In the aftermath of Saturday Night Plaza Riot there has been little more than silly opinion that's either racist, misinformed or far too sentimental.
On the night of the riot, I was home, alone in my basement (as usual) and luckily checking e-mail so I could see a more than a few KICKASS TKC TIPSERS send in reports of the incident.
However, the first person AT THE SCENE provided some great details. Further investigation from THIS MOST AWESOME PLAZA TKC TIPSTER" offers some an unprecedented accounting of the incident and valuable perspective while so many other media outlets are printing nothing but Plaza PR and bloggers have little more than their own opinion.
Check out the 1st Hand Account and Investigation:
"The epicenter started between Brio and Noodles & Co. Not much seemed to happen on the Brush Creek Side. The groups were as large as 50 walking in unison. They crossed the street in packs in the middle of the street and intentionally on green lights. They really didn't seem to be worried about the police or in any hurry to move along when told too. Even with a police presence similar to the ending of the Plaza Art Fair. At one point a group of about 30 were on the stairs between Scooters Coffee and Lockton Insurance. With Police at the top and bottom they bolted up the stairs and the stragglers were sprayed with something at top. There was at least on fist fight between groups on 47th within 100 feet of numerous officers. The crowd was too large though and moved on before the police took action. Restaurants around the park stopped seating early because of the spray in the air.
I think the readers commenting on this from afar are missing the spirit of this thing. It really did not come across as a racial situation. I understand the context where that can be seen, but that wasn't the situation on the ground. These are kids that are not old enough to drive. This wasn't political, but rather a bunch of kids who know the police can't do anything to them. They know the adults won't clock them because they are 14. They also know the police can't arrest them all so in mass they hold the upper hand. This is much less The Watt's Riots and much more "Lord of the Flies." Until the police have the manpower and justification to round them up en masse, I think they will continue to be emboldened."
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A special thanks to all those who called-in and sent e-mails. With so many newsy outlets dependent on Plaza Ad money . . . TKC TIPSTERS were more dedicated to reporting the facts of THE PLAZA SATURDAY NIGHT RIOT!!! Natch.
Finally, here's a roundup of the best Plaza Riot Links:
Teens migrate from Westport to the Country Club Plaza
Wow, someone sent me video & pictures of the various fights on the Plaza!
Plaza Brawls Caught On Camera
KCPD: Plaza crowds were planned
Pepper Spray is not the answer to the problem on the Plaza!
KCMO ELITIST…WELCOME TO THE EAST SIDE
KC PLaza Race Riot/Wilding!
Spring, when the Plaza is full of pepper spray
Plaza Still Reeling From Teen Madness Saturday
Police use pepper spray on Plaza crowds
Plaza Fights Break Out After Police Try To Enforce Curfew
Police Respond To Plaza Mayhem
citizen media stand up.
ReplyDeleteThis is really good stuff T.
ReplyDelete"A Wonderful Plaza Evening."
ReplyDeletePepper spray in the air.
Your wife been groped by teen thugs.
Police Helicopters in the background.
Screams and shouting.
Police Sirens.
All over an expensive meal with wine.
What a wonderful "Family" night out.
Guess this ruined prom.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone noticed that KCMO and the Police web sites make no mention of any of this.
ReplyDeleteI guess their waiting for the right words (big brother 1984 propaganda) to say so they can "homogenize" the people and their concerns.
hot mess.
ReplyDeletehere come the police enforced curfews...
ReplyDeletereprint from an earlier TKC thread comment:
ReplyDeleteAnonymous John Henry Walker III said...
I found this site through a link on the comments on this story at the Star. My son was on the Plaza Saturday night with a couple of his friends and their dates. His group was accosted by several groups of blacks. They were shouting racial epithets at them and 2 of the girls they were with were groped by these out of control kids. They witnessed a girl in a prom dress get pushed into the fountain outside of the Cheesecake Factory. They also described the sexual harassment, touching and grabbing happening to women walking down there. I feel that the police did not do enough to control these kids. If this continues someone is really going to get hurt/killed. I would like the parents of these kids to witness what their little bastards are doing down there especially to females. It's unfortunate that merchants on the Plaza are going to suffer for this. I won't allow my kids to go anywhere near the Plaza now and I won't be visiting anytime soon either. Which is a shame because I love Capitol Grill and McCormick & Schmick. I predict that someone will get shot/run over or stabbed to death within a couple of weeks if the continues.
I checked the Police website and the Cops are busy playing "Dodge-Ball" of all things.
ReplyDeleteNo justice, no peace!! Wait... what?!? No parents, no peace!!!
ReplyDeleteWHERE IS ALONZO? SHOULDN'T HE BE EITHER SOLVING THIS PROBLEM IMMEDIATELY OR CRYING RACISM? YES I KNOW I'M TYPING IN CAPS!
ReplyDeleteNo.
ReplyDeleteI think he was waiting for the Police to, but as always we'll have to have Alonzo help the police solve the situation.
Try to settle down you don't need all caps to make a point.
Dem nigs be wildin' and it ain't even 80 degrees yet.
ReplyDeleteWhoever started it, turn yourself into Alonzo.
ReplyDeleteAlonzo will probably make this my fault for being white.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the sense of pride in this kids. The sense of self worth..anything. Is all they want to be is a rapper or baller??? Where are their parents? Granted they are only a few years older.
What can really be done about this? There are freedoms in this counties. But acting a fool is not one of them!
Sean no one knew you were white till you said so.
ReplyDeleteRead about the recent Philly incidents and their flash mobs....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/us/25mobs.html
My favorite quote of the article:
"Mayor Nutter, who is black, rejected the notion that race or the city cut in services was a factor.
“I don’t think people should be finding excuses for inappropriate behavior,” Mr. Nutter said. “There is no racial component to stupid behavior, and parents should not be looking to the government to provide entertainment for their children.” "
and parents should not be looking to the government to provide entertainment for their children.” "
ReplyDeleteThen quit taxing us so much for services.
Someone take a camera down there and do an 'urban youth' jaywalking.
ReplyDeleteWhere are you being taxed for services to entertain teenagers?
ReplyDeleteEveryone is trying hard to ignore the racial (i.e., black on white) and political (disenfranchised vs. rich) aspects of this thing ...
ReplyDeleteNo, if it is racist, it's on the part of the group of BLACK kids decided to terrorize what they consider an elitest white community area. So it's not on OUR part. Read the above link about Philly.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see people getting around to looking at the racial and political aspects of this.
ReplyDeleteThe first hand accounts are starting to add that perspective.
The fact remains, there is a problem with the urban black culture. Too many single moms of wilding adolescents and no dads in site. They understandably whine about a lack of jobs to keep their youth both busy and self-sustaining. But they don't make the connection that businesses won't settle in areas where it's not safe for customers to come.
Perhaps the real losers of the Bannister Mall closure are the young people who COULD've WOULD've had jobs there.
It's a culture thing. Reflected in their dress, their music, their attitudes towards success and family.
Until that gets fixed urban blacks will stay on the bottom.
I'd be interested in the take of good Mexican observers why there are gang problems in the Mexican community, given that religion and family values tends to be often even more conservative that the white race.
Not everwhere are there these problems. but if you look at the arab world, Beruit Lebaon was undeniably one of the most beautiful cities in the world. And they trashed it. Not fit to live. Iran's going to end up with one of the world's earliest, brightest civilizations, and they're on a course to get it nuked into no mans land.
Humans need to be smarter.
Blacks are int he most trouble because HERE, their culture is the weakest. Yes, whites had EVERYTHING to do with that! But people can pull their heads up their asses if they have enough character.
The Chinese are working pretty hard at it. Americans from Europe did...although they robbed the native peoples of their land to do it. The Australians did it, mostly criminals sent there from Great Britain.
Blacks need to fix this. They need some leadership to replace murdered MLK and aging Bill Cosby. Reverend Wright isn't the leader to fix it.
No more niggers = no more problems. BACK TO AFRICA!
ReplyDeleteSorry if you can't handle the truth, you can go with them!
Yes, that's very practical. I didn't know they had internet access in your trailer.
ReplyDeleteI was down there for all of this and I think you all are reading it wrong. Black patrons were just as outraged by this as were white patrons. This is about 14 year old kids looking at this as a game of tag. They can run amuck without consequence and with the police so out numbered they were powerless to do anything. The crowd wasn't doing anything technically illegal, but individuals within it were. When the police approached them, they we protected by the crowd. This could have been kids of either race. Alot of people are bringing their attitudes on race to the issue, but race wasn't their motivation for being there.
ReplyDeleteWhat need to happen is for these kids to fear being arrested, identified, etc and their parents finding out. Not one person on here can tell me they never told their parents they were doing one thing and then did something completely different. Sure some parents might not care, but enough do that it might take the numbers down. If we could get some authority figures these kids know (principal, community leader, preacher) who will identify these kids, they have something to fear. If the police follow up with their parents and are able to name the authority figure who identified them, this changes the game. Parents will be parents when the police start calling. It won't solve the problem, but I bet it reduces the coolness factor alot.
Highwoods needs to pull out their checkbook. Start making some donations and building support within the community.
This city is such a joke.
ReplyDeleteOur leaders think "well next week we'll be there in force". Sure that makes for a great shopping atmosphere. Kansas City is such a loser city.
Too many anonymouses. I agree with the guy/gal who says kids need to fear being arrested.
ReplyDeleteAnd if Police just round em up, handcuff em and take em downtowna nd make their single moms come down and spend the evening getting them out of jail, that might be helpful.
Parents CAN be pretty pissed off and they SHOULD. It's about parents, not cops.
I continue to say, though WHERE'S DAD, still big enough to kick these kids' asses? Blister their black asses. Like I got my white ass blistered just enough to fear my dad's sense of justice. Mom's just can't do this. So my advice is that if you sire a boy into this world, you need to take responsibility for what his unsupervised ass does, whether you live with his mom or not!
Before your kid acts like an asshole, have a relationship with him that says "He loves me but if I do THAT, he will BEAT MY ASS! So sorry guys, I ain't gonnda do it!" That's how it works in a 2 parent family! Mom hugs you, but dad will beat your ASS if you don't behave!
Hey RM- when 'blacks' find the "leader" they need (because of course we can't just expect parents to step up and show their kids how to become a productive member of society) I have some excellent, cutting-edge-of-education curriculum ideas the "leader(s)" can espouse:
ReplyDelete- get an education, i.e. go to school, stay in school, pay attention, and graduate with a GPA above a 2.0.
- RESPECT your neighbors, whatever their skin color, gender, religion, or political persuasion.
- RESPECT your neighbors' rights to their property, space, and time.
- Dress however you choose, but don't be surprised that if your choice happens to be gangster-style that you will be assumed to be a gangster.
(Note to kids of white folks who may not have a leader: feel free to pierce to the point of looking like Pinhead from Hellraiser, or Goth it up to where Morticia Adams is envious, or be as "emo" or "scene" as you'd like- just don't be aghast when the cost of self expression equals a minimum wage gig at best; unless you're one of the truly rare who is creative enough to make money from art.)
- Do not walk around grabbing your crotch. It's just laughable.
- Do not grab other people's crotches or "private parts." And they are called 'private' because, believe it or not, some people think a modicum of modesty is a good thing.
- BELIEVE IN SOMETHING GREATER THAN YOURSELF. God, Family, Country- it doesn't really matter. Just believe you have an obligation/duty to something other than your own immediate gratification and that your actions reflect upon that greater body.
- Give more than you take.
- Love more than you hate.
- And finally, try not to read Radioman too often. His stories of having seen it all in the sixties, his pedantic lecturing, and his breathless expectation of the resurrection of the radical left are all somewhat entertaining at first, but will quickly grow tiresome and result in boredom that leads to perdition.
Dear Mr. Tony: Thank you for your posting on the riot in the plaza. I think I am going to get everyone furious by saying that the liberals who apologize for those kids' behavior by saying they were "high-spirited teens" are cut from the same bolt of cloth as the conservatives who apologized for the Abu Graib prison atrocities by saying it was "fraternity boy pranks". Ernest Evans PS: And, no I don't want to hear about how they don't have anywhere to go to have a good time--I didn't buy the excuse that the Abu Graib guards were bored by their long tours in Iraq.
ReplyDeletewhy don't any of us have young tipsters' text messages about how they organized their event? researcher-i am dying for that info. wonder if the cops have the resources to subpoena that data.
ReplyDeleteApplecart: I actually tried to scan some facebook pages. The problem is if they are under 18 their page is automatically private.
ReplyDeleteGreat Appleccart T question. But lets face it, we can't expect this teen generation to be wired into the TKC world, can we? Or even to the Police Chief's who would love to know what they'll think of next so he can assemble his people!
ReplyDeletei'm bringing my truck with a full sized wood chipper down there next saturday night. if any of these niglets give me any shit they are going in feet first.
ReplyDeleteI think a LOT of people are trying to put their own agendas on something as simple as kids creating a riot. It's not racial, it's not economic, it's not political.
ReplyDeleteAnd.....what are the 'oppressed' people doing to help themselves?
And on a side note, at least TKC now has another story to 'ride' since the Waldo Rapist news has died down.
Between this,the loud party arrests in JoCo, and the teasing suicide in Mass. I am beginning to think that we have managed to raise a generation of asshats.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happened to the waldo Rapist?
ReplyDeleteThe waldo rapist has never been caught..... he's still out there.
ReplyDeleteI've seen the movie on how all this ends.... Planet of the Apes
ReplyDeleteWe're closer than we think.
:(
taco t keeps takin' down my posts! he racist 'gainst me. sheeeeeeooot
ReplyDeleteThe fact that 50% of violent crime in th US is committed by 6% of the population(black males) is the crux of the problem. We have a group that is in large part no good for anything other than filling prisons and impregnating any slut who will spread their legs for them!!!!
ReplyDelete50% of violent crime in the US is committed by 6% of its population (black males). This in conjunction with rampant broken families and little interest in education leaves us with a population that in many cases is only fit for prison!!!!
ReplyDelete