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In a shocking, horrifying incident at Shawnee Mission East High School, a Black student was hospitalized after being attacked by a white male student. Despite being the victim, she faces suspension in a case highlighting systemic racism and administrative negligence.

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[-] AlwaysNowNeverNotMe@kbin.social 221 points 1 year ago

Zero discretion policies come home to roost.

Neutrality is oppression when oppression is the norm.

[-] Globulart@lemmy.world 101 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

My wife is half Jamaican and half Iranian, she went to a school in a very working class part of a very ethnically diverse city in the UK, with most of the school having a familial origin in the middle east or India.

She was routinely bullied for being black and called the N word on a daily basis. She was made to feel like a troublemaker for reporting it to teachers and eventually snapped, her kickboxing lessons helped her break a boy's nose with a kick to the face after years of abuse, and she got suspended for it while nobody ever faced any consequences for their racism.

People don't want to punish wrongdoing, they want to keep things "simple" and not have to deal with anything they feel awkward about, so they ignore the repeated "small" incidents and only acted to punish the retaliation because it's deemed disproportionate. Years of racism to the point of having no friends because people were scared of being seen to sympathise apparently isn't as damaging as an afternoon in A+E and some minor discomfort for a week or so. Fuck that school and fuck this mentality.

This story seems like a worse version and we're 20 years on. I'm sure it happens way more than we see in stories like these, they're just swept under the rug and hope nobody calls them on it. Fuck this backwards ass world.

[-] ScrotusMaximus@lemmy.zip 31 points 1 year ago

This is a great observation that explains so many ills with our society when the victim is punished. People collectively don't care about justice. They only care about minimizing discomfort. Retaliation is only viewed as the original "source" of trouble making more trouble. I saw this same story play out for a coworker who was bullied by her male coworkers. The "guys" didn't appreciate her around and made her life miserable, so of course she acted out. Thier boss tried to sympathize with her but ultimately didn't protect her because she was one and they were many. Their boss started to view her as a pain in the ass because she would constantly report small injustices that on their own wouldn't be considered harassment.

[-] originalucifer@moist.catsweat.com 76 points 1 year ago

i remember this story from 30 years ago. here it is; no administrator wants to/is allowed to make a decision. so everyone gets the same punishment, and no actual judgments are made as everyone is at fault.

schools administrators can now be replaced with a matrix of policy, they need no longer be human. this is what happens when parents sue school districts into the ground.

[-] jws_shadotak@sh.itjust.works 37 points 1 year ago

But by doing this are they not opening themselves to even worse lawsuits? A student was called a racial slur and hospitalized and they're handing her the same punishment as the aggressor.

[-] TechyDad@lemmy.world 31 points 1 year ago

According to the article, racism is a systemic problem in this school. One of the school officials, yelled at some black kids because they were walking down the hall together and thus "were looking intimidating."

When the administration is racist, they're willing to overlook students being racist.

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[-] girlfreddy@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

Then it's time to fire all Shawnee Mission East’s administrators.

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[-] neanderthal@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

This all comes back to school board elections. How much information is typically available about school board candidates?

[-] masquenox@lemmy.world 70 points 1 year ago

Lots of people showing up real fast to make excuses for white supremacists doing white supremacism.... now why does that sound so familiar?

Oh, right... I'm South African!

[-] whoisearth@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 year ago

You ain't wrong. Went through the comments here and goddamn some of y'all need Jesus.

Also, Sawubona! Unjani?

[-] masquenox@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Same thing happens here in South Africa every time white supremacists are caught on camera doing their thing... white liberals will fall over themselves to make up justifications and excuses for their behavior. It's about as predictable as clockwork.

Sorry, I never learned isiZulu - I know a bit of Sesotho, but it's about as good as my German (ie, crap).

[-] reverendsteveii@lemm.ee 49 points 1 year ago

y'all ever notice how "zero tolerance" only kicks in once the black girl tries to defend herself? It wasn't zero tolerance when they were shouting racial slurs at her. That was simply tolerated. It wasn't zero tolerance when the white boy beat the shit out of her. When she refused to just quietly take the abuse, however, then "we have zero tolerance for hate or violence of any kind and therefore we have no choice but to suspend both students".

Rights for whites, no slack for blacks.

[-] Burn_The_Right@lemmy.world 42 points 1 year ago

Conservatives should not be permitted to hold jobs related to children.

[-] Fredselfish@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

Should be protest held outside that school and the homes of the administration until they resign our removed and the student should be unsupended.

[-] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago

I'm glad this story is going viral. I was appalled when I heard about it last night.

[-] Xariphon@kbin.social 23 points 1 year ago

School logic.

[-] Linkerbaan@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

Defense against bullies is actually terrorism I'll have you know.

[-] HawlSera@lemm.ee 14 points 1 year ago

Not even surprised

[-] UnhingedFridge@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

I don't miss KC at fucking all.

[-] Tenthrow@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

Having to lock this post because you guys just can't keep it civil

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this post was submitted on 29 Nov 2023
622 points (100.0% liked)

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