Is the Call to End ‘Urban Beach Weekend’ Racist?
Miami Beach’s Urban Beach Weekend (UBW) ended in bloody violence over Memorial Day Weekend leaving the driver, 22-year-old Raymond Herisse, dead and police and bystanders alike injured.
Herisse drove his car wildly up Collins Avenue, striking one officer and attempted to hit others as he plowed through vehicles in his way. Herisse fired a number of shots from his moving car and then stopped at the crosswalk where 12 officers fired over 100 shots into the vehicle, killing him. Bystander video captured the shootout.
Activist Herb Sosa wrote an open letter to Miami Beach Mayor and Commissioners demanding an end to the 10 year, hip hop, Memorial Day tradition citing increased violence, lewd behavior and overly congested streets. The event was Initially co-founded by Luke Campbell to attract African American designers to Miami Beach, although Campbell no longer attends. (He’s actually mellowed in his “old” age as most of us do.)
But is the call to end the festival racially motivated?
Sosa says that various other Miami Beach events are held without incident. However, it appears that these festivals do not attract nearly the amount of people that UBW does, a whopping 250,000.
- 2010 Gay Pride Weekend brought 35,000 visitors
- 2011 Boat Show brought approximately 100,000
- Art Basel attracts 40,000.
Part of the problem is that Miami Beach does not have enough law enforcement to police 250,000 people. The City’s bars hold approximately 7,000 and when they fill up, people have nothing to do. Gay Pride, for instance, has a series of events, including exhibits, comedy shows, films, brunches and cruises. These additions to UBW would help alleviate some of the problems.
Fort Lauderdale and Daytona Beach Spring Break are the only other festivals that can compare with UBW. They are also a week long (as opposed to one weekend), but attract 100s of 1000s of young people. The residents in those beach communities have the same problems with crime, congestion, drunken co-eds and even deaths, but they’ve addressed the problems.
Where I see racial motivation is that the residents are calling to end UBW, not fix it. Especially when other Florida cities have found solutions.
Secondly, I’m disgusted at a recent Facebook page* that calls to End UBW. Looking at the pictures, what is the purpose of depicting heavy-set Black women in barely-there spandex outfits? What is the purpose of showing four Black men on motorcycles, or in suped up cars doing nothing but sitting there? What about the video that shows… wait for it… Black people dancing. And my goodness, an empty bottle of Hennessy! Those Black people are sure nasty.
South Florida is known for celebrating all kinds of events for all kinds of people and I’d like to see us find a solution that can please everyone.
*Update: They removed one of the pictures of an African American woman tattooed, in a tight spandex dress. They didn’t bother to cover her face either. Also, they’re adding videos and more photos since I wrote the above so it’s very much ongoing.