UPDATE, September 26, 10:30amET, the Indiana National Guard sent us the following statement about Ahmad Damra’s behavior in the second video: “The actions of this individual do not reflect the standards of professionalism or values held high by the military. We take issues like this seriously and have notified the chain of command. Thank you for making us aware of this incident.”
It is always hard to find out what exactly happens when certain videos get posted on Twitter, but when the profile of Danny Rockett (@SantoRon) posted the following video of a bleacher fight at Wrigley Field Monday night after the Cubs-Pirates game, it raised questions as to whether racial slurs were being tossed about during (of all nights) Hispanic Heritage Night.
Part of bleacher fighting. pic.twitter.com/5i0p8PwhsN
— Danny Rockett (@SonRanto) September 25, 2018
The first video posted by Rockett, the host of a Cubs podcast, was soon questioned by another profile:
The video you posted doesn’t make who the aggressor is or the intent clear. It’s kind of irresponsible and protects the racists.
— kelly wallace (@kellyawallace) September 25, 2018
The question was valid because the video lacked any context and from the looks of the first video, there was a lot of blame to go around as to why there was a fight and who was at fault. But the second video Rockett posted in response to the tweet question clearly showed a young man yelling “Beaners! Spics!” after the fight was cleared up by Cubs security.
Have at it then. pic.twitter.com/M6FdtanK4Z
— Danny Rockett (@SonRanto) September 25, 2018
At that point, Rockett was asked to stop recording by a Cubs security officer, because Wrigley is “private property,” even though Cubs policy allows for filming at Wrigley.
Rockett had one clear word as to why the fight happened:
Racism.
— Danny Rockett (@SonRanto) September 25, 2018
News of the video hit local Chicago media, and the Sun-Times added more details:
…after being contacted by the Sun-Times, Rockett said, “I really don’t know. Probably just drunks going back and forth. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary really until it was a melee.”
Cubs spokesman Julian Green said all parties involved were removed from Wrigley after the fight, which began about 15 minutes after the game ended. They were interviewed by security outside. While “there was some bantering back and forth during the game, no one was forthcoming about who started it,” Green said, and no one wanted to press charges. No one suffered any serious injuries.
The Cubs statement confirmed Green’s comments to the Sun-Times:
All parties involved in the altercation were escorted out the ballpark and interviewed by police and security. There was no conclusion as to what started or who instigated the fight last night. No charges were filed and no arrests were made. We have a zero tolerance against fighting so the individuals involved will be barred from Wrigley Field for the remainder of 2018.
Meanwhile, as you can expect when a video from here comes out, Twitter took to trying to find out who the young man was hurling racial slurs in Rockett’s second video. Looks like Twitter found him:
You can hear he’s worried his unit will see this, but he’s probably just being modest. Can’t imagine why anyone would wanna take a knee at our ball games with heroes like this in attendance! ???????♀️??♂️??♂️@ONENorthside @chicagodsa @CDRosa @peopleslobbyusa pic.twitter.com/8GSOO91gxc
— Ground Game LA ?? (@GroundGameLA) September 26, 2018
The Indiana National Guard? Oh, oh. If you go back and listen to the video again, you will see that Damra is concerned that someone would see this video. Too late?
Latino Rebels has contacted the Indiana National Guard for comment, but has yet to get a reply, although some Facebook users are getting replies about the video. Here is just one example:
Did anything occur from this?