A violent brawl erupted between two disgruntled members of the National Conference on Organized Resistance at Mary Graydon Center during the session "Yoga for Peace" March 12.
Yusef Smith, a southern California native also referred to as "Brother Yusef," was leading a class on the movement for free mini vegan shampoo bottles at all Holiday Inn hotels when he spotted an arch-nemesis in the environmentally friendly hotel toiletries movement in the audience.
Smith had worked with the fellow protestor, Sunny McJames, in San Francisco two years prior, when McJames made the sudden and unpopular decision to start agitating for eco-friendly toilet paper.
"I saw a man dressed in all hemp clothing in the audience," Smith said. "I got really angry because I knew it was HIM, aka the traitor."
Later, during the class "Yoga for Peace," McJames and Smith accidentally placed their mats right next to each other. When they finally realized their mistake, the class was already full.
"I took a deep breath to restore my chi," McJames said. "And I thought, we're adults, right? We can do the downward dog next to each other without getting violent."
However, during an unusually long "crow" pose, for which yogis balance their entire body weight on their biceps, Smith lost his balance and tumbled into McJames, knocking him over.
McJames immediately assumed that Smith had knocked him over on purpose and became infuriated.
"I wanted to kill a ho," McJames said. "We'd moved beyond the possibility of effective and peaceful conflict resolution."
McJames then proceeded to roll up his yoga mat and smack Smith over the head, right as he'd returned to the "crow." Smith quickly stood up and retaliated, pulling McJames down by his dreadlocks. The brawl soon escalated out of control.
Other participants in the yoga class acted to stop the fight, shouting, "You don't need to resort to violence!" and "You can resolve this without your fists."
One woman, dressed in a lime-green unitard, even started singing peaceful songs, such as a rousing rendition of "Kum Bay Yah."
The fight persisted, however, until a fellow classmate announced that there were free soy lattes in the Tavern.
McJames had a bloody nose and a broken wrist, and Smith had a bruised thumb, but both were in stable condition at the time of the report.
