The short video included here suddenly appeared on Facebook Monday evening, shortly after the events occurred.

The cell phone footage shows about 25 or 30 young people involved in a street brawl…in traffic..on Henry Johnson Boulevard near the Livingston Avenue intersection, It reportedly occurred around 5:20 in the afternoon as people were headed home from work. You can see the people involved in the fight did not seem concerned about the traffic, where they were, or if anyone were videotaping the nonsense. Because of the time of day, it’s probable this was not an after school fracas. The battle involves males and females. In fact, it seems the young women were the most rambunctious, violently pulling hair and knocking their targets off their feet onto the pavement. The person who posted this video wrote on Facebook that for the most part motorists travelling through the fight, did nothing. One woman driver got out, it’s reported, but had no luck in quelling the public and violent outburst.

As an African American man of my generation, seeing this kind of behaviour is troubling, and if I must say, a bit embarrassing. In my years covering the City of Albany for CBS 6, I reported on many after school eruptions in which bands of black youth would break into battles on the street in broad daylight. In those days, the late 90’s and early 2000’s, the Albany School District initially said ‘not on my turf’ and kept moving. Eventually school administrators acknowledged what was going on ‘in’ school was propelling the after school fights. I saw one street battle that continued even with he presence of police on horseback. Some students were apprehended and detained that day. Eventually, with a severely heightened police presence, the melees dwindled down.

What happened Monday on that Albany street is a puzzle at this moment. It could have been a girl vs. girl neighborhood battle gone ballistic. Facebook comments connected to the link I saw produced deep concern amoung people living in that section of the city. The Albany Police were called to the scene but apparently they could not control the crowd. One person who claims she witnessed this first hand said a cop told her ‘what do you want me to do, call the National Guard?’

This kind of behavior in the inner city is difficult. When it happens in student neighborhoods, on days like the so-called ‘kegs and eggs’ when cars are smashed and turned over, it gets the attention of City Hall. Big time.