AC Transit bus fight

Fascinating is not a word most would use to describe the now famous "AC Transit fight" and the subsequent discussion and analysis. But I would.

Especially the discussion and analysis. It's fascinating what people do not see when blinded by passion - even if it's right under their nose. Passion in this case being prejudice (racial and otherwise).

"The truth" is of course not a simple matter of one person being right, the other wrong "and here's the proof." It's much more interesting than that.

Both of the guys in this fight were wrong.

For those who have not seen it, here is a quick synopsis. A black and white man are arguing on a bus and their is a racial overtone to the argument. The white man walks away, sits down at the front of the bus. Words continue to be exchanged and the black man walks to the front to confront the white man, throws a punch, is counter attached and beaten up.

If that was all there was to it it would not be very interesting.

The white man is 67 (or so he says) and the black man is much younger.

Looks like a young black thug gets beaten up by an older white man who was just defending himself and it's an open and shut case, right?

Of course there is much more to it - and that's what makes it an interesting a story. The black man is hardly blameless but the story is just beginning.

If you haven't already watched it, please do so now. The url is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQJFv9SMSMQ&feature=PlayList&p=F5A1728DEE29C0EE&index=0&playnext=1

Notice that we don't see how the discussion started. The argument is already under way at the start of the clip. But if you look closely you pick up something pretty important that starts to change how you must look at the situation. The white man asks "what did you just say when you walked by me" and then a few seconds later the black man says "take your ass back up there and get the fuck out of my face right now", and then repeats it. The white man walks back to the front of the bus and sits down. Sits down where he was clearly sitting before.

That means the white man must have followed the black man to his seat after the black man walked past him after getting on the bus.

Otherwise their conversation makes no sense.

It had to have happened in roughly this way: the white man was already on the bus, sitting at the front when the black guy got on. Words were exchanged as the black guy walked past and then the white guy got up, followed the black man to his seat and sat down opposite him. Go back and watch the video again. Pay close attention to the words. Many analysts of this situation talk about how the white guy "walked away" and hence the black guy was the aggressor. Totally wrong. The white guy got up from his seat in the first place and followed the black guy to his and confronted him there. True, you didn't see that on the video but you can clearly tell. Unless you really want to see this story follow the "black criminal/white hero" narrative.

Now watch the beginning again and focus on how the black man pulls his bag close to him. Watch how he turns to the side and tries to face away from the white guy. Watch the white guy leaning over and talking much louder than the black guy. Notice how the white man stares down the black guy. His stare does not deviate and is very intense. The white guy is clearly trying to provoke the black guy. He is clearly picking a fight. He succeeds.

The next important point is a single word: "spit." Specifically, "how much you charge me for a spit shine." Not only is there a provocative racial element in that statement but a sexual overtone as well. "Give me a spit shine" is really equivalent to "lick my boots". Spit is a bodily fluid.

It seems likely that the initial dialog went down somewhat like this:
white guy: "hey how much would you charge to spit shine my shoes" (probably really loud so everyone on the bus could hear).
black guy: "what the fuck did you just say?"
white guy: "I'm going to a funeral and need to look real good, so how much would you charge to spit shine my shoes." (the white guy talks about a funeral later in the clip.)
black guy: "I'll spit shine your shoes when hell freezes over".

It's not plausible that a black man (or any man) would would offer to "spit shine" someones shoes out of the blue unless in the context of some sort of homosexual advance. Clearly that is not what was going on here.

The black mans "offer" was clearly along the lines of "I'll spit shine your shoes when hell freezes over".

The 67 year old white guy is the instigator here, not the victim. He is a predator.

67 years old or not, notice how quickly he disposes of the black man in the fight. Notice how big and strong he is. Notice the quick decisive left hand right off the bat - a direct hit. And subsequent sharp short punches that pretty much all find the mark. This is a man who knows how to fight. In contrast look at the so called "punch" thrown by the black man. That is not the punch of a man who wants to fight or even knows how to fight. It's a somewhat pathetic patty-cake thrown by a man who felt he had to "do something", felt backed in a corner and lost his composure. Notice how the white man easily blocks this initial "punch". He does it so effectively because he has been here before. He's been in a lot of fights and is clearly orchestrating the action. He has picked his victim out well in this case. The other man is much smaller than him and is intoxicated. I'm sure he could tell the other man was intoxicated. Also, the black man has a certain look to him. Corn cobs. Sunglasses. No one will side with him.

Smaller, weaker, black and intoxicated. A perfect victim.

But the feedback on the Internet and via call-ins to radio stations is heavily in favor of the white guy who has been deemed "Epic Beard Man" (EBM) and is generally against the black man who has been deemed "Tyrone". Much of the feedback supporting Epic Beard Man is overtly racist. See this for starters:
just see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egToL0RZJH0 for starters.

It's quite sad and disturbing to see how much racism and hate remains. Look at the other You-tube clips of "analysis" of this situation. Look at the comments. Notice how much delight there is in seeing a black man "put in his place." Most people who see the clip see the black man as the aggressor and I think they see it that way because they see black men in general as aggressors, in general as criminal. In general deserving whatever they get. "Tyrone" is proxy. But things about this situation that jump out at you if you have your eyes open are just utterly ignored when you have the "black men are criminals and violent" narrative going in your head. Many people are projecting their own racial animosity into this black man. Some of the white people siding with the white man are the types who would call Obama "racist" in the next breath. But remember, the start of this was the white man asking the black guy to "spit shine" his shoes.

EBM has even been elevated to hero status by some. People are making web sites glorifying him, they are making posters of him, t-shirts with his image on it. Radio stations are interviewing him. "Tyrone" is mocked and disbelieved. What "EBM" has said about it has pretty much been taken at face value.

EBM clearly has mental problems. Big problems. That is not obvious in the "fight" clip but it is if you see other videos of him or read about him. He has difficulty controlling his emotions - specifically his anger. He gets into fights regularly. He is a very dysfunctional and violent person, having spent 14 years in prison.

This seems irrelevant to much his fan base many who do acknowledge that he "has problems" but nonetheless give him kudos for "what he did". He knows how to play on racial stereotypes, accusing "Tyrone" of all sorts of horrible crimes - that it turns out are invented. In EBC's rants you can clearly see insanity: paranoia, delusions, confused thoughts. Yet the blogeratti have not just sided with him but many are even putting him on a pedestal. The word "hero" has been bandied about by an Oakland radio station. They are seeing what they want to see facts be damned.

Amazingly, many young aggressive/confident black men have chimed in in favor of EBM and against "Tyrone" who is mocked, derided and deemed fully deserving of the beating.

"Tyrone" turns out to be "Michael" and he goes on the air on Wild 94.9 in Oakland and turns out to be well spoken. He issues an apology. Apologizes to AC transit, apologizes to everyone on the bus. He admits being intoxicated. It's clear that the interviewer is not sympathetic and you can tell that he supports EBM's version of the events, not Michael's. The interviewer cuts Michael off as Michael is describes being baited by EBM and gives the listeners EBM's version: that Michael himself just offered to "spit shine" EBM's shoes. Does the interviewer ask himself why Michael would be angry about the discussion if he had "offered" the service to begin with? Does the interviewer realize how absurd that idea is. EBM is also interviewed by the same guy and his violent hateful rambling is generally approved of. You can see the whole clip here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4I1r3dhMUO4
As you can see, he issues no apology and just claims he was attacked. He projects anger and rage. The interviewer smiles and nods his approval. The interviewer does not press him about his violent record or 17 years in prison.

The blogosphere has utterly ignored this: the fact that the black man has apologized and conducted himself well in the days after the incident while the white man has continued with violent hateful rants and is looking for additional fights. The fact that the white man has clear mental problems and a violent streak is not really mentioned. The behavior of the two in the days after the fight just does not follow the narrative of the black criminal and the heroic white man standing up to it - and hence is ignored.

But what about all the young black men chiming in in support of the white guy. What about that. Race is on the face of it not the reason for their support. Are they stupid? Just fooled by the obviously absurd "official line?" I don't think so. There seems to be some delight, some visceral satisfaction coming from them as well. My theory is they are just predators (or wannabe predators) taking delight in the successful actions of a fellow predator.

Being a successful predator trumps race.

In America today in the minds of many the predator is what you want to be. For this group of people, if you succeed at it, it trumps all else - even mental illness. "Epic Beard Man" is just sane enough to be a successful predator - at least on this one bus this one time and for that he gets plenty of kudos and plenty of support for that.

This story is rich in irony needless to say (black predators siding with a white predator for starters), and to me there is no better illustration of just how depraved our society has become than the response to this video. Some blinded by racism refuse to see how the black guy was set up, others can see it and approve.

Look the acknowledgment and approval of EBM's behavior in this video coming from a "reasonable" sounding white guy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UaVfeXfbN4
look how he even gives deference to EBM and even claims people "identify" with EBM because "they don't want to get pushed around and stuff". In 1932 many Germans identified with Hitler because "they didn't want to get pushed around and stuff."

There should be no deference given to dregs like him EBM. The woman in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UaVfeXfbN4 is absolutely correct. This man is a creep. An angry violent hateful creep who cannot control his emotions and thrives on hurting people. The black man is just a victim here. He was drunk -and during the day-, he also has anger issues that were exploitable. He didn't have the social skills or composure to deal with the situation effectively. But make no mistake about it - EBM was picking this fight. EBM started the commentary about "spit shining". EBM followed the black man to his seat, sat down opposite him and confronted him. You don't see that in the video, but you can tell.

Glorifying people like EBM is exactly what is wrong with this country.

This is the most disturbing thing I have seen for quite some time. Not the video itself but the response. The response indicates growing cultural acceptance (and glorification even) of predatory behavior as well as a lot of remaining racism.

I suppose his cultural trend has been going on for some time but this video and the response really bring it home in a visceral way.