Montgomery mayor discusses chaotic riverfront brawl and how to move forward

Interview

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Yes, I think our police department has handled it in a professional manner.

I think they have gone about this with leaving-no-stone-unturned mentality. I think they have approached it with a very deliberate sense of urgency. And I think the fact that we have one person in custody and a couple others that will be in custody shortly is proof-positive of the work that's been done by the men and women of our police department.

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Yes, definitely was surprised by that.

I think I probably have a better understanding of it now than I did Sunday evening, when I first kind of started getting some texts about it. I'm amazed at how many people have viewed it and what conversations have come out of it.

But it's one of those things where you never can tell, in this day and age of camera phones, what people are going to be interested in and what they're not.

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Yes, I would be cautious about casting aspersions on the city.

The perpetrators who have been identified and warrants have been signed on are not from Montgomery, number one. I think, number two, it's important for people to understand that we're the second most visited tourist city in the state. So, we want that to continue. It's important to our economy. It's important to the nation that they learn the history of the civil rights movement.

And that's what most of the tourists are coming here for. So, I think that, when we consider the community itself, the community itself has responded very positively. I think there's been no issues around this. And I would say that the city has kind of come together around many of those who -- not just the co-captain, but even some of those on the crew, to say that we're glad somebody stopped something wrong from happening until the police could get there.

And that's not to say that people are condoning violence. It's just that I think there's a sense here that we have seen a lot of progress in this city. We certainly aren't perfect. We certainly have more work to do. But this is not indicative of who we are.

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Well, look, I saw what you saw and what millions of other people saw.

I think, for us, we're looking at it from the standpoint of a legal case, and does it meet the FBI standard for hate crime? So far, we have been told no. But the case is still ongoing. We're still talking to witnesses, and we're still gathering information.

And if something changes to point us in that direction, then that's where we will go.

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Yes, I think that's possible.

Again, I think, for us, it would be premature to say there would or would not be any additional charges. As witnesses come forward, as more information comes out, there certainly could be. And we're going to continue to follow the evidence and let that take us to whatever decisions that are made by not only the police department, but also our district attorney and anyone at a high-level prosecution.

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You know, I think progress is certainly measured by the fact that I'm here. And I was elected in 2019 with two-thirds of the vote and a multicultural, multiracial, multigenerational coalition that we put together.

That said, there are still strains. There's still a level of tension that probably is here, much like it is in a lot of places where there's old versus new. There's a certain mind-set that has been prevailing, and there's a new one that's come in.

And I think, when you add to that the national discourse around whether it's Black history being taught in schools, or whether it's our legislature not adhering to a Supreme Court order to draw a second congressional seat as majority-Black, there are certainly challenges here.

But that's not to say that, when we think back 10 or 20 years ago, that we haven't come a long way. It's just that we still have a long way to go. And I think that is not just Montgomery. I think that is many cities throughout this nation.

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Thank you.

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