Memphis Slim
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'Hate incident' in city
By Bonnie Washuk , Staff Writer
Thursday, April 19, 2007
One student has been suspended and more disciplinary action could follow a possible hate crime at Lewiston Middle School, Superintendent Leon Levesque said Wednesday.
On April 11, a white student placed a ham steak in a bag on a lunch table where Somali students were eating. Muslims consider pork unclean and offensive.
The act reminded students of a man who threw a pig's head into a Lewiston mosque last summer.
The school incident is being treated seriously as "a hate incident," Levesque said. Lewiston police are investigating, and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence is working with the school to create a response plan.
"We've got some work to do to turn this around and bring the school community back together again," Levesque said.
Placing ham where Muslim students were eating was "an awful thing," said Stephen Wessler, executive director of the Center for Prevention of Hate Violence. "It's extraordinarily hurtful and degrading" to Muslims, whose religion prohibits them from being around ham. It's important to respond swiftly, Wessler said.
"Incidents like this that involve degrading language or conduct are often said by the perpetrator as a joke. I know that conduct is never static," he said. "It's part of a process of escalation."
If people think insulting Muslims with ham is OK, "More degrading acts will follow, until at some point we'll end up having violence," Wessler said.
The incident does not reflect the moral values of the school staff and students, Levesque said. "We need to take a look at this and review how a careless act is degrading and causes hurt to other people. All our students should feel welcome and safe in our schools."
He said a letter would be sent home to parents explaining what happened and outlining the school's response. Wessler will meet with students to address the school's climate, and staff will talk about how to respond to and prevent future hate incidents
'I didn't feel safe'
A 14-year-old Somali boy, whose mother asked that his name not be published, said he was eating lunch with four other Somali students on April 11. He noticed many others in the cafeteria "standing up, looking at us."
One boy came near, began laughing and threw a bag on the table while other students laughed and said, 'Good job.'"
"We didn't know what was in this bag," the boy said. "One of my friends reached inside it. It was a big ham steak. There were five of us at the table, all Somali. It was intended for us."
The boy said he looked up at students he thought were his friends. "I felt angered, offended."
He suddenly felt like he was alone. "At the school the next day, I didn't feel safe. I felt like everybody was against me. Before I felt like I fit in, and everything was normal."
He began to think white students didn't like him, and the act was their way of letting him know.
On Thursday, several students came up to him and said, "Those guys who did it were jerks. I apologize for them, and I hope you feel better."
The boy said they did make him feel better. "But for the rest of my life when I remember middle school, this will pop up right away."
He spoke out because he wants the community to know what happened, "that there is something like this going on in our schools."
Wessler and Levesque said the act happened the day before April vacation began, which prevented educators from gathering information.
"This is not done," Wessler said.
~~~~
This is about the stupidest thing I've ever heard. The center for the Prevention of Hate Violence is working with the school to devise a response, and I kid you not, the school supervisor Levesque has dubbed it "The Anti-Ham Response Plan." I can see it now, dozens of counselors descending upon the school, pontificating on the evils of Ham. He has also claimed this heinous act reminded the Somalis of being shot at and starved to death in Mogadishu. I wonder how much money the kids' parents are going to kick back to this moron after the inevitable lawsuit is settled?
No one has bothered to ask the Somali kid what he was doing rooting around in a lunch bag that didn't belong to him in the first place. If he'd left the other kid's property alone, he'd have never been exposed to the Dreadful Ham Sandwich!
The only hate crime that's been perpetrated here is the suspension of the young boy who did this. We're talking middle-school kids, folks, they play dumb practical jokes on each other, and while I agree it wasn't in the best of taste (although I think ham itself is quite yummy) since when were 12 and 13 year-old boys expected to display 'sensitivity' towards their peers?
They give each other noogies and swirlies and wedgies, for cryin' out loud, we're gonna freak out now over an insensitively placed lunch bag? The poor kid's been suspended, pending further investigation, and yes, there is talk of criminal charges.
Should he have been disciplined? Yeah, I think a good talking to and maybe a day or two of detention would have been in order, since the act was deliberately intended to provoke a negative reaction from the Somali kids, so I don't think this sort of instigating should be encouraged, but damn...an indefinite suspension, bringing in outside social organizations to craft some bizarre 'anti-ham response', national media attention, and possible criminal charges (which could result in incarceration in a juvenile facility, not to mention a record which will follow him until he's an adult...how's that going to look on a college application, hmm?) is beyond absurd.
It's hateful.
By Bonnie Washuk , Staff Writer
Thursday, April 19, 2007
One student has been suspended and more disciplinary action could follow a possible hate crime at Lewiston Middle School, Superintendent Leon Levesque said Wednesday.
On April 11, a white student placed a ham steak in a bag on a lunch table where Somali students were eating. Muslims consider pork unclean and offensive.
The act reminded students of a man who threw a pig's head into a Lewiston mosque last summer.
The school incident is being treated seriously as "a hate incident," Levesque said. Lewiston police are investigating, and the Center for the Prevention of Hate Violence is working with the school to create a response plan.
"We've got some work to do to turn this around and bring the school community back together again," Levesque said.
Placing ham where Muslim students were eating was "an awful thing," said Stephen Wessler, executive director of the Center for Prevention of Hate Violence. "It's extraordinarily hurtful and degrading" to Muslims, whose religion prohibits them from being around ham. It's important to respond swiftly, Wessler said.
"Incidents like this that involve degrading language or conduct are often said by the perpetrator as a joke. I know that conduct is never static," he said. "It's part of a process of escalation."
If people think insulting Muslims with ham is OK, "More degrading acts will follow, until at some point we'll end up having violence," Wessler said.
The incident does not reflect the moral values of the school staff and students, Levesque said. "We need to take a look at this and review how a careless act is degrading and causes hurt to other people. All our students should feel welcome and safe in our schools."
He said a letter would be sent home to parents explaining what happened and outlining the school's response. Wessler will meet with students to address the school's climate, and staff will talk about how to respond to and prevent future hate incidents
'I didn't feel safe'
A 14-year-old Somali boy, whose mother asked that his name not be published, said he was eating lunch with four other Somali students on April 11. He noticed many others in the cafeteria "standing up, looking at us."
One boy came near, began laughing and threw a bag on the table while other students laughed and said, 'Good job.'"
"We didn't know what was in this bag," the boy said. "One of my friends reached inside it. It was a big ham steak. There were five of us at the table, all Somali. It was intended for us."
The boy said he looked up at students he thought were his friends. "I felt angered, offended."
He suddenly felt like he was alone. "At the school the next day, I didn't feel safe. I felt like everybody was against me. Before I felt like I fit in, and everything was normal."
He began to think white students didn't like him, and the act was their way of letting him know.
On Thursday, several students came up to him and said, "Those guys who did it were jerks. I apologize for them, and I hope you feel better."
The boy said they did make him feel better. "But for the rest of my life when I remember middle school, this will pop up right away."
He spoke out because he wants the community to know what happened, "that there is something like this going on in our schools."
Wessler and Levesque said the act happened the day before April vacation began, which prevented educators from gathering information.
"This is not done," Wessler said.
~~~~
This is about the stupidest thing I've ever heard. The center for the Prevention of Hate Violence is working with the school to devise a response, and I kid you not, the school supervisor Levesque has dubbed it "The Anti-Ham Response Plan." I can see it now, dozens of counselors descending upon the school, pontificating on the evils of Ham. He has also claimed this heinous act reminded the Somalis of being shot at and starved to death in Mogadishu. I wonder how much money the kids' parents are going to kick back to this moron after the inevitable lawsuit is settled?
No one has bothered to ask the Somali kid what he was doing rooting around in a lunch bag that didn't belong to him in the first place. If he'd left the other kid's property alone, he'd have never been exposed to the Dreadful Ham Sandwich!
The only hate crime that's been perpetrated here is the suspension of the young boy who did this. We're talking middle-school kids, folks, they play dumb practical jokes on each other, and while I agree it wasn't in the best of taste (although I think ham itself is quite yummy) since when were 12 and 13 year-old boys expected to display 'sensitivity' towards their peers?
They give each other noogies and swirlies and wedgies, for cryin' out loud, we're gonna freak out now over an insensitively placed lunch bag? The poor kid's been suspended, pending further investigation, and yes, there is talk of criminal charges.
Should he have been disciplined? Yeah, I think a good talking to and maybe a day or two of detention would have been in order, since the act was deliberately intended to provoke a negative reaction from the Somali kids, so I don't think this sort of instigating should be encouraged, but damn...an indefinite suspension, bringing in outside social organizations to craft some bizarre 'anti-ham response', national media attention, and possible criminal charges (which could result in incarceration in a juvenile facility, not to mention a record which will follow him until he's an adult...how's that going to look on a college application, hmm?) is beyond absurd.
It's hateful.
