I'd risk my life to stop them. They'd do the same for my family. If anything, our neighborhood in St. Petersburg (Lakewood Estates) serves as an example of how people of different races can live side-by-side in peace and happiness.
I would hate for anyone to think St. Petersburg is a hateful place. It is a safe and beautiful place to visit and to live.
I don't doubt that a bit.
I also don't doubt that no one is willing to confront this "small but very vocal group" due to Political Correctness (on the white side) and the fear of being branded an Oreo (on the responsible black side).
And that's the fundamental problem here.
****. "The real issue is the disparities." *****
He is right the real issue is disparities. However: that issue doesnt get solved by people who sit on their ass while others work.
You cant solve disparities with handouts.
When you go to school and play instead of study your grades are lower. Black people have the intelligence to be successful , too may of them are successful to deny that, but thay dont seem to have the drive, they would rather stand back and have it handed to them.
They used to complain that jobs were not available to them, well when a kid comes in for a job with tattoos, gang colors ,hair in dreadlocks, his pants down around his knees, and cant fill out the application past his name , he isnt going to behired.Perhaps schools should teach a course in how to be hired: be polite, be neat, act intelligent, speak english, be patient.
Because there is no such thing as a hate crime against a white person. Unless you're a homosexual and only if the perp is also white.
We were in China for two months in the fall of 1996. We're watching cable tv (in Chinese) in our hotel room and all of a sudden see the words across the bottom of the screen, St. Petersburg, Florida.
Although we had been living in another state, St. Pete was our hometown and we owned a home there.
It was hard to believe that our "hometown" was being reported on international news.
(BTW, police killed a black suspect, and that's what sparked the riots which were isolated to the black community.)
St. Pete representing!!
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