Do you think LEOs should have been called to drag him out of there? And do you agree that it’s more likely that happened because he’s black?
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You can go back to your post and manually edit the wrong poster’s name out and the right poster’s name in.
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It also wasn’t an arrestable offense, was it? Always glad to see someone lining up to defend the powerful, though
I suppose we should clam up and take the beat down without response when we speak truth to power and power gets mad… according to power, thems the rules.
but them ain’t the rules, and power don’t need your help.
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There is a difference between a private affair, like a wedding, and a public school graduation, yeah? I didn’t find the guys kente cloth to be anywhere near the same thing as wearing shorts and flip-flops to a formal wedding. Maybe he didn’t think it would be a problem, since he was indeed wearing his cap and gown, as required for the ceremony.
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I suspect that had another student worn something they viewed as violating the dress code, and they asked him to remove it, and the student did not comply, the reaction would have been the same, though in the absence of an example we will not know.
Why do you suspect that this situation would be handled no differently if a white kid had done the same thing? Have you not seen any of the numerous studies that show how very different the disciplinary treatment of black students and others is?
I suspect you have, but just explained them away as you have here, with your belief that (white) teachers surely wouldn’t do such things because they’re, what was it, better people than others?
You know, (and I think it’s quite possible that you do know), MANY studies prove that teachers and other authority figures tend to treat black students worse, including the enforcement of much harsher forms of discipline, often involving the summoning of LEOs in situations where that doesn’t happen when white kids are involved. Why are you so anxious to explain away the likelihood that that happened again in this case? Why are you expressing sympathy for the general teaching population instead for those they tend to abuse?
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If I wear crazy shit at my graduation for my PhD, do you think the cops will come haul me away? Or will they just shrug it off as a giddy, middle aged white lady being silly?
[ETA] I guess I understand that @d_r is looking to defend teachers (who often get a bum rap, TBH), but it’s pretty clear that race was a factor in the decision to call the cops, since, as you point out, many studies have shown that black kids face harsher treatment in the classroom. I’d also guess that many of the teachers who dole out the harsher punishments don’t understand themselves as being racist, but they instead think they are helping in some way. They’re unable to look at their own attitudes and judge them as racist because they don’t see it in those terms. They see themselves as enforcing rules evenly across their class.
But yeah, whether or not a white kid got in trouble for something like this, I doubt the situation would be seen as needing to call the cops.
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If I wear crazy shit at my graduation for my PhD, do you think the cops will come haul me away? Or will they just shrug it off as a giddy, middle aged white lady being silly?
I have some suggestions! Especially since, yep, you’re less likely to get stomped on for it.
ETA: maybe leave out the cross on that last one.
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You’re kind of taking the position that it’s inappropriate for a school administrator to make a rational judgement call? Let’s not pretend a swastika and a kente are the same thing. If they had just let it happen it wouldn’t have created anarchy — they could have continued making judgement calls in the future.
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That will be perfect! And it will stand out doubly, since I’ll have the PhD garb on, too.
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Very well put. The analogies used here like a kid with his face in a punch bowl or swastikas are missing the point by a fucking mile. This is a culturally appropriate expression that is not disruptive, not hate speech, and not damaging. Unlike every other example trotted out.
It’s just soo stupid. There is a fucking thing called nuance.
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I agree. I find the comparisons to wearing a swastika a little bit offensive, actually. Then again, there probably is some people who see an expression of African pride to actually be hate speech… Maybe some of them are running this school?
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Think about the only dumber thing than ejecting the kid is the headline of the article.
Thanks for making it dumb for us bb. We wouldn’t have understood if the issue had been conformity with racial overtones. Thanks for making it simple so we can get straight to congratulating ourselves for knowing better and being better people than those bad old school administrators and cops.
Truly, thank you.
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No. The question is on what non-arbitrary and not-first-amendment-violating basis do you exclude the swastika and accept the African heritage indicator? That’s the question to be answered. Not do you like swastikas better than African heritage indicators? Not, Are you afraid of African heritage?
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Do you think LEOs should have been called to drag him out of there? And do you agree that it’s more likely that happened because he’s black?
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The question is on what non-arbitrary and not-first-amendment-violating basis do you exclude the swastika and accept the African heritage indicator? That’s the question to be answered.
One is hatred the other is pride. Question answered, right?
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My point was there was a big difference between the two. [edited, as I mis-read your last sentence]. Also, (although there are non-Nazi versions of the swastika) most read it as a celebration of mass murder. As @japhroaig indicated, celebrating pride in one’s heritage is not the same thing and wearing a symbol associated with one of the most horrific attempted genocides in modern history. It’s closer to compare it to a symbol of one’s faith or a symbol of one’s heritage. Would people be wigging out over a celtic torque or a big cross? the cops would not be called for that, I imagine.
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I have no basis to make a judgment about how this particular set of school administrators makes their decisions. I know the school is more than two-thirds minority. I know that school officials often work pretty strictly on the basis of policy in the face of open defiance. But that’s really all I know about the situation.
You may know more, but it seems to me that a lot of folks are impugning the motives of folks here on the basis of their own assumption that all that really matters here is that the student in question is black and their own impulse to congratulate themselves on knowing better than these benighted morons at the High School. I think that, probably, a lot more enters into the incident and that the rounds of self-congratulation have gotten more than a little bit tiresome.
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Yes: “I, the authority approve of this expression and disapprove of that one.” Yes, that absolutely gets you by any First Amendment challenge.
