By ELIZABETH FERSZT
Contributing Writer
Hundreds of people gathered at Cascades Park in Jackson to kick off the July 4th holiday with fireworks, food trucks, and live music on Thursday, July 3.
At dusk, right before the fireworks show began, a fight broke out at the dirt trail that leads to the central view of the mammoth water feature. About 100 kids could be seen running, swarming to a brief fight between peers, all alerted by their cell phones; capturing video of the altercation, presumably to be shared later on social media.
Another fight ensued immediately after the show, near the basketball courts. Again, swarms of kids started running toward it with their cellphones in hand.
City of Jackson Police and Jackson County Sheriff’s officers were on foot at the event. “There were several small fights at the fireworks that were broken up,” said JPD Chief Chris Simpson. “A juvenile was detained and turned over to his mother at JPD. One adult was arrested for felonious assault regarding a parking space disagreement at the Cascades Manor House.”
The fireworks show itself went off without a hitch – beautiful soaring shells of bursting colors in gold, red, and white – with a musical background of such iconic songs as “Party in the USA,” by Mylie Cyrus, and “Born in the USA,” by Bruce Springsteen.
There were other notes of pacific enjoyment, as families gathered to watch the magnificent display of shell after shell of pure light and color.
“This happens every year, it’s sad, generally it’s little, Black, high school kids, it’s almost as if they come here to [fight],” said Ray Goodloe, age 58, of Jackson. “Me as a black person, this is embarrassing. You wonder why people don’t want these kids around. There’s a lot of reasons for this and their behaviors: absent father figures in their homes, drugs…”
When asked what about things people fought about when he grew up, like sports rivalries or girlfriend problems Goodloe said, “Those problems are obsolete today; today the problems come from social media, Facebook… guys do get jealous of girls too, but for the most part, it’s the music, the rap music. It’s the culture. A lot of Black people such as myself, we get caught in the misconception that all black people are like this. But that’s so far from the truth.”
“I come here every year. Me and my daughter, we sat here in the same spot last year, we saw the exact same thing. Any time you come out here there is either a shooting or a fight or something and it’s normally people of color…It’s embarrassing.”
Goodloe owns and operates Woodbridge Farms, an informal, large urban garden near Prospect Street. He said he has offered to teach kids how to garden and farm.
Mr Goodloe you should run for US president.