Montgomery Brawl

The majority of mainstream media coverage of what transpired on the dock in Montgomery, Alabama, earlier this month treated it as yet another isolated incident, with headlines like “Brawl reignites national debate over race.” In fact, there was nothing to reignite.

In the weeks since the celebrated “Battle of Montgomery” on a riverfront dock, Black people have released a torrent of creative cultural production — comedic reenactments of the racially tinged fight, commentaries and sound effects edited into the videos of the conflict and, of course, hundreds of memes.