Happy Second Anniversary to the Montgomery Brawl

Another Holiday for Black Folks!

It’s “Fade in the Water Day!” August 5th is the day that Black people get together to reflect on and laugh about the Montgomery Boat Brawl. On that day, two years ago, white folks caught a fade they could not handle.

I remember watching and rewatching the video with glee. The boat captain, a Black man, trying to talk reasonably to two white men who weren’t listening. One of the white men put his hands on the captain and that started everything.

The captain threw his black cap into the air and it was on like Donkey Kong. The men started tussling and the captain was holding his own, but was faltering under the constant pummeling of the white guys. Another Black man ran down the gangplank to try to end the fight, but he was ignored — then brought into the tussle.

Soon more people joined the fray. The dock was filled with Black and white bodies, pushing, shoving, falling, and yelling. Out in the water, the boat that had been waiting to dock was full of Black people filming the scene. Above the brawlers, people watched on the upper gangplanks, shouting and yelling at the fighters.

There were so many videos of the incident. Insragram and TikTok had tons of videos of the battle from different angles. Some videos were longer than others. Some were more detailed than others. But all of them were similar in one area — the Black people were winning and the white people were falling.