Last Week Around the -ISTs
Schieffer's Out of Gov Race
An act of anger and violence marred Juneteenth this year. After a Juneteenth celebration ended in central East Austin last night, a man called Victor ran into a kid in a parking lot at 900 Thompson St. Details are still sketchy, but it seems that a group of men began to assault the driver after the accident. The passenger in the car, David Rivas Morales, tried to halt the angry reaction by the men against the driver, and came under attack himself. No witnesses helped the victim during the beating. When the police came on the scene, they transported Morales to the hospital and he was pronounced dead.
The child hit by the car was treated for non-life threatening injuries; the driver, who had escaped the scene, was found later.
Police are asking anyone with more information to please call Crimestoppers (477-3588). It is estimated that there were 3,000 people in the area when the Juneteenth celebrations ended. Juneteenth, June 19th, commemorates the day 142 years ago when slaves in Texas were finally told that they were free.
The Statesman article on last night's events is being updated as more is learned about the murder.
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That's a shame. Does anyone else notice the tension between black people and brown people is growing rapidly?
mmm, something smells fishy...
Yall should know they're talking shit about you over on Houstonist.
Why do stupid people have to exist? Were they really that upset that they couldn't check to see if the kid was ok before killing someone else?
Moral: Stay away from East Austin on Juneteenth if you aint the right color.
Why didn't Chad from Nebraska hop off his fender bike and help this guy out?? Oh yeah, he was at the Longbranch Inn. Maybe next time.
Gee, a violent murder on the east side? NO WAY! Well..I guess it could have been over by Rutland too...
Gentrification sure is looking good now, huh?
This is a very sad story. I just don't see why the racial angle is being explored here. No one involved has mentioned race as a factor. Why are some of you so quick to bring it up?
*this comment has been removed for being crass and racist.*
Race was a factor according to the victim's sister. As he was being beaten the assailents were yelling "what are you doing here?", "this is our day." I'm sure if it was a brother in the car people would have been pissed, but nobody would have died. Get used to it on the east side. Blacks make up less than 10% of Austin's population; Hispanics make up 35-40%. It's a numbers game and the blacks are losing. Thay no longer have their legacy welfare to themselves. Hispanics are taking their welfare, public housing, free lunches, schools, ect. Its only going to get worse. The mostly Hispanic neighborhoods from the south side are pushing north and the yuppies are pushing in from west of I-35. Soon historic black neighboorhoods will be thoughly mixed with affluent whites and Hispanics who will work, all but forcing them out. Then what will Mr Linder and Rev. Lands have to say, because right now their silence deafing.
A review of a few stories on the local news yields the following:
1. The unfortunate beatdown occured in the parking lot of an apartment complex a few blocks from the Juneteenth celebration. The only reason why Juneteenth is mentioned is because the Austin cops thought someone coming back from the party may have seen something. The police press release was very misleading.
2. The "mob" left the scene of the crime in a Buick.
It's shitty. I hope they find the idiots that did it. But, it hardly qualifies as some kind of massive racial incident.
Looks like our local press blew it out of proportion and the national press and the losers who read Drudge ran with the "Juneteenth Mob Attack!" angle.
Um, Firefighter Dave, actually his sister said that she didn't think it was a racial incident. See the video of her interview at the Statesman. And, she didn't see the attack. A neighbor kid knocked on her door after it happened.
Given your attitude toward East Side, I sure hope you don't work for the City of Austin. If you do, I recommend you see if Vidor is hiring. You'll find a lot of folks down there who think like you.
To everyone who is saying the attack wasn't racially motivated, just look at the facts for a second. The victim's last name is Morales. It happened on the East side. And it was during a Juneteenth celebration. Connect the dots!
[/sarcasm]
Hambriq - those might be facts, but they don't actually prove a point other than the races of the parties involved. Until a witness (or suspect) comes forward with evidence of a racial motivation to the attack, I'm going to reserve judgment and keep my divisive comments to myself. My community seems to be divided and suspicious of one another enough already. I wish others would do the same.
This story has definitely jumped to the national news now, with the "racist mob" angle that 24 hour news channels use to scare up their anglo demographic. When the truth of who the attackers actually were comes out, nobody will care.
I've done an update post with more recent findings. There is still so much up in the air.
I was just asking if anyone had been noticing escalating tension between the two groups, because I certainly have, but hey - I could be nuts for all I know.
It makes sense to me. When you think about typical working class jobs that went to poor blacks and poor whites like construction and daycare and food service - a lot of those jobs are going to people from Mexico and below Mexico. On top of that, they get more praise and recognition for their hard work than blacks have traditionally gotten for their hard work. On the toppity top of that, there's the whole, "Who's had a harder time in America?" issue and there's the issue of people from another country being accepted and embraced a lot of times it seems by white culture way more than black culture is embraced. How many white faces do you see at a Cinco deMayo celebration compared to a Juneteenth celebration? How many fancy soul food restaurants exist in Austin compared to fancy Mexican restaurants?
But what do I know? I just ride the bus and shop at Big Lots and the HEB on Rundburg and Lamar and see working class black and white and brown people interacting everyday at my apartment complex.
I'm not saying this tragic incident was because of race. I'm just saying the atmosphere is getting tight and wondering if anyone else is noticing this since it's a pretty important issue to me personally.
Insightful comments ol'pappy. The civic's, city, and press will try to downplay the racial slant to this, but those of us who work the East side (aka The Gun and Knife Club) know better. I've been watching it simmer for the past two years, and its starting to come to a boil because of what I, and you commented on above. It's a numbers game and one side has a whole lot more. Simple Mathematical equation.
Well then, I guess me and you are the only two people that feel that tension between these two groups. That's a shame. I thought more people in Austin would be aware of this.
Or maybe I am just nuts. I hope that's the case.
Typical responses from territorial Gringos.
Tejans work hard for their wages, with few complaints and simple expectations. Best of all quality reigns in the work produced.
Ever seen stuff made by folks who have a simmering feeling they're "entitled" to have a better job than the shitty one they're working at? Then blame it on "slavery" gazilion years ago or simply on The White Man?
That's exactly the kind of resentment I'm talking about.
How can you be resentful from what society you are born into?
As a black person, I am laughing at this thread. Black people don't just talk about slavery or the white man. In fact (amongst ourselves -very missing in this long-winded comment line) we DON'T talk about slavery or THE WHITE MAN. Those are 1970s blaxploitation sound bites.
We do talk about what whites think about things, about us, how they communicate (and how we'd better understand, becuase socially, we are VERY different). Mentally, sometimes I feel like I am a British person listening to someone speaking Greek. I had to behaviorally and socially learn to understand. In the ghettos, blacks have only the stereotypes.
If you are not respected, at least you can be FEARED. It may not make any sense, but it's at least something those living in the box...many blacks have forsaken Austin long ago as a place of the white gentry. That's why many have moved to Houston (in particular) or Dallas where there is "culture". This Balkanization is scary, isn't it?