Ohio State's post-game 'revelers' re-imagined as Grambling State's post-game 'rioters'
I read an Associated Press piece about what happened after Ohio State University’s football team won the national title. Students took to the streets and set 89 fires and basically set things off. OSU is a predominantly white school, and you can definitely tell by how this incident is being reported in the media. News stories have taken to using a passive voice to describe what happened, making it seem like the fires set themselves. The incident was referred to as an out-of-hand celebration and revelry.
It’s a complete difference to how they report on stories involving Black and Brown people. They use stronger language, they make sure to point the fingers and they draw a menacing picture of what really happened.
So, I took an article I saw about it and took it line-by-line, changing it to depict how it would be reported if this had happened at, say… Grambling State University.
Thugs rooting for Grambling State football took to the streets after their team’s championship victory early Tuesday. Police say they were belligerent and wreaking havoc by setting everything on fire. They even destroyed the Grambling State goal post!
Police were forced to arrest some of the rioters who were excessively destructive and had to use pepper spray to control the crowd of Grambling State University students following the football game.
The brave men in blue were patrolling the crowd on foot, on their horses and in their cruisers when all hell broke loose just after midnight. Drunk hoodlums spilled out of bars to celebrate the victory over the University of Oregon in Dallas.
Thousands of unruly students formed a mob and were yelling “Let us in!” as they bumrushed the
Grambling State football stadium, where police had to use tear gas to prevent them from breaking into the arena. Many of them refused to turn back, blocking the street and cars from passing.
University police responded to calls about chaos from various places in and around campus, including the university’s Mirror Lake, the Union and at least 2 neighborhoods north of the campus.
Jessica James, a 19-year-old sophomore who hasn’t declared a major, said she witnessed the early morning scenes on campus.
“There was like a fog, because there was so much tear gas from the crowd being so rowdy,” James said. Many residents claim to have smelled marijuana.
The mob set over 102 fires, according to the Grambling Fire Department, and they did substantial damage to public property. The fire department said it responded to ten reports of people who were critically injured in the campus area during the melee.
Some police officers used pepper spray to clear an estimated 5,000 thugs from the streets and say was necessary for them to deploy canisters of tear gas. However, the goons did not respond, and it took over two hours before police were able to restore calm.
Grambling Police Chief Michele Jacobs said officers were forced to use as much force as possible to control the ruffians, who were using their jubilance as an excuse for unlawful and dangerous behavior. She said repeated requests for people to clear the streets were ignored and fire trucks couldn’t get through the crowds to respond to fires.
“They were getting too riled up,” Jacobs said. “What we know is that when crowds start to behave that way that bad things can happen. And we need to stop it, so our cops had to shoot a few people to create calm.”
WWTF-TV captured images of thugs burning a couch and reported that police shot a few rioters. Those men may even face further criminal charges because in the process of pulling the trigger, a few cops got a cramp in their pinky finger.
Police dispatchers reported hearing AK-47s and other assault weapons being fired in the campus area, and they’re waiting on reports of injuries and possible death, the Grambling Dispatch said.
The governor has declared a state of emergency and is considering implementing a curfew.
Luvvie is a professional troublemaker and writer who talks pop culture at Awesomely Luvvie, technology at Awesomely Techie and is the head behind DumbestTweets.com. She can also be found on Twitter (@Luvvie), Facebook and Instagram.
