Credit KICKASS TKC TIPSTERS who warned of increasing Plaza Violence back on April 5th . . . Today, one of these vigilant members of the citizen media offers some perspective on Kansas City's Media's Flash Mob obsession, loose connections and false assertions circulating in local media regarding recent Plaza Violence.
ALTERNATE TITLE: TKC TIPSTERS TOLD YOU SO!!!
I'd like to quote one a rather AWESOME TKC TIPSTER who really deserves all the credit:
"Tony, I have never considered false humility your strong suit. You are letting the rest of the media off the hook far too easy here. I keep hearing about the concept of a "flash mob" which implies a random one time occurrence. This is completely invalidated by the fact it has been going on for weeks and you reported on the story the week before when it happened. This is clearly not a flash mob, this is a trend of kids gathering at the cool place to be on Saturday night. Social networking didn't create a flash mob. I think it is more like a nightclub or restaurant getting more popular by the week as trendy people mention that it is the place to be via facebook and twitter.
This is where I think you are almost obliged to get on your platform and point out that the flash mob excuse is purely the media and KCPD's means of excusing not covering the prior weeks activities and being prepared. The fact that no major media reported on it the week before is evidence in my opinion of their role as willing accomplices in covering up crime on the Plaza until they could not avoid reporting on it. You were the only outlet covering the story that they still are pretending didn't exist. The flash mob excuse is their way of trying to get off the hook. Take a bow and put the local talking heads in their place."
TKC TIPSTERS are part of the citizen media and without them this blog is nothing but dopey opinion and bikini photos . . . Still, the author of this e-mail is right in nothing that TKC is dedicated to an open discourse of Kansas City civic issues and this kind of forum is much more accurate in getting to the center of what's happening on the ground level in Kansas City rather than depending on so many newsies living/hiding in JoCo and trying to connect their reporting to cable news fodder. Natch.
LINKS:
Alonzo Washington: Talking to some teens about the Plaza! Rumors of a mid-week gathering.
Are there really race riots on the Plaza?
Police: Social Media Helped Plaza Gathering Gain Momentum
Police release full report on Plaza rowdiness
KC police brace for return of unruly youths to Plaza
Last weekend's "Glee" flashmob in Seattle was wonderful--why can't we do cool stuff in KC? Is violence our only form of creativity?
ReplyDeleteThe cops are a little late.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to the Plaza to eat out anytime soon. Who want to spend a lot of money while the area is surrounded by cops? Not much of an atmosphere.
What's funny is how everyone else knew but not the police.
ReplyDeleteThey only "react" after the cow is out of the barn.
Alonzo is doing a much better job of getting a handle on this than KCPD.
ReplyDeleteAt least he's meeting with the youth trying to find out what's going on.
The Police in the mean time are creating a barrier wall.... been tried before and won't work.
Alonzo is doing a much better job of getting a handle on this than KCPD.
ReplyDeleteAt least he's meeting with the youth trying to find out what's going on.
The Police in the mean time are creating a barrier wall.... been tried before and won't work.
And we wonder why the KCP&L have dress code requirements. Bannister Mall Dead. Westport on life support. Ward Parkway on life support. Next up...the Plaza. The african american community needs leadership and accountability...not excuses.
ReplyDeleteThis is what happens when you have an incompetent Mayor and absentee civic and business community. The cops feel no pressure to perform since everyone will blame the clueless mayor anyway. And Kansas City continues its sad, sad decline.
ReplyDeleteBlaming the mayor and the cops and the schools completely lets those urchins' and their parents off the hook.
ReplyDeleteRadioman KC: You are absolutely right!
ReplyDeleteCan we all just be honest enough to recognize that what has happened is not the result of police failure (yet), but of the failure of black parents/leaders to raise their kids to respect minimal social norms?
"Its just kids"? REALLY?
I was a kid; and although I wasn't perfect, and was occasionally did things I knew I wasn't supposed to do,I don't recall EVER stampeding through a commercial center with hundreds of other kids, blocking exits, physically attacking and robbing mid-aged and older people. Never threw a girl with a prom dress into a fountain, never ONCE picked up a pipe to hit someone in the head.
Let's quit with the intellectually dishonest chicken-shit excuses!
AND TONY -- Act like an adult; quit celebrating such mindless violence, just because its "white people being attacked. ASSHOLE!
Attention anyone who participates in or uses the term "flash mob": 2005 called. They want their meme back.
ReplyDeleteWise words from Radioman. And Tony, what's your constant beef with JoCo? Savvy, streetwise people live here, too. Just because we demand responsible behavior and accountability from others doesn't mean we are narrow-minded, get all our news from cable, or have our heads in the sand.
ReplyDeleteMaybe next week all the "urban youth" ought to attempt a giant Hammertime dance on the plaza and then the white folks will think it's cute.
ReplyDeleteI've not heard of any city that has a "Teen Land" for their entire high school age population to be entertained at. I grew up here in midtown, and we never all wanted to hang out where the adults were. We did go to Loose so much they created a curfew there.
ReplyDeleteSince it seems all youth really want to do is stare down on the device in their hands and twitter, maybe Parks & Rec could gather all the park benches in one location and the youth of KC could assemble boggle-eyed in a nice electronic haze.
But I guess that already happens in "school."
This whole thing has brought out typical overreactions by Kansas Citians. Let the teens hang out where they want to. They have every right to gather on the Plaza or anywhere else. Let's not penalize teens for the behavior of a few, which by the way is behavior that has been going on among teens for decades around here.
ReplyDeletePeople aren't going to patronize the Plaza because of this? Go ahead. Some of us wouldn't mind seeing the yuppie chain stores there lose customers. Doing stuff around the Plaza is going to be safe even if some teen riot is going on, but go ahead, succumb to the stupid hysteria.
Prediction: Other factors will come into play this weekend. In addition to whatever younger thugs return, you'll have an older - meaner and much more dangerous element decend on the District. Instead of directionless students there'll be the "they aint gonna stop us" mentality. You'll also have loads of thrill seekers down there to observe and report back "I was there". Also be on the lookout for Al Brooks (Good Guy - hope he doesn't get hurt) trying to add reason, Carol Coe (pontificating/inflaming), and Art Benson (with ACLU compadres) soaking it all in. See you at Ringside.
ReplyDeleteHey 11:17 go to footage on the TV sites and tell us this was just "hanging out". Before you drown on the Koolaid.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know how to contact Mr. Al Brooks ? I heard he is a Police Commissioner but the Police website does not show him as a commissioner.
ReplyDeleteIs Alvin Brooks a Police Commissioner or have I been misinformed? Thank you.
11:17 I AGREE! Oh, let's all just get along. Let those poor bored under privileged children have the Plaza. We don't need high class, snooty shopping districts like that anyway. A teen club on the Plaza would show the world how much we all care about our youth. Empty store space can be occupied by hair and nail salons, tattoo parlors, payday loans,thrift shops, Dollar General stores and the like. Things REAL everyday people of diversity in the city need!
ReplyDeleteThere are plenty of things for young people to do in this city, so don't give the old adage about the kids having "nothing to do." Even if there wasn't anything to do, that is no justification for congregating at the Plaza or anyplace else and causing trouble. From what I understand about the low high school graduation rate in KC, maybe they should have been home doing their homework. And what about all the trash blowing around residential streets in KC? And all the graffiti on every building? Maybe they ought to spend a little time cleaning those things up. Then they'd be tired and they could just stay at home and watch TV at night like the rest of us.
ReplyDeleteThese people should hang out in their own neighborhoods and not ruin the rest of this city for everyone else.
ReplyDeleteOf course, when I say that, people complain they don't have any of the nice things (or anything) like Ward Parkway or the Plaza (or JOCO where a bunch of the middle class people moved to get away from this kind of thing) in their neighborhoods.
But, they fail to acknowledge that they don't have those things in their neighborhoods because everything they had or try to have ends up abandoned, stolen or destroyed by THEMSELVES.
Maybe these teens should protest back home about the lack of normal society in their own neighborhoods and force their parents, friends and neighbors to take responsibility for themselves, their actions, and their community. That is the only way things are going to get better for them at home.
Who in their right mind who doesn't live on the east side would want build anything on the other side of troost (besides boost mobile and check'n to cash), when teens from those neighborhoods can't even come over to the Plaza and act decently?
I live closer to the plaza than most of those teens do, and I don't plan on letting them ruin what I consider part of my neighborhood with thugary.
I can already hear the cries of racism when one of these trouble makers gets what they deserve for being disrespectful. Not everyone is going to let someone push them around.
Mr. Washington seems to have ideas about how to speak to these teens. Hopefully he can engage them and turn their anger towards helping themselves, and not ruining what other people worked hard to build.
Let me repeat that "WORKED HARD TO BUILD." Life ain't easy kids.
I think that if black teens want to go to the Plaza then let them. The Plaza is not just for white people.
ReplyDeleteDon't punish people because their black, punish those who interfere with the rights of others. Unfortunately the police will be profiling every young black person on the Plaza from here on.
Black people should all show up and shop on the Plaza this is the same kind of intimidation used in the 1960's when the Little Rock, Ark. governor denied access of blacks to public schools.
ReplyDeleteI'm Black, I'm a US citizen and I will shop where I want to.
I'm sure that anyone who acts decently is welcome at the Plaza. The problem is that these people weren't acting decently. Their race is irrelevant.
ReplyDeleteAs someone else said, it is true that the kids probably don't have nice things like the Plaza in their neighborhoods. But whose fault is that? Go to many neighborhoods in KC, look at all the trash, junk and graffiti. Many of the people living in these neighborhoods have absolutely no pride. It doesn't cost anything to bend over and pick up the trash.
DEar Mr. Tony: Well, judging by the comments on your blog, lots of passion on the issue of the Plaza riot!! Memo to all of the hotheads in the city of whatever race: Over the weekend I talked to a former student of mine who was a soldier who helped restore order in Los Angeles in 1992 in that city's terrible riot in which 52 people died. He later served in Iraq, where he was decorated several times for bravery under fire. He made a comment that all of the hotheads in this city need to hear: "Doc, it is always the ones who have never seen it who are the most eager for it." Sincerely, Respectfully and In Christ, Ernest Evans
ReplyDeleteAs a black man I will be at the Plaza This weekend. No one will tell me what part of town that i am allowed in. So you will see me a black man at the PLAZA this weekend.
ReplyDeleteTO All the threats on this site.
I WILL BE AT THE PLAZA !!!!
Subpoenas for some of these jokers' cell phones would reveal the extent of the flash mob aspect. Hope that's going on as we speak ...
ReplyDeleteOops, I meant "cell phone records" above.
ReplyDeleteJoCo is a seething sh*thole composed of people too lazy and racist to stay and work to make a difference in the City so they fled. That said, the "kids" who caused the issues on the Plaza, and their parents are to blame. Put down the 40, get off your ass and take an interest in your kids. Stop blaming the "lack of gathering places" and the cops. there really shouldn't be a place for hundreds of kids to gather en masse at 2am. GO HOME, gather with a small group and hang out.
ReplyDeleteGO Home ?
ReplyDeleteKansas City is my home I as a black man I will go anyway in Kansas city,
My Home IS Kansas City. Not a bunch of city blocks that white folks think I should stay in.
You're too late, Tony. This story moved too fast for you and you got run over. You'll have to wait to catch the next racist train....
ReplyDeleteI didn't 'flight' from KC. I chose the JoCo when moving from another location. I had a choice, and didn't 'flee' from KCMO. HOWEVER, I did decide that KCMO was no where in the picture for my family, given the KCMO schools.
ReplyDeleteLet's take a look at mob mentality was well. Sometimes even ordinary kids can get caught up in this even when they are not the instigators. There was an old episode of "The Practice" that dealt with this issue. Here is more information:
ReplyDeleteHere's an excellent link:
http://everything2.com/title/Mob+mentality%253A+The+good%252C+the+bad%252C+and+the+just+plain+silly
And another:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-mob-mentality.htm
Hmm the first link got cut short, so I ran it through tinyurl:
ReplyDeletehttp://tiny.cc/01agm
If all the black people are going to the plaza this weekend to protest white people getting mad at unruly teens, I'm going to Prospect where it might be nice for a change.
ReplyDeleteI say all the white teens should go and act like thugs on the east side, see how those folks like having kids causing trouble all up in their hood.
ReplyDeleteThis is about people behaving badly, not about a bunch of black people on the plaza.
ReplyDeleteAnyone ever been to westport on a weekend night? Plenty of people of all colors, no one cares as long as they are behaving.
I say arrest all the teens if they come back to cause more problems and make their parents pay for their mistakes.
Anon 1:04p... GO HOME is not a reference to KC or to a certain neighborhood. Teens and pre-teens should be in their actual homes or friends homes late at night, not causing trouble, anywhere. I don't care if it is east, west or in any hood. I don't care what color the kids are.
ReplyDeleteI say let the black people come on down to the plaza and "claim" it for the weekend (since when have black people not been welcome there, seriously?).
ReplyDeleteWhy stop at the plaza though? They should go straight to Town Center and show this metro community they they have the right to loiter anywhere they want.
You white people crack me up you have a small incident at the Plaza...now your crying, but you forget your history of slavery, broken treaties with the American Indian.
ReplyDeleteThat was OK for white people.
Ok white man I'll be at the Plaza you bring your concealed carry, your wood chippers and all the other threats you have made on this site.
Because the black man will be at the Plaza too.
The black man will be shopping on the PLAZA this weekend!!!!!
ReplyDeleteTo all the African Americans posting in this thread about coming down to the Plaza this weekend, I have one thought as a server on the Plaza. Please Do!!!! Please???? This is going to hurt business as suburbanites are scared by news reports. Come on down, have dinner, do some shopping, we want you here. Right now, we need you here.
ReplyDeleteI think you will find two things to be true (from the perspective of someone who has been down there for every week so far):
First: You will be welcomed with open arms. The people who work on The Plaza (unlike the people commenting in mass here) know this is not an issue of race. Patrons regardless of color are welcomed here. The idea has lingered far too long that the Plaza is not welcoming to black people. This notion is one that has cost businesses on the Plaza money for years. Please come Saturday or any time.
Second: Be prepared to be annoyed. This really isn't about race. This is about young brats being young brats. They might harass white people about being white, but they will harass you just as much on a different topic. My patrons of both colors were equally annoyed and outraged. Coworkers of both colors were harassed walking down the streets. They don't care about your color when they jump out in front of your car or disturb your meal by banging on the restaurant windows.
This isn't about race. Anyone going to the Plaza with no intent of disturbing anyone else is always welcome. Come take a look. I don't think you will find yourself annoyed with the group regardless of their color.
Run, the black man will be at the plaza!!
ReplyDeleteDon't stay after dark or you can't see them coming.
You know where I will be this weekend?
ReplyDeleteNot giving a shit about this.
1:50: Racist much? THIS white person's family has NO history of owning slaves. And you need to read up on your history; black people owned slaves too, in fact:
ReplyDelete"In 1860 there were at least six Negroes in Louisiana who each owned 65 or more slaves. The largest number, 152 slaves, were owned by the widow C. Richards and her son P.C. Richards, who owned a large sugar cane plantation. Another Negro slave magnate in Louisiana, with over 100 slaves, was Antoine Dubuclet, a sugar planter "
"In Charleston, South Carolina in 1860 125 free Negroes owned slaves; six of them owning 10 or more. Of the $1.5 million in taxable property owned by free Negroes in Charleston, more than $300,000 represented slave holdings (5). In North Carolina 69 free Negroes were slave owners (6)."
Read more at:
http://americancivilwar.com/authors/black_slaveowners.htm
Hmmm. Interesting eh?
Plaza Server: most of the people that are trying to MAKE this about race are not the white people. And very few white people I know see this as a race issue.
ReplyDeleteWhat is wrong with people today... For all the black individuals claiming this is racist behavior, are you serious? Are you trying to say that that's black behavior and it should be excused? stop playing the race card, I live in midtown many races of people live here and coexist peacefully, many fine black people shop on the plaza but if hundreds of juvenile delinquents want to cause issues keep yourselves on the east side where it has already gone to hell the people that choose to live in the urban core do so because we cherish diversity and culture but our safe area keeps shrinking due to poor parenting and people not being held accountable for their actions. If you cant take care of your children stop reproducing like rabbits, the plaza is not your daycare. Also when you get older if you cant afford to get into the club don't hang out in the sunfresh parking lot... get a job... get some manners... then join society :) (that goes for all races genders and sexual orientations fyi)
ReplyDeleteI have no intention of making a scene nor disturbing anyone, but to tell blacks they have to stay in a certain part of town is racist.
ReplyDeleteNo one wants anything more than a peaceful Kansas City. I live here Kansas City is my home. But some of the comments made here cannot go un-responded. I WILL SHOP WHERE i WANT REGARDLESS OF THE COLOR OF MY SKIN.
1:58 I think the race baiting occurs on both sides. Plenty of people blaming this on them being black rather than on them being young jerks trying to look cool. Anyone who sees it first hand will see it for what it is. I don't think the outcome would be any different if it was 700 white kids causing the same problems. I don't think the police would act differently. I just think anonymous people on the internet would lack a reason to let their own personal beliefs influence their reaction to the story.
ReplyDeleteWaaa, waaa. I'm a black man. society is keeping me down, telling me I can't let my kids act like thugs. waaa, waaa.
ReplyDeleteAs a white man, can someone please tell me if the Plaza is going to be a safe place for a Negroe-Free evening this weekend?
ReplyDeleteIt's not race. It's culture. Its the culture that doesn't marry and then have children and raise them reasonably.
ReplyDeleteAnd keep their 14 year olds from not roaming around the city unsupervised.
I think the kids need to be arrested next time, and held for parents to find a way downtown to pick them up and post a hundred dollar bond.
And require parental appearance in juvie court. You can also assume this won't be their LAST run in with the law.
And the guy who quoted a handful of black slave owners documented in America history? What a waste of bandwidth THAT msg was. Statistics do tell the tale.
When I was young, my great aunt who taught English and Latin at Westport HS, lived at 43rd and Troost, across from Bancroft Grade school. Scene of a murder last night.
Yes the neighborhood has changed in fifty years. It may not be politically correct to say how it's changed outloud, but the facts do speak for themselves.
The only real debate here is why SO MANY urban blacks after puberty act like such animals?
I do know the SUBurban blacks after puberty don't act that way.
Hi Chet
ReplyDeleteI'm black come on down to the Plaza and enjoy your evening.
Black people shop and eat at the Plaza too. But no it won't be "negro free" you'll have to share the Plaza with black shoppers and diners too.
2:05........SHUT UP ALONZO!!
ReplyDelete2:05 is not Alzonzo.
ReplyDeleteAlzono can and will speak for himself. He does not need me.
Race aside, I certainly hope the kids acting thuggish and wildin' this weekend will choose to gather at Prairie Village Shops, Town Center or on 135th street. That would be ideal. Thank you.
ReplyDeleteAs for 2:05: It isn't Alonzo as it is not in all caps and filled with incomplete sentences and KCK edumacation spelling.
ReplyDeleteThe police knew. That's why they were down there in the first place.
ReplyDeleteIm a junior at Westport High n i can tell u dat we comin this weekend too- watch out white people. We got a bounty too, da first person to punch sum cracker bitc in da face gets 200 dollars
ReplyDeleteimma gettin dat cheddar
I have seen very few 'intelligent' comments that said nonwhite races of ANY type are unwelcome on the plaza. What ISN"T welcomed is bad behavior by any race or age or sex.
ReplyDeleteI don't get it, since when did the Plaza have a Popeyes restaurant and a Fubu store? Why not hang out at 18th and Vine which I am told is worth millions of dollars worth of additional public assistance and funding? Take some pride in yourselves and police your owm.
ReplyDeleteSSB made the comment in this morning's Star that teens need something to do and someplace to go. I suggest we quit using that excuse - I've heard it for over 40 years - "the kids have nowhere to go". That's crap - I hung out as a kid, went to movies, grabbed a burger, hit the malls, cruised, etc and didn't cause this kind of grief. It's all about personal responsibility and self-respect - the kids out in western KS sure as heck don't have anywhere to go, but we don't see them acting like fools on a mass scale.
ReplyDeleteAgree.
ReplyDeleteLet's call it what it is... black domestic terrorist targeting innocent white people. These thugs need to be put down hard.
ReplyDeleteIf the Kansas City police cannot keep this city safe, then I say bring in the national guard. These kids are the scum of this earth praying on people who have nothing to do with their pathetic existence.
Plaza server: You are not a server. If you were you would not want a section full of black people (or a single one for that matter). I know because I used to be one. The last thing a server wants is a table full of black people. I have had fellow servers who are black tell me this. It is because they one-time the shit out of you and do not tip. Everybody knows this in the industry. Oprah even admitted to tipping three times as much because she knows black people don't tip. Servers have a name for black people so they can bitch about it in front of them without them knowing. I won't say what it is though because it's hilarious and I don't want to give it away. Seriously, 60 kids beating the shit out of a guy and his wife? I hope at least one of these shitskins takes a bullet right between the eyes.
ReplyDeleteThis issue isn't about not allowing black people to shop on the Plaza. It's about a mob of crazy ghetto trash all going there to cause trouble. These juvenile delinguents aren't interested in shopping or eating in the Plaza's restaurants. They're only motive is to cause fear and panic in every patron and business owner there regardless of color.
ReplyDeletethe term for niggers in your section is canadians
ReplyDeleteYou weren't supposed to give it away!
ReplyDelete~ anonymous, wow is all I can say. I am black, I work at a restaurant in Leawood and I grew up in the inner city. Frankly I'm appalled by everyone's behavior. There is no excuse for the behavior of these kids bottom line. But lets not act like racial profiling no longer exist and its just all in our heads. I see it everyday at work.
ReplyDeleteTo the kid from Westport however, I just want to say Why Baby, Why. There are soon many of usi working hard to try to make a way for you. Don't set us back. I have volunteered as a mentor in the city for years but we cant help you if your locked up.
i have not read a single thing saying that the city plans on enforcing a curfew for BLACK teens? white kids aren't going to be allowed down there past 9 either, if the curfew does go into effect. i don't know why you guys think that only black kids are causing problems on the plaza, i've personally seen a ton of white kids being way more obnoxious and out of control. yeah, the ones getting news coverage may be black, but when has it ever not been obvious that the news focuses on that kind of thing?
ReplyDeletei think the plaza is welcoming to all races, but if you're a teenager of any race you have no reason to be at the plaza past 9pm anyway. you can't go to the bars, and the stores are closed by then. find something else to do, and if you do chose to shop there during the day, quit causing such a ruckus that we would even need to address the issue.