NYC Teen Bullied for Being Muslim
Recently there have been several stories nationwide about teenagers being bullied for being different. The latest comes from New York City, where a 16-year-old boy said he was bullied at school for being a Muslim.
"[They] punched me in my groin, and I fell to the floor. They started kicking me, and calling me 'You f---in' terrorist,' 'You f---in' Muslim,'" the victim, Kristian (last name withheld), told the New York Daily News.
Four teenagers were arrested Sunday on suspicion of hate crimes.
The boy, who was born in America, said the nearly daily abuse began in October 2009 while he was a student at the Edwin Markham Intermediate School on Staten Island. He kept quiet about it, and figured it would be all over when he graduated from the school this past June.
But when he started his freshman year at Port Richmond High School last month, he saw two of his tormentors in one of his classes.
"I think I can't go through a year like this again," Kristian said, and finally told his parents. The story he told was chilling. Kristian said first they accused him of being gay. Then they started making fun of his Muslim heritage and blaming him for terrorist bombings.
Then things got physical. "Four kids punched me everywhere. They would spit in my face, and kick and punch me. I had injuries," Kristian said.
One time one of the teens attacked him in class, in front of a teacher.
"[He] touched me here and here," he said, pointing to his left elbow and forehead. Kristian said the teacher told the attacker, "'Why did you do that for? He's a good boy. Leave him alone. Why do you keep bothering him?'"
But still, Kristian kept quiet.
"I was very scared that if I told the teachers...they would beat me up more," Kristian said.
But now he could stay silent no more. The four suspects -- three 14-year-old Latinos and a black 15-year-old -- were arrested on charges of assault and aggravated harassment, both as hate crimes.
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The boy is fortunate that his attackers didn't trap him in a porta-potty and knock it over, simply because he was different and vulnerable.
It's inarguable that seven year-old Zach Montero from Delaware was different enough from his attacker for police to at least investigate the "hate crime" motivations of the teen who abducted him and doused him with feces:
http://gravelle.us/content/non-muslim-boy-imprisoned-doused-fecal-matter
...even though prosecutors seem to be aggressively pursuing most of the possible charges against Magee Almadhrahi, we're still left to wonder (especially in the wake of the Tyler Clementi case) if a Caucasian can EVER be considered by the courts to be the victim of a so-called "hate crime":
http://www.dailyscoff.com/?p=2785
...when set upon by non-Caucasians.
The answer, so far, has been universally "No". The justice system seems to insist that white people, in particular STRAIGHT white people, can never be the victims of racially motivated crimes. They can only commit them...
-jjg
Non-whites love everyone and do these things in jest. It's just that white people(not to be confused with white liberals) are too stupid to recognize that.
Whites can be victims in hate crime cases if they happen to be athiest and the other person is religious. There's a chart that's used to determine how colored and how religious someone is to determine who exactly is the victim. It's a fine line sometimes, so I can see how you can easily get confused.
I don't follow anyone, because those that appear to be on the same path usually end up just getting in my way.
When I was a kid, these sort of things always got settled behind the wood shop. Regardless of how it turned out, both sides generally soaked up enough lumps to result in at least some form of armistice, if not unconditional surrender and peace treaties.
Bullying is hardly a new thing. At one time or another, I think most kids experience it to some degree. The thing is, when I was a kid, I can't recall anyone not eventually fighting back when sufficiently provoked. That's the part I don't get. Unless the accounts are hopelessly skewed toward the anecdotal, where are all these kids coming from who allow themselves to be endlessly used as punching bags without ever fighting back?
I quite honestly don't understand. There were infrequent fights when I was a kid, but I don't recall ever seeing anything of the proportions of bullying I see described in some of these accounts. A fight took place before it ever got that far and no matter how it came out the abuse generally ended at that point.
My daughter was tormented throughout grade school. The one
time she did try to defend herself, she got in trouble. It seems that her classmates all saw the bully hit my daughter, but they were too afraid to report it. So the teacher reported what she saw: my daughter pushing back. Without any witnesses, the school officials could do nothing. My daughter's bully's continued to pick on her.
Eventually, with the help of an understanding school principal and a few witnesses, we were able to remove the offenders from her middle/high school. I can only hope that they got some help to stop the bullying behavior.
In today's schools, if anyone is caught "behind the wood shop" they would all be suspended. And when applying for college, this dose not read well on a transcript. What dose work is teaching kids to stand up for their fellow classmates. Bullies only have power though intimidation. Take that away and maybe they can learn to get along with everyone else.
My son had a problem with a bully and I told him that he would never get in trouble at home if he defended himself at school. I also told him that if he needed to gather the bullys' victims together on a united front to confront him, he should do that.
If parents can raise a stink about the legitimate actions of teachers and get the results they want, then you can surely get what you want.
Kids learn in different ways, but most of them will learn from a pop in the nose.
I don't follow anyone, because those that appear to be on the same path usually end up just getting in my way.
On the flip side, I have a son in 5th grade. If my son came home having gotten beat up for bullying, I'd teach him that that is what happens to bullies and to make use of the valuable lesson he has the opportunity to learn.
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
I guess when everyone gets done with the whole sweetness and light routine, they can all go out and cut the ropes they find their tormented children hanging from.
You have helped me understand how it works, though. Parents teach their children to be victims, rather than teach them to deal with the reality of a world where not everyone is nice. Thank you for clearing that up.
Because that is what how we want children to solve problems... by beating each other bloody.
If you want peace, prepare for war.
There has never been a shortage of Pollyannas who - looking at the world through rose colored glass - believe reality may be altered through the power of wishful thinking. If everyone just wishes real hard, they can save Tinkerbelle's life, right?
It's a sweet enough sentiment for fairytails, but isn't much help when a parent comes home from work to find their tormented child has committed suicide.
A fat lip heals in a few days, but modern science hasn't had much luck bringing dead kids back from the grave. They're your kids. You make the call. Teach them not to be victims, or wait for them to become one. There are no other choices.
But you are advocating a bit more then self defense... You are advocating teaching children to resolve their differences through violence, and to seek personal revenge rather then justice.
The whole "let them solve it behind the tool shed" bit doesn't work... Because it endorses the idea that those who are the strongest get to do what they want... Because they are the ones who come out on top.