Race Tensions at Baywalk Center, St. Petersburg!
Originally Posted on Tampa IndyMedia:1/26/2004 9:47:45 PM
Author: Zalala
The night of Friday, October 3rd, 2003 was just like most any other weekend evening at Baywalk Center in St. Petersburg. Young people gathered in the clubs and bars or walked through the courtyard on their way to the movies or the shops. The early fall weather was perfect and enticing. The vibe was festive and everyone was ready to have an evening of fun after a long work week.
A young African-American man, Keith Stewart aka Mtundu was there that night hanging with a few friends at Wet Willie's on the upper level of Baywalk Center. He is the nephew of the founder and leader of the Uhuru Movement and a member and organizer himself, handsome, reserved and well-spoken, he was getting ready to leave the bar and head over to Tampa to meet some more friends at a club over there.
As he left Wet Willie's and walked onto the upper level of the courtyard, he saw several policeman beating up a young black man. The young man was not resisting or fighting the police, but he was being strong-armed by the police. He had been thrown to the ground by the police and they were forcing their knees onto the back of his head as his face was being mashed into the cement. A crowd had gathered and people in the crowd were aghast at what was happening and several were speaking out and asking the police not to hurt him.
Keith could not ignore what was happening and just stand there and LET it happen. His sense of right and wrong, his knowledge of peace and justice at any cost, he felt motivated to speak out! He asked the police why they were being violent with the young man. Others in the crowd, which was mixed in age and ethnicity, began to ask the policemen the same questions. Keith had taken the names of the police from their name tags to document later. He then got on his cell phone. First, he called his mother and asked her to call the city police department so they could be informed about a few of "their own" who were arresting a young black man with unnecessary brute force. He then called the Chairman of the Uhuru Movement, Omali Yeshitela, to state what he saw taking place in front of him. .
As Keith was speaking with Omali on his cell phone, a few of the police made their move. They walked over to him with the handcuffs. Keith let his cell phone drop to the ground and put his arms behind his back as he realized within those few seconds that the police were going to arrest him. He did not know why he was being arrested. Any observer to all of this would have thought that this earnest young man was simply being a good citizen. The cuffs were put on.
Another young man named Sean Pinkney, whom Keith had never met before, picked up Keith's cell phone and asked him who he could call for him, simply offering him a helping hand in a time of need. The police standing nearby also slapped handcuffs on Pinkney. Both young men were arrested for inciting a riot and resisting arrest without violence.
Funny, as there are no records anywhere that state that a riot has ever occurred at Baywalk Center and one would THINK that if one is being arrested for inciting a riot than that said riot had to take place.
How can one resist arrest without being violent? This was defined by a policewoman at the Clearwater Police Department as a person being arrested that did not fully cooperate with the police. This is very open-ended terminology. It was stated that Keith Stewart dropped his phone and put his hands behind his back. By all accounts, that does not sound like resisting arrest.
Friday, January 23, 2004 at the Pinellas County Courthouse, the State of Florida wanted to try these young men, Stewart and Pinkney seperately for the same crimes and scheduled a trial date for March 16, 2004 for both of them. Keith Stewart waived his right to a speedy trial.
What are the REAL and underlying issues here besides the charges against these men?
So far, the facts are these: black teenagers are not permitted to gather in groups of larger than two people in Baywalk Center according to Sembler policies. There is a dress code enforced for the young black teenagers and young adults and the same rules do not seem to be enforced or applied with the white visitors to Baywalk Center. The Sembler Company that owns Baywalk Center has created a racially motivated "profile" of the typical black patron and this includes "gang attire." The company also counsels local police and security officers on how to treat these customers.
For some time now, young black people are saying they are being harrassed during their visits to Baywalk Center. This is happening even if they are going to the movie theatre in the courtyard and not frequenting the clubs. It is a stark reminder of the tension that never really went away after the riots in St. Petersburg's black communities that were spawned by the police killing of the teenager, Tyron Lewis in October of 1996.
Baywalk Center was built with $12 million of taxpayer's money, and this includes monies from black citizens as well. Instead of public funds being used to upgrade and revitalize the black communities and their neighborhoods as originally planned, all of that planning got put on the back burner. These funds were then allocated for the building of Baywalk Center, revamping the surrounding city blocks and for the promotion of more tourist attracting businesses within the downtown area.
The Sembler Company also owns the new and rebuilt Clearwater Mall on the corner of Route 19 and Gulf to Bay Boulevard. One only has to look at the planning of that Mall and know that the Sembler Company did not want to repeat what they had done with Baywalk Center. The parking lot and traffic is hazardous and the Mall was built with separate buildings housing three to four stores each and situated very far away from each other. A customer has to drive and park again to go from store to store. There are no movie theatres and no drinking establishments. And no young people, black or white, gathering or congregating. This appears to have been planned very carefully.
This blatant disenfranchisement of the black population in "Midtown" St. Petersburg as an entity that is not welcome in Baywalk Center, when their taxes were used to build the complex has many grassroots groups and activist leaders at edge with the local government. Friction in the downtown area is bound to escalate as these injustices continue to be carried out unabated.
posted by Zalala @ 2/24/2004 09:39:00 AM
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