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Full Video: Viewer records as Montgomery riverfront brawl begins

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Videos Show Brawl At Montgomery’s Riverfront Park, And It Was A Glorious Day In Black History

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M ontgomery, Alabama, is now the location of at least two iconic moments in Black history.

On March 25, 1965, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators on a nearly 60-mile march from Selma to the steps of the capitol in Montgomery. And on Aug. 25, 2023, the spirit of MLK looked down over the city’s Riverfront Park and thought to himself: “You know, I largely stood for nonviolent resistance—but they shot me anyway, so I’m finna get my lick back!”

By now, most of y’all have seen the melee that occurred Saturday on the dock at Montgomery’s Riverfront Park. You’ve likely seen it from multiple angles, in fact. You’ve probably heard all of the commentaries. You’ve watched as Black Twitter rejoiced while the rest of Twitter erupted in various responses ranging from overall condemnation of violence to wondering why everyone keeps making everything about race.

I suggest paying attention to Black Twitter because that’s where the cultural context lies.

Let’s begin with how it all started.

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According to witnesses, the brawl on the docks began when a riverboat arrived where a pontoon boat was blocking it from docking.

Witnesses said the Black dock worker who became a victim of violence brought on by the Caucasian occupants of the pontoon boat had simply informed the boat’s owners that they needed to move. Now, you may be shocked and dismayed to find out that, in Alabama, white people responded to a Black authority figure telling them where they didn’t need to be by trying to lynch said Black man with fists instead of nooses —but Black folks weren’t surprised at that part. What happened next, however, was quite the delightful surprise.

Black people across social media appear to agree that the Black dock worker tossing his hat into the air was basically the negro spiritual version of the bat signal.

And his people did not ( *in the voice of Lady Mormont from Game of Thrones * ) refuse the call.

A Black man swam across the river to answer the call.

Black men hopped off the boat to answer the call.

https://twitter.com/ElkingtonR79841/status/1688540683785601024

An older Black man, who was clearly looking for a place to set down his folding chair only to find white people’s heads kept getting in the way, answered the call.

Speaking of the man with the chair, there’s a lot of controversy, even among Black people, over whether or not he took things too far. After all, it’s difficult to decipher whether the woman he used as a WWE training dummy was part of the brawl, one of the people trying to break things up, or whether she was simply too slow to get the hell out of the warzone.

But I think we can all agree that, at this point, when white people wear red they just look like they’re in full MAGA regalia, which would make them an existential threat to Black people anyway, especially around a scene where white violence had erupted. Either way, the wise words Slim Charles told Avon of House Barksdale come to mind:

I just like to imagine that the Black man, who we saw handcuffed at the scene, is currently sitting in jail enjoying the extra jello cups his fellow Black inmates left by his lunch tray to pay tribute.

Also, fear not, Black people. The white folks who started the fight got arrested too after Black bystanders pointed them out because the “no snitch” policy simply does not extend to white thugs hopped up on Jason Aldean energy drinks who felt entitled to attack a Black man for doing his job because they didn’t like being told to move by someone their ancestors would have enforced “whites only” laws against.

https://twitter.com/ChelseyBrejanee/status/1688443625200345088

“Last night, the Montgomery Police Department acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job,” Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed said in a statement Sunday, according to the Montgomery Advertiser . “Warrants have been signed and justice will be served.”

“This was an unfortunate incident which never should have occurred,” Reed said. “As our police department investigates these intolerable actions, we should not become desensitized to violence of any kind in our community. Those who choose violence will be held accountable by our criminal justice system.”

But, again, while Reed and others view this moment in contemporary Black history as an “unfortunate incident,” Black folks view it as a time to celebrate Black unity.

Sorry, but I really need to circle back to the Black man who swam, because Michael B. Phelps aka Aqua Mayne aka Boy-Got-Gills Scott-Heron aka Black Ariel ‘s brother, can not be denied his dues for doing a lot more than wading in that water.

Anyway, now that all the smoke has cleared, the Black delegation has put a number of proposals on the table, including making Aug. 5 a national Black holiday, and my personal request to change the name of the boat that was trying to dock from “Harriott II” to “Harriet Tubman’s Move-B*tch-Get-Out-The-Way-Mobile.”

It was a glorious moment that shall not be forgotten. Salute!

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Brawl at Montgomery, Alabama riverfront dock caught on video

Fight breaks out over apparent docking of pontoon boat at riverfront park.

Massive brawl at Montgomery, Alabama riverfront dock caught on video

A fight broke out on a riverfront dock in Montgomery, Alabama, over the apparent docking of a pontoon boat. (Credit: Christa)

A massive brawl broke out on a riverfront dock in Montgomery, Alabama, on Saturday evening over what appeared to be the docking of a pontoon boat, and the city’s mayor says several "reckless" individuals were detained.

The fight between a group of individuals and a man, who appeared to be a dockworker, was captured on video around 7 p.m. by onlookers aboard a nearby boat at Riverfront Park.

The woman recording the video can be heard saying that a worker was moving a black pontoon boat that had docked after the apparent owners were told they could not leave the boat in that area.

As the worker begins to move the boat on his own, a group of individuals approach and begin to argue with the man, the video showed. The verbal altercation then turns physical when one individual suddenly punches the worker in the head. 

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The dockworker, pictured right dressed in a white shirt, is punched in the head by a man following an argument. (Christa)

Other individuals in the group rush the worker and begin punching and kicking him while he is on the ground. Onlookers intervene and begin pulling the individuals off the worker, who then is seen standing up on his own and walking down the dock.

The fight escalated after a verbal altercation over the apparent docking of a pontoon boat along the river. (Christa)

Fox News Digital reached out to the Montgomery Police Department but did not immediately hear back.

Other individuals rush the dockworker and tackle him to the ground. (Christa)

Mayor Steven L. Reed responded to the incident Sunday with a post on social media.

Bystanders intervene and attempt to break up the fight. (Christa)

"Last night, the Montgomery Police Department acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job," Reed wrote. "Warrants have been signed and justice will be served."

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Reed went on say that the "unfortunate incident" never should have happened.

The worker is able to stand up on his own and walk away down the dock. (Christa)

"As our police department investigates these intolerable actions, we should not become desensitized to violence of any kind in our community," the mayor wrote. "Those who choose violence will be held accountable by our criminal justice system."

Montgomery police said the incident happened at the 200 block of Coosa Street, and that several people were detained, the Montgomery Advertiser reported.

Four active warrants were issued, with the possibility of more after investigators review additional video of the incident, police said.

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Authorities have yet to release the names of those who were detained or how many there were.

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Nbc news now, alabama riverfront brawl witness reacts to fight.

A fight between two boating groups on the riverfront in Alabama turned into an all out brawl that went viral on social media. Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said the fight never should have happened.  Aug. 7, 2023

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Montgomery riverfront brawl: Three white boaters arrested

Three men are in custody on warrants related to a Saturday evening riverfront brawl that went viral online, Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert said Tuesday.

• Richard Roberts, a 48-year-old white male, faces two warrants for assault in the 3rd degree.
• Allen Todd, a 23-year-old white male, faces one warrant for assault in the 3rd degree.
• Zachery Shipman, a 25-year-old white male, faces one warrant for assault in the 3rd degree.

None of the three are Montgomery residents, Mayor Steven Reed said.

Roberts turned himself in to Selma police Tuesday, Albert said. Todd and Shipman surrendered to police late Wednesday, Maj. Saba Coleman said in an email.

Albert also asked that Reggie Ray, a 42-year-old Black male that police believe swung a chair during the melee, come in for questioning.

All charges so far are misdemeanors, though Albert noted that the investigation is ongoing and more charges are possible. He said no hate crime-related charges or riot charges are expected "at this time."

The announcement came nearly three days after the Saturday evening dispute turned into a brawl that continues to capture the attention of the nation. Albert said it started when Dameion Pickett, the co-captain of the Harriott II, asked the operators of a private boat that was docked in its space to move, getting only "obscene gestures" and "taunting" in response. Dozens of cellphone videos posted to social media were recorded by passengers aboard the Harriott II riverboat — which was waiting to dock with 227 people on board for more than 40 minutes — as well as people on the shore.

The video they captured shows several white assailants beating and kicking Pickett. Albert confirmed that Pickett was later treated at a hospital. At least one Black riverboat passenger dove in the Alabama River and swam to shore to aid the worker. Once the Harriott II docked, the videos showed a mostly Black group disembarking and rushing toward the white boaters, then another round of violence.

The captain of the Harriot II first called 911 to report the disturbance at 7 p.m., Albert said. By 7:15 p.m., the department began receiving additional calls reporting the escalation in violence. Three police officers arrived at the dock by 7:18 p.m., and three more arrived soon after that.

By the end of Saturday, the police department detained 13 people for questioning. Officers released them pending further investigation.

“Our police department reacted very swiftly, very intensely to address the matter, as did other citizens," Reed said.

To Albert's knowledge, Pickett was the only person who went to the hospital for treatment for his injuries. Albert also named a 16-year-old white male as a victim in the brawl.

At the time of the incident there was no signage forbidding boaters from docking in the Harriot II slot. Albert said there have been some issues of people taking the signs or the signs blowing away. The chief said that the city is looking into other ways to delineate the slot for the Harriot II.

"Montgomery" remained among the top trends Tuesday morning on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. The racial overtones of the fight and Montgomery's civil rights history drew attention from media outlets including NPR , The Guardian , Fox News , The Washington Post and many others.

On social media, the fight took on a life of its own. Hundreds of posts shared different versions or angles of the fight videos, with several amassing millions of views. Screengrabs became memes. People staged poolside parodies. Videos were overlaid with music from "The Avengers," or converted into paintings and t-shirts.

Some used the incident to start a more serious discussion, including pointing out that no guns were used by those involved or first responders. Others weighed in on the importance of the location where it happened. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones noted on X that it unfolded in a slave-trading city that's now majority Black and elected Reed as its first Black mayor in 2019.

Albert said he found the incident "quite disturbing" and wanted people to know that this was not a good representation of the city of Montgomery.

“Well first of all this is not indicative of who we are as a city," Albert said. He later added, “We will not allow this type of behavior in our city."

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Dameion Pickett, Reggie Ray and Zachery Shipman based on new information provided by the Montgomery Police Department.

Alex Gladden is the Montgomery Advertiser's public safety reporter. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @gladlyalex.

The Montgomery boat brawl and what it really means to “try that in a small town”

The viral fight valorized Black resistance — and punctured Jason Aldean’s racist “small town” narrative.

by Aja Romano

One of the key facets of extremism is the element of plausible deniability. As such, “ dog whistles ” — coded language used to mask a deeper extremist or discriminatory rhetoric — have become a pervasive part of the way we talk about politics and the culture wars. They’re also exhausting to unpack.

No matter how diplomatically or plainly you point out the underlying racism or bigotry of a specific image or turn of phrase, there’s always someone eager to take the code literally, to dismiss its context, its subtext, and clearly harmful impact. They’re happy to claim this is just what happens when you pucker your lips and blow, and any hateful dogs that come running are just a coincidence.

Then a song comes along like country singer Jason Aldean’s risible “ Try That in a Small Town .” The lyrics and accompanying video are layered with references to Black Lives Matter protests , sundown towns (“see how far you make it down that road”), and white protectionism (“good ol’ boys ... we take care of our own”). The video’s main location was no less than the site of historical lynchings , a particularly unsubtle jab. Inevitably, however, when you attempt to illuminate this racist imagery, a “Try That in a Small Town” defender will show up. They will assert that the whole thing is really just about, as Aldean himself tried to assert , “the feeling of community” and the desire for a return to “a sense of normalcy.”

Normal, to Aldean, seems to be a reality where Black protesters don’t disrupt the everyday lives of white citizens — even if those citizens are, as the song suggests, stockpiling guns and turning paranoid eyes on any and all outsiders. This attempt to reframe socially sanctioned racism as “just a community looking out for itself” has long been a part of the discriminatory tactics used against Black Americans, from lynch mobs to the racist, KKK-apologetic Birth of a Nation , to the legal defenses used by white men who murder unarmed Black ones. It’s a cultural tactic used not only to disenfranchise Black Americans but to then gaslight them about their own reality and experience. It’s a tactic that turns aggression into “self-defense.”

It’s one big reason, out of an infinitude of reasons, that the world was transfixed earlier this week when video surfaced of a group of Black boat workers in Montgomery, Alabama, appearing to voraciously fight back after a group of white pontoon boaters began attacking a Black boat captain.

What happened at the Montgomery boat brawl

The white boaters, coming from nearby Selma, had allegedly repeatedly caused trouble at the dock by parking their pontoon illegally in the spot reserved for a large tourist riverboat, the Harriott II. On Sunday, August 5, the riverboat had been waiting for around 45 minutes, with passengers aboard, to dock. Damien Pickett, the riverboat’s first mate and co-captain, disembarked in order to move the pontoon boat himself. In response, according to reports, at least three of the boaters attacked Pickett, punching him in the face, beating and kicking him.

This sounds like an all-too-familiar tragedy in progress: white-on-black violence, motivated by a sense of racist entitlement. Speaking to the Daily Beast after the incident, the boat’s captain, Jim Kittrell, stressed that the only motive appeared to be racial: “It makes no sense to have six people try to beat the snot out of you just because you moved their boat up a few feet. In my opinion, the attack on Damien was racially motivated.” Kittrell’s assumption seems to be bolstered by eyewitness testimony: One bystander, a victim’s family member, said in a sworn statement that she heard one of the white men drop the n-word before the fighting began.

It’s important to consider this incident in the broader context of Montgomery’s history, as well. Montgomery, one of the major historical fronts of the civil rights movement, is no stranger to racialized violence. It was there, in 1954, that a young Martin Luther King Jr. took up pastorship at a local church, where he became a spokesperson for the Montgomery bus boycotts alongside Rosa Parks. Through boycotts and years of sustained activism amid tense civil unrest, Montgomery protesters successfully challenged the rule of Jim Crow in the South and ultimately changed the nation. Montgomery also saw devastating segregationist violence throughout this period, including one of the most violent moments in the civil rights movement, “ Bloody Sunday .”

In 2023, coming after a cultural period of intensifying racialized protests, a group of white people whaling on an unsuspecting and defenseless Black man could have led to tragic consequences or, at the least, traumatized victims and onlookers.

What the video shows happening next, however, flipped the script: Seeing one of their colleagues being attacked, other Black boat workers rushed in to defend him and fight back. Bystanders also joined in, with one teen now known as “ Black Aquaman ” famously jumping into the water and swimming across the dock in order to help. One man, known to the internet as “Folding Chair Guy,” gained instant fame when he went after the three attackers with, you guessed it, a folding chair.

The suddenness of the fight, combined with the enthusiasm of the brawlers, the glee of the onlookers, and the fact that everyone had phones out recording the incident, made the Montgomery brawl — dubbed the Alabama Sweet Tea Party — into an immediate viral sensation. It produced everything from evocative Twitter reactions to a live swimming pool reenactment to a remix of Ernie Barnes’s iconic painting of Black partiers, Sugar Shack . The folding chair was instantly memorialized .

Most extraordinarily of all, no one rushed to mete out punishment for the Black dock workers who fought back. Though multiple fighters were briefly detained, all were released. Folding Chair Guy, real name Reggie Gray, has been dodging police requests to speak with him, but no one seems to be pushing too hard for his arrest either, although the investigation into the brawl is ongoing. At a press conference, Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert notably didn’t attempt to distort the power dynamics, stating simply that “several members of the Harriott II came to Mr. Pickett’s defense.” The three white attackers turned themselves in to police custody after warrants were issued for their arrest.

The prevailing public mood around the Montgomery brawl has not been racist backlash or anxiety over such a backlash, but rather deep satisfaction at a battle in which justice seems to have prevailed: The perpetrators were rounded up and the victims received a rousing defense from the community. For once, the marginalized underdog — a Black man being ganged up on by a group of white bullies — came out no worse for wear; Pickett reportedly walked away from the fight with only a headache and some minor cuts and bruises.

What it means to try that in a (not entirely) small town

The collective sense of satisfaction might be exactly the kind of communal security Jason Aldean was attempting to portray in “Try That in a Small Town.” This was, in fact, almost the exact scenario Aldean says he was attempting to capture in his ode to small-town vigilante justice: a group of outsiders come into town, refuse to obey the local customs or follow the local laws, and then get their asses duly whooped by the town citizenry.

While Montgomery is not a “small” town, its history of banding together to rout out racists is deeply relevant here. Montgomery is precisely the type of heartland town that deserves to have songs written about the bravery and commitment of its citizens to protecting one another, to fighting back against injustice — to defending its people and its way of life at all costs. But there’s plenty of reason to suspect that Montgomery wasn’t the kind of town — and this wasn’t the kind of scenario — that Aldean had in mind. We know that celebrating moments of Black defiance is incredibly rare in American history.

The Montgomery brawl represents an extraordinary triumphant moment in which Black resistance has been seen as a just force rather than a threat to the white establishment. Black shows of defiance, even when used in clear self-defense, are all too often wielded against the victim . Historically, instances of rebellion such as that of slave revolt leader Nat Turner have been used to justify more violence against Black people. Today, in cases where Black victims of police violence attempt to seek justice, the legal doctrine of “ qualified immunity ” — in which police have almost unlimited power to use force without fearing a lawsuit in response — is invoked.

The entire justice system, in other words, too frequently gets weaponized against Black Americans who assert themselves in the face of threats to their safety, property, and human dignity. Black citizens are rarely allowed to be “ heroic through defiance ,” to reclaim Black rebellion as an act of valor, or to wield reactive violence as a form of patriotism and idealism. That framing of violence is almost exclusively reserved for the kind of white supremacists Aldean’s song seems interested in protecting.

The Montgomery brawl was subversive, shocking, even refreshing in its memeability — not because violence is something to be enjoyed, but because the long arc of history, honed to oppress, simply could not withstand the glorious righteous fury of a bunch of boat workers who’d been forced to stand around for nearly an hour thanks to some entitled jerks who refused to follow the dock rules.

It’s worth asking whether the public’s reaction to the brawl would have been as laid back if the stakes hadn’t been so clear. These Black dockhands, after all, were working in the service of something undeniably anodyne, even arguably white-coded: a cruise on a 19th-century riverboat , with all the ties to antebellum history such a tour implies. Would this minor moment have been framed as heroic had the victims been trying instead to dock a summer cruise full of raucous Black partiers? If the dockhands had all turned out to be Black Lives Matter activists, would their rebellion have still been valiant?

It may seem silly to ask these kinds of questions about a heavily memed brawl involving a folding chair and a person known only as “Black Aquaman,” but this is exactly when we should be asking them. It’s the constant policing and challenging of ordinary Black existence by the white establishment — through microaggressions, or macroaggressions, like writing an entire song about how badly you want to lynch outsiders — that leads to the fomentation of anger that spills over into protest. That then gets used to justify more policing and challenging of ordinary Black existence.

That’s why the Montgomery brawl was, on a level, a brilliant deconstruction of the lie behind “Try That in a Small Town”: It effortlessly destroyed the song’s flimsily veiled conceit that the “community” that needs protection is that of innocent white people being besieged by scary Black protesters.

Perhaps that’s also why Aldean’s song, though it had a brief stint atop the Billboard Hot 100 after all the controversy surrounding it broke, immediately plummeted a full 20 slots. This was reportedly one of the biggest drops in history, and the biggest ever for a song that didn’t debut at No. 1.

The deepest irony of all this is that Jason Aldean — who grew up in the big town of Macon, Georgia, and now resides in the bigger town of Nashville — tries to court “ that small-town vibe ” without ever delving into what the vibe actually is. Anyone who’s from a small Southern town understands exactly what he’s referencing.

Like anywhere, small towns are full of wonderful individual people and affirming communities. But also like anywhere — and perhaps even a little more often than anywhere, given their size and emphasis on the collective — they can be subject to toxic groupthink. When the idea of a small town is freighted with notions of an “us” and a “them,” notions that can distort a sense of self and what exactly needs to be defended, they can also be as alienating, dangerous, and violent as anywhere else on earth.

That’s why narratives of Black defiance are all the more crucial as representations of what real community can be. A sweet tea party, indeed.

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Riverboat brawl in montgomery, al turns racial quickly, montgomery, alabama riverboat brawl turns racial fast ... black versus white.

A massive brawl along the docks of a river in the deep South unfolded this weekend -- and it was pretty black and white as far as what was going down ... quite literally.

This wild scene took place Saturday at Riverfront Park in Montgomery, AL -- where multiple eyewitnesses say a riverboat was trying to pull in, but couldn't ... because some locals in a smaller pontoon boat were blocking the space, something a security guard tried rectifying.

That's where this first video picks up ... the man in the white shirt -- who's Black -- is said to be a guard/dock worker of some sort, and he was telling these white dudes to move. It erupted into a 4-on-1 deal, with the white guys wailing on the man ... while others watched.

Soon, though ... other Black people jumped into the mix to come this gentleman's aid -- including somebody who threw themselves into the water from across the way to swim over.

Eventually, the initial fracas came to an end ... but it was far from over. Another group of Black individuals -- who were apparently staffers on the riverboat -- saw what happened and raced down to confront the white assailants ... and another beatdown ensued all over again.

This time, the 4 white men on the boat were very clearly outnumbered ... and all hell broke loose. People were getting punched, knocked down -- it was straight up pandemonium.

Naturally, the cops arrived and multiple people were arrested. While there might've been some confusion, at first, as to what started all this ... Montgomery's mayor, Steven Reed , made it clear it was the white guys who antagonized this ... and consequences are coming.

He says, "[T]he Montgomery Police Department acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job. Warrants are being signed and justice will be served." Unclear who the instigators in the smaller boat were at this point.

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1 more person charged in Alabama riverboat brawl; co-captain says he 'held on for dear life'

Police in Montgomery, Alabama, say another person has been charged in an Aug. 5 brawl on the city's riverfront during which the co-captain of a cruise ship said he "held on for dear life" as he was pummeled by boaters.

The 42-year-old man who turned himself in Friday was charged with disorderly conduct and is in jail, said Capt. Jarrett Williams of the Montgomery Police Department in an email. Police had sought the man for questioning because they believed he swung a folding chair during the incident.

A total of 13 people were detained in the aftermath of the brawl, which happened in Montgomery's Riverfront Park . Three men and one woman were charged with third-degree assault, which is a misdemeanor offense in Alabama, as is disorderly conduct. One man initially charged with misdemeanor assault in the attack has been cleared of wrongdoing , police said Friday. All those charged are from out of town, Mayor Steven Reed said in a news conference Tuesday.

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Co-captain describes violent attack on Montgomery, Alabama, riverfront

Dameion Pickett, 43, described in a handwritten statement to authorities included in court documents how he was attacked after moving a pontoon boat a few feet so the Alabama River cruise ship, the Harriott II, could dock.

The ship's captain had asked a group on a pontoon boat "at least five or six times" to move from the riverboat’s designated docking space, but they responded by “giving us the finger and packing up to leave," Pickett said in the statement. Pickett, the boat's co-captain, and another member of the crew went ashore and moved the pontoon boat “three steps to the right,” he said.

After that, two people encountered him, threatening to beat him for touching the boat. The men argued that it was a public dock space, but Pickett said he told them it was the city’s designated space for the riverboat and he was “just doing my job.”

Riverfront brawl: 3 men charged with assault after brawl at Riverfront Park in Montgomery, Alabama

Then, Pickett said he was punched in the face and hit from behind. “I went to the ground. I think I bit one of them. All I can hear Imma kill you” and beat you, he said. Pickett said he couldn’t tell “how long it lasted” and “grabbed one of them and just held on for dear life."

A second round of fights happened after the riverboat docked and several crew members approached the pontoon boat.

Police: Montgomery, Alabama, brawl not a hate crime

Videos of the incident – involving several white boaters, attacking Pickett, who is Black, and a teen deckhand, who is white and was punched – went viral and led to international news coverage. The deckhand’s mother heard a racial slur before Pickett was hit, she wrote in a statement.

Montgomery police said they consulted with the FBI and determined the incident did not qualify as a hate crime. Reed, the city’s first Black mayor, said he will trust the investigative process, but he said his “perspective as a Black man in Montgomery differs from my perspective as mayor.”

“From what we’ve seen from the history of our city – a place tied to both the pain and the progress of this nation – it seems to meet the moral definition of a crime fueled by hate, and this kind of violence cannot go unchecked,” Reed said. “It is a threat to the durability of our democracy, and we are grateful to our law enforcement professionals, partner organizations and the greater community for helping us ensure justice will prevail.”

Contributing: Francisco Guzman and Alex Gladden, The USA TODAY Network, The Associated Press

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‘Alabama Sweet Tea Party’: Happy one-year anniversary to the Montgomery Riverfront brawl

Posted on Aug 6, 2024

The Montgomery Riverfront brawl describes a large fight that broke out on the riverfront dock in Montgomery, Alabama, when a Black co-captain was attacked by a group of white boaters on August 5th, 2023.

What caused the riverfront brawl in Montgomery, Alabama on August 5th, 2023?

The Montgomery Riverfront brawl took place at the popular Riverfront Park off of the Alabama River. The park hosts several venues, from an amphitheater and a stadium to the Harriott II Riverboat, which is a historical 19th-century riverboat that hosts dinner, live entertainment, and dancing.

The Harriott II Riverboat claims a particular spot on the docks for its guests to get on and off the boat, but that evening, a privately owned pontoon boat stopped and blocked the entrance to the riverboat’s spot for over 45 minutes, according to an article published by the Washington Post shortly after the altercation.

During those 45 minutes, the white boaters argued with Damien Pickett, the riverboat’s co-captain, giving him rude hand gestures in response to his requests for them to move. When it was clear they wouldn’t move for the historic riverboat, Pickett was brought over to the dock to reason with them and one of the white boaters attacked him, instigating the brawl.

When Pickett tried to fight back, the white boaters ganged up on him. People rushed onto the dock to defend him, including one 16-year-old boy who swam to the dock from the riverboat. A short while later, more people joined the melee to try and force the pontoon boat to leave, reigniting the brawl. The police eventually arrived and broke up the brawl.

Montgomery, Alabama Riverfront boat brawl.. Another perspective..😲.. introducing chair..🪑 pic.twitter.com/wvG8PIzyaB — 4ortunefame💰👑💰 (@4ortunefame) August 7, 2023

If you understand the history of Montgomery — one of the most prolific slave-trading cities in the US turned brutally repressive apartheid regime after, and majority Black but JUST got its first Black mayor — it gives so much more perspective to this video. Trust. https://t.co/4eViL201ar — Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) August 7, 2023

How the Montgomery Riverfront brawl went viral and the significance of the folding chair

The Montgomery Riverfront brawl went viral after witnesses posted videos they took of the altercation on social media. It’s possible that the racially-charged brawl could have ended as just another piece of news if it hadn’t been for the Black man who brought out a folding chair and started hitting people with it.

The folding chair is a significant symbol in the Black community, with Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D-N.Y.) being credited with saying in 2005, “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” Not only that, but it was a Black man, Nathaniel Alexander, who invented the folding chair in 1911, combating the prejudices and stereotypes of the day.

“If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.” -Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm pic.twitter.com/Pz3z1p3gRq — Cori Bush (@CoriBush) August 8, 2023

Social media latched onto the symbolism of the brawl and the man with the folding chair. It even sparked a trend of dramatic fight reenactments .

@ykghotboy2 literally re-enacted the whole video like we just ain’t see it #tiktokinfluencers #skinbone #reenactment #alabamaboat #ykghotboy #boatsgonewild #alabamafootball #cruisetok #teaparty ♬ original sound – Ykghotboy

This is fine theater right here. Give everybody an independent spirit award or something. #FadeInTheWater pic.twitter.com/2LVeXhg0qh — Naima Cochrane (@naima) August 7, 2023

In the aftermath of the brawl, Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph posted a video of her singing a line of the Black national anthem on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Lift every chair and swing.”

🛥️🏊🏿 🪑 pic.twitter.com/FG467S5Sag — sheryl lee ralph (@thesherylralph) August 9, 2023

How the one-year anniversary of the Montgomery Riverfront brawl became an unofficial holiday

The Montgomery Riverfront brawl has made a resurgence on social media this year, with folks marking the first anniversary as one of great importance. It has many nicknames, such as the Alabama Sweet Tea Party, Chairteenth, Juneteenth 2.0., and Fade in the Water.

The brawl has been commemorated in songs, on t-shirts, and with a wide array of merchandise, most of which utilize the folding chair as a symbol. But folks organizing events to celebrate the day have made a point to say that they don’t condone violence, and that the events being organized are meant to be a celebration of community.

TikToker Chrissa Gaines ( @chrissafromthebay ) posted on July 10th, 2024 to ask, “What are we doing on August 5? Are we doing cookouts? Are we having shirts made? Are we playing games? What foods are we having?”

@chrissafromthebay Fade In The Water 1 Year Anniversary is quickly approaching!! What we doin yall?! #montgomeryboatbrawl #montgomerybrawl #fadeinthewater #alabamariverboatbrawl ♬ original sound – Chrissa

After it became clear that this idea was popular, she decided it was time to organize. People from all over the country, from Twitch streamers to social media influencers, are using their platform to turn August 5th into a day of celebration for the Black community, as reported by the Washington Post .

How the Montgomery Riverfront brawl court cases ended

According to the Montgomery Advertiser , the FBI concluded that there was “no evidence of a hate crime” in the Montgomery Riverfront brawl. Of the group who instigated the fight, Richard Roberts, the man who threw the first punch, pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor assault, Mary Todd pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment in the assault on Pickett, and Zachery Shipman and Allen Todd pleaded guilty to charges of harassment. Only Roberts served any jail time.

As for the man with the folding chair? His name is Reggie Ray, and he pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct after the charges against him by the woman he struck were dropped.

Montgomery Riverfront brawl memes

The majority of memes and reactions to the Montgomery Riverfront brawl involved folding chairs; here are a couple of good ones.

Just got my open carry license 🔥 pic.twitter.com/s9VTUpzhdl — Kofi (@blackkingkofi) August 7, 2023

The Hat Signal 😂😂😂 pic.twitter.com/Y4Mn7KwN3H — Rod (@rodimusprime) August 7, 2023

the chair from the montgomery riverfront brawl speaks out pic.twitter.com/fMXpejcuUV — Tré Melvin (@TreMelvin) August 7, 2023

When I text you 🪑, that means you better have a seat before I hand you a seat. #AlabamaSweetTeaParty 🤭🤣 #DontStartNunWontBeNun #montgomerybrawl #MontgomeryAlabama #SweetHomeAlabama pic.twitter.com/EStT99zJI1 — 𝓝𝓲𝓴𝓴𝓲 𝓑𝓵𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓽 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷 (@NikkiBJaxx417) August 7, 2023

Top 10 names given to this young hero: 10. Black Aquaman 9. JJ Fish 8. Michael B Phelps 7. Captain Hook 6. Catfish Cuz 5. Kofi Kingfish 4. Tyrone Lochte 3. 21 Tilapia 2. Lil' Namor 1. Shaquille O'Gills pic.twitter.com/a6c4lbe4HP — Mike Kincaide (@mikekincaide) August 7, 2023

LMFAO pic.twitter.com/wnmAcpSGAy — Tall Glass of Wine 🍷 (@BigKneeCuh) August 6, 2023

Nah this edit has me on the floor lmaoo pic.twitter.com/zRZdYh3jIo — Sylvia (@SylviaObell) August 7, 2023

The new Bat Signal after the Riverboat Brawl in Montgomery, Alabama. #riverboat #Montgomery #Alabama pic.twitter.com/YLv7MPDn78 — Chris| Sports Fanatic (@SportsWinn) August 7, 2023

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Anna is a freelance writer with far too much time on her hands. When she’s not writing about memes and internet slang, she can be found running TTRPGs online.