| 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.
