Some were crying. Some were making angry threats, others were literally sickened by the mess that greeted them on their beautiful Tybee beach Sunday morning in the aftermath of Orange Crush, an non-sanctioned African American Spring Break of sorts that takes place at Tybee Island on a yearly basis.
A few years ago, Crushers were criticized for public drunkeness and urinating on the beach. Some party goers blamed it on the city for not beefing up police patrol and not providing portable toilets.
The city claimed they had not expected such large crowds.
Orange Crush is not an official event on Tybee and is neither sanctioned by the island nor discouraged.
Since the city does not host the event, it seems they are rarely prepared for the aftermath and this time the results were a beach strewn with litter; mostly food trash and plastic drink cups.
The event tends to involve drinking and often drugs and residents of Tybee would prefer the event does not take place, though the event is a public event and it is against the law to prevent the public from visiting the beach.
When police have cracked down in the past, they were criticized for targeting blacks and being prejudiced and one party goer this year noted that there were no African American Police officers on the Tybee Police Force.
Others argued that the city should have provided better monitoring of the event.
Since the event took place while Earth Day Celebrations and protecting mother earth was going on in Forsyth Park, which by the way was also attended by numerous African Americans with no incident (one young black woman actually got onto her friend when she dropped her french fry bag on the grass and made her go pick it up and put it in the trash bin), it made the event that more reprehensible.
The city has nothing against anyone going to the beach and enjoying themselves, but we all take that slogan, 'leave nothing but your footprints' quite seriously in Savannah and Tybee. If people are coming here to enjoy the amenities, they need to respect them as well and preserve them so that others can enjoy them after their arrival.
Like it or not, if you are doing these kinds of things and even bragging about it on You-Tube videos, then you and anyone in your group are going to be held accountable, if not monetarily, then for setting a poor example for others to follow and encouraging stereotyping of anyone associated with your group.
We want people to enjoy Savannah and the beach, but unlike the St. Patrick's Day Festival, where drunken, mostly white people, trash the streets, the city picks up the bill for cleaning up after them knowing they bring in millions in revenue. Perhaps if Tybee had a chance to prepare for Orange Crush, they could have provided more trash containers and friendly monitors to encourage groups to keep the beach clean.
Tybee does not make that much money from Orange Crush and there are no funds to pay someone to clean up after party goers return home. If you are going to host an event in a public place, the least you can do is encourage everyone to clean up after themselves and leave a thank you, not a slap in the face to the residents who live on Tybee year round.
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