[eartick]

When he yelled knock it off, he bodily pushed his way into the middle of those kids, he got involved

and you would have stood back clutching your pearls

[TStro]

In 1968 I started high school, the first year of desegregation. My school got 90% of the blacks in our city.
Several riots.
One of my friend was pushed into his locker by several black girls, who slashed his face with razor blades.
We were much more afraid of the girls than the guys. Very nasty bunch.
By the way, I was good friends with many of the black guys (and a couple of girls).