from AlterNet:
Posted by macmcclelland at 6:13 am
July 22, 2010
Strippers, Booze and Race Riots: BP’s Cleanup Workers Run Amok in Grand IslePosted by macmcclelland on @ 6:13 am
This story originally appeared on Mother Jones.I hear about the race riot at Daddy’s Money almost as soon as I arrive on Grand Isle, Louisiana. My friend and I are going to the bar tonight to catch the “female oil wrestling” oil-spill cleanup workers have been packing in to see on Saturday nights. When we stop by the office of the island’s biggest seafood distributor, he tells us that two days ago a bunch of black guys and a bunch of white guys got into a big fight at the bar. It spilled out all over the street and had to be broken up by a ton of cops.
According to the Census, 1,541 people live in this slow Southern resort town. An estimated 2.9 of them are black. That was before the spill. The seafood guy gestures in the direction of the floating barracks being built on barges in the bay to house the lower-skilled cleanup workers, and says that people think the barracks will keep those workers—who are mostly black—from “jumping off” onto dry land and causing trouble.
That night, dozens of men in race-segregated packs crowd around to watch strippers dance around and then tussle inside the bouncy inflatable ring set up inside Daddy’s Money. Female oil wrestlers need, obviously, to be oiled. Plastic cups full of baby oil are being auctioned off, along with the right to rub their contents all over one of the thong-bikinied gals. “I hope there’s no dispersant in that oil!” someone quips. The bidding before the first match starts at $10; it ends pretty quickly when some kid offers $100.
“He outbid me!” the guy next to me yells. His name is Cortez. He bid $80. He has dollar bills tucked all the way around under the brim of his hat, and piles of them in his fist. He has spent $200 of his $1,000 paycheck already tonight. “I am coming here every Saturday from now on,” he says. He gestures expansively at the scene—writhing women; hollering, money-throwing men. “Sponsored by BP!” he yells, laughing, then throws his arms around me and grabs my ass. ...............(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/07/22/strippers-booze-and-race-riots-bps-cleanup-workers-run-amok-in-grand-isle/
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