Officer Suspended Over `Ghetto Handbook'

Breitbart ^ | 08/31/2007

[Responsibility2nd]

HOUSTON (AP) - A school district suspended a police officer as it investigates his distribution of a "Ghetto Handbook" and the three-month lapse before top district officials were informed of it.

The eight-page booklet, subtitled "Wucha dun did now?", was handed out to about 15 Houston Independent School District police officers at a May meeting, district spokesman Terry Abbott said. Officials declined to identify the officer who handed them out, but said he had been ordered to attend diversity training.

A supervisor immediately collected the booklets, Abbott said, but district officials said they didn't learn about the incident until someone complained to the district's Equal Employment Opportunity Office in mid-August.

"This publication was completely reprehensible and HISD condemns it in the strongest possible terms," Superintendent Abelardo Saavedra said in a written statement Thursday.

He said he has "mounted a very aggressive investigation."

District Police Chief Charles Wiley had no comment, Abbott said.

The booklet billed itself as a guide to Ebonics, teaching the reader to speak "as if you just came out of the hood." It included definitions such as "foty: a 40-ounce bottle of beer"; "aks: to ask a question"; and "hoodrat: scummy girl."

The booklet names six district officers "and the entire day shift patrol" as contributors. Abbott said a preliminary investigation has cleared those officers of involvement.

Last year, almost 30 percent of the district's 202,000 students were black and almost 60 percent were Hispanic.

Carol Mims Galloway, president of the Houston NAACP chapter, said the officer who created the book should be severely punished or fired.

"It was really a slap in the African-American community's face," said Galloway, who is running for the school board.

"We're paying their salaries with our tax dollars," Galloway said of the district police. "It does reflect on the district."

School board member Larry Marshall said the document was inappropriate, even if it was meant to be a joke.

"These are very racially sensitive times," he said. "It was a huge mistake in judgment."

[Responsibility2nd]

Oh. My. Lord.

If anyone finds a copy of this Ghetto Handbook, please ping me.

I need a good laugh.

[geege]

Where I work you don’t need a handbook:-(

[beethovenfan]

I gonna ax fo a copy.

[thefactor]

i wonder what would have happened if black officer’s handed out booklets on how to be white. probably would have been required reading at the local schools.

[avacado]

"Last year, almost 30 percent of the district's 202,000 students were black and almost 60 percent were Hispanic."

Huh? Am I reading those numbers correctly? Are there only 10% whites in HISD?

[mvpel]

Cosby said, according to Leiby: "Ladies and gentlemen, the lower economic people are not holding up their end in this deal. These people are not parenting. They are buying things for kids – $500 sneakers for what? And won't spend $200 for 'Hooked on Phonics.'

He added: "They're standing on the corner and they can't speak English. I can't even talk the way these people talk: 'Why you ain't,' 'Where you is' ... And I blamed the kid until I heard the mother talk. And then I heard the father talk. ... Everybody knows it's important to speak English except these knuckleheads. ... You can't be a doctor with that kind of crap coming out of your mouth!"

[papasmurf]

Where can I buy this book? I didn't see a link. LOL

I think it's a good idea that LEO's have this info. ANYTHING that helps them communicate with the populace that they are assigned to police and protect, is a good thing.

What the heck is wrong with people today? When I was a teenager, the police were brought to the schools and taught how to "rap" with the younger generation, by the students themselves.

These people are only enabling a further disconnect of the police and the communities that they serve. What a shame!

[cgbg]

he had been ordered to attend diversity training.

Uh, I think that violates the "cruel and unusual punishment" part of the constitution.

:-)

imho the best solution would be to give the black and hispanic officers a free pass to create and distribute a booklet of anti-white jokes.

Then everybody could have some good laughs and get on it with their jobs.

[Plains Drifter]

“These are very racially sensitive times.”

Crap, these have been very racially sensitive times for the last 35 years. I think due in part to the internet and the communication it allows “whitey” is starting to wake up and get over white guilt.

[Alright_on_the_LeftCoast]

If these stupid teachers could teach their students to speak properly, it wouldn’t be an issue.....more than racially sensitive..I think it is “NEA sensitive”...god forbid the public learn the truth about public schools

[DaveyB]

The booklet billed itself as a guide to Ebonics, teaching the reader to speak "as if you just came out of the hood."

Sounds like a training aid for uncover work, or helping to build relationships in some neighbor hoods. I must be missing something here, if that's how people talk then why the uproar?

[Westlander]

Iz beez ats da Detroyts publik lybary.

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

Fo Shizzle?

[shbox]

>>>>>>>It was really a slap in the African-American community’s face<<<<<<<<

I wonder what part of Africa they were born in.....

[wastedyears]

I just want a copy.

[Responsibility2nd]

IZZLE.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ebonics

[Tatze]

[Jersey Republican Biker Chick]

um...what about the other picture.....hee hee

[enough_idiocy]

A handbook for teaching in the ghetto school.
by Sidney Trubowitz
Publisher: Chicago, Quadrangle Books [1968]

Hustla’s Handbook is rapper Mack 10’s eighth studio album.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustla‘s_Handbook

Ghetto dictionary
dediforma.netfirms.com/ghetto_dictionary.html

[Nervous Tick]

>> The eight-page booklet, subtitled “Wucha dun did now?”,

OK, the title could’ve been a bit more (snaps fingers) what’s the term, “racially sensitive”...

Other than that, training officers in the kind of language they’re likely to encounter on the street is simply an exercise in police tactics, and there’s nothing improper about it.

The REAL shame here is that inner city blacks themselves find this language proper and acceptable, even desirable.

[Responsibility2nd]

Probably the same part that Tuh-RAY-sa Kerry was born in.

[new cruelty]

amazon has several books on the subject

i guess the one in question was out of date. maybe that's why everyone is so upset. :P

[shbox]

>>>>>>>Where I work you don’t need a handbook<<<<<<<<

Me neither....thats because where I work, we speak English like civilized adults.

...and why were the “African-Americans” upset???? It said “ghetto handbook” not “black handbook”. They are the ones that made that corolation.

PC is going to kill us all.

[Riverman94610]

Cosby didn’t take it far enough.NO kid should be wearing 500 dollar sneakers.
Low income people spending money on stupid things is only part of the problem.Some people spend 500 dollars on shampoos for their pet poodles!
As far as the so called”ghetto handbook”,sounds like it should be in SPANISH if 60% of Houston is Latino.
If you have half a brain,you catch on real fast when kids are using ebonics and so called ghetto slang.A handbook is hardly necessary.

[Spok]

So, let me get this straight. Everyone in America should have to speak Spanish because it’s racist to suggest anyone learn English. How’m I doing so far? And Ebonics is a legitimate separate language spoken by African-Americans from certain geographical areas. This is where I get lost: it’s also racist to suggest that whites and Hispanics dealing with African-Americans learns Ebonics? And if anyone can ‘splain that to me, I’ve got one more question: in a politically correct world, do we require African-Americans to learn Spanish or Hispanics to learn Ebonics? And what do we do about non-English speaking immigrants who also don’t speak Spanish or Ebonics? I don’t want to get banned for racist comments, but wouldn’t it be easier if we agreed on a common language for everyone. Maybe we should all learn Arabic (just in case). /sarc

[kenth]

So a hypothetical is defense of this kind of foolishness?

[peggybac]

I thought some wanted to make Ebonics another language in schools. Geesh, make up your minds.

[Wallace T.]

I must wonder about the common sense displayed by this officer, who is probably white or Hispanic. It is not unlike the case of a police officer in Columbus, Ohio, who posted racist and anti-Semitic rants on YouTube, for which she will possibly be fired or sent to the sensitivity gulag as the Houston ISD officer has been. Making any public statement on racial issues other than expressing his shame about the fact that his ancestors came from Europe on the part of a white person is the “third rail” of American society. (Unless, of course, you are a high ranking enough Democrat politician.)

[Froufrou]

http://humor.beecy.net/misc/ebonics/

Pingaling! Warning: bleeped out words - enjoy!!!

[dsc]

“The REAL shame here is that inner city blacks themselves find this language proper and acceptable, even desirable.”

Another shame is that we cater to their hurt feelings, instead of telling them to take a flying jump at a rolling doughnut, suck it up, and learn to speak English.

[4yearlurker]

Hey hommie! What’s yo fone numba?

fe fi fo fe fi fo fe

[tractorman]

So let me see if I have this correct.

It’s OK for black people to talk that way but it’s not OK to write that way in a pamphlet because it offends the African American community?

Then why don’t they quit talking that way?

[henkster]

The PC world has no room for humor. No wonder liberal talk radio failed. It’s as funny, original and entertaining as the old Soviet propaganda.

[Hazcat]

http://m-w.com/dictionary/library

Hit the link above and you'll find that "Libery" is now an accepted form of pronunciation!

Sickening!

[shbox]

Jeff Foxworthy:

“If your mother still drives you to school...then you are NOT A GANGSTER! Pull your pants up!!””

[<1/1,000,000th%]

So if I read between the lines, this means the officer was white.

Otherwise he would be a full-tenured professor at Berkeley.

[blam]

The Old, Fat, White Guy's Guide to Ebonics (Paperback)
by Iain Boyd White (Author)

[shbox]

Don’t police officers at least get briefed on Spanish, if not taught the full course....so that they can understand spanish speaking perps????

Whats the difference in this book and a spanish book??? Because it said “Ghetto”?(which is the truth)
Should it have said “Suburban Gated Cumunitty Handbook”?

Now that wouldn’t make much sense.....

[Riverman94610]

There is such a thing as being TOO racially sensitive,as you point out.
But lets not go back to those times when cops would roll through the hood and see a group of young black males and say,”If y’all n-—— arent off this corner by the time we roll back around here,we’re running you MF’ers in”.
There IS such a thing as balance between PC permissiveness and blatant racism.

[Responsibility2nd]

Fat Old White Guy?

How dare you.

Now you also go directly to Diversity Training.

:)

[Sopater]

OK, I don't get it, what's racist about this book? The fact that it uses the word "ebonics"?

Are the translations accurate?

I think that it would be racist to say that "all blacks speak this way", but not to say that it is the language of the street or the ghetto. Maybe I'm a little dense, but I don't get it.

[Malacoda]

Check the liberry!

[shbox]

See there? That’s what I’m talking about.....

Old, Fat White Guy

Had that said “Old Fat Black Guy’s Guide to Proper English” all hell would break loose!

I find that book stereotypical and offensive and racist. You think Jesse and Al will come and defend me??? Thats what they do, right? Fight racism and defend those that have been offended by racism?
Well.....I have been offended by racism. Where day at???

[RolandBurnam]

I just reread the article. It never mentions black ppl. Just talks about getto and hood.

[TheThinker]

The NAACP wants this officer “severely punished”? The NAACP should be changed to CARD - Colored Americans for Racial Dominance.

[L98Fiero]

“I think due in part to the internet and the communication it allows “whitey” is starting to wake up and get over white guilt.”

It doesn’t hurt that we see so many brazenly racist black commentators, editorialists, letters to the editor and such these days. Look at the Duke fiasco, for example. Opinions of guilt or innocence were pretty well drawn on racial lines, save some feminists and other vocal leftists.

24-hour cable news reports more and more outrageous local crime videos. People notice the race. Also, crime statistics are more readily available on the net. People generally haven’t been able to easily access the demographics of it all. Now they can.

Take that in account with recent “hate crimes” legislation designed to protect those who actually commit the VAST majority of interracial crime. People see that.

Something’s gotta change in this country.

[Doe Eyes]

Huh? Am I reading those numbers correctly? Are there only 10% whites in HISD?

Seems to be true. Check out the numbers from the Houston ISD link. It also shows Hispanic (students) as the majority statewide in Texas.

HISD School Environment

[tractorman]

If it’s not about black people than why is it a “slap in the African-American community’s face”?

[WhyisaTexasgirlinPA]

This officer is white and married to a black woman and has bi-racial children with her. I'm pretty sure we can feel comfortable that he is not a racist and this was a handbook to help other officers understand the language the gangs are using.

He is a very well respected officer working in the schools to curb gang violence.

The HISD immediately jumped on the racial crap because the HISD is almost 100% minority - oh wait, does that make them the majority?

[Publius6961]

"It was really a slap in the African-American community's face," said Galloway, who is running for the school board.

Does it reflect a real problem?
Is that problem real?

If nobody jokes about it, or even talks about it, will the whole thing go away?

There are constant slaps to the black community, mostly self-imposed.
Shouldn't they all go to "diversity training"? Including Bill Cosby, Will Smith, Chris Rock...