Racist incident at Martha's Brooklyn Bowl concert

[Sharpmoves]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londo...-a2926941.html

A nasty racist apparently caused a fight at Martha Reeves and the Vandellas' appearance at London's Brooklyn Bowl forcing the group to quit the stage. Apparently there is a Twitter storm going on protesting against such views. Martha is reportedly serenely above it all, and refuses to let it get to her. But it is a truly shocking and despicable thing to have happened, and I feel ashamed it took place in the capital city of my country.

[RobertZ]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londo...-a2926941.html

A nasty racist apparently caused a fight at Martha Reeves and the Vandellas' appearance at London's Brooklyn Bowl forcing the group to quit the stage. Apparently there is a Twitter storm going on protesting against such views. Martha is reportedly serenely above it all, and refuses to let it get to her. But it is a truly shocking and despicable thing to have happened, and I feel ashamed it took place in the capital city of my country.

It is a disgrace and my thoughts are with Dr. Reeves and her sisters as well as the majority of your fellow countrymen who would not have done such a terrible thing.

[copley]

Thanks, have just shared this

[westgrandboulevard]

A truly disappointing incident.

Martha did the right thing by leaving the stage for a while, until the troublemaker was removed, and was probably at least questioned by the police, if not arrested and charged.

However, Martha is a lady who has known unfair, intimidating and outright dangerous opposition in her youth...and, more recently, fell flat out on stage during 'The Night Of A Thousand Gowns', grabbed the microphone which had slipped from her hand, regained her feet ....and hardly missed a beat.

So, I can well believe that one most antisocial [[and probably completely under the influence of alcohol or some other substance) member of an audience is not going to ruffle her

[Sharpmoves]

Indeed, Martha - Motown Queen that she is - won't turn a hair. And it seems she has been surrounded with love on Twitter, which is nice. I am sure she knows her true fans abhor such loutish and uncivilised behaviour, which is unacceptable whether on not under the influence of any substance. I don't know yet whether the venue has commented on this.

[westgrandboulevard]

Although I can well believe that the perpetrator did direct the N-word at Martha personally, it's not absolutely clear from the article that his main issue was not with the black lady in the audience.

It seems that it was she who called security because of unacceptable behaviour, and then became involved with him and others [[probably as an innocent victim) in the brawl, which then led to Martha, Lois and Delphine leaving the stage.

So, it could even be that Martha's reason for temporarily stopping the show was not because she heard any racial abuse, but on the grounds of the disruptive behaviour in the audience - as when she stopped the show, but told everyone to go straight home, in the much worse situation of the riots breaking out in Detroit in the '60s.

I would imagine there are grounds for several charges which could be made against those disruptive audience members, so it may be that the venue would not wish to comment or maybe , in law, even be able to do so.

[Roberta75]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londo...-a2926941.html

A nasty racist apparently caused a fight at Martha Reeves and the Vandellas' appearance at London's Brooklyn Bowl forcing the group to quit the stage. Apparently there is a Twitter storm going on protesting against such views. Martha is reportedly serenely above it all, and refuses to let it get to her. But it is a truly shocking and despicable thing to have happened, and I feel ashamed it took place in the capital city of my country.

Your our not responsible for ignorant racist trash sharpmoves. These people out to be ashamed behaving like holligans in front on Motown Royalty and hitting a girl. There not men there weak cowards as is any man who beat on a woman. Thank God our First Lady of Motown Dr Martha reeves is okay and serenely rose above this hateful incident and thank God she got of the stage safely.

you take good care of yourself dear.

fondly,

Roberta

[marv2]

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/londo...-a2926941.html

A nasty racist apparently caused a fight at Martha Reeves and the Vandellas' appearance at London's Brooklyn Bowl forcing the group to quit the stage. Apparently there is a Twitter storm going on protesting against such views. Martha is reportedly serenely above it all, and refuses to let it get to her. But it is a truly shocking and despicable thing to have happened, and I feel ashamed it took place in the capital city of my country.

Well, Martha has lived and performed long enough to see things come full circle! Is it 1965 or 2015......sometimes I can barely tell the difference...............

[milven]

Well, Martha has lived and performed long enough to see things come full circle! Is it 1965 or 2015......sometimes I can barely tell the difference...............

Ouch !! That would be a shame if we really made no progress in fifty years. But sometimes when I read some of the current headlines, I feel the same way. There will always be prejudice, but I think we have made much progress in fifty years but still have a lot more to go.

[midnightman]

I'm with westgrandboulevard about this incident but I'm glad that order was restored. We've made progress in this world but it's obvious from RECENT EVENTS that we still have ways to go.

[thanxal]

Well, Martha has lived and performed long enough to see things come full circle! Is it 1965 or 2015......sometimes I can barely tell the difference...............

And this is why I get furious at people who counter #blacklivesmatter with #alllivesmatter. White people are not subject to this kind of crap on a routine basis. #blacklivesmatter draws attention to this sad state of affairs. Countering with "all" lives matter diminishes the ongoing racism in the world. White people aren't beat up by some bad members of the police and aren't subject to on-going racism nearly to the same degree as racial minorities are in this country. So no "All" lives don't matter. Not until all people are treated the same.

[Sharpmoves]

I agree. while there has been a lot of progress in the last 30 years, there is certainly no room for complacency, and plenty of evidence of recidivism. Hate crime against the LGBT communities has increased in recent years, and in the UK, despite the Stephen Lawrence debacle, if you are black you are far, far more likely to be stopped and searched by the police.

That's why we have to call out racist behaviour like this whenever and wherever it occurs. We can't relax. All lives do matter, but the issue is that some people's lives are way more open to abuse than others, and that's to do with whether you are black or white, gay or straight and female or male. Equal treatment is the only ethical and moral basis for society.

[midnightman]

And this is why I get furious at people who counter #blacklivesmatter with #alllivesmatter. White people are not subject to this kind of crap on a routine basis. #blacklivesmatter draws attention to this sad state of affairs. Countering with "all" lives matter diminishes the ongoing racism in the world. White people aren't beat up by some bad members of the police and aren't subject to on-going racism nearly to the same degree as racial minorities are in this country. So no "All" lives don't matter. Not until all people are treated the same.

Yeah and even people who mean well when they tweet that b.s. don't even know how racist that sounds...