Few news stories make me gasp. The one about the hate crime at MSSD did. Coming so soon after Jena 6, this one is making headlines across the nation.
But the crime itself is not the only thing that made me gasp. It was the fact that one of the seven students who did it was black too! Why would a deaf black student participate in a hate crime against a fellow black student?
Did this black student know what the implications of "KKK" and a swastika are? Was there a gap in the deaf black student's education and language that meant the student did not know? I can't for the life of me imagine why a black student would participate in that. Unless....normal teenage stupidity?
Just a few of the news stories (reported earlier by Ridor and MishkaZena):
CNN
WUSA9
As Elizabeth pointed out, MSSD/Gallaudet is handling this well. But...Gallaudet doesn't need this kind of negative publicity, especially now.
(Update 10/6/07: The media now says that it was not a hate crime, but a war game. See MishkaZena's blog for more details.)
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
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6 comments:
I have read Ridor's blog and yours today. Same sentiments here.
Unless it was a pure form of horseplay, why an African American did that to another African American is beyond my comprehension!
Nevertheless, I trust it will not happen again after the Dean of LCC has helped educate the students about the hate crime.
I am not interested in hearing buts or ifs. Be grateful this whole thing was handled with such professionalism and promptness by the MSSD administrator. It wasn't at an university setting but a high school setting.
I do not know why you have to drag Gallaudet into this as they are separate campuses. Yes, KDES and MSSD are under Gallaudet. But, for your information on a general term, like any university, Gallaudet is not immune from issues like this and it shows we are humans like everybody else. The only difference is that Gallaudet is the only liberal arts university in the world, so unfortunately whatever happens will put Gallaudet under the microscope, including what happens at KDES and MSSD. Cut Gallaudet some slack!
Narrow minded people are who lump everyone together and those who worry about how their image is affected have an issue and need to look within themselves.
Why? Because, in my estimation, it wasn't a hate crime. Just kids horsing around and then getting upset and later getting even. For such young people, that KKK stuff is something they probably have no real idea of the gravity of that behavior, symbol, etc.
Unless these kids were raised by wolves, they sure as heck do know what KKK and the swastika symbolize--else why would they use them? I don't think they seem smart enough to HATE anyone, though. More like a bunch of mouth-breathing punks.
ian's gran
It seems pretty well settled that this was not a hate crime at all, though the students have been expelled from school in an apparent effort to make the point that it was unacceptable.
The real reasons for this behavior are still troubling. At first it seemed like a case of poor supervision, allowing horseplay to get out of hand and allowing students to perform unacceptable stunts like imprisoning one and defacing his body with racist symbols.
Then another element was exposed: older students were involved in egging on younger students but were not penalized as severely as the younger ones.
An additional element was also exposed: bullying. At least one of the younger students had self-esteem problems and was manipulated by others in his effort to be accepted by others.
We aren't supposed to be looking for miscreants to punish. We are supposed to be knowing, supervising, teaching, and guiding our young people so that they are socially aware and sensitive to one another; and so that they grow up to be confident and sharing.
This is a tragedy that still wasn't handled well. These suspended students will need follow-up and a second chance to show they have learned something.
bfgHey you all who think MSSD is stupid doing that or too stupid to understand what hate crime means. Well... i strongly disagree with you all know why? Because i am from MSSD and just graduated from there. It all started by dorm wing game. west and east wing boys choose the name to battle against each other for points. Its just a game but unfortunaly one boy who was from hood decide to go over the line. Whos to blame? boys who decide to play a game or the boy from a hood which blame it to the new york projects? Think about this before you talk "negative" toward to MSSD.. thank you!
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