Pretty much and I haven't seen any one suggest otherwise? The truth is it would be taken differently obviously if this were six black girls for instance but it still would not be cool to do...but yeah, that's not what is even being discussed.
I don't agree with this at all. For all you know these kids could have been good students and kids. Not prepared to deprive them and their families of celebrating their biggest life achievement because they spelled a bad word at the spur of the moment, and it was raised to national prominence by people wanting to make a social statement out of them. It's looking more and more like the way this went down is one African American boy at the school had an idea to make a bad word out of the letters on the yearbook message. He and possibly others urged (peer pressure, anyone) the girls who happened to have those letters on their shirts to line up and spell the word. It was fun. Haha...we're spelling a bad word and being dumb "rebellious" teenagers. He then stupidly took a picture of it and put this "joke" on the Internet. Probably took less than two minutes from the time the idea was conceived to the time the picture was taken. There was absolutely no racist or hateful intent behind it. I'm sorry if you think this is one of the worst thing teenagers do, then I would say probably half of a student body wouldn't be allowed to attend their graduation ceremony l if there happened to be a picture or video evidence of some dumb "teenager-y" thing they did. And also, I think you are mistaken if you think these girls haven't already learned their lesson LOL. Yeah, I'm sure they're enjoying their "5 day vacation" reading people all over the country call them "racist skanks."
Sorry, I guess we will need to agree to disagree on the severity of these six seniors actions. While I am in agreement that if the boyfriend instigated this he should also be held accountable with the same punishment, it by no means lessens the six girls responsibility for their own actions. They aren't in grammar school, giggling over spelling or saying a "naughty word"... they are one year removed from the age of majority... certainly old enough to know right from wrong. Certainly old enough to know the meaning of the word they made into a picture. And yes, I believe suspension is a vacation for these six. They are probably spending the week at the mall, giggling about all their friends having to be in class. They're probably snapchatting and instagramming about how much fun they are having. I really doubt they are losing any sleep about what they did, especially since a disappointingly significant number of people seem to think what they did wasn't so bad, and some may even support what they did. Depriving them and their family? Perhaps they should have thought about that before they pulled away from the school event to pull the cute little stunt? Perhaps their families should have spent a little more time instilling the sense of right versus wrong? Starting with the six girls, along with their parents, apologizing to the black kids and their families for their "two minute" joke?
I agree with everything you said in this. And yes, we do disagree on the severity. I think it was just kids being stupid, and kids should be punished for being stupid. Now you lose me. This is pure stereotyping...plain and simple. No better or worse than someone stereotyping African Americans. Not going to even acknowledge it. I think you over estimate how simple it is to instill right vs wrong in a person and then just never have them a mistake. Have you never done anything wrong? If so, why didn't you think about it beforehand? Was it your parents fault? And again, we disagree on the severity. I don't think evidence of this one incident of teenage dumbness should prevent anyone from not attending their graduation ceremony.
Stereotyping? I have two daughters, one of which still in high school. She spends most of her little free time (she plays varsity basketball, an honors student, involved in our church, and in NCL, so she has little spare time) on her cell phone, snap-chatting and instagramming. That's what teenage girls do. But you compare this with stereotyping African Americans? Seriously?? While you seem to minimize the actions of the six high school seniors, I hold them accountable. One, only one, has accepted responsibility and apologized for her actions. So I actually give her credit. Perhaps she fully understands the seriousness of her actions. The others? Who knows. Of course I have done things wrong. I owned up to it, and accepted responsibility for my actions and the punishment. And as a parent I accept responsibility for my daughters' behavior, as their worldview is often a reflection of my own. Which might also be the case here... But we aren't talking about writing on a desk, or sneaking a peek at the test results. We are talking about making joking public display of an abhorrent racist term. On school property, during a school function. An act I believe warrants the punishment.
I'm not too comfortable with the analogy. The purpose of McDonalds and Hollister and American Eagle is to maximize value for shareholders (well, American Eagle is not doing a good job of that, since they're in bankruptcy). The purpose of public school is to educate children. McDonald's can and should fire anyone who hurts their reputation because that impacts their goal of making money. Damage to reputation doesn't impact a school's mission in the same way, and protecting the school's reputation should be subordinate to the education of the children in their charge. Whether the punishment is suspension, or a ban from the graduation ceremony or expulsion of whatever -- that should be judged on its merits of maximizing its mission to educate children. I'm fine with the school deciding on whatever that needs to be. But the thought process needs to be different from what a company manager would do.
I don't care. Any "message" has been lost. Apparently 6 white girls that were high school seniors, at the urging of a black boyfriend spelled "ni**er". Why should I care in light of the facts? They were suspended... They are 17-18 years old and are stupid, as evidenced by one of them having a black boyfriend that encouraged them to spell a slur. Set fire to all of them or let it go.
You're assuming that they don't feel bad after having a large amount of people now see them as racist. Why wouldn't they feel bad about it? And yes, being unjustifiably called a racist (or in you case uncaring about being called a racist) based on a single picture of a teenage stunt is no different than calling an African American a thug for a single minor criminal incident. I don't see how I'm minimizing it. I think they should be held accountable for a stupid, disrespectful stunt. I don't think they should be held accountable for inciting racial hatred, or whatever you and the people calling for a much harsher punishment think they should be punished for. Again, I think your making a jump based on the details of this incident. If one of the girls came up with the idea and they all agreed to do it with the intent of spreading hate, then I could wonder if it was a reflection of the parent's worldview. Six girls randomly being ushered by an African American male to spell a bad word because they happened to have the right letter on the shirt they were wearing most likely has nothing to do with their parent's worldview. You seem to somehow believe this is a race issue more than a teenager issue despite the evidence. Yes, they should be punished for a lack of judgement and whatever comes with that. The type of punishment you seem to want to give them is for inciting racial hatred. I don't agree that the details of this incident warrants that. And as far as the right vs. wrong. Of course they know it was wrong! That's the only reason they are doing it. If the letters they had at their disposable happened to spell fu**er instead of the N-Word and someone was enterprising enough to come up with the idea, then they would have spelled that.
I agree that the mission of a school and a business is different, but there are similarities. Both exist as communities within a larger community, both have rules that guide behavior, and both have a responsibility to protect everyone within the community in which they exist. But the reason I brought up the illustration about how a business would react to the abhorrent behavior was as much to show that the school has a responsibility to the students to prepare them for their entrance into the larger society. A business would not shrug its shoulders and say "kids will be kids". And the kids in this instance are of working age. But not to be lost in this is the responsibility that the school has to all that attend the school. To show leniency to the six girls would send a terrible message to the black kids that attend that school (and to their families).
Were you publicly shamed? Was your photo posted for all to see? Was your name published so that future schools, employers and acquaintances who google your name will define you by this stunt? Did random people from all over the world chime in with their thoughts about your character and intentions? Did they search out your relationships, address etc? Did they speculate on why you did what you did? And did they disparage your very being? This is internet bullying. I don't know if 5 days suspension is enough. At my school that was pretty severe. So absolutely they should be punished. It's the internet pile on that's out of line in my opinion.
If they know doing something is wrong, then proceed to do it, then they obviously need to be punished. Our only disagreement is the severity of the punishment. If they had spelled out a curse word I would see it as a minor infraction, but since it was on school campus, at a school event, while wearing school ware I would have expected a short suspension. But this was not a curse word. We'll just have to agree to disagree as to whether the punishment was sufficient, and whether the seniors that participated in this understood what they did.
I agree. Leniency isn't warranted. I don't think I've seen anyone argue for leniency. People disagree about how much punishment is appropriate.
Female privilege card played! If they were men would you have been enraged if someone called them douchebags? Unlikely.
Hmmm...don't think douchebag has as negative of a connotation as skank. Douchebag is usually reserved for some qualified version of a jerk. Skank basically mean slut. Final conclusion. Spoiler
No, the mistakes I have made didn't involve taking a picture with a shirt spelling out an abhorrent racist term on my shirt, in an age when everyone carries a camera on their phone that can immediately connect to the internet, thus becomes public immediately. But at the same time, everything I have done on the internet *is* in the public record. Articles I have written in the media, comments I have made on newsgroups, internet bulletin boards, and over twitter. And I am certain every potential employer searched and had access to those. Such is the nature of today's "always on, always connected" world.
I love the way people apologize and downplay such blatant and flippant racism, blaming liberal bias amd political correctness. There is simply no place in society for behavior like this, and no hypothetical double standard needs to be pointed out.
See this is the problem with the Internet. People see a picture and then make all sort of assumptions. This was definitely not blatant racism if you read the story.
