“You ask a Black person in Montgomery if they are surprised by what happened to that Black man who was just doing his job, and they will tell you straight up, ‘No,’” Kelli Gavin, who has lived in Montgomery for nearly three decades, says.
In the Montgomery, Alabama, riverfront melee, the city’s civil rights history informed Black people’s defense of the dockworker.MONTGOMERY, Ala. — There were no visible traces of the violent melee that just days ago turned the nation’s eyes on this city long enshrined in civil rights lore. But what remained was the poignant imagery of a Black dock worker being attacked by a group of white men — and the group of Black men who rushed to his defense.
“You ask a Black person in Montgomery if they are surprised by what happened to that Black man who was just doing his job, and they will tell you straight up, ‘No,’” Kelli Gavin, who has lived in Montgomery for nearly three decades, told NBC News. “But they will also tell you they would have been shocked if Black people hadn’t rushed to help him.”
“Whether the brawl was racially motivated or not, the videos showed it was whites fighting Blacks,” Gavin said. “It’s just a long, pathetic struggle of racism here in Alabama. And there’s been an increase in overt bigotry here of late. But for us here, it’s nothing new.”that more than 200 passengers on board the Harriott II Riverboat waited at least 30 minutes for a group of white private boaters to move their pontoon, which was docked in the wrong spot and blocking the larger boat.
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