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
Ditto...I know you're right because, as we've discussed before, we live in the same area of town.
No racial tension whatsoever, successfully integrated neighborhood for going on 30 years.
Here's an interesting article about the neighborhood (wondered if you'd seen this on the city's website)
http://www.stpete.org/nnlak.htm
I believe that you already know the answer to that question.
Oops! I guess I should read the entire article before making smart comments.
Black on white hate crime? What a racist concept! (sarcasm alert)
When we moved here, we were a bit leary. I've never lived anywhere where I was in the minority -- not only in my neighborhood, but in local shops, etc. I had heard news of racial tension in St. Pete, so it was a bit scary. But I can tell you that in the 20 months I've lived here, I have never experienced any problems. I love my neighborhood. The Publix where we shop is one of the best run grocery stores I've ever been to in my life! My neighbors, black and white, take pride in their neighborhood, their yards and homes. (Ours is probably one of the worst.) As far as schools, Pinellas County has school choice, so you can go to any school... but we homeschool. We homeschooled before we came here, if you're wondering; it had nothing to do with the neighborhood.
Pinellas County and St. Pete do have some unique problems. It is the most population dense place in the state. We are locked on a small peninsula -- no room to expand. We paid 3 times the cost of our house in Orlando for this house, a large but old fixer-upper. (Large means 2500 square feet on a 1/4 acre lot). The value has probably increased 20% since our move. Taxes, utilities, everything here is much higher. The cost of living is skyrocketing, but many of the jobs are low-paying service industry jobs. It doesn't matter how hard you work, it's becoming more difficult to live in this area. It is especially difficult for retirees on a fixed income and low income families. It is not as if affordable housing is a short drive away, either, or that we have wonderful public transportation. Not that this would in any way excuse violence, but I can imagine being frustrated. This is a wonderful community, but we definitely have some problems to address.
I don't know about the rioters, but my neighbors are intelligent, kind, hardworking people. They value education, family and community. If I could afford to move to a ritzier community on the beach, in the north, or on the islands, I wouldn't do it. I am very happy where I am, and I am so glad our children are growing up in this community. And that is the honest truth!
Most of your city's real estate is now owned by the Scientology team...over 40%. It is the htq for that organization which I will never call a church.
Pinellas is home to the Woodside Hospice where Terri was put to death by starvation and denial of water or fluid.
Tom Cruise who comes to your community regulary to troll for future scientologists, is in NYC right now helping out a scientology conferance that is trying to help people who believe they were hurt, healthwise, by the toxic aftermath of 9-11.
As a recruiting plan, the scientologists have a conferance going there in which they are teaching those who believe toxins are making them sick to drink liters of cooking oil and take saunas religiously and, of course, sign up for the scientologist plan to rid one's body of alien negatives brought about by the volconic expolsion of a bad alien years ago whose body parts have inflicted all of the human race and cause all suffering.
From what I understand of their "thinking," if you are poor you don't have the power to be racist.
Try figuring that one out past the obvious vote getting wedge it provides.
I enjoyed your post.
I went to Diston Jr. High and to Boca Ciega H.S. back in the sixties.
I don't know what it is like now.
It used to be the old folks capital of the world but now the downtown area seems to have fallen into PC hell.
And you're going to paint a whole community as evil because Terri Schiavo died in Pinellas Park? Do you hate every community in which (or near which) a dispicable act has occurred? I think you'd better head for Antarctica -- not a lot of sin occurs there, I expect.
It's not perfect. No place inhabited by sinful man is perfect. But it is a nice place to live, there are good and loving people here, and the winning the title of hate crime capital of Florida is a bit misleading.
>>"The real issue is disparities."
Amen to that. Disparities in fatherlessness, education, self control, intelligence, work ethic, marriage.....
This crew doesn't respect anyone, yet they think they deserve respect.
Any time the government subsidizes something, society gets more of that thing. Therefore, we need to stop giving the "poor" money. Lack of money is not the problem, but a lack of morals and discipline make the "poor" perpetually poor.
Pure and simple, it's the entitlement mentality that has affected many minorities and about all of the aged.
A lot of the development is good and useful, especially for tourists and the very wealthy, but it is driving up property values and costs, and displacing smaller businesses. (Gulf Golf on Treasure Island is closing -- looked really sweet, but with property values the way they are, I can't blame the owners for selling.) The condos -- very high priced -- draw the most ire. I think it's typical of what many Florida communities are facing.
There is no way for a free republic to survive after having accepted "hate crimes" as legitimate law.
That's what I've been reading.
So many places aren't the sleepy little towns they once were.
The bad comes with the good, I guess.
But the problem I outlined still remains.
>>"The real issue is disparities."
That was from sgtbono2002's post, not mine. But I agree with the posts by both of you.
Oh, and nice username. I tend towards the FAL side on that one, though both the M1A/M14 and the G3 are fine pieces of hardware as well.
I also explained my thoughts on why those disparities exist.
Getting tired of hearing this BS.
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