How to prevent what happened at the Bruin Afterparty?

[bale]

I am completely shocked that someone actually DIED at the bruin afterparty, and that the bhangra community is not making more of an effort to try to prevent these things from happening in the future. But, I ask this question to myself, what needs to be done exactly?

Should competitions not hold afterparties? Should there be no liquor? Should the afterparties be limited to team members only? Should competitions make sure people are patted down before they enter the after party to prevent people from having knives?

There are just so many young punjabis out there that have a severe complex that creates an equation for disaster. Alcohol+Overwhelming Ego and Pride= Violence. What can we do to stop this?

 

[Jeeti]

That is a billion dollar question, the same question that came up after blowouts incident a few years ago, and I don't believe there will ever be a solution to that. Competitions without afterparties? ehh, that would not be appealing to performers as often times teams, at least in my experience, get way too busy trying to get everything together that there is no time to socialize or meet anyone which is a big part of the fun. No liquor wouldn't help, those that want to drink will find someway regardless of how tight security is to do so. Probably the best suggestion would be to tighten security up at the entrance and on the dancefloor, it still can't prevent things from happening outside, but at least it will keep the amount of innocent people that often get thrown into the mix trying to break things up out of it.

on a random note,this is my first post and I like the way this forum is looking, wellll done.

 

[Waleed]

Jeeti, great to see you on here bro.

Before I comment on this, can someone please CONFIRM for a fact that someone died at the official Bruin Afterparty? (or was it just a unaffiliated with Bruin afterparties?).

 

[kinnell]

It will be difficult for someone to confirm. Bruin will try to avoid confirming this since this will only screw them over in the years to come. Blowout afterparties suck and continue suck because Blowout cannot officialize the party and people avoid going.

In addition, one of the rumours (and yes, rumours) stated that the stabbing took place with some type of plastic glass found at the afterparty and that security was indeed patting people down. Thus, I'm sure we can assume that the weapon was not brought in but created at the club. Eeek.

I would hate to see competitions stop having afterparties. It's very rewarding after months of work to get to an afterparty, get partying and get dancing. However, no matter what the occasion (regardless of a bhangra competition event), when you mix alcohol, drama and pride, you get problems.

 

[Govind]

I checked some of the news feeds and couldn't find anything about a stabbing/death in Long Beach, CA...maybe I didn't search properly but I'm thinking that if someone actually did die, it would have been all over the south asian news feeds...

 

[tanveer]

Yeah that is a tough thing to go through, however there is not much you can do about it.

Just recently in Seattle we had a party at which there were pat downs. While there were some people smoking outside words were exchanged and someone went to their car (out of security's control) to grab a hammer to bring into a fight. This is when someone else grabbed a handgun from their car. Luckily someone knocked the gun away and then police came quickly. I'm pretty sure the guy was arrested but the issue remains of escalation. I remember being shocked when I heard of people fighting with swords. Now with guns its taken the worst turn it possibly could.

I've been talking it over with people and it's tough to see Punjabi people being degraded to this petty ego challenge. What's the point of "proving yourself" to your friends if it will end up getting you killed?

A lot of these guys don't see any issue with fighting with or without weapons and it's time to open people's eyes. Sadly the deaths that occur aren't a wake-up call to stop the fighting, it's simply a call for revenge.

How to solve the problem? That's one hell of a question.

 

[bale]

What if competitions put on a presentation of some kind that encourages safety at the after party before the judging is announced? Something that really inspires people to be safe and explains that drunken fights only degrade our culture, and that we are all here just to enjoy bhangra and the punjabi culture. I think it could help act as a detterent from violent fights at the after part.

 

[Saleem]

Honestly I don't think a presentation will help and not to go all Summy on you, but it's a fundamental problem with a large minority of the crowd/punjabi community. It will take an overhaul in how they think / a 'paradigm shift' to fix this.

There are just so many young punjabis out there that have a severe complex that creates an equation for disaster. Alcohol+Overwhelming Ego and Pride= Violence. What can we do to stop this?

I agree with you here and it seems you just answered the question. Additional security will not help (loopholes, plastic shanks, since we're in PRISON OR SOMETHING WTF ???), no liquor will just drive away the entire crowd or they'll come drunk. It is a FUNDAMENTAL problem with the community. I think Bill Cosby should come talk to the punjabi community; he's given some good talks on the state of the black, urban community in the US.

 

[sulmoney]

i agree with herman, i think the after parties should be teams only, but then each team has a list of people that they can vouch for and are then responsible for their actions as well. for example, lets say there is a competition in queens ny, and people who are affiliated with a team (lets say the team name starts with a v, ends with an a, and has who you pay your taxes to in between) start trouble, that team should be penalized in someway, financial or by losing points. it is a matter of accountability, random drunk guys should not be allowed to enter a place if their only intent is to start problems.

 

[Jimmy]

I can confirm that someone was stabbed multiple times in the venue and almost a hundred cops showed up. We didn't even get inside and it was over. Things just escalated after that. If it was just a fight, almost a hundred cops wouldnt show up, its not even an exaggeration.

Someone told us that a bottle was shattered and used to slit someones throat, killing the person. Not sure if this is the "stabbing though"

 

[Saleem]

i agree with herman, i think the after parties should be teams only, but then each team has a list of people that they can vouch for and are then responsible for their actions as well.

Sulman I like your idea and would love to see it in action. but I just don't see it happening at competitions. Some competition organizers, thankfully, create competitions to spread the culture of bhangra. but others are businessmen/'promoters' first and foremost, so in order to adopt a measure like this, it has to somehow be economically wise for them to significantly throttle the afterparty revenue by making it 'invite-only' as you suggest.

only way for that to happen is for the risk of violence to rise and get 2-3x worse because then it directly affects the organizers: their competition would be seen as "unsafe" and "dangerous", revenue falls, and now it's an economic issue of ruining their name branding.

Sorry to look at it from the economic point of view. That ANYONE is injured or killed at what is supposed to be a party is so shameful. But it seems that it's going to get worse before it gets better.

We need the community itself to make this type of activity unpopular and shameful. It's a fundamental change in behavior that's needed. Tighter security will help but it seems like a losing battle, which is depressing.

 

[sulmoney]

saleem, careful, with all your bolding, you might become the summy of btf also, id like to be a moderator

 

[Vick]

I just don't think theres a solution. A lot of people blame alcohol, but I'll tell you what, I've seen my fair share of fights, and some of those people were not intoxicated at all! Some people come to these parties for the sole purpose of picking a fight. I was at some random club like 2 years, I slightly brushed this one punjabi dude, and he went ballistic. Ofcourse I didn't really say anything back, even thought I easily had atleast 30 pounds on this guy and a few inches, but you could just tell he was looking for problems. At the Fusion after party this year, I'm on the dance floor having a good time, this one dude comes running out of no where to one of his buddies and he's like, "fight up there, lets go", I was like wtf? These people love this kind of activity and you cant stop them. Fusion probably had like 100 security guards in the theater, and there were still fights everywhere. When someone is hell bent on causing trouble, they will find ways, you just gotta stay clear of it. Like Saleem said earlier, I don't think it's economically(sorry I'm an Econ major) feasible for organizations to close the door on general public to afterparties. They only way they could do this was if they had major sponsors or some uncle hooked them with a fat wad of cash, otherwise the organizing committee would be in the red. Renting out a nightclub has to be expensive, I've never taken the time to research it, but it has to be a couple grand atleast(on a friday or saturday night).

 

[250Dholi]

Hopefully the fellow didn't die, even if he was stabbed.. like someone else said, it would be in the Californian newsfeeds if indeed he did die.

On to what to do about these kind of things? It's really hard to do anything, when the public is allowed at these events. Ultimately the best thing would be to just have a formal for the teams, but competitions (or the promoters) make so much money from afterparties that they'll always be around.

I've lived in Vancouver nearly my whole life and this has always been a problem here. You hear about countless innocent people getting beat up or killed at any event with desi kids. The only solution I've ever seen is to have the police at the event from the beginning, and in fairly large numbers. Desi gangsters will always act like the next Bindy Johal until one of two types of authority parents arrive to the scene: the cops, or their parents.

 

[Mukandpuria]

i think one good step to prevent this is by having police all over the venue and actively watching and moving around. If fights are going to happen they will happen but you can stop them right away and getting out of control.

 

[Ashwin]

I think a system of randomized castrations is the only way to prevent fights at punjabi parties.

 

[amriksahni]

Vick, I think it is totally economically feasible. If it's just going to be teams, might as well make it open bar, and charge each person something like $50. Totally worth it if there are 12 on each team, 8 teams, plus the sponsors, organizers, and grouppies that tend to always get in, thats quite a few people at a small club or bar. I think it would be even more fun.

 

[tanveer]

I agree with Vick that it's hard for organizers to try to compete with shows all around the nation to create a mind-blowing competition and afterparty. And most promoters do not turn a tremendously large profit off of these afterparties, just enough to continue it on next year. However it is beyond the time to worry about next year's show.

A death an afterparty is the kind of thing that will ruin bhangra events throughout the nation. I believe it is the organizers responsibility to provide a SAFE afterparty. That being said they should be willing to lose money on a party if it means it will be safe and successful. No dumbass drunk punjabi kid (or even the non-intoxicated ones mentioned earlier) will want to fight if there is a police officer with a 9mm walking around the after party.

Not to go all Summy on everyone, but I think it's sad that punjabis have had to resort to such security measures, but it isn't somethign we can choose to ignore anymore. We've all become accustomed to fights occuring at afterparties, last thing we need is no one to step in to stop any escalation.

Am I just being over the top with it?

 

[Vick]

If you could get $50/head and gaurentee that everyone shows up, then yes its possible. Cause that right there is almost $5000 bucks. I don't think I have ever paid $50 to get in anywhere other than on New Years eve. I've paid $35ish on some occasions, so I guess shelling out an extra $15 wont kill me. It sucks that I don't drink though, so that open bar wont help, hahaha... We wont really know if its possible until someone finds out how much it is to rent out a place. I cant find any place online that gives numbers...

 

[Vick]

Stepping in to stop a fight a tough call, cause you never know what might happen, you might end up being the one seriously hurt. If you see someone pull a knife, I think the only time you should jump in is if you have a clear shot at knocking that knife/object out of the guys hand, otherwise all hell is going to break loose... But I guess in moments like that adrenaline kicks in and you do whatever you can to end it, but it's so damn risky. If the dude has a gun, don't even bother rushing him, you're better off running in the other direction...