Strength in (small) numbers
A story in today’s Province recounts an incident in Langley under the headline ‘Racist attack ruins tennis game’. The story details are slightly sketchy to say the least. You be the judge…
Six (count ’em…six!) Indo-Canadian men in their 20’s were playing tennis at Jackman Park on 32nd Avenue just after 7:30pm when they were approached by three (count ’em…three!) young men and a woman who proceeded to shout racial slurs. One of the young men (let’s refer to these future blights on society as the ‘attackers’) began kicking down a fence adjacent to the tennis court then headed back wielding the fence boards and a metal bar as weapons. The tennis players barricaded themselves inside the court but the attackers forced their way in and cornered them. One of the suspects then hurled the fence board at the group, hitting one of the men in the head.
So, you’re probably thinking the victims are small and defenseless, right? Wrong! They were described as …”big guys, they outnumbered them (the attackers), but they didn’t retaliate at all” according to resident Darlene Griscowski. Did I mention that the attackers were aged 15, 16 and the woman was 18? The fourth attacker is a 19-year old Surrey man. Let’s do the math…SIX muscular, athletic men in their 20’s barricade themselves inside a tennis court for protection against three teenagers and an 18 year old woman?? Langley Township Mayor Rick Green was ‘shocked’ by the attack and was also quoted in the paper as saying “I was devastated”. Devastated? I’m guessing that Mr. Green was also ‘devastated’ when Kris Green beat Adam Lambert in the recent American Idol finals.
There’s more to this story than this and I’m curious to hear what REALLY happened at the tennis courts in Aldergrove. Stay tuned.