Posted on 03/10/2015 6:52:34 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The Duluth School District is deciding how to move forward after a racist photo surfaced at Denfeld High School through social media.
The photo showed an African American student with a noose around his neck, and the caption "Gotta hang em all."
Stephan Witherspoon says the student in the picture is his nephew.
"I feel heartbroken," he said. "A little fearful. Because, you know, this type of hate represents a lot more than just a picture that was spread around in the school. It represents a people that have been oppressed for hundreds of years — hosed and burned and lynched."
Witherspoon said the photo is "absolutely a hate crime."
"It instills fear in our young, especially our young African American men and women," he said.
Students at Denfeld reacted to the photo on Monday. Senior Indiana Molitor said she thinks the photo points to a bigger problem.
"I think there's more problems than just a little picture going around," she said. "Bullying and stuff like that, that's a bigger issue to me than a picture, because I think a picture can be eliminated."
The Duluth School District is working closely with Denfeld site administrators to look into the matter and decide how to move forward.
"We're shocked and disappointed at this event," said Superintendent Bill Gronseth. "It's unfortunate, but it's also a time fro us to come together as a community and face this issue and decide how we move forward."
Gronseth said he cannot discuss the punishment of the students responsible, but they have been identified.
Witherspoon said he has confidence in the way the school is handling the matter.
"I'm going to have faith that the process that the school is going through with these kids, they will be very vigilant on giving the right consequences," he said.
Gronseth said that while they are disappointed, the school district is also using the opportunity to promote dialogue among Denfeld families.
"We've reached out to the parents at Denfeld and really encouraged the parents to have conversations with their students about what happened, and about social media and about the responsibility to use social media in a respectful way," he said.
Some students already seem to know the power of social media, though. Senior Connor Floerke said he was surprised by the incident — and also that the perpetrators went through with posting the photo online.
"Just a foolish thing to post on social media," he said. "A foolish thing to do in general, but to take it to the next step is a lot worse."
As for Witherspoon and his family, he says they hope this can be a teaching moment.
"I would definitely want to see the kids involved as well," he said. "Our youth have to have a voice."
And the Denfeld youth will, indeed, have a voice. Molitor said she's part of a student group that's working on a mural called "Stop the Bullying, Post the Positive." She said they will encourage students to post positive notes on the walls.
"Like love, hope, faith," she said. "Good things around the school."
Molitor said they're trying to make their school a better place.
"It takes everybody to be involved," said Witherspoon. "It takes everybody to say no. It takes everybody to want to eradicate this hate, and all hate."
He said the Clayton, Jackson, McGhie Memorial in Downtown Duluth should be a reminder that incidents like these bring up years and years of historical trauma.
"This is not new to our people, our nation," he said. "This is the dark side of America."
Along with The Little Red Hen.
And The Ant and the Grasshopper.
Where the heck is Denfield and what does this have to do with North Dakota? I make book that the kid in the picture is the one who sponsored this event.
When are people, especially kids, going to realize that posting on social media and the internet in general will be seen by multitudes.
Duluth Denfeld is in Duluth, MN. Not sure what this has to do with N. Dakota.
Duluth, MN. IS a bastion of liberalism in MN.
The Irish? Poles? Tibetans? Estonians?
It doesn't rise to the commission of a crime.
I read the article a few times, and couldn’t see any mention as to the age of the person who is supposed to have the noose around his neck. Anybody know anything more?
It’s like blacks love whites??? Everything they do spews “I hate whitey”.
I was mistaken based on where WDAY-TV is located. I asked the moderators to change it, and they have.
Well, whether this is a ‘real thing’ or just a fake, ginned up false flag operation, I gotta say:
“Thank you pResident Hussein for stirring up racist feelings on all sides, to a degree that hasn’t been seen for a hundred and fifty years on a nationwide basis as it is now.”
Just how many cliches, empty lofty-sounding phrases and feel-good nothings did you count in this article? How about the unintended ironic use of “vigilant”
But, all that pales in comparison to the smothering stupidity of the centerpiece.
I posted this earlier today, on another thread.
Although it doesn’t quite fit in some way, in a practical way it fits perfectly;
++
Let’s see:
Affirmative Action Hire determines whether or not they are accepted to attend college.
Affirmative Action Hire determines whether or not there are enough minority students, regardless of grades.
Affirmative Action Hire determines whether or not they receive a scholarship.
Affirmative Action Hire determines that the scholarship goes to a minority.
Affirmative Action Hire determines whether or not there will be sports available for men.
Affirmative Action Hire determines whether or not enough minorities receive enough A grades.
Affirmative Action Hire determines whether or not too many minorities are receiving Fail grades.
Affirmative Action Hire determines whether or not enough minorities are receiving diplomas.
Affirmative Action Hire determines whether or not too many whites are receiving diplomas.
+++
I just don’t understand the push back. All this over nothing.
FYI
Broadcast outlets west of the Mississippi, call letters begin with ‘K’. East of the Mississippi they begin with ‘W’.
;-)
If you saw all the articles like this that I pore through in a month, you’d pull your hair out.
I’ve known that since around first grade. And that’s not always true, see WHO and WOI in Iowa, for instance.
I’m going to guess this stunt is going to get more official attention and consume more police time than a dozen actual violent crimes.
If the Duluth School District and the Denfield school administrators are smart (am I asking too much of them?), then they should take the photo of the young black man with a noose around his neck and make it a teaching point.
Too many people don’t know much or anything about the lynchings and other murders of blacks in the South as acts of hate and control It is a legitimate subject for any civics/history class and should be taught.
A parallel program would also include the Jewish man who was hauled out of a jail and hung because he was accused (most likely falsely) of raping a young girl. Think it was in Georgia in the 1930’s.
The same for some attacks on other minorities in the US, often by a handful of haters, but it is important to understand what has happened and to work to prevent more such incidents in the future.
Look for Al Sharpton to show up and demand something - free cheese, money, air time, a free haircut. Same for Jesse Jackson.
Sane people can make something positive out of this deplorable act. Hatemongers can exploit it. We must not let them do that.
I hope you're getting paid for it.
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