invitation to reach out to Howard University's Barbara Griffin, VP of Student Affairs

Would you please encourage all of the community members distressed about this weekend's violent turn of events to reach out to Barbara L.J. Griffin, Ph.D., Vice President for Student Affairs at Howard (bgriffin@howard.edu ) to demand accountability from the University as I have in the email below.

Thank you,

Neighbor on the 100 Block of V Street NW
 

 

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From:  Neighbor on the 100 Block of V Street NW

Date: Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 11:00 AM
Subject: Saturday Night's Street Fight
To: bgriffin@howard.edu
                     

Dear Dr. Griffin,

           

I am sure by know you are well aware of the violent brawl that took place on Saturday night involving a number of Howard Students. If you are not familiar with the details, I have attached below a few messages sent by my neighbors via the Bloomingdale listserv. I've lived in Bloomingdale for a number of years and have witnessed, as the neighborhood has become a safer place to live, the number of college students living in group houses in the neighborhood increase greatly. Mostly, this has been positive, aside from a bit of late night, loud party nuisance that comes with being around youth that age. While I don't appreciate drunken kids puking in the alley (which I have witnessed), I can accept that comes with the territory of living in the vicinity of a college campus.

      

However, yesterday, I had to come up with excuses to take our young children in and out of our back door whenever we left the house, so that they wouldn't see the blood splattered all over our sidewalk as a result of the Howard students' bloody brawl on our street. This is unacceptable. It took me gallons of bleach to clean it up last night.

       

From my understanding of the incident, the altercation was first initiated from a robbery by local young men victimizing a handful of Howard Students. I can relate to this, as I've been robbed at gunpoint late at night by a group of local young men. However, the mob justice retaliation by your students resulting in a massive street fight is behavior that your office must take immediate action to address. At this moment, your students are presenting more danger in our community than the drug dealers who have been here for years. This is besmirching the reputation of your esteemed institution, and not what I would expect from a school like Howard.

 

Clearly this is a situation of a small percentage of your students tainting the reputation of the student body. I hope you will take immediate and appropriate action to address this issue and to respond to the concerns of the community.

  

Sincerely,

Neighbor on the 100 Block of V Street NW
 

Reports on the Saturday Night Hulaballoo on V Streeet NW and Elsewhere

a)  First, from a resident on the 100 block of V Street NW:

 
Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2012 10:11 AM
Subject: Melee on V Street Last Night
            

All,

         

Just a heads up to what occurred on the 100 block of V street last night.  About 2:00 am, several of my neighbors and I were awakened to the sound of some college-aged kids yelling on the street.  At first, it seemed like the not-infrequent experience of kids having a bit too much fun on a Saturday night and not respecting their neighbors.  I got up and watched from my window as what looked like about 8 people suddenly turned into about 20 people, yelling at each other and doing the ``bring it on and let`s fight`` body posture.  Events spiraled downward rapidly with one kid swinging a long wooden stick (like a thinner 2x4), other kids throwing bricks, and a fight breaking out between several people in the middle of the street.  By this time, several of us had called the police who showed up within a minute or two.  As soon as the kids heard the police, they scattered, many of them running around the police cars as they were parking. 

     

The next several hours involved the police cordoning off of the sidewalk which is splattered in some cases and drizzled in others with blood, interviewing witnesses, speaking with some of the kids at Howard, bringing in a detective for more interviews, and then being parked on the street with lights flashing till morning.  According to the police`s initial thoughts, the fight was between Howard students and locals, perhaps originating at one of the neighborhood parties.  During the V street brawl, several kids were stabbed.  According to the bleeding kids who had returned to Carver Hall, they had been jumped by the locals earlier that evening and had confronted them later on V.

  

The common question being asked by my neighbors and me is why no one was arrested?  According to the police, they didn`t see anyone fighting.  As for the boys who were stabbed and obviously a part of this, the police said that they have no proof that these boys were not simply victims who were defending themselves. And neither the boys who were fighting nor the girls who were videotaping it with their phones were likely to work with the police to find the perpetrators.

  

Needless to say, this is a bit frustrating, since several of us witnessed it and did not see a group of thugs jumping a group of students.  Rather, it looked like what the boys described -- a planned confrontation.  Although I don`t think any of us want to see innocent kids arrested, you have to wonder what kind of message it sends to them that they can choose to settle a dispute in this way with no repercussions. Also, my point is not to denigrate the police, but the experience has me wondering if their lack of effort to detain anyone is based on the District having no anti-loitering laws.

   

You can draw your own conclusions, but my takeaway is to be extra vigilant on evenings when there are lots of parties, call the police at the first sign of anything suspicious and videotape as much as you can as evidence. 

  

Hopefully, the guys who got stabbed are okay, and someone will care enough about the kids responsible for the melee (who may also include the kids who got stabbed) to make sure they don`t behave so poorly in the future.

  

b)  Now see this message from Marc Morgan, President, LeDroit Park Civic Association:

     

From: Marc Morgan

Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2012 11:55 AM
Subject: Melee on V Street Last Night

I saw most of this disturbance late last night, called MPD, who responded immediately. I then followed up with Howard Campus Police, which parked at Elm and 4th most if the night.

I didn`t witness any violence, but there was a massive crowd of kids moving through 4th, Elm, 3rd and up towards V st.

       

I have notified Howard University officials, again to demand immediate attention and resolution to this on going problem. In addition, I will speak to the landlords on Elm st ( I think this is where most of the disturbance began) and ask that they be more firm and strict with their Howard tenants.

Last night was beyond just noise from a party...I thought I was in the middle of a night club!

More to come

Marc Morgan

   
c)  From a 1st Street NW resident:

I`m not sure why, but there is an unusually loud and aggressive group of kids in the neighborhood this year. 

Friday night the chaos was more focused on 1rst and U but I saw the cops come half a dozen times up and down first to get folks to scatter and kids were settling in on random stoops up and down the block in a two to three block radius.

More girls than usual, louder than the corner folks get, particularly belligerent. I`ve lived here 5 years and it`s unusual.

 

Tne funny note was when a cop questioned out the window of it`s cruiser to to guys sitting on a stoop...``You live there?``   ``Yeah,`` they answered.  ``What`s your address number?`` Kid looks around to try to see what the address is... Cop laughs and speeds away.
 
+++
 
Looks like Dr. Griffin has already responded:
                   
On Mon, Sep 24, 2012 at 11:38 AM, Griffin, Barbara L.J. wrote:

Dear [resident on the 100 block of V Street NW]:

                                

Thank you for your email.  I do appreciate your very balanced perspective.  It is most appreciated.  Yes, I have heard of the incident and was very upset and disturbed by it when it first came to my attention Sunday morning at approximately 3:45 a.m.    Chief Leroy James and the Howard University Office of Public Safety are investigating now.  I do assure you that Howard does not and would not condone the vigilante brand of behavior as you have described in your email.  To be victimized is one thing.  To be aggressive in seeking retaliation is another.  You are quite right!  We would not ever tolerate our students becoming involved in “thuggish” behavior.  We have been a part of this community for over 150 years, and we do not suffer lightly the besmirching of the Howard.  Please allow us to work quickly to sort out the facts and I will be back to you as quickly as I can.  We are all working on this, as I am writing to you.

Sincerely,

     

Barbara Griffin
  

From: [resident on the 100 block of V Street NW]:

Sent: Monday, September 24, 2012 11:41 AM
To: Griffin, Barbara L.J.
Subject: Re: Saturday Night's Street Fight
         

Thank you for your prompt reply, Dr. Griffin. I trust your office will find a solution to ensure this remains an isolated incident.