Free White Girl Bleed a Lot by Colin Flaherty Page A

“minor injuries.” It’s almost as if he did not hear his own interview or watch the viewer-created video of the scene. “This Asian kid got punched in the face and pounded to the ground,” witness Jay Ingersoll told the reporter. “We heard ‘flash mob, flash mob, flash mob.’” 13
    By looking at the video, there were far more than “dozens of young people” on the street. The station may have been coy about identifying the race of the mob. The videotape is not.
    No one went to the hospital. No arrests were made. It’s almost like it never happened.
    Two days later, news stories on the holiday celebrations inthe
Philadelphia Inquirer
made no mention of the riots, other than to pronounce, “All in all, Philadelphia’s Fourth festivities ‘a resounding success.’”
    In places like Quincy, Florida, riots with firework are a holiday tradition. In Quincy one black man was arrested and others were being sought after crowds of black people attacked police and others with explosives in 2012. WCTV news in Quincy reported:
    Upon arrival and to their surprise police officers were ambushed by several suspects who threw explosive fireworks at them and their vehicles. Some of the explosives detonated underneath the vehicles with enough force to shake the vehicle.
    Several hours later police were again called to the location but this time made contact with a witness who stated that four suspects had thrown a “bomb” at her. The witness also advised police that these same suspects were responsible for throwing explosive fireworks at police earlier.
    Quincy police were the victims of a similar type assault last year on July 4th at this exact apartment complex. One officer was hospitalized last year and suffered minor hearing loss after a large explosive device was thrown at him and detonated next to him. 14
    That is the way it is in Gafney, South Carolina, too. In 2011 a group of five hundred black people threw fireworks and rocks at police after the July Fourth celebration. At one point, someone threw a cinder block through a Gaffney police cruiser. The officers were overwhelmed. Neighbors in the area have described what’s become an annual event as hell, saying it’s reminiscent of a war zone. 15
    In 2012, Gaffney police flooded the zone with extra officers and police were able to stop the “holiday tradition” that year.The same was true in Dallas, where in 2011 mobs of black people attacked a television videographer with rockets. Dallas was quieter the next year.
    SCAN ME!
    VIDEO: Attack on Photographer
    In Greenville, South Carolina, in 2011, black people by the dozens “hurled fireworks at a Greenville officer.” Neighbors called police, and the officer reported they were shooting at his car and he had been hit in the chest. Within twenty minutes, twenty-five officers were on the scene. The local NBC affiliate called it a “holiday tradition that seems to escalate year after year.” 16
    In Greenville fireworks violence is a holiday tradition like Dickens’s Christmas Carol. All that’s missing is an old dude in a bathrobe hanging out a bedroom window:
    SCAN ME!
    VIDEO: Hurling Fireworks at an Officer
    â€œWhat’s to-day, my fine fellow?” said Scrooge.
    â€œTo-day?” replied the boy. “Why, Christmas Day.”
    â€œIt’s Christmas Day!” said Scrooge to himself. “I haven’t missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Hallo, my fine fellow!”
    â€œHallo!” returned the boy.
    â€œDo you know the Poulterer’s, in the next street but one, at the corner?” Scrooge inquired.
    â€œI should hope I did,” replied the lad.
    â€œAn intelligent boy!” said Scrooge. “A remarkable boy!Do you know whether