Message of forum on riot: 'Stop blaming each other'

The national president of Hip Hop Congress suggested a first step toward mending the rifts that have surfaced after a post-concert riot at The Evergreen State College.

"Stop blaming each other. Squash it," Shamako Noble told a crowd of about 40 students and others in Lecture Hall 1 on Friday, to some applause.

The event, with Noble, Northwest hip-hop organizer Julie Chang Schulman and filmmaker Andrew Rutherford, was a subdued affair, different from the occasionally heated forums held in the past two weeks.

Noble, who is based in San Jose, Calif., said he felt the need to show support to the Evergreen chapter of the club, one of about 80 nationwide. The chapter organized the concert, which featured Dead Prez, several local hip-hop acts and community groups that had information tables.

"There is no one here to protect us if our name is thrown into the mud, if one of our bands' names is thrown into the mud, if hip hop is thrown into the mud," he said.

The incident started in the wee hours of Feb. 15 when a group of concertgoers blocked an Evergreen campus police car as they protested the arrest of a man being investigated for alleged assault.

The altercation escalated as exiting concertgoers joined the group and police from Thurston County, Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater arrived as backup. The incident ended with the destruction of a Thurston County patrol car.

Video audience

A 10-minute video produced by Hip Hop Congress has more than 2,200 views on YouTube and more than 300 clicks at The Olympian's video site. It includes footage from a variety of sources, including from inside the concert, outside the show during the altercation between police and concertgoers, and at community forums.

The video was critical of the Olympia Police Department's actions and touches on the relationship between the city police and students who took part in protests of military shipments unloaded at the Port of Olympia in November.

News organizations and hip-hop and pop culture Web sites have picked up on the story of the riot. Noble said some of the coverage lacked the local historical context of what happened. The video was created to address some of that, he said.

Friday's event was one of the many forums that have been held as students, faculty members and administration sort out how to prevent similar incidents.

A committee of staff members, faculty members and students is convening to assess the policies and procedures of event planning and to see if things can be done differently to prevent situations from getting out of hand.

Evergreen Police Chief Ed Sorger, who released reports from other police agencies about the incident without their consent, told the group he felt sharing the documents would help people at Evergreen understand what happened.

"I'm embarrassed that we had to bring people, outside officers, to handle our problem," he said, adding that he might have damaged his relationship with local police with his release of the documents. "I want Evergreen officers to help you. We care about this campus. We're not here to bully you around."

Student Bruce Wilkinson, who has filed a complaint against the Olympia Police Department in connection with the incident, said that to prevent altercations with police, people must talk about the Olympia police's relationship with students.

"With the possibility of future port protests, this is not an issue that will go away," he said.

Venice Buhain covers education for The Olympian. She can be reached at 360-754-5445 or vbuhain@theolympian.com.