What began as a routine band performance of Talkin’ Out the Side of Your Neck by Cameo at an Alabama high school football game ended in a troubling confrontation when a police officer tased the marching band director for refusing to stop the music.

The altercation occurred Thursday around 9 p.m. local time after a game at Jackson-Olin High School in Birmingham, Ala.

Minor High School band director Johnny Mims, 39, and his ensemble of 145 students were about a minute away from being done with their final song when a police officer approached the podium. According to both Mims and the Birmingham Police Department, officers asked Mims to stop the performance so they could clear out the stadium. Mims responded that the song was about to end and the performance was agreed on by both schools.

“Nothing we were doing at the time was being a danger to the community, fans or the school,” Mims told NPR on Monday. “Everyone was enjoying themselves. That’s the part I’m having a hard time grappling with.”

As the students finished their performance, officers attempted to arrest Mims for not complying. Police said the band director “refused” to place his hands behind his back and allegedly pushed an arresting officer.

  • evatronicEnglish
    2624·
    1 year ago

    This becomes suddenly far more understandable when you open the article and notice the band director isn’t white.

    • Illuminostro@lemmy.world
      611·
      1 year ago

      There’s a word for this situation. I can’t remember it, but it’s reich there, white on the tip of my tongue…

    • treefrog
      183·
      1 year ago

      I opened the article just to see and wasn’t at all surprised.

    • Hazdaz@lemmy.world
      237·
      1 year ago

      Did you actually watch the video to see that 1/2 the cops and people telling him to stop were also not white, or do you enjoy getting race-baited??

        • JokeDeity
          5·
          1 year ago

          I don’t even think that they’re racist in the same way as white officers, or at least not all of them. I think for a portion it’s like a Stockholm syndrome kind of thing where they finally are working side by side with their oppressors and want to be part of the in club and will do anything to get there.