Race Wars in Twin Falls? (Opinion)

Over the weekend, an acquaintance sent me an e-mail about a brawl at a local tavern.  She had gone to the place on 4^th Avenue West in Twin Falls to see a friend’s band in action when a fight erupted.

Later, carloads of angry men returned and a full scale donnybrook spilled outside.  As she explained in the message, the men who came back spoiling for a rematch were Hispanic and had tattooed faces.

First, Hispanic isn’t a synonym for bad and a tattoo doesn’t necessarily mean gang affiliation.  How these things get started could also be an insult hurled from an Anglo at the bar.  Who knows?

When I was a young man, I was holding down a seat in a neighborhood tavern when a biker gang walked in for a drink.  All was peaceful until some of the locals started talking smack.  Then, two sides spilled into the street and started tossing punches.  The bartender was a friend of my family.  “You don’t fight,” she told me.  Then, she handed me a quarter, pointed at a payphone and told me to call police.  The spat ended a few minutes later with no serious wounds and the bikers drove off before a policeman arrived.

What we’re seeing in Twin Falls is slightly different.  There appears to be a dreaded racial component.  A newspaper story today details a local judge’s anger with people stupidly trying to settle scores.  While there are a great many legitimate concerns about the rule-of-law when it comes to immigration, dangerous gangs and potential sleeper cells within recent refugee arrivals, I don’t think swinging fists or chains or knives in the streets is a solution.  Being an idiot only harms the real concerns others may have.  It gives ammunition to liberals and politicians who’ve buried their heads in the sand.  You aren’t a hero because you’ve challenged a man in a turban at a local mall to a death match.  You’re not only a jerk but a criminal.  ‘Nuff said!