Since the beginning of my college experience in 1995, I have been very active in a variety of collegiate activities. There is nothing like the social atmosphere of college.
I have attended most major college social events ranging from FAMU’s Homecoming festivities to Black College Reunion. Some of these smoothly occur and others end abruptly due to misbehavior.
On April 6, I attended the Gorilla Thrilla in Woodville. What has been known for years as a relatively safe and enjoyable event came to a tragic end around 11:30pm. At this time, all incoming traffic to the event was turned away from the Thrilla.
The attendees of the Thrilla would never forget that Saturday night. Some of the events included a spectrum of activities from the illegal use of fireworks to assault and battery.
Again, I have been to most of the larger college social events and have read most detailed police reports. It is clear most of the persons causing problems at most college events are not attending college and are from out of town.
Some people lack a life and enjoy destroying the harmony of college social gatherings.
Many people in Tallahassee falsely concluded that FAMU students cause the semi-annual Homecoming mall disruption. And after this past weekend, many people are targeting the problems of the Woodville Thrilla to FAMU students.
Just because many FAMU students were merely in attendance of this event does not deduce they are the problem.
Again, as in most of the aforementioned major college social events, most of the culprits of the unruly actions at the Thrilla were not in college and were from out of town. It is neither true nor fair to blame the problems of the latest Woodville
Thrilla on FAMU students. The ingredients yielding problems were present at this event like many other events including the FAMU mall incident.
Regardless of color and fraternal membership, many people in a small area and intoxicated spells some form of trouble.
On several occasions, the organizers of the Thrilla tried their best to get social respect from the crowd only to be systematically disrespected.
The crowd reached a point of being quite unruly. In fact, an organizer was struck in the face and the gated entrance to the Thrilla was stampeded down onto several people. Some members of the organizers assisted some of these injured women only to be assaulted.
In conclusion, generalizing blame to a specific group of people (i.e. FAMU students) is unjustifiable. Just because a significant membership of a group of people attending a particular event does not mean that group caused the ruckus. The uneducated public needs to stop making such horrible stereotypic generalizations and be more supportive of college persons.
Hassan Mims, 26, is a master’s degree candidate in Educational Leadership from Washington.