So What Really Happened at Dallas BBQ?

Back in May, there was a big incident that happened in the Dallas BBQ in New York City.

Jonathan Snipes, a white gay man, claimed that he was racially attacked by Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin at the restaurant. There was a video released that showed Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin smashing the chair over Jonathan and leaving the scene. During that time, it was being investigated as a hate crime.

Now here's the thing, during this time of the incident, many gay blogs the news sites ran with the story taking Johnathan side. That action raised some questions at that point. If you remember, there was only one side of story from the partial video. But now we have the full video and it brings up tons of questions and issues please check it out.



So, where are the slurs? Where is the "White Fa***t" statement Johnathan claimed to have heard? It seems that Johnathan was the start of the situation, which ended badly. My concern is how this story played out even before we knew the information. Many people took the side of Jonathan, believing his whole victimhood story without having all of the information. I said a while back, that something was wrong with the story.

Does it make Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin completely innocent? No, but it sends a huge message about how we processed the story. To be really honest, we're seeing how race played into the story and our interpretations of who is the villain and who was the victim. There will be more to come on the story, but I'm glad that the truth is finally coming out.

Dallas BBQ Brawler turns Himself In

Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin, the attacker in the Dallas BBQ incident, turned himself in to detectives yesterday. He is charged with felony assault and attempted felony assault. However, he's not being charged with a hate crime.

Bayna has a history with crime, so this will be interesting to watch as it plays out.

The 'Dallas BBQ Attacker' Speaks Out

Interesting news about the Dallas BBQ fight.

So, for those who has been keeping up, Bayna-Lehkiem El-Amin who is known as the EVIL ANTI-GAY basher who fled the scene after attacking Jonathan Snipes and his friend at the restaurant.

What happened after that was very interesting to watch. El-Amin was labeled a violent criminal, Jonathan was the VICTIM and the bloggers and media ran with a half-assed story with pieces missing. The gay blog, G-List Society asked some questions about the incident that drew criticism and racist responses. The points were valid, which caused others to questioned what happened that night. Even I wondered if everything happened the way Jonathan described it. It seems odd to take only his side of the story and run with it.

But now G-List writer, Waddie G, has El-Amin's side of the story and yes, it's very different than Jonathan's.

“We are fortunate enough to live in a country where all people are protected against crimes based upon their race or sexual orientation. That’s a blessing because everyone in this world doesn’t have that privilege and right. I think that is sad and unfortunate that someone would misuse that right and play this card that they have been gay-bashed or been attacked and then call someone a homophobe. I’m also disappointed in the community, in particular certain members of the LGBT community, who have not done their due diligence to make sure that if someone is saying this – that what they’re saying is true. In particular, that [openly-gay] Councilman [Corey Johnson] in that area who said so many horrible things about me to his constituents. I don’t understand why he would call me a homophobe.”

El-Amin also talked in detail how it all started:

“We were sitting at our table, and there was [initially] no disturbance in the restaurant. All of a sudden, we noticed a disturbance some distance away from us. Two men [Snipes and his companion] were standing over their table fighting each other, and the fight threatened to spill over to the table of ladies that were closest to them. [The ladies] were cringing when they saw the two guys fighting each other [right by them].
So, I said [Snipes and his companion], ‘Hey, guys! There are ladies here.’ I said it in a tone that was authoritative…to get their attention. However, they continued.
Moments later, it appeared that Mr. Snipes was going to leave the restaurant. But, by standing at the door, he directed his attention toward me, walked towards me and said, ‘And YOU calling us ladies!’ And, he struck me. He struck me in the head with an object. I’m not sure what it was, but it felt like a heavy blunt object — and it hurt.

You can read the rest on the G-List Society blog, but it continues to raise questions. While I don't condone violence, I also don't condone foolishness. If El-Amin's story is true then we have opened a huge can of bias/racist views. Because when you break it all the way down. People quickly sided with the white man's story and easily branded the person of color as the villain.

Again, if El-Amin's story is true.

Dallas BBQ Brawler has been Identified

Well, NYPD has identified the guy involved in the Dallas BBQ fight. According to NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce, his name is Bayna El-Amin and he's a "career criminal". They haven't arrested Bayna, he is believed to have fled the state.

It is true that he has a history of crime, from credit card fraud to invasion of privacy, so he's no angel. We still don't know if he's gay. His Facebook page has been deleted, however he did make a comment on a Voguing battle via Gawker

I think it's interesting that he hasn't been caught or it took this long to ID him. It's like the NYPD doesn't see this as a serious matter or the HATE CRIME everyone was so quick to label.