Montgomery Riverfront is home to some of the most righteous individuals. On Aug. 5, a fight broke out between a group of individuals and a dock worker, Damien Pickett, over where to park a boat. 

This argument escalated due to the usage of slurs. As cnn.com states, “The incident, which was caught on video and has captured national attention, largely broke down along racial lines in a city with both a fraught history of racial violence and a proud place in the civil rights movement.” Montgomery, Alabama is a crucial area known for advancing the Civil Rights Movement. Rosa Parks was in Montgomery when she began the bus boycott. The Selma Marches happened in Selma to Montgomery in order to protest the obviously racist Jim Crow era. Because of this event, four of the five individuals are facing a sentencing of misdemeanor and third-degree assault. The Alabama Riverfront Brawl in Montgomery started through a silly argument over parking a boat that took a racist turn and escalated through the use of slurs.

Those who got charged due to this brawl are found to be Zachary Shipman (25), his girlfriend Mary Todd (21), Richard Roberts (48), and Allen Todd (23). In addition, Roberts allegedly punched a 16-year-old in the chest due to the rowdiness of this fight. Fights are becoming more common worldwide because the concept has become justified. Social media is home to gruesome fight videos, allowing teens to assume that fighting solves problems. Montgomery Police Chief, Darryl Albert, declared that there are precautions being taken in order to prevent racist activities in Montgomery. On this matter, Albert states: “We know how contentious this was back in the ’60s, the ‘50s, the ‘70s. We don’t want to go back to that, and we’re not going to go back to that. We are going to make sure we’re going to get it right the first time, so it’s going to be a slow and methodical process to ensure justice for all.” 

Thunderbird has a strict policy on Fighting. In 2021, schools around the globe began experiencing an outbreak of fights that led teachers and staff to feel as if they were not in control. Since then, the fights began to decrease due to the new rules put in place to stop the fighting. If people break out into a physical altercation, the punishment for both parties is 9 days of suspension. Thunderbird staff are taking action to make school a safer place to hopefully cut the fighting rate down to nothing. In order to do this, students will have to deal with anger in different ways to ensure a harm-free environment for both students and teachers.