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So, who's to blame for last night's chaos at the State Fair?
Depends on which media outlet is doing the reporting.
WISN-TV, blaming “young people”:
FOX News 6/WITI, blaming a large and unruly crowd:
JSonline, targeting “large groups of youth”:
And then there's WTMJ, whose coverage will no doubt drive the conversation:
There's much more of this if you can bear it.
I'm sure that WTMJ will be playing this on an endless loop, just like they rehash and exploit any negative story about young black kids. Eric, the war vet who claimed the chaos was “100% racial,” is getting a lot of play in WTMJ's tweets this morning.
Now, I'm not saying that beating up people is an OK thing to do. Clearly it's not.
I'm not saying that it's wrong to point out that the instigators of last night's violence are primarily black, if that's indeed what happened.
But WTMJ's overtly race-baiting reporting is what they do, time and time again, exploiting the city's (and region's) racial tensions for ratings. And it's sickening.
I'm also waiting for the pro-concealed carry folks to come out of the woodwork to claim that none of this would have happened if fair-goers could pack heat. If you ask me, instead of a handful of people going to the hospital, concealed weapons just would have escalated the violence.
Authorities are going to hold a news conference momentarily, so we'll see what they have to say.
Depends on which media outlet is doing the reporting.
WISN-TV, blaming “young people”:
MILWAUKEE -- Local law enforcement agencies are investigating several incidents near State Fair Park late Thursday night.
Milwaukee police said that around 11:10 p.m., squads were sent to the area for reports of battery, fighting and property damage being caused by an unruly crowd of "hundreds" of people. One officer described it as a "mob beating."
Police said the group of young people attacked fairgoers who were leaving the fair grounds. Police said that some victims were attacked while walking. They said others were pulled out of cars and off of motorcycles before being beaten.
Milwaukee police said at least seven people were taken to area hospitals with non-life-threatening injuries. They said that number could go up as other responding agencies release information….
FOX News 6/WITI, blaming a large and unruly crowd:
Hundreds rampage through neighborhoods surrounding State Fair
Milwaukee and West Allis Police are investing a string of mob-like behavior involving a very large and unruly crowd near the Wisconsin State Fair Crowds Thursday night.
Several people were hurt and nearby cars and homes were damaged.
State Fair officials say several people were arrested inside the fairgrounds Thursday night after fights broke out at the midway. At closing time, those fights made their way outside the park.
Milwaukee Police say just after 11 p.m. Thursday they responded to complaints of an unruly mob attacking cars, people and leaving damage in its path.
Hundreds of young people left the fairgrounds and made their way down 84th Street and the surrounding neighborhoods, smashing car windows, throwing rocks and beating people who were leaving the fair.
Several people were punched in the face. A child was pushed to the ground….
JSonline, targeting “large groups of youth”:
Police begin probe into mob incidents at State Fair
Police from three jurisdictions - West Allis, Milwaukee and Wisconsin State Fair - are spending Friday morning piecing together a series of incidents late Thursday night at the Wisconsin State Fair in which large groups of youths rampaged through the midway and outside the grounds after closing. At least 24 were arrested, a State Fair official said.
Officials could not say what started what witnesses said was a series of racially charged incidents that apparently began as early as 7 p.m. in the midway. The midway is located just east of the Pettit National Ice Center and adjacent to the Hank Aaron Bike Trail.
Milwaukee police confirmed there were assaults outside the fair as the fair was closing down. The fair closes at 11 p.m.
A State Fair official said most of those arrested were cited for disorderly conduct.
Police at all three jurisdictions declined to provide additional information Friday morning about what happened, when and where. Police said they were gathering multiple reports from various locations at the fair in order to determine what may have set off the incidents and hoped to provide a fuller picture later Friday.
"There will be changes tonight with law enforcement," a State Fair official told the Journal Sentinel.
Witnesses told WTMJ-AM (620) that dozens to hundreds of young black people were beating white people as they left the fair late Thursday night. Patrice Harris, a spokeswoman for the fair, said a police alert she was given indicated four people were hurt.
And then there's WTMJ, whose coverage will no doubt drive the conversation:
Witnesses describe mobs, some people claim racially-charged attacks
WEST ALLIS - Witnesses tell Newsradio 620 WTMJ and TODAY'S TMJ4 of a mob of young people attacking innocent fair-goers at the end of the opening night of State Fair, with some callers claiming a racially-charged scene.
Milwaukee Police confirmed there were assaults outside the fair. Witnesses' accounts claim everything from dozens to hundreds of young black people beating white people as they left State Fair Thursday night.
Authorities have not given official estimates of the number of people involved in the attacks.
"It looked like they were just going after white guys, white people," said Norb Roffers of Wind Lake in an interview with Newsradio 620 WTMJ. He left the State Fair Entrance near the corner of South 84th Street and West Schlinger Avenue in West Allis.
"They were attacking everybody for no reason whatsoever."
"It was 100% racial," claimed Eric, an Iraq war veteran from St. Francis who says young people beat on his car.
"I had a black couple on my right side, and these black kids were running in between all the cars, and they were pounding on my doors and trying to open up doors on my car, and they didn't do one thing to this black couple that was in this car next to us. They just kept walking right past their car. They were looking in everybody's windshield as they were running by, seeing who was white and who was black. Guarantee it."
Eric, a war veteran, said that the scene he saw Thursday outside State Fair compares to what he saw in combat.
"That rated right up there with it. When I saw the amount of kids coming down the road, all I kept thinking was, 'There's not enough cops to handle this.' There's no way. It would have taken the National Guard to control the number of kids that were coming off the road. They were knocking people off their motorcycles."
Another witness, who asked to remain anonymous, said, "it was like a scene you needed the National Guard to control."
"To me, it looked like a scene out of a movie," claimed the anonymous witness.
"I have not seen anything like this in my life. It was a huge mob, and it was a fight that maybe lasted one to two minutes."
There's much more of this if you can bear it.
I'm sure that WTMJ will be playing this on an endless loop, just like they rehash and exploit any negative story about young black kids. Eric, the war vet who claimed the chaos was “100% racial,” is getting a lot of play in WTMJ's tweets this morning.
Now, I'm not saying that beating up people is an OK thing to do. Clearly it's not.
I'm not saying that it's wrong to point out that the instigators of last night's violence are primarily black, if that's indeed what happened.
But WTMJ's overtly race-baiting reporting is what they do, time and time again, exploiting the city's (and region's) racial tensions for ratings. And it's sickening.
I'm also waiting for the pro-concealed carry folks to come out of the woodwork to claim that none of this would have happened if fair-goers could pack heat. If you ask me, instead of a handful of people going to the hospital, concealed weapons just would have escalated the violence.
Authorities are going to hold a news conference momentarily, so we'll see what they have to say.
