As most Americans spent Memorial Day Weekend relaxing with family and friends, (or, in President Barack Hussein Obama’s case, playing his 70th round of golf as POTUS, but I digress), Urban youth in several major American cities participated in something different:  violence and chaos.

For the past 10 years, in Miami’s Art Deco District on South Beach, the trendy area has turned into a hip-hop street party during Memorial Day weekend, called Urban Weekend, with a substantial police presence trying to watch hundreds of thousands of young revelers.

However, early morning shootings on Monday, leaving in one dead, four bystanders hit by stray bullets, and three police officers injured, has prompted a call to replace the hip-hop themed festival with something less dangerous — or do away with it altogether.

Gay Latino activist Herb Sosa wrote the following in an open letter to the Miami Beach City Commission:

There isn’t a residential street in South Beach not affected by tons of garbage, crime to our vehicles, excessive noise 24 hours a day, and simply a lack of respect for our community, citizens and property. Make the difficult but correct decision to put an end to Urban Weekend in Miami Beach.

Miami Beach Commissioner Jerry Libbin wrote on Facebook that he supports a Memorial Day weekend curfew, supposedly proposed by City Manager Jorge Gonzalez.

Libbin, also president and CEO of the Miami Beach Chamber of Commerce, proclaimed:

I think we need to take back the city for the residents. It’s just not right that people live in fear.

Miami Beach resident Aaron Sugarman wrote a letter to the Miami Beach mayor and commissioners, which suggested replacing the hip-hop themed festival with a less rowdy event featuring jazz and blues music.

At police headquarters Monday morning, Libbin also suggested the city needs to rethink the way it handles Memorial Day weekend.

Oh, really.  Ya think?

Per thesun.news.com:

Myrtle Beach [South Carolina] police received reports of five armed robberies, a stabbing, a shooting and an incident involving a shotgun being pointed at a security guard during a nearly eight-hour period in the city early Sunday and Monday.

Because so many people were in the area for Memorial Day celebrations and the Atlantic Beach Bikefest, officers responded to numerous criminal complaints and traffic violations, said Myrtle Beach police Capt. David Knipes.

“Policing this event has always come with huge challenges. Unfortunately, criminal activity is often associated with large events, which is why we have deployed additional officers to allow us to respond to this increase in activity,” Knipes said Monday afternoon. “All of the officers working this event have done an outstanding job in very stressful conditions.”

In Rochester, NY, fights broke out among at least 100 youth:

Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies shut down Ontario Beach Park, prompting a traffic jam. Large crowds of youth ran south on Lake Ave.

Sheriff’s and Rochester police arrested 13 people on charges ranging from disorderly conduct to drug and alcohol offenses.

Erica Blake, 34, allegedly assaulted a deputy who responded to the scene. She’s been charged with second-degree assault. Police say the deputy was scratched on the face as he was pulled into the fracas.

Witnesses said there were many young children on the beach. When a large scramble suddenly became more like a fight, parents feared the worst.

Meanwhile, on Long Island Beach in New York:

A Long Island police department says it had to call for backup to quell a beach melee involving hundreds of people that spilled out onto the streets and a nearby bus depot.

Long Beach police say they are investigating the incident. There was no immediate word on arrests.

No injuries were reported.

According to Newsday , 11 Nassau police cars and two Metropolitan Transportation Authority police units assisted with the crowd control on Monday evening.

Police say a series of fights erupted on the beach just before it closed at 6 p.m. and continued for several hours. It was not clear whether the fights involved the same group of young people or different groups.

In Mayor Rahm (Rahmbo) Emmanuel’s Chicago:

WLS Radio’s Monica DeSantis Reports that it may have been a flash mob that forced the closure of North Avenue beach on Memorial Day:

Chicago Police News Affairs released a statement saying they had to close the beach for safety reasons, as people were suffering heat exhaustion and emergency vehicles couldn’t get through to help. But, WLS listeners say there was what they called a “large gangbanger element” at the Oak Street and North Avenue beaches.

…Listeners report being at the beach, and seeing dozens of gang bangers pushing people off their bikes. Another listener says those causing havoc were not dressed for the beach and looked like “bad elements.”

In Boston, Massachusetts:

Fights broke out among rival gang members on Carson Beach in South Boston yesterday and spilled out across the city, triggering a massive law enforcement response from at least five agencies to stem the violence.

Police said the gang members are part of a group of more than 1,000 youths who have used social media sites like Facebook to plan unruly gatherings on the beach on three of the past four nights. The beach falls under the jurisdiction of the State Police, who have been unable to prevent the violence.

In Charlotte, NC:

Questions continue to swirl as investigators search for whoever fired shots during one of many fights in uptown Charlotte early Sunday.

Investigators say Antwan Terrell Smith was shot and killed after someone pulled a gun just after 1 a.m. during a large fight on 3rd Street. Durante Kavon James was shot in the leg.

It was one of several fights that broke out after the Speed Street celebration in Uptown. CMPD called out its Civil Emergency Unit after reporting that many large groups of people were disobeying police, flashing gang signs, blocking traffic and fighting.

A manager at a convenience store on North Tryon Street tells NewsChannel 36 a huge crowd swarmed the store, broke a window, and began stealing things, before running away.

In all, 70 people were arrested – including 15 juveniles. Most of the arrests were for disorderly conduct, fighting, assault, and impeding traffic.

And, finally, in Nashville, TN:

Nearly two dozen police officers were called out to Wave Country on Monday afternoon after large crowds of people became unruly. The disturbance forced park managers to close the facility two hours early on Memorial Day.

Metro Parks director Tommy Lynch said Wave Country was nowhere near capacity, but there were plenty of problems that caused the park to close early.

“Once we got to the point that the turmoil at the front of the facility also got inside the facility, we felt for everyone’s safety the best thing to do was to close it,” Lynch explained.

Metro Police were called out to Wave Country around 1 p.m. because the crowd outside the gates and inside the park was acting up.

“That crowd refused to follow any kind of instructions. They became disorderly,” according to Cpt. Marlene Pardue from Metro Police.

There were several fights inside. Police said one of the biggest problems was people jumping the fence to get into the park, creating chaos inside the park.

“Not just kids jumping the fence, but adults, with children and strollers, putting them over the fence, then jumping the fence,” Cpt. Pardue said.

Visitors inside the park said the chaos made them feel unsafe.

In an unrelated story, it was announced yesterday that SNAP (the Federal Food Assistance Program) has expanded by 39 % under President Barack Hussein Obama (mm mmm mmmm).

It’s going to be a long, hot summer.