 |
| The ultimate arbiter? |
For
this incident reminds me of something potentially equally stupid back when I
was in high school more than three decades ago – one Halloween when a student
managed to concoct an overly elaborate costume for himself that wound up
offending certain students of an African-American persuasion.
HIS
COSTUME, AS I remember it, was essentially a white sheet – albeit one that had
been decorated with elaborate, ghoulish-looking drawings. As I recall, the
costume was intended to be symbolic of the rock band Black Sabbath (remember
Ozzy Osbourne back when he really bit the heads off of bats and before he
became a reality television star?).
But
the black students who saw this white sheet walking down the hall presumed that
someone had the nerve to wear a crude-looking Klan robe to school, and I
remember seeing them chasing this student down the hall.
Teachers
ultimately intervened, and the incident didn’t become anything lasting – although
I wonder if somewhere out there is a one-time school mate (one whom I haven’t
seen or heard from since those days) of mine who’s convinced he saw the Klan,
and wishes he could have kicked its derriere.
Or,
if some heavy metal rock fan realizes how close he came to getting a beat down
because of his absurd choice of a Halloween costume?
IT
SEEMS THERE is an incident at Barrington High School that has elevated to
higher intensity levels – one that the courts ultimately will have to resolve.
It
seems the Internet, amongst its many stupid and trivial images and tidbits,
includes a photograph of white girls at a party, wearing white t-shirts and
holding their arms over their heads in a gesture that some are choosing to be
the equivalent of Klan hoods.
One
of the girls, whose party the photo was supposedly taken at, is identified by
initials. Which happen to be a string of “K’s.” How unfortunate for her.
For
it means the photograph has been spread around the Internet to people who are
insisting that the high school district take some sort of disciplinary action
against these budding white racist princesses who likely view their purpose in
life as the propagation of the white race by creating multiple white
supremacist babies. A statement as over-the-top, ridiculous and absurd as this
case has the potential to be.
THE
FACT THAT this activity was not part of any school activity and took place on
property not connected to the school doesn’t seem to sway any of these
activist-types. They want action!
And
when Barrington Community School District 220 didn’t provide it, they went to
court, where assorted documents have been filed in recent months, and a hearing
on the issue is scheduled for Monday.
Now
I don’t know any of the people involved in any side of this particular case. So
I don’t know if any of these girls involved at what was a “white out” party
(everybody, including the black people who were invited, wore white clothes)
has racist tendencies in their personalities.
Or
if the activist types are just looking for a fight that some of my black
classmates were willing to carry out many years ago.
BUT
YET I don’t want to automatically dismiss the chance of racist perceptions
being seen in our society. For they are there. They are real. We do have people
with irrational hang-ups amongst us who largely count on the fact that they can
couch them in such vague ways so as to make them unnoticeable to the masses.
Who
would just as soon believe that such things, if they ever really existed, are a
part of our societal past.
Ultimately,
it’s going to be the courts that will have to decide what constitutes improper
and racist behavior, and whether this incident rises to that level.
Although
there’s a part of me that suspects the only real crime here is the parents of a
certain teenage girl who gave their daughter a name resulting in multiple K’s
for initials.
-30-
No comments:
Post a Comment