Virginia Beach Wants Blacks to Forget Beat Downs 15 years ago
/Fifteen years ago, on Labor Day weekend 1989 , Virginia
Beach experienced the worst disturbance in its history : the infamous
Greekfest riots that left part of the resort strip a looted mess and
prompted a massive, two-day police crackdown. The rioting happened
during a gathering of thousands of black college fraternity and
sorority members. Afterward, many black visitors vowed never to return
-- a legacy that has lasted for years. Today, Beach leaders are reaching
out to some of those same black groups, trying to book them into the
new $200 million convention center, set to open this spring. The city
recently hired Al Hutchinson , who is black, as the director of
convention sales, and a black assistant . One black sorority already
has agreed to be one of the convention center's first guests. That took
some doing. [more 
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