No, Montgomery Brawl wasn't caused by 'witches' opening portals | Fact check

Gabrielle Settles, USA TODAY
·4 min read
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The claim: Witches performed a demonic ritual on riverfront hours before Montgomery brawl

An Aug. 9 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows a group of women walking with flowers in their hands, smiling as they approach the Montgomery riverfront in Alabama and toss the petals into the river.

The caption of the post is foreboding: “2 hours before the Montgomery, AL Brawal (sic), 30 witches walked to the river to give sacrifices & to burn incense to the ancestral spirits which opened portals to demonic familiar spirits. AS THE WITCHES STATED, NOTHING IS A COINCIDENCE…. THIS DEFINITELY EXPLAINS HOW THIS SITUATION ESCALATED THE WAY IT DID."

The video was shared more than 700 times in five days.

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Our rating: False

The women in the video are not witches. They were part of a weekend event for Black women that promoted mental, physical and spiritual healing. The Montgomery brawl that took place hours later was unrelated and caused by an argument over boat docking.

Women’s weekend retreat involved positive healing, ended hours before brawl took place

The video was originally posted by Ce Anderson, a psychotherapist and wellness expert who specializes in helping people of color and LGBTQ+ groups to heal from trauma. Anderson’s video came from a weekend event she hosted called the Feminine Flow Experience, an Aug. 4-5 conference to support Black women’s physical, mental and emotional well-being.

The event had nothing to do with witchcraft or demon worship, Anderson told USA TODAY. Rather, the women walked to the riverfront to honor their ancestors who had been brought there as enslaved people.

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During the 1800s, Montgomery served as a leading hub in transporting and selling enslaved African Americans. Ships carrying enslaved people often docked at the riverfront, where slave traders forced them to disembark and be paraded up Commerce Street to be sold in markets.

In a weekend dedicated to healing from trauma, Anderson said, there was “no way” that they wouldn’t go to the nearby river to honor those who had come before them.

“So we gave the women roses and I explained to them that, ‘We’re on Commerce Street, Commerce Street is where they brought in the enslaved Africans in chains, your ancestors. And so we’re going to take these roses and we’re going to thank them for the strength that you showed today and this joy that you have – and the light in your eyes,’” she said.

Anderson said the walk and the petal toss were the same as honoring a family member who had died or laying flowers at a gravesite.

Hours after the women’s event ended, a fight broke out on the riverfront when a Montgomery riverboat called the Harriott II tried to dock. A group of boaters had moored their pontoon boat in the spot designated for the Harriott II and refused to move, causing the riverboat’s 227 passengers to have to wait at least 45 minutes.

The Harriott II’s co-captain, Dameion Pickett, went ashore along with a dockhand to request them to move but they did not comply. Video shows that Pickett, who is Black, and the 16-year-old dockhand eventually tried to move the boat. That's when the group of white boaters attacked Pickett, punching and kicking him to the ground. The dockhand was also hurt.

Others who were on the riverboat and on the dock saw what happened and rushed in themselves, turning the fight into a now-viral melee known on social media as the Montgomery Brawl.

The brawl garnered national attention largely due to the apparent racial component. The FBI has not yet called the attack a hate crime; however, an eyewitness wrote in a statement that she heard the boaters use a racial slur. Several people have been charged, including a man accused of swinging a chair during the brawl.

Anderson told USA TODAY that she and other women who were at the event left comments on the Facebook user’s post, but received no response. USA TODAY also reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post but did not immediately receive a response.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Post wrongly labels group of Black women as 'witches' | Fact check