montgomery riverboat song

@itstoushiebabyy/Twitter @ace876media.ent1/TikTok

‘Black Aquaman’: Riverboat crew member who swam into brawl on dock branded hero

The footage is all over the internet..

David Covucci

Posted on Aug 7, 2023     Updated on Sep 14, 2023, 11:09 am CDT

An apparent crew member of a riverboat in Alabama became a breakout internet sensation after he swam to the rescue of a co-worker who was being attacked by a group of pontoon boaters.

For his efforts, he’s been dubbed “Black Aquaman,” among a series of other nicknames.

Riverboat fight videos explode online

The viral drama went down Saturday night in Montgomery, Alabama, and according to a series of videos and reports, a group of boaters refused to remove their pontoon boat from a pier where the city’s riverboat, the Harriot II, was supposed to dock.

Watching from the riverboat, a number of people began chanting the lyrics “Move, Bitch,” a popular song by Ludacris, at the pontoon boaters, ratcheting up the tense environment.

Attempting to move the pontoon himself, a Black staffer was then assaulted by the white group.

@ace876media.ent1 This is how it started #MontgomeryRiverfront #BoatBrawl ♬ original sound – Ace876media

As the fight played out, one of the crew members appears to have leaped off the riverboat and swum to the dock to aid in the fight.

Black Aquaman gone get in hella trouble once his momma catch him pic.twitter.com/WxgOkPzExF — Wekglobal (@wekglobal) August 7, 2023

The crew members of the riverboard, along with others on the boat after it docked, then went to confront the owners of the pontoon boat, where another skirmish broke out.

In it, what appears to be a crew member of the riverboat throws a woman into the water, as police struggle to contain the situation.

@barcardg #AlabamaBoatBrawl #Brawl #BoatCruise #BoatsOfTikTok #Boats #BoatsGoneWild #MontgomeryBoatRide #BoysGoneWild #BlackTikTok #BlackTikTokCommmunity #BarCar Ⓜ️EⓂ️🅿️HIS GO FOLLOW ME ON #FB @ #BarCarPromotions FOR MORE #Blogs & #GirlzFromTheHood GO FOLLOW ME ON #IG @ #BarCar_ & #Boss1Bitch #TheNoels #Memphis #MemphisTN #MemphisTennessee #901 #901Memphis #DannielleGriffin #DowntownGirl #DownTownMemphis #FoodCritic #Toxic #GoViral #CapCut #DannielleNoel #Workout #Dance #FitTok #DannielleGriffin66 #fy #ForYou #MemphisTikTok #Foodie #Foodies #SoulFood #SoulFoodie #SoulFoodies #foodiesoftiktok #memphisfoodie #memphisfoodies #foodtok #soulfoodtok #fypage #SouthMemphisMade #memphistn #memphistn901 #901 #fyp #viral #ForYouPage #DannielleGriffin #DannielleNoel #DannielleGriffin66 #BarCarENT #DowntownMemphis #MidtownMemphis #FoodCritic #FoodAndBeverage #MemphisTikToker #MemphisTok #blueeyes #mydolcemoment #nextleveldish #GirlzFromTheHood #BlackTikTokCommunity #BlackGirlFollowTrain #PrettyGirls #BlackGirlFollowTrain #BlackGirlTikTok #BlackTikTok #MemphisBaddie #Baddies #Baddie #baddietiktok #MemphisBaddies #SouthMemphisBaddies #40ClubMom #40ClubMommy #CatsOfTikTok #BlackLivesMatter ♬ original sound – Dannielle Noel

But the breakout star of the video was the crew member who desperately swam to offer aid on the dock.

He’s been dubbed not only Black Aquaman, but also Michael B. Phelps, a play on Michael B. Jordan, Evander Holyfish, and Lil’ Bass X.

Top 10 names given to this young hero: 10. Black Aquaman 9. JJ Fish 8. Michael B Phelps 7. Captain Hook 6. Catfish Cuz 5. Kofi Kingfish 4. Tyrone Lochte 3. 21 Tilapia 2. Lil' Namor 1. Shaquille O'Gills pic.twitter.com/a6c4lbe4HP — Mike Kincaide (@mikekincaide) August 7, 2023

Lil Bass X — JUICEBOXXCRYPTO (@djhugocastro) August 7, 2023

The scene itself got compared to something out of the Avengers .

It’s giving Avengers Endgame! Frame it pic.twitter.com/Lv9LX74ptm — Dawn (@_dawnmontgomery) August 6, 2023

The crew members and the boaters have yet to be identified, and Montgomery police say they are investigating the matter and will file the appropriate charges. The riverboat fight videos apparently helped lead to multiple arrests, according to Montgomery news outlet WSFA .

Update: Several days later, three men were charged with assault in the 3rd degree. Richard Roberts, a 48-year-old white male; Allen Todd, a 23-year-old white male; and Zachary Shipman, 25 year-old white male.

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David Covucci is the senior politics and technology editor at the Daily Dot, covering the nexus between Washington and Silicon Valley. His work has appeared in Vice, the Huffington Post, Jezebel, Gothamist, and other publications. He is particularly interested in hearing any tips you have. Reach out at [email protected].

Videos Show Brawl At Montgomery’s Riverfront Park, And It Was A Glorious Day In Black History

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Source: Buyenlarge / Getty

M ontgomery, Alabama, is now the location of at least two iconic moments in Black history.

On March 25, 1965, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. led thousands of nonviolent demonstrators on a nearly 60-mile march from Selma to the steps of the capitol in Montgomery. And on Aug. 25, 2023, the spirit of MLK looked down over the city’s Riverfront Park and thought to himself: “You know, I largely stood for nonviolent resistance—but they shot me anyway, so I’m finna get my lick back!”

By now, most of y’all have seen the melee that occurred Saturday on the dock at Montgomery’s Riverfront Park. You’ve likely seen it from multiple angles, in fact. You’ve probably heard all of the commentaries. You’ve watched as Black Twitter rejoiced while the rest of Twitter erupted in various responses ranging from overall condemnation of violence to wondering why everyone keeps making everything about race.

I suggest paying attention to Black Twitter because that’s where the cultural context lies.

Let’s begin with how it all started.

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According to witnesses, the brawl on the docks began when a riverboat arrived where a pontoon boat was blocking it from docking.

Witnesses said the Black dock worker who became a victim of violence brought on by the Caucasian occupants of the pontoon boat had simply informed the boat’s owners that they needed to move. Now, you may be shocked and dismayed to find out that, in Alabama, white people responded to a Black authority figure telling them where they didn’t need to be by trying to lynch said Black man with fists instead of nooses —but Black folks weren’t surprised at that part. What happened next, however, was quite the delightful surprise.

Black people across social media appear to agree that the Black dock worker tossing his hat into the air was basically the negro spiritual version of the bat signal.

And his people did not ( *in the voice of Lady Mormont from Game of Thrones * ) refuse the call.

A Black man swam across the river to answer the call.

Black men hopped off the boat to answer the call.

https://twitter.com/ElkingtonR79841/status/1688540683785601024

An older Black man, who was clearly looking for a place to set down his folding chair only to find white people’s heads kept getting in the way, answered the call.

Speaking of the man with the chair, there’s a lot of controversy, even among Black people, over whether or not he took things too far. After all, it’s difficult to decipher whether the woman he used as a WWE training dummy was part of the brawl, one of the people trying to break things up, or whether she was simply too slow to get the hell out of the warzone.

But I think we can all agree that, at this point, when white people wear red they just look like they’re in full MAGA regalia, which would make them an existential threat to Black people anyway, especially around a scene where white violence had erupted. Either way, the wise words Slim Charles told Avon of House Barksdale come to mind:

I just like to imagine that the Black man, who we saw handcuffed at the scene, is currently sitting in jail enjoying the extra jello cups his fellow Black inmates left by his lunch tray to pay tribute.

Also, fear not, Black people. The white folks who started the fight got arrested too after Black bystanders pointed them out because the “no snitch” policy simply does not extend to white thugs hopped up on Jason Aldean energy drinks who felt entitled to attack a Black man for doing his job because they didn’t like being told to move by someone their ancestors would have enforced “whites only” laws against.

https://twitter.com/ChelseyBrejanee/status/1688443625200345088

“Last night, the Montgomery Police Department acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job,” Montgomery Mayor Steven L. Reed said in a statement Sunday, according to the Montgomery Advertiser . “Warrants have been signed and justice will be served.”

“This was an unfortunate incident which never should have occurred,” Reed said. “As our police department investigates these intolerable actions, we should not become desensitized to violence of any kind in our community. Those who choose violence will be held accountable by our criminal justice system.”

But, again, while Reed and others view this moment in contemporary Black history as an “unfortunate incident,” Black folks view it as a time to celebrate Black unity.

Sorry, but I really need to circle back to the Black man who swam, because Michael B. Phelps aka Aqua Mayne aka Boy-Got-Gills Scott-Heron aka Black Ariel ‘s brother, can not be denied his dues for doing a lot more than wading in that water.

Anyway, now that all the smoke has cleared, the Black delegation has put a number of proposals on the table, including making Aug. 5 a national Black holiday, and my personal request to change the name of the boat that was trying to dock from “Harriott II” to “Harriet Tubman’s Move-B*tch-Get-Out-The-Way-Mobile.”

It was a glorious moment that shall not be forgotten. Salute!

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The Montgomery boat brawl and what it really means to “try that in a small town”

The viral fight valorized Black resistance — and punctured Jason Aldean’s racist “small town” narrative.

by Aja Romano

One of the key facets of extremism is the element of plausible deniability. As such, “ dog whistles ” — coded language used to mask a deeper extremist or discriminatory rhetoric — have become a pervasive part of the way we talk about politics and the culture wars. They’re also exhausting to unpack.

No matter how diplomatically or plainly you point out the underlying racism or bigotry of a specific image or turn of phrase, there’s always someone eager to take the code literally, to dismiss its context, its subtext, and clearly harmful impact. They’re happy to claim this is just what happens when you pucker your lips and blow, and any hateful dogs that come running are just a coincidence.

Then a song comes along like country singer Jason Aldean’s risible “ Try That in a Small Town .” The lyrics and accompanying video are layered with references to Black Lives Matter protests , sundown towns (“see how far you make it down that road”), and white protectionism (“good ol’ boys ... we take care of our own”). The video’s main location was no less than the site of historical lynchings , a particularly unsubtle jab. Inevitably, however, when you attempt to illuminate this racist imagery, a “Try That in a Small Town” defender will show up. They will assert that the whole thing is really just about, as Aldean himself tried to assert , “the feeling of community” and the desire for a return to “a sense of normalcy.”

Normal, to Aldean, seems to be a reality where Black protesters don’t disrupt the everyday lives of white citizens — even if those citizens are, as the song suggests, stockpiling guns and turning paranoid eyes on any and all outsiders. This attempt to reframe socially sanctioned racism as “just a community looking out for itself” has long been a part of the discriminatory tactics used against Black Americans, from lynch mobs to the racist, KKK-apologetic Birth of a Nation , to the legal defenses used by white men who murder unarmed Black ones. It’s a cultural tactic used not only to disenfranchise Black Americans but to then gaslight them about their own reality and experience. It’s a tactic that turns aggression into “self-defense.”

It’s one big reason, out of an infinitude of reasons, that the world was transfixed earlier this week when video surfaced of a group of Black boat workers in Montgomery, Alabama, appearing to voraciously fight back after a group of white pontoon boaters began attacking a Black boat captain.

What happened at the Montgomery boat brawl

The white boaters, coming from nearby Selma, had allegedly repeatedly caused trouble at the dock by parking their pontoon illegally in the spot reserved for a large tourist riverboat, the Harriott II. On Sunday, August 5, the riverboat had been waiting for around 45 minutes, with passengers aboard, to dock. Damien Pickett, the riverboat’s first mate and co-captain, disembarked in order to move the pontoon boat himself. In response, according to reports, at least three of the boaters attacked Pickett, punching him in the face, beating and kicking him.

This sounds like an all-too-familiar tragedy in progress: white-on-black violence, motivated by a sense of racist entitlement. Speaking to the Daily Beast after the incident, the boat’s captain, Jim Kittrell, stressed that the only motive appeared to be racial: “It makes no sense to have six people try to beat the snot out of you just because you moved their boat up a few feet. In my opinion, the attack on Damien was racially motivated.” Kittrell’s assumption seems to be bolstered by eyewitness testimony: One bystander, a victim’s family member, said in a sworn statement that she heard one of the white men drop the n-word before the fighting began.

It’s important to consider this incident in the broader context of Montgomery’s history, as well. Montgomery, one of the major historical fronts of the civil rights movement, is no stranger to racialized violence. It was there, in 1954, that a young Martin Luther King Jr. took up pastorship at a local church, where he became a spokesperson for the Montgomery bus boycotts alongside Rosa Parks. Through boycotts and years of sustained activism amid tense civil unrest, Montgomery protesters successfully challenged the rule of Jim Crow in the South and ultimately changed the nation. Montgomery also saw devastating segregationist violence throughout this period, including one of the most violent moments in the civil rights movement, “ Bloody Sunday .”

In 2023, coming after a cultural period of intensifying racialized protests, a group of white people whaling on an unsuspecting and defenseless Black man could have led to tragic consequences or, at the least, traumatized victims and onlookers.

What the video shows happening next, however, flipped the script: Seeing one of their colleagues being attacked, other Black boat workers rushed in to defend him and fight back. Bystanders also joined in, with one teen now known as “ Black Aquaman ” famously jumping into the water and swimming across the dock in order to help. One man, known to the internet as “Folding Chair Guy,” gained instant fame when he went after the three attackers with, you guessed it, a folding chair.

The suddenness of the fight, combined with the enthusiasm of the brawlers, the glee of the onlookers, and the fact that everyone had phones out recording the incident, made the Montgomery brawl — dubbed the Alabama Sweet Tea Party — into an immediate viral sensation. It produced everything from evocative Twitter reactions to a live swimming pool reenactment to a remix of Ernie Barnes’s iconic painting of Black partiers, Sugar Shack . The folding chair was instantly memorialized .

Most extraordinarily of all, no one rushed to mete out punishment for the Black dock workers who fought back. Though multiple fighters were briefly detained, all were released. Folding Chair Guy, real name Reggie Gray, has been dodging police requests to speak with him, but no one seems to be pushing too hard for his arrest either, although the investigation into the brawl is ongoing. At a press conference, Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert notably didn’t attempt to distort the power dynamics, stating simply that “several members of the Harriott II came to Mr. Pickett’s defense.” The three white attackers turned themselves in to police custody after warrants were issued for their arrest.

The prevailing public mood around the Montgomery brawl has not been racist backlash or anxiety over such a backlash, but rather deep satisfaction at a battle in which justice seems to have prevailed: The perpetrators were rounded up and the victims received a rousing defense from the community. For once, the marginalized underdog — a Black man being ganged up on by a group of white bullies — came out no worse for wear; Pickett reportedly walked away from the fight with only a headache and some minor cuts and bruises.

What it means to try that in a (not entirely) small town

The collective sense of satisfaction might be exactly the kind of communal security Jason Aldean was attempting to portray in “Try That in a Small Town.” This was, in fact, almost the exact scenario Aldean says he was attempting to capture in his ode to small-town vigilante justice: a group of outsiders come into town, refuse to obey the local customs or follow the local laws, and then get their asses duly whooped by the town citizenry.

While Montgomery is not a “small” town, its history of banding together to rout out racists is deeply relevant here. Montgomery is precisely the type of heartland town that deserves to have songs written about the bravery and commitment of its citizens to protecting one another, to fighting back against injustice — to defending its people and its way of life at all costs. But there’s plenty of reason to suspect that Montgomery wasn’t the kind of town — and this wasn’t the kind of scenario — that Aldean had in mind. We know that celebrating moments of Black defiance is incredibly rare in American history.

The Montgomery brawl represents an extraordinary triumphant moment in which Black resistance has been seen as a just force rather than a threat to the white establishment. Black shows of defiance, even when used in clear self-defense, are all too often wielded against the victim . Historically, instances of rebellion such as that of slave revolt leader Nat Turner have been used to justify more violence against Black people. Today, in cases where Black victims of police violence attempt to seek justice, the legal doctrine of “ qualified immunity ” — in which police have almost unlimited power to use force without fearing a lawsuit in response — is invoked.

The entire justice system, in other words, too frequently gets weaponized against Black Americans who assert themselves in the face of threats to their safety, property, and human dignity. Black citizens are rarely allowed to be “ heroic through defiance ,” to reclaim Black rebellion as an act of valor, or to wield reactive violence as a form of patriotism and idealism. That framing of violence is almost exclusively reserved for the kind of white supremacists Aldean’s song seems interested in protecting.

The Montgomery brawl was subversive, shocking, even refreshing in its memeability — not because violence is something to be enjoyed, but because the long arc of history, honed to oppress, simply could not withstand the glorious righteous fury of a bunch of boat workers who’d been forced to stand around for nearly an hour thanks to some entitled jerks who refused to follow the dock rules.

It’s worth asking whether the public’s reaction to the brawl would have been as laid back if the stakes hadn’t been so clear. These Black dockhands, after all, were working in the service of something undeniably anodyne, even arguably white-coded: a cruise on a 19th-century riverboat , with all the ties to antebellum history such a tour implies. Would this minor moment have been framed as heroic had the victims been trying instead to dock a summer cruise full of raucous Black partiers? If the dockhands had all turned out to be Black Lives Matter activists, would their rebellion have still been valiant?

It may seem silly to ask these kinds of questions about a heavily memed brawl involving a folding chair and a person known only as “Black Aquaman,” but this is exactly when we should be asking them. It’s the constant policing and challenging of ordinary Black existence by the white establishment — through microaggressions, or macroaggressions, like writing an entire song about how badly you want to lynch outsiders — that leads to the fomentation of anger that spills over into protest. That then gets used to justify more policing and challenging of ordinary Black existence.

That’s why the Montgomery brawl was, on a level, a brilliant deconstruction of the lie behind “Try That in a Small Town”: It effortlessly destroyed the song’s flimsily veiled conceit that the “community” that needs protection is that of innocent white people being besieged by scary Black protesters.

Perhaps that’s also why Aldean’s song, though it had a brief stint atop the Billboard Hot 100 after all the controversy surrounding it broke, immediately plummeted a full 20 slots. This was reportedly one of the biggest drops in history, and the biggest ever for a song that didn’t debut at No. 1.

The deepest irony of all this is that Jason Aldean — who grew up in the big town of Macon, Georgia, and now resides in the bigger town of Nashville — tries to court “ that small-town vibe ” without ever delving into what the vibe actually is. Anyone who’s from a small Southern town understands exactly what he’s referencing.

Like anywhere, small towns are full of wonderful individual people and affirming communities. But also like anywhere — and perhaps even a little more often than anywhere, given their size and emphasis on the collective — they can be subject to toxic groupthink. When the idea of a small town is freighted with notions of an “us” and a “them,” notions that can distort a sense of self and what exactly needs to be defended, they can also be as alienating, dangerous, and violent as anywhere else on earth.

That’s why narratives of Black defiance are all the more crucial as representations of what real community can be. A sweet tea party, indeed.

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Detroit Rapper Gmac Cash Turns Alabama Brawl Into Hilarious Rap Song

Detroit rapper Gmac Cash has taken the viral Alabama riverboat fight and turned it into a hilarious new track, and some big-name rappers are showing him love as a result.

The viral brawl took place at Montgomery Riverfront Park on Saturday evening (August 5), and appeared to be racially divided as several white and Black people were seen fighting each other on the dock.

The internet has been having plenty of fun with the incident for a few days now, and Gmac Cash took it one step further on Monday (August 7) by immortalizing the mayhem on wax.

Recapping the wild scuffle in comedic storytelling fashion, Cash gave a special shoutout to the Black guy who swam to join the fight and the Black man who smashed a foldable chair over a white woman’s head.

“Cuz came out the water like, ‘Let’s get it crackin’/ Unc came with the chair like, ‘I got some action’/ Cuz came no short like, ‘I got Sebastian/’ Even the women getting hit like, ‘Damn, what happened?'” he raps.

“Seen a couple of them boys go night-night/And we got the first Black man to swim to a fight/ If you mad at this song, don’t mention me/ But fuck that, that chair going down in history.”

Big Sean , Sexyy Red and GLC were a few that took to Gmac’s Instagram comments section with their support of the new track.

Listen to “Montgomery Brawl” below:

The mass throwdown began between a Black dock worker and a group of white men regarding a pontoon boat that was reportedly blocking dock space needed to park a riverboat.

Footage showed the men arguing with each other for several minutes before one of the white men charged at the Black man, who reacted by spinning his cap around and fighting back.

From there, several other white men jumped in and began hitting the dock worker. One witness, apparently watching from the riverboat, could be heard screaming, “Y’all help that brother!” to onlookers who were on shore.

At least one Black man heeded the call and stepped in to break up the fight. Another even swam to the dock to help out. “Get up there, young buck!” someone off-camera could be heard saying as they cheered him on.

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August 7, 2023

The violence didn’t stop there, though, as a group of shirtless Black men were later seen confronting the white pontoon boat driver and his family, with at least one punch being thrown. When a group of white men — and even women — rushed over, chaos ensued.

According to local outlet WSFA 12 , Montgomery Police have issued four arrest warrants over the riverfront brawl and it’s possible more will follow after they review additional footage. Police confirmed that several people have been detained and charges are pending.

“Last night, the Montgomery Police Department acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job. Warrants are being signed and justice will be served,” Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed said in a statement on Sunday.

“This was an unfortunate incident which never should have occurred. As our police department investigates these intolerable actions, we should not become desensitized to violence of any kind in our community. Those who choose violent actions will be held accountable by our criminal justice system.”

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Detroit rapper writes song about Montgomery riverfront brawl, goes viral

A video of a wild brawl that erupted Saturday in Montgomery, Alabama, when a cruise ship worker was attempting to dock is going viral — and Gmac Cash took notice.

The Detroit rapper, well known for the viral songs "Big Gretch" about Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and "Giant Slide" about the infamous Belle Isle slide , decided to mark the moment in a new rap anthem called, "The Montgomery Brawl."

A video of the incident at Montgomery's Riverfront Park, shared Sunday on social media , shows a dock worker, a Black man, arguing with a white man about what the Montgomery Police Department later said was a private pontoon boat blocking the dock space needed to park a riverboat. It escalated when another white man rushed in and punched the employee . The two men began fighting when other white men attacked the employee. After the fight, a separate video shows a group of people approaching the pontoon boat, and more fighting broke out.

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“This was really a big moment for us,” Gmac Cash said, referencing the Black community. “It shows us coming together, uniting finally."

On Tuesday, Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert named three suspects involved in the incident: Richard Roberts, 48; Allen Todd, 23; and Zachary Shipman, 25 − all identified as white males. None of the three are Montgomery residents. Police said one man is in custody and arrangements are being made for the others to turn themselves in. Montgomery police is also requesting for a Black man seen wielding a chair in the video, Reggie Gray, to contact the department.

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Albert said the investigation is ongoing and that more charges are possible.

Gmac Cash, whose real name is Gerald Allen, posted his song Monday on Twitter and has received more than 1.3 million views as of Tuesday afternoon. (WARNING: Video contains violence and explicit language. Viewer discretion advised.)

He can be heard rhyming out shout-outs to many of the happenings in the brawl, including a mention to the “bro that could swim,” referencing the teen who was seen swimming across the water to the brawl.

“You know they got the saying, ‘We can’t swim,’” Gmac Cash said. “So that was good to see him swim.”

Other lyrical mentions by Gmac Cash in the song include the hat throw-off that took place at the beginning of the brawl, a "Rock Bottom"-like wrestling move, and the “unc with the chair,” referring to a Black man seen on video picking up and wielding a now-infamous white folding chair.

More: Why Detroit ranks as one of 'best cities' for music and some think it should be No. 1

The initial brawl video sparked an instant social media firestorm filled with memes, skits, video productions and passionate commentary, which raged for days online. The chair in particular was made into a t-shirt now being sold on multiple websites, and inspired a resurfaced meme of the popular quote from former U.S. Rep. Shirley Chisholm: “If they don’t give you a seat a the table, bring a folding chair.”

In Detroit alone, Facebook mentions about the brawl flooded timelines. Brittni Brown, the head publicist of the public relations firm The Bee Agency, reposted a viral meme with the text: “Our Ancestors looking down on Montgomery.”  

“It’s funny, but I promise you this is how our ancestors feel,” Brown said.

National reactions were rampant, too. On Instagram, a popular site called The Shade Room posted a group of people posing for a photo holding what they believe to be the “infamous chair” from the fight. Other social media commenters commemorated the date of the event, some even giving it a name.

“August 5 th is National (Explicit) Around and Find Out Day,” @iam_dcarter commented under an Instagram post related to the event on @theshaderoom.

On Sunday, the day after the fight, Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed posted to Twitter : “Last night, the Montgomery Police Department acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job. Warrants have been signed and justice will be served.”

Reed is the first Black mayor of Montgomery , a city well known for its history of racial oppression and being the birthplace of the modern American civil rights movement .

Gmac Cash said he too is aware of Alabama's history, and part of his inspiration for doing the brawl rhyme came from it. He said he believes this moment represents how exhausted Black people are with the treatment they receive from some white people and it’s time for it to stop.

“It's nothing like us," Gmac Cash said. “We are honestly the best people on the planet to me. But I feel like this is a moment that shows we can come together, we have each other's back and that's what we should do all the time in every situation instead of sitting back watching with a camera phone.”

USA TODAY and The Montgomery Advertiser contributed.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit rapper writes song about Montgomery riverfront brawl, goes viral

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The Montgomery Brawl Is Music to the Internet’s Ears

The breakout star of the Montgomery brawl is a white folding chair. I know this because her name is in Sheryl Lee Ralph’s mouth. “I have one thing to say,” the Emmy-winning Abbott Elementary actor began her remarks on the altercation that saw multiple Black bystanders come to the defense of a Black riverboat captain after white pontooners attacked him. “Lift every chair and swing ,” Ralph sang in the tune of the Black national anthem, per the video she posted on Twitter on August 8. Her lyric change refers to the famous piece of portable furniture that a Black man wielded during the brawl, an object that has now become a symbol of rising up against oppressors by grabbing the nearest weapon and joining the fight. A day before Ralph’s “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” remix hit the Twitter timeline, “Big Gretch” rapper Gmac Cash found the chair to be a source of inspiration for his viral song “Montgomery Brawl,” recounting the events at Riverfront Park on August 5. “Ayy, I’m really proud of y’all (Montgomery Brawl, bitch) / Not one, but them all (Montgomery Brawl),” Cash raps in the chorus. “Shout-out bro with the chair (Montgomery Brawl) / Everybody that was there (Montgomery Brawl, all of y’all).” The first verse sees him prophesize about the significance of the object. “Unc came with the chair like I got some action (bitch),” he describes. “That chair goin’ out in history.” The 16-year-old whom Cash calls “the first Black man to swim to a fight” does get a salute in his track (and many a nod online), but it’s clear that the chair has taken on an importance beyond wildest dreams.

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• sheryl lee ralph
• internet culture
• #fadeinthewater

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A waterfront brawl in Montgomery, Alabama, went viral. What happened and why?

The riverfront worker who was attacked said he “held on for dear life” as a group of white boaters jumped him in a large brawl that broke out at the Montgomery Riverfront in Alabama on Aug. 5.

In a handwritten account he filed with law enforcement after the Aug. 5 melee and obtained by NBC News, Dameion Pickett recalled what happened the day when the men refused to move their boat so a dinner cruise riverboat could dock.

“A tall, older white guy came over and hit me in the face. I took my hat off and threw it in the air,” he wrote. “Somebody hit me from behind. I started choking the older guy in front of me so he couldn’t anymore, pushing him back at the same time.”

Pickett has not made a public statement regarding the incident and did not respond to NBC News' request for comment.

Videos that went viral on social media showed a group of white men attacking Pickett. The footage caused an outcry, with the Montgomery mayor addressing the altercation and police issuing arrest warrants.

Allen Todd, 23, and Zachery Shipman, 25, have been charged with one misdemeanor count of assault in the third degree, a spokesperson for the Montgomery Police Department said.

Another man, Richard Roberts, 48, faces two third-degree assault charges and turned himself in on Aug. 8.

A fourth suspect in the case, Mary Todd, 21, turned herself in on Aug. 10 and was charged with misdemeanor third-degree assault.

A fifth suspect, Reggie Ray, 42, turned himself in on Aug. 11 and was charged with disorderly conduct. Police had previously sought Ray after he was seen wielding a folding chair in the melee on social media videos.

So what exactly happened? Read on for a full explanation of this now-viral incident.

What happened at the Montgomery Riverfront

A large brawl broke out Saturday, Aug. 5, shortly before 7 p.m. at the Alabama capital after Pickett attempted to clear a dock along the river so that the Harriott II Riverboat could dock, witnesses told NBC News . The brawl was fueled by alcohol and adrenaline, witnesses also said.

When a group of rowdy boaters refused to move their pontoon at the Montgomery Riverfront, they attacked Pickett when he untied their boat to make way for the riverboat, witnesses said.

In video shared with NBC News , after a group of what appears to be white men ran along the dock to attack the worker, who is Black, more people joined in and appeared to defend Pickett. Other footage shared with NBC News shows people punching and shoving one another, with one person falling into the water as police struggled to contain the chaos.

The Riverfront is a popular destination with a park, stadium, amphitheater and riverboat.

What police say about the fight

Montgomery Police Chief Darryl Albert, in a news conference on Aug. 8 , confirmed that a group of private white boaters had attacked a Black dockworker, identified as Pickett. Later, police would identify Pickett as the assistant boat captain of the riverboat.

He had been trying to move the private boaters' pontoon to make way for the riverboat.

As passengers aboard the riverboat — more than 200 — waited at least 30 minutes, Pickett tried to get the rowdy private boaters to move. Several members of the private pontoon group then attacked Pickett, Albert said.

Albert added that police arrived on the scene at 7:18 p.m. local time — about 18 minutes after the riverboat captain had called. He said 13 people were detained, questioned and then released.

What did the attacked dockworker say about the incident?

In a handwritten statement filed with police and obtained by NBC News, Pickett said he asked the group “five or six times” to move their boat.

When he and a dockhand were ignored and given the finger, he says, they untied the group’s pontoon boat, moved it “three steps to the right” and re-tied it to a post so the Harriott II could dock.

“By that time, two people ran up behind me,” Pickett wrote, adding that a man in a red hat yelled, “Don’t touch that boat motherf---er or we will beat your ass.”

He said the men continued to threaten him and then one of them called another man over.

“They both were very drunk,” Pickett wrote, adding that then the pontoon boat owner went over “started getting loud … He got into my face. ‘This belongs to the f---ing public.’ I told him this was a city dock.”

That’s when the brawl began. Pickett wrote, “A tall, older white guy came over and hit me in the face. I took my hat off and threw it in the air. Somebody hit me from behind. I started choking the older guy in front of me so he couldn’t anymore, pushing him back at the same time.”

Adding, “Then the guy in the red shorts came up and tackled me … I went to the ground. I think I hit one of them.”

Sharing more recollections from the fight, he said, “I can’t tell you how long it lasted. I grabbed one of them and just held on for dear life.”

Pickett was eventually helped by other people but noticed the brawl was getting out of hand, writing, “One of my co-workers had jumped into the water and was pushing people and fighting.”

He added that his nephew joined the melee and he had also seen his sister being choked during the fight.

As more chaos ensued, the riverboat had not been tied to the dock but Pickett helped the passengers off the boat. He wrote that he apologized “for the inconvenience. They all said I did nothing wrong.”

“Some of them were giving me cards with their names and numbers on it. Some said they had it all on film, so I pointed them out to MPD,” he added. After the altercation, he was treated at the emergency room where he was treated for bruised ribs and bumps on his head.

What witnesses say about the brawl

Witnesses told NBC News a similar version of events. Christa Owen said she was aboard the Harriott II with her husband and daughter when the brawl broke out.

“What was hard is we were all on the boat and witnessing our poor crewman being attacked by these guys, and we couldn’t do anything about it,” Owen said.

“It was really difficult to watch, and, like I said, we felt helpless, because we were forced to be spectators,” Owen added.

Owen was among those who recorded the altercations, explaining that it was “inexcusable behavior.”

Additionally, Leslie Mawhorter also on Harriott II, added: “They just didn’t think the rules applied to them. It was so avoidable. This never had to have happened. Everything just spiraled from there.”

“I knew something was going to go down, because their attitude was just, ‘You can’t tell us what to do.’ They were going to be confrontational regardless of who you were,” Mawhorter continued.

Have police made any arrests?

Four men and one woman are facing charges , according to police: Richard Roberts, 48; Reggie Ray, 42; Allen Todd, 23; and Zachery Shipman, 25, and Mary Todd, 21.

“There was no need for this event to take the path it did,” Albert told reporters earlier this week. “The people of Montgomery, we’re better than that. We’re a fun city, and we don’t want this type of activity to shed a dark eye on what this city’s all about.”

Was the fight racially motivated?

In the press conference on Aug. 8, Albert said investigators do not believe the incident was racially motivated.

He said that the local FBI and district attorney’s offices are involved in the ongoing investigation. 

“I don’t think you can judge any community by any one incident. I think it’s important for us to address this as an isolated incident, one that was avoidable,” Albert said. “One that was brought on by individuals who chose the wrong path of action.”

What the mayor of Montgomery said about the altercation

On Sunday, Aug. 6, Mayor Steven L. Reed released a statement saying that “justice will be served” after individuals attacked “a man who was doing his job.”

“Last night, the Montgomery Police Department acted swiftly to detain several reckless individuals for attacking a man who was doing his job. Warrants have been signed and justice will be served,” the statement posted on social media read. “This was an unfortunate incident which never should have occurred. As our police department investigates these intolerable actions, we should not become desensitized to violence of any kind in our community.”

“Those who choose violent actions will be held accountable by our criminal justice system,” the statement concluded.

Reed shared how he felt about the incident during a press conference on Aug. 7.

"I feel like it’s an unfortunate incident. Our statement that we put out the other day is that it’s something that shouldn’t have happened and it’s something that we’re investigating right now," Reed said. "We’ll continue to go through that process before we take any additional steps."

When asked if Reed thought the incident was racially charged, he said the brawl is still under investigation, and that authorities are "investigating all angles."

The investigation is ongoing.

EDITOR'S NOTE (Aug. 11, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. ET): Previous police statements listed the man attacked as Damien Pickett and one of the suspects as Zachary Shipman. On Aug. 11, officials corrected their names' spellings to Dameion Pickett and Zachery Shipman. This story has been updated to reflect the correct spelling.

Liz Calvario is a Los Angeles-based reporter and editor for TODAY.com who covers entertainment, pop culture and trending news.

Anna Kaplan is a news and trending reporter for TODAY.com.

Sam Kubota is a senior digital editor and journalist for TODAY Digital based in Los Angeles. She joined NBC News in 2019.

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Best Memes, Reactions to the Montgomery Riverboat Brawl

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Black people are having a ridiculous amount of fun celebrating the ‘heroes’ of the Montgomery brawl.

Black people know we have to revel in the small victories because they don’t come along often. One of these unforgettable moments happened on Saturday, when an all-out brawl in Montgomery, Ala . led to one of the most viral incidents in the history of Black Twitter (yes, we’re still calling it that). While the mayor is busy talking about how “ Justice will be served ,” the rest of us are getting jokes off. From the folding chair, to fight play-by-play, to the awesome names for our favorite new superhero, these are the best memes and reactions to the Montgomery riverboat brawl.

Wakanda Forever

Come on, you know it took no time at all for someone to blend this brawl with the Blackest superhero movie ever.

Riverfront WrestleMania

Seriously, this commentary is better than anything WWE is currently offering.

A New Holiday

We just got Juneteenth and we’re already starting the campaign for a new Black national holiday.

The Hat Signal

Based on the footage of the brawl, Black folks don’t need a signal—we know exactly when it’s time to show up.

Shoutout to Jason Aldean

Guess this isn’t what the country singer had in mind when he released his controversial single, “Try That in a Small Town.”

Try What in a Small Town?

Jason Aldean is not ready for all the smoke he’s getting right now.

Black Aquaman

The internet has come up with a plethora of names for the young man who swam across the river to get some.

The Reenactment

Hollywood may be on strike, but that doesn’t mean great cinema can’t be found.

Seadris Elba

The names for a young aqua-based hero have been the best part of this whole situation. They’re all spectacular, but “Swimzel Washington” might be the best.

The Heroes We Deserve

Sometimes life gives us the heroes we need and the ones we deserve.

The Chair Speaks

When something like this happens, everyone has something to say...even the folding chair.

History Was Made

We will now celebrate the “Alabama Sweet Tea Party” with the same energy as the Boston Tea Party.

There’s Already a Soundtrack

It only took one day to get a tribute track on the internet.

Shaquille O’Gills

The names just keep getting better.

Behind the scenes of 14-year-old Reid Wilson's golden moment on 'America's Got Talent'

The show aired tuesday on nbc. reid will advance to agt's live episodes..

Tuesday night at a Montgomery church with family and friends, 14-year-old Reid Wilson could hardly believe the golden moment he was seeing — even though he'd experienced it in person weeks earlier.

"It was crazy watching myself on TV ," said Reid, whose performance of Lesley Gore's 1963 song "You Don't Own Me" earned a golden buzzer on NBC's "America's Got Talent."

"I felt like I was watching someone else's performance," said Reid, son of Capt. Robert T. Wilson of Montgomery Fire Rescue and homeschool teacher mom Kelley Wilson. "I really felt like, this is not real. There's no way that just happened."

But it did.

"What a gutsy little kid," said show judge and executive producer Simon Cowell.

As Reid sang, his mom watched the performance from just off stage, standing with show host Terry Crews. AGT producers helped Reid pick the song. It was one Reid loves, though he's only performed it publicly once before back in Montgomery at Hilltop Public House.

More: 'Your voice is amazing': Montgomery's Reid Wilson, 14, sings on 'Jennifer Hudson Show'

"Hilltop was the first place that I ever sang in front of people," Reid said.

Prior to the show, Reid got help from a couple of other singing competition stars, his 16-year-old brother Ryley Tate Wilson and fellow Montgomery resident and close family friend D.Smooth — both of whom were finalists on season 23 of NBC's "The Voice."

"Anything I had trouble with, (Ryley Tate) was there, the arrangement of the song and everything," Reid said. He added that D.Smooth helped him to improvise and become a better singer.

Reid's performance on AGT season 19's episode 6 was so outstanding that judge Howie Mandel thought it deserved an extra reward.

"I was bowled over because I was surprised," Mandel said on the show. "You're just a 14-year-old kid from Alabama, so I would imagine myself in your position. You were very nervous. You did come off incredibly nervous. That was a surprise. You know what? That stage is where dreams come true. Do you believe in dreams?"

"Yes," Reid replied.

"Well, one of them is about to come true," Mandel said as he stood up and hit the golden buzzer, and then walked up to the stage. Along with a huge shower of golden confetti — some of which Reid has saved in a box at home — this pushed Reid into AGT's live performances that start on Aug. 13.

"Oh, my gosh. I didn't realize it was that close," Reid told the Advertiser.

"Congratulations buddy, you are amazing," said Mandel, who went beyond his famous fist bump while congratulating Reid.

"I honestly was just up there shaking and didn't know what to do, so I asked for a hug," Reid said.

Reid's mom got a hug from Mandel also.

Calming cow helped Reid to perform

As the judges noted, Reid seemed a little nervous before he began to sing. Backstage, Reid was drinking water and breathing deeply as he prepared himself to go in front of the audience.

"I was just trying not to pass out," he said.

Fortunately, fellow contestant Kalina Moolina — a TikTok star and former Disney employee who danced on the show in a cow costume — was there for him.

"She, surprisingly, was one of the nicest people I've ever met," Reid said. "If it wasn't for her, I probably would have passed out right before. She recognized I was nervous and comforted me and was like it's all going to be okay. That's definitely what I needed."

Musical tastes

When asked what artist inspired him the most, Reid said it was the amazing Aretha Franklin. He listened to her a lot growing up, and said her music sculpted both his voice and his taste in music.

"I'd sing her music when I was younger, and obviously it's not easy to sing like Aretha Franklin," Reid said.

Besides Franklin, Reid said he listens to a lot of R&B and soul artists, with a little bit of upbeat pop music mixed in.

"Your parents must have great taste in music, right?" Cowell asked.

"No," Reid quickly replied, and caused a lot of laughter.

While his mom is into mainstream country, Reid said his dad is into classic rock.

"He doesn't really like a lot of the modern music," Reid said.

So what would Reid like to do next on AGT?

After such a huge first appearance, Reid is hoping to step things up a little when he returns for live performances. If he has a choice in the matter, Reid said he'd love to bring some extra people on stage with him.

"On my next performance, I would love to have a choir maybe," Reid said.

A word to fans, friends and family back home

"Thank you guys so much for the support," Reid said, speaking to his hometown. "I can't wait for my next performance. Hopefully the results are just as good as my audition."

Montgomery Advertiser reporter Shannon Heupel covers things to do in the River Region. Contact him at   [email protected]

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