October 12, 2007
by Marybeth Lauderdale
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A
racially-charged weekend incident
at a high school for the deaf -- now
being investigated by police as a
possible hate crime -- was a "war
game that went too far," a source close the investigation told CNN's
Kyra Phillips Thursday.
The incident, which took place Sunday at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, involved a black
student who was held against his will and then released with "KKK" and swastikas drawn on him in
marker, according to D.C. Metro Police Chief Cathy Lanier.
Because of the race of the victim and the symbols drawn on him, police were looking at the incident
as possibly two racial groups attacking each other.
But the source said, instead, the incident was not an attack but a game that got out of hand when
students used poor judgment. (Posted 11:36 a.m.)
The above coverage was the follow-up story to an initial story that said it was a
potential hate crime. School officials reported that it began as “friendly horseplay”
that turned ugly, resulting in seven students being expelled.
As we tell out students and our kids at home: an action can turn from “cool” to
criminal in a split second. This type of thing chills the blood of every school
administrator in the world. No school is immune; it can be found in local, rural,
public, residential/boarding schools, and in colleges. There is no place where there is
a concentration of students that is not susceptible to this type of activity. Our charge
is to take a lesson from this and be vigilant, teach, model, and enforce tolerance and
respect.
Reading coverage of this incident in some activists’ blogs (on my home computer, of
course; not at work!), some of the mothers of the seven expelled students have made
anguished public statements. None of the mothers has asked that her child’s
behavior be excused, but they all do call for the behavior to be viewed with
compassion. They also alert society to teach openly about culture, diversity, racism,
and tolerance.
Interestingly, CNNs Kyra Phillips (ISD’s own former superintendent Dr. Mangan’s
granddaughter) did the follow-up story which ended in the statement “the incident
was not an attack but a game that got out of hand when students used poor
judgment.”
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