Why Waco Isn't Baltimore

Stereotyping Police Responses to Violence Doesn't Prove Anything

Comparing the Baltimore and Ferguson Riots to What Happened in Waco is Reaching

Evelyn Smith

As a native Wacoan, I'd like to answer those journalists who are trying to equate the timely and effective response of the Waco Police to the Banditos and Cossacks motorcycle gangs' gunfight at the Twin Peaks Restaurant and Bar last Sunday with institutional racism since most of the bikers were white and Hispanic-Americans. However, comparing the riots that resulted after the deaths of Michael Brown and Freddie Gray in Ferguson and Baltimore to what happened  in Waco is simply trying too hard to find a racial context for every violent situation.

The bikers' meeting at Twin Peaks in Waco took place because the restaurant was located in an easily accessible location on Interstate 35, which runs from the Oklahoma border through the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex and on to Austin and San Antonio, and South to the Rio Grande Valley and Mexico. I-35 is also a major artery for the transportation of illegal drugs.

Twin Peaks is also part of an outlet mall adjacent to an Interstate. No residential neighborhoods are nearby the Central Texas Marketplace. When other Waco restaurants, like Cheddars, saw a lot of bikers heading for their establishments, managers closed their doors. Similarly, a local Walmart also closed when bikers started to congregate in its parking lot.

Waco's population is more evenly distributed between the races than Baltimore's is: Hispanics make up about 24 percent of the population; African-Americans make up about 23 percent of the population, and whites make up about 46 percent of the population of Waco (about 129,000; metro area about 235,000). Admittedly, more minorities live in Waco itself than in its well-heeled and working class suburbs, and the students in the Waco ISD are primarily Hispanic and African-American.  Baltimore is 64 percent African American, 30 percent white, and 4 percent Hispanic.

Most locals don't hang out at Twin Peaks particularly on a Sunday at noon—about the time churches are finishing up their services, so it's probably relatively rare to hear, “Come on, Ma, let's take the kids to see the scantily-clad waitresses at that biker bar.”

Wacoans are particularly sensitive to the “Wackos from Waco” label.  By the way, the Branch Davidians compound was 25 miles East of Waco in Elm Mott, so the Waco Police weren't involved.   Moreover, most Texans haven't been particularly happy with the stereotyping of their state since the Kennedy assassination in Dallas in November 1963.

Judging by a survey of articles published this week in the Waco Tribune Herald and reports on local TV stations, Waco citizens wholeheartedly support the Waco Police Department and applaud their efforts.  Incidentally, the McLennan County District Attorney, Abel Reyna, is Hispanic.

Faced with gun-toting, sharp-shooting cops, after the shooting stopped, the middle-aged bikers, who seem to be mostly either white or Hispanic, were smart enough not to challenge the police any further.  Age does confer a certain amount of wisdom.

Most Waco citizens don't have a secret hankering to join an outlaw biker gang, even if Hollywood has romanticized the outlaw biker lifestyle. About the only time most Waco citizens are likely to encounter motorcycle clubs is during the annual biker pickup of toys for Mission Waco during the Christmas season when bikers collect toys from local congregations.

Waco Police spokesman (not  the more politically-correct spokesperson) Sergeant Patrick Swanton says, “Y'all” for the plural of you or you guys. Along the same lines, most Wacoans whatever their economic, racial makeup, or gender say "ma'am" and “sir” without thinking. Waco is Southern as well as Southwestern. One of Waco's nicknames is also “Jerusalem on the Brazos”, which means the visitor is more likely to find more churches than bars here, although here too like the rest of the United States church attendance is shrinking.

The Texas Rangers have a headquarters in Waco (also on I-35 near Baylor University), which brings to mind the saying, “One ranger, one riot” along with the idea that even the roughest bikers doesn't want to mess with 18 Waco cops.