Ithaca High School parent speaks out on racial incident (thought crime in the City of Evil)

Finger Lakes News Radio ^ | 11/16/07

[Behind Liberal Lines]

A parent of an Ithaca High School student said her son was treated unfairly by the high school when he was suspended last week for attempting to retaliate against a white student who allegedly called him a “nigger” on multiple occasions.

Keisha Hicks, a graduate student at Cornell University, and the community groups Activists Committed to Interrupting Oppression Now and Race Liberation Alliance planned to hold a press conference today to bring attention to the incident.

Hicks' son Bryce Houseal, a ninth grader at the high school, alerted school officials that a student called him the derogatory term on Nov. 8, but officials didn't punish the student, Hicks alleges. The same student again called Houseal the racial epithet on Nov. 9, Hicks said.

“This time my son reacted to the student and he lunged towards them, but security intervened and threw my son on the concrete,” Hicks said.

“The boy that instigated this whole thing was allowed to get on the bus and go home while my child was escorted home by the police,” Hicks said. “My son was interrogated by the police, and all of this occurred without my knowledge.”

Superintendent Judith Pastel said she couldn't speak to the details to the incident because she didn't have all the information.

Houseal was initially given a five-day suspension for the incident, Hicks said. If the student who allegedly called her son the derogatory term had been suspended, her son wouldn't have been involved in the incident, she said.

“According to the student code of conduct that child should have been suspended for inappropriate language, but nothing happened to him,” she said.

Hicks said she was going public and taking part in today's press conference to inform the community about equity issues at the high school.

Marcia Fort, a member of ACTION, said the press conference is meant to pair with today's march for justice in Washington at the Department of Justice as well as to continue to shine a light on the equity issues in the school district.

The Ithaca City School District dealt with racial tensions in its high school about a month ago as the district was also pursuing a highly charged challenge of the state's human rights law.

Since ending its challenge of the law on Oct. 23, district officials, students, parents and community members have had a series of meetings with a representative of the Department of Justice who is trained in helping communities resolve racial tensions.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Maybe I'm reading this article wrong, but it looks to me as if the white student said a bad word and the black student tried to physically attack him in response.

If so, the fact that the two students were treated differently would seem to be appropriate, given that speech should generally not be punished the same as violent acts.

I also found this tidbit, while unsurprising, disturbing:

According to the student code of conduct that child should have been suspended for inappropriate language,

While it is not my intent to defend the use of racist terms, we once again have a government institution telling people what words they can or can't speak. Par for the course, I guess, in Ithaca, the City of Evil.

[PurpleMan]

Good thing “Gringo” wasn’t used
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926670/posts

[Behind Liberal Lines]

City of Evil bump:

[donna]

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones, But Words Will Never Hurt Me.

[Elsiejay]

He . . . “lunged toward them” . . . ?????????

One of the victims of PC obviously is English grammar.

[NativeNewYorker]

Your search - site:cornell.edu "Keisha Hicks" - did not match any documents.

Hmmm. Son and mom have different last names, no mention of a father, and "graduate student" mom appears to not exist at the school.

[Doohickey]

“The boy that instigated this whole thing was allowed to get on the bus and go home while my child was escorted home by the police,”

The so-called instigator did not attempt battery. And since the mom and son have different surnames, I can imagine Dad is nowhere to be found to teach his son to be a man.

[seemoAR]

Did you notice the word “allegedly” in the first sentence?.

[expatpat]

We didn’t have this cr@p when we were young. We’d have a fist-fight until the teachers stopped it, and then it was all over. The combatants would be given some fairly small punishment, not dragged down and taken off home by beefy security guards. Why do the adults have to take over kids play (don’t get me started on Little League, et al)?

[Doohickey]

We’d have a fist-fight until the teachers stopped it, and then it was all over.

That's because kids a taught in public school nowadays to feel good about themselves no matter what. The consequence of that is if a kid can't find his or her own self-worth, then it has to come at the expense of someone else.

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

Call an assembly in the school gym, put ‘em in 20 OZ gloves and head gear and let ‘em go at it until they call uncle.

[expatpat]

Good idea. Three rounds would probably be enough.