Incident By Countee Cullen
Once riding in old Baltimore,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.
Now I was eight and very small,
And he was whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue and called me, "Nigger."
I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December:
Of all the things that happened there
That's all that I remember.
--------------------------------------------------------
In the tony neighborhood of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan a lone middle school student, Phoenix Williams, was terrified in the Bloomfield Hills Junior High School and on the bus. In school he reports some students told racist jokes about African Americans. He wondered where the teacher(s) was? However, on March 13, 2015, on the school bus in route to and from a concert he was terrified by youngsters who comfortably and repeatedly referred to him as 'N' word. One even offered candy to another if he too would join in the torment. And yes the sweet treat seemed more than enough to encourage a quisling to join the juvenile mob. Help was not available to the 8th grader; so, he bravely recorded the junior racists as they tossed his cap and called him 'N.'
The superintendent, Dr. Rob Glass tells the public they (the school) meted out the appropriate punishments to the offenders. Bullies disciplined in private while the publicly violated Phoenix has been taught the inequity of being Black in America. It seems that upper-middle class white privilege denies the public knowledge of how they handle teen racist bullies. Did Glass share the punishment with the Williams Family? --probably not.
On April 16, 2015, Oakland County prosecutor Jessica Cooper filed petitions with the juvenile courts in Wayne and Oakland counties charging one with ethnic intimidation and the other with harassment.
It's been over a month and one wonders what has happened with this case. Is Phoenix still taking his lessons at home?
When it comes to bullying on school property there needs to be clear policies on how such matters will be handled. Keeping the aggressors punishments secret seems to subverts the crime committed. A student victim and her/his parent/guardian should be made aware that some sort of justice. However, there does not seem to be consistent pattern when it comes to bullies in schools except the victim is exposed and left to suffer.
Zaniewski, Ann. "Racial Bullying on Bloomfield Hills School Bus sparks outrage," Detroit Free Press, April 16, 2015 freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2015/04
Grossman, Jay. "Phoenix Williams: 'I just felt betrayed,'" Hometownlife.com. April 17, 2015
Once riding in old Baltimore,
Heart-filled, head-filled with glee,
I saw a Baltimorean
Keep looking straight at me.
Now I was eight and very small,
And he was whit bigger,
And so I smiled, but he poked out
His tongue and called me, "Nigger."
I saw the whole of Baltimore
From May until December:
Of all the things that happened there
That's all that I remember.
--------------------------------------------------------
In the tony neighborhood of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan a lone middle school student, Phoenix Williams, was terrified in the Bloomfield Hills Junior High School and on the bus. In school he reports some students told racist jokes about African Americans. He wondered where the teacher(s) was? However, on March 13, 2015, on the school bus in route to and from a concert he was terrified by youngsters who comfortably and repeatedly referred to him as 'N' word. One even offered candy to another if he too would join in the torment. And yes the sweet treat seemed more than enough to encourage a quisling to join the juvenile mob. Help was not available to the 8th grader; so, he bravely recorded the junior racists as they tossed his cap and called him 'N.'
The superintendent, Dr. Rob Glass tells the public they (the school) meted out the appropriate punishments to the offenders. Bullies disciplined in private while the publicly violated Phoenix has been taught the inequity of being Black in America. It seems that upper-middle class white privilege denies the public knowledge of how they handle teen racist bullies. Did Glass share the punishment with the Williams Family? --probably not.
On April 16, 2015, Oakland County prosecutor Jessica Cooper filed petitions with the juvenile courts in Wayne and Oakland counties charging one with ethnic intimidation and the other with harassment.
It's been over a month and one wonders what has happened with this case. Is Phoenix still taking his lessons at home?
When it comes to bullying on school property there needs to be clear policies on how such matters will be handled. Keeping the aggressors punishments secret seems to subverts the crime committed. A student victim and her/his parent/guardian should be made aware that some sort of justice. However, there does not seem to be consistent pattern when it comes to bullies in schools except the victim is exposed and left to suffer.
Zaniewski, Ann. "Racial Bullying on Bloomfield Hills School Bus sparks outrage," Detroit Free Press, April 16, 2015 freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2015/04
Grossman, Jay. "Phoenix Williams: 'I just felt betrayed,'" Hometownlife.com. April 17, 2015
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