I’m still kind of stunned by the reaction to Tuesday’s blog which featured a 41 second cell phone video of young black kids in Albany, in a full fledged, out of control brazen brawl in the middle of Henry Johnson Boulevard during the Monday evening rush hour. By now the video has been viewed by most of the Capital District, either here on my blog or on the evening newscasts that covered the story. My blog post received more than 15 thousand views by Wednesday evening, an astonishing number for a newspaper blog post in such a short period of time.

The images were disturbing, young black males and females in a hair pulling battle, banging into cars whose drivers were simply trying to make their way home. It is not easy to watch, especially for me as a black person. The video has been removed from the website for some reason, but the images have resonated with black and white readers. Some scratched their heads wondering where the parents were and bemoaning the state of black family life in the inner city. One black activist complained about the lack of a community center, while a white suburbanite points to the brand new library down the street and the still open community center. Some of the comments I received question where were the police, whose headquarters were a block away. Others wrote police are wary of dealing with battles like this for fear of facing charges of ‘racism’. In fact the question of race loomed large in many of the nearly 100 comments the blog received. While I believe, and wrote, that racism and the lack of jobs for inner city families, coupled with the breakdown in the structure of these families, could play a role in why these young people saw no problem in behaving in this manner, others, apparently white readers, thought racism was a ‘cop out’ for a lack of personal responsibility.

Since I’ve been writing this blog, I periodically touch on race and have received comments that were hateful or downright racist. I chose not to ‘publish’ those comments. But I was not prepared for the level of hate toward black citizens, and myself personally, that this particular discussion produced. I wanted to share just a few of them with you in a more muted form in this manner, but I will not publish them as the writers intended.

One person wrote.. “what ever happened to the back to Africa movement..can’t they go back where they came from” Another guy wrote…” my father always told me the only good n-word..is a dead n-word..” One reader wrote…. “people in the suburbs don’t care what goes on in the ghetto”. Then there was the person who wrote they mistakenly ..”thought I (Ken) was an educated person.” The word ‘animals’ was used repeatedly in these offensive comments. And there was a distinct and ongoing denial from these readers that ‘racism’ was a problem here. They demonized all of the minorites in ‘that’ neighborhood.

Then came the comment from a reader who attacked my observations, writing ..”the only reason Ken got his job 30 years ago was because of the color of his skin.” And there were additional personal attacks connected to this comment.

I am including these comments now because I believe many people, especially white citizens, don’t believe there are people like this living around them. Maybe the comments don’t appear offensive to you, but they are. After I told a white friend about these comments, he was appalled but said if I continue “putting myself out there”..I could expect more vile comments.

But please know much of the feedback was intelligent and in some cases compassionate. One guy wrote he thought I should run for office. (Will never happen, but thanks.)

The circumstances surrounding this street melee Monday, the factors percolating under the surface, the issues of personal responsibility and the systemic impact of racism, are all jumbled together in a toxic soup that creates the urban underclass. I know for certain that even the words I’m writing now in this post will unhinge more racist vile comments because I had the nerve,as a black man, to call these reprobates out on their crap.