Monday, April 06, 2015

After Kentucky’s loss: fires, fights and arrests

From the Wichita Eagle:

On State Street, which had been the epicenter of previous post-game celebrations, downcast expressions and stunned silence quickly gave way to chants of "(expletive) Wisconsin."

Bottles were thrown into the air and fires were set and quickly extinguished by firefighters, who asked for police escorts into the rowdy crowd.

There were several reports of assaults, and fights, and reports of people with minor injuries, such as facial lacerations, a head injury and a foot injury from broken glass.

City officials said 29 people had been arrested, and at least three people had been taken to the hospital. The city said police used pepper spray to break up some fights, and the city brought street sweepers in to defuse the crowd around 2 a.m. City officials described the crowd as "rowdy, and at times hostile."


More here.

Anybody who knows me knows that I'm not usually one to criticize anybody's freedom of expression or political speech, I mean, criticize their right to do it, instead of the content of the expression. But this thing in Kentucky is quite something else. I just don't understand why these people would set fire to their own community, why they would engage in assault and vandalism. Yes, speaking out on important issues is, well, important, but I think what these people are doing is just turning off anybody who might be sympathetic to their message. And, you know...

...wait, these people are WHITE?!? And it's about sports, not politics?!?

Never mind. This is just fine. Everybody move along. Nothing worth talking about here. No problem at all.

(Yes, I'm being sarcastic.)

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