[EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a Letter to the Editor, written and submitted by a verified Burien resident. It represents the opinion of the author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of South King Media or its staff.]
As I was watching GreenStage put on a free production of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” in the Lake Burien Park Friday evening, August 15, an old white guy and his companion insisted on barging right through the stage area where the actors were performing, despite a stage hand asking them to stop. I was shocked at their entitlement, but the actors went on with the play, ignoring them without missing a line.
Bravo Greenstage!
I wish it ended there.
He and his companion proceeded to loop around the park and try to walk through the stage again. Another stagehand stood in front of him, backing away as the unfathomably entitled old man kept coming. The cream-faced loon of an intruder then pulled out a giant can of pepper spray and doused the stagehand straight in the face with no warning. Then he sprayed the stagehand again.
Shortly after this the violent and completely out of control maniac was tackled by a heroic member of the audience and relieved of his pepper spray, and the police were called, while the rest of the audience ran to avoid the drifting spray as it stung our eyes, noses and lips.
Over an hour later my face was still stinging, and I was over 40 feet from the spraying. I can’t imagine how much pain that stagehand is in.
What on earth is wrong with some people that they’re so rich, so entitled, so paranoid, and so violent that they can’t share their local public park with anyone, and need to assault people for putting on a play?
To that stuffed cloak bag of guts, that grey iniquity, who interrupted our play with the rankest compound of villainous smell that ever offended nostril, I’ll let the bard speak:
“Would thou wert clean enough to spit upon.”
– Matthew DeGoede
SeaTac
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Obviously this is appalling behavior. But why is this witness bringing up the race of the perpetrator or assuming his actions have to do with his assumption of privilege? That is a big leap.
Anyone who does that is asserting a privledge/entitlement they don’t actually have. His actions only confirmed it. His appearance, not his race, is a fair game response to that. Be more concerned with the perpetrator than the witness.
Maybe this guy would have been trouble regardless of race. But when you’re white, you don’t have to think quite as hard about consequences. Historically and generally, white people get away with stuff that people of color often don’t. It’s just context.
I don’t think that the author of the letter means to blame the man’s whiteness entirely, but it is a component.
This incident is so disappointing and embarrassing for Burien, as we are a better community than this reflects . Consider a donation to Green Stage to show the true values of our community.