I was paraphrasing the "immediately dial it up to 10 responses" I've seen in this thread and elsewhere as a general over reaction to what is looking more and more like teenagers being dumb teenagers. I think JV's post above summarizes it better than i could. Pretty much everyone one in this thread agreed these girls need to be taught a lesson, but only a few have outright dismissed them as privileged skanks and racist based on a picture.
That seems a bit presumptuous. My guess is they all feel pretty ****ty, and not just because they got caught, but because of how they're forever seen after doing a dumb spur-of-the-moment thing that they didn't really think about. I can't say. Partly because I really have no idea what typical high school punishments are. Five-day suspension seem pretty significant to me. If we're talking "racism" like walking around campus, threatening blacks, leading racist chants, getting caught vandalizing school property with racist graffiti. Then yes, that's the type of hateful racism that I think would be a much more serious matter that could carry a much harsher punishment. That does seem like that is what this is.
today's future leaders of american are partially r****ded so this is not surprising at all. i actually don't have a problem with it aside from it being at a public school. this isn't hateful racism at all. this is like a comedian telling a n***** joke and getting laughs, except these girls are NOT professional comedians so everyone's laughing (angry) at them.
Well you are proud in your ignorance which is rare for rational people. Others though certainly have a double standard in what words people should be angry at and which words people should just "Let go."
Or I should correct myself before you assume I called you rational. You are fond of your ignorance, most people aren't.
Perhaps I am being presumptious, but perhaps you are giving this group of girls too much credit for knowing right from wrong. After all, none of the six thought... "hey guys, perhaps this wrong?" And look at the picture... all six, smiling/laughing at what they are doing. And not one looking at whoever was taking the picture. Instead, they are looking to the side, where other friends are obviously standing... egging them on, laughing along. Honestly, I don't care if they get 2 days suspension, or five, or ten. My guess is the suspension will be just a vacation, and they become victims to some, and martyrs to others, and heroes to others. I'd rather that they perform some form of public services so they can get a better sense as what they have done and how it hurts people. I'd also prefer that they be prevented from participating in the schools's graduation ceremony, since they did this at a school event.
Our schools needs to add another subject to the curriculum. We need to prepare the kids not only in the real world but the social media world.
I don't think it's a suspension of disbelief to suggest teenagers don't think their actions through in the spur of the moment and under peer pressure. But you're definitely right...I could be giving them too much credit. I don't know them at all. Just based on the picture alone (which is all we have) I feel like it's less of a jump to suggest the teenagers were just being stupid and trying to spell a bad word than it is to say six girls conspired to create a racist hate message. Either way, I agree they should be doing community service or at minimum some racial sensitivity training/counseling (which I think the principal may have already announced).
Here's my guess. These girls know that the n word gets a big reaction but didn't know why it did, and thought it was silly that the word gets such a big reaction. So they took the picture in an effort to make lite of something that they feel gets made into a big deal when it isn't. They have some understanding that the word is offensive. They probably had no idea the history behind the word, how it's been used or the cases that go with it. They should get some education on the history of racism in this nation and how the word is and has been used to understand why what they did was hateful, and wrong. That should be included with five days suspension.
These girls should have been handcuffed, arrested, and cited for disruption of class. Equal time and all.
<img src="https://bossip.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/screen-shot-2016-01-26-at-1-20-21-pm.png?w=700" alt="Screen Shot 2016-01-26 at 1.20.21 PM"/> The commentary from this site cracks me up, "Becky hoes..." http://bossip.com/1275631/girl-bye-...ays-photo-was-a-joke-for-her-black-boyfriend/
heres a video telling the story. Evidently it was the boyfriends idea - He took the pic and uploaded it. http://news.yahoo.com/video/teen-arizona-offensive-t-shirt-053841903.html
Girls still should have had better judgement, but the boyfriend should get the same or even worse punishment I would think? It is crazy to think that if they had happened to be wearing another shirt with a different letter they wouldn't have people calling for their lives to be ruined.
The boyfriend should get the same punishment, as should the person taking the picture (if it wasn't the boyfriend). We're not talking about 12 year olds. They are high school seniors. Old enough to drive cars. Old enough to hold jobs. Speaking of which... if the same six girls worked at McDonalds (ok, they are privileged girls, so they probably don't have jobs, but if they did, replace McDonalds with Hollister or American Eagle). They are at a company event, and they decided it would be "funny" to make the word out of their McDonalds uniforms... would McDonalds fire them? Of course they would be fired. And rightly so. They would be protecting their company reputation. So the school should hold these six (seven or eight, whatever) accountable for their actions. Which in my opinion should include not allowing them to participate in their school's graduation ceremony. Not "ruining their lives", but protecting the reputation of the school and ensuring the six understand that actions carry consequences.
Not sure what there is to debate and discuss here. 12 year olds listen to music far more offensive than their little joke. What does everyone think the N in NWA stands for?
The punishment should be the same if six black seniors wore the shirts. We're talking about what these six girls wore and how they should be punished, aren't we? Or... are you trying to make some other point?