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I have a question about the recent very disturbing racially motivated beating of an middle eastern student that resulted in brain injuries at lake central high school. It appears that the school administration is responding to the incident in a very innappropriate manner. They have chosen to pretend that this is not what occured instead of accepting it and swiftly dealing with the situation outright. Is this the kind of community that we want to live in? A community that allows racist bigots an accepting environment to express themselves in a dangerous way and avoid the full consequences of there actions.
I will say that part of LC really isn't all that inclusive, no area in LC is that to be honest and the school by failing to not call an ambulance alone would point to negligence on their part let alone if the parents can prove several meetings about their son being bullied inside of LC and called all kind of racial slurs and terrorist innuendo. But the story has changed drastically from when it was first reported in the times to what it is today. It went from the young man being ganged up on to just ONE other student. It went from no one was suspended to being him and the student he had the altercation with both being suspended. It went from a group of boys going to his house to do bodily harm to them just going and yelling racial slurs at his parents (which is horrible and paints the town racist from this incident alone).
But as I mentioned earlier, LC not calling an ambulance by itself is just pure negligence on their part. The racial taunts of children to adults is appalling and I know people like NWI and Chris will probably try to defend that since it is their community but there just isn't any defense. Kids learn from their parents and my school had issues with LC students 20 years ago as well (Lew Wallace so it was short lived on their part as the Dubb isn't Crown Point or anything like that) so it's not like it can be pointed to as an isolated incident. In the end the surveillance, phone records, hospital records and Dyer Police pitiful excuse as to why they didn't open up an investigation when they were called to the home will all come to light and it will be what it be.
I have a question about the recent very disturbing racially motivated beating of an middle eastern student that resulted in brain injuries at lake central high school. It appears that the school administration is responding to the incident in a very innappropriate manner. They have chosen to pretend that this is not what occured instead of accepting it and swiftly dealing with the situation outright. Is this the kind of community that we want to live in? A community that allows racist bigots an accepting environment to express themselves in a dangerous way and avoid the full consequences of there actions.
My thoughts:
1) I wouldn't defend the school corporation or the victim of this. Both are probably to blame at least to a certain degree. I think the best thing to do is to wait and let the courts decide the result of this case. The story that the victim's family and attorney are telling has changed entirely since the first report of the lawsuit. Because of that, they are losing a lot of credibility in a lot of people's minds.
2) I'm not sure how the school corporation is pretending this has not occurred instead of accepting it. Like I said before, let's just wait to see what the evidence shows. If the school is found to have been negligent of such bullying over time, then I hope that the victim's family receives a large settlement at that point.
3) I have a few contacts within the school corporation who are familiar with the incident, victim, and others involved. I've been told this whole thing was totally blown out of proportion and the setup for this story was perfect for the local and national media to latch on to due to many factors.
4) Please don't paint this incident as one that is representative of the community as a whole. If you think that an action of some dumb immature 18 year old is how the rest of the 60,000+ residents of the tri-town area think and act, you are sorely mistaken.
Last edited by svillechris; 11-20-2011 at 07:48 AM..
It's not uncommon for a school district to turn close it's eyes on the plight of minority students. Lake County isn't the only place. Couple of years ago Decatur Township schools did the same thing and just this past week or so a school district in Tennessee caught doing the same thing. It only becomes an "issue" they are addressing and "investigating" when the media gets involved and they are put on blast. Other than that, see no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil. With what's going on at Penn State every school is going under the microscope for every little thing.
1) I wouldn't defend the school corporation or the victim of this. Both are probably to blame at least to a certain degree. I think the best thing to do is to wait and let the courts decide the result of this case. The story that the victim's family and attorney are telling has changed entirely since the first report of the lawsuit. Because of that, they are losing a lot of credibility in a lot of people's minds.
2) I'm not sure how the school corporation is pretending this has not occurred instead of accepting it. Like I said before, let's just wait to see what the evidence shows. If the school is found to have been negligent of such bullying over time, then I hope that the victim's family receives a large settlement at that point.
3) I have a few contacts within the school corporation who are familiar with the incident, victim, and others involved. I've been told this whole thing was totally blown out of proportion and the setup for this story was perfect for the local and national media to latch on to due to many factors.
4) Please don't paint this incident as one that is representative of the community as a whole. If you think that an action of some dumb immature 18 year old is how the rest of the 60,000+ residents of the tri-town area think and act, you are sorely mistaken.
Bottom line. The Lake Central officials found to be involved in making the decision to call the victim's parents for a ride to the hospital instead of dialing 911 should be fired immediately. They showed very poor judgement on there part. Having a parent pick a student up for a ride to the hospital when the student has serious head and facial injuries that resulted in a beating that took place on campus is never acceptable. This points to the school knowing they were liable and somewhat culpable for what this escalated into on there campus without intervening. Instead, a plan was immediately devised to shuffle the student out of the back door of the school into a waiting parent's car. And not to notify police of the incident. Totally not acceptable.
I just feel whatever transpired before the decision not to call 911 influenced there decision not to pick up the phone and simply dial 911. Whether or not it turns out that this situation was an ongoing matter that the school and law enforcement were aware of. Which may further extend Lake Central's liability and cupability in the matter. The sensible thing for any school to do is let the emergency medical professionals handle it immediately when a student is seriously injured on campus. Regardless of what transpired beforehand. It now turns out that this student suffered brain injuries. With brain injuries every minute counts when it comes to receiving proper medical care.
The next question is why law enforcement wasn't notified by the school instead of later on by the parents of the victim. Again this would not even be a matter of question had a school official simply picked up the phone and dialed 911 during the time directly after the incident.
I will say that part of LC really isn't all that inclusive, no area in LC is that to be honest and the school by failing to not call an ambulance alone would point to negligence on their part let alone if the parents can prove several meetings about their son being bullied inside of LC and called all kind of racial slurs and terrorist innuendo. But the story has changed drastically from when it was first reported in the times to what it is today. It went from the young man being ganged up on to just ONE other student. It went from no one was suspended to being him and the student he had the altercation with both being suspended. It went from a group of boys going to his house to do bodily harm to them just going and yelling racial slurs at his parents (which is horrible and paints the town racist from this incident alone).
But as I mentioned earlier, LC not calling an ambulance by itself is just pure negligence on their part. The racial taunts of children to adults is appalling and I know people like NWI and Chris will probably try to defend that since it is their community but there just isn't any defense. Kids learn from their parents and my school had issues with LC students 20 years ago as well (Lew Wallace so it was short lived on their part as the Dubb isn't Crown Point or anything like that) so it's not like it can be pointed to as an isolated incident. In the end the surveillance, phone records, hospital records and Dyer Police pitiful excuse as to why they didn't open up an investigation when they were called to the home will all come to light and it will be what it be.
LC isnt exactly in my community, but is in the area. I don't doubt that racial slurs may have been directed at this kid. However, I have heard many sides to this story. And the fact of the matter is that while the kid who did the beating SHOULD be prosecuted and suffer serious consequences, the kid who got beat is not exactly innocent all together. This kid is not the first Arab kid to go to school in LC by a longshot and sure won't be the last. There are other Arab students that have had NO PROBLEMS at LC that are in the same grade as this child. I find it hard to believe that ONLY this kid was picked on because of his ethnicity. The kid was KNOWN to have taunted individuals in the schools just as insensitively as others have to him.
I do not condone violence, racism, or any of that stuff. But to say that this incident was solely a hate crime and nothing else is just the culmination of people accepting anything that comes out of any media source. I mean, they stated that the school was in Merrillville for crying out loud. How does that look for Merrillville now? People were posting things on the news facebook page saying "Merrillville is a racist a** town" and etc. when this happened in Saint John.
Bottom line, their may have very well been racial undertones throughout this whole controversy but I would not doubt at all if it were both sides.
As far as the way the school handled things, if the school is proven to have shown major neglect with the handling of the fight, then pay the Haddad's.
Speaing of Merrillville, there have been MANY MANY racially charged (Black and White) fights there. But it is never reported. But all over YouTube and Facebook. Imagine that.
I just feel like Lake Central is involved in this on the wrong side of the fence. No one at Lake Central dialing 911 after the incident took place really does show there level of prior involvement leading up to the incident. Calling 911 would have been much easier than attempting to quietly negotiate the incident directly with the victim's parents before ensuring proper emergency medical attention. They should have felt no burden at all here and wouldn't have any of the blame if they handled the incident and the incidents leading up to it in the correct manner. If prior racial incidents were reported, tarnishing the victims reputation after the fact just further places the Lake Central administration on the wrong side of the fence when it comes to this issue here. At this point Lake Central should have no skin in the game if they handled this issue the right way. But unfortunately the decision makers at Lake Central handled this entire issue the wrong way. The only way to properly distance themselves from this incident at this point is to fire the decision makers who had direct involvement in this incident and prior incidents leading up to the beating. It was just handled all wrong.
Last edited by quest4why; 11-20-2011 at 12:37 PM..
LC isnt exactly in my community, but is in the area. I don't doubt that racial slurs may have been directed at this kid. However, I have heard many sides to this story. And the fact of the matter is that while the kid who did the beating SHOULD be prosecuted and suffer serious consequences, the kid who got beat is not exactly innocent all together. This kid is not the first Arab kid to go to school in LC by a longshot and sure won't be the last. There are other Arab students that have had NO PROBLEMS at LC that are in the same grade as this child. I find it hard to believe that ONLY this kid was picked on because of his ethnicity. The kid was KNOWN to have taunted individuals in the schools just as insensitively as others have to him.
I do not condone violence, racism, or any of that stuff. But to say that this incident was solely a hate crime and nothing else is just the culmination of people accepting anything that comes out of any media source. I mean, they stated that the school was in Merrillville for crying out loud. How does that look for Merrillville now? People were posting things on the news facebook page saying "Merrillville is a racist a** town" and etc. when this happened in Saint John.
Bottom line, their may have very well been racial undertones throughout this whole controversy but I would not doubt at all if it were both sides.
As far as the way the school handled things, if the school is proven to have shown major neglect with the handling of the fight, then pay the Haddad's.
Speaking of Merrillville, there have been MANY MANY racially charged (Black and White) fights there. But it is never reported. But all over YouTube and Facebook. Imagine that.
Haven't seen the FB page going after Merrillville instead of LC, which of course is ludicrous since they are miles and miles apart. Just people not knowing general geography of an area.
I would venture to say you are wrong with regard to other Arab students in the district (the very few there are) not being called racial slurs. Will never buy it coming from Lake Central. They drove by the kids house making racial slurs at the young mans parents (a fact Dyer Police didn't refute, they only stated the officer saw no need to open an investigation and just "informed" the school but thought to be an "isolated" incident). If they did it to one, they've done it to others.
The student at hand could be a complete A-Hole as long as he didn't break the law. A lot of teenage boys are A-Holes, goes with the territory of being a teenage boy.
Haven't seen the FB page going after Merrillville instead of LC, which of course is ludicrous since they are miles and miles apart. Just people not knowing general geography of an area.
I would venture to say you are wrong with regard to other Arab students in the district (the very few there are) not being called racial slurs. Will never buy it coming from Lake Central. They drove by the kids house making racial slurs at the young mans parents (a fact Dyer Police didn't refute, they only stated the officer saw no need to open an investigation and just "informed" the school but thought to be an "isolated" incident). If they did it to one, they've done it to others.
The student at hand could be a complete A-Hole as long as he didn't break the law. A lot of teenage boys are A-Holes, goes with the territory of being a teenage boy.
Really? Go to David Haddad's fb page and there is a comment from a friend that basically said "I graduated from LC and never had to deal with anything like that"....
Your comment basically reminds me of when allen2323 believed that Munster was a racist town because of ONE incident of housing discrimination. I went to Munster schools my whole life and have NEVER experienced any racism directed towards me. I have experienced it directed towards another Black individual before. This SAME black individual spouted racial slurs at the White individuals as well and BOTH were suspended for being idiots. Go to Hammond High or EC Central and you will see just as many racial/ethnic slurs hurled by students upon one another (Mexicans saying things about Puerto Ricans/Black and vice versa or against White students)...IT HAPPENS...it is BAD!....but don't make this seem like this is an "OMG LC is SO RACIST I KNEW THIS WOULD HAPPEN!". Like I said, this stuff happens everywhere and it is bad, but just because it happened at a majority White school it is news. Had this kid NEVER had any problems in school with other students due to HIS actions, i would feel much more sorry for him. Given the fact that he has issues with MANY other students (irregardless of his race), I only feel bad because of how bad he got beaten. There is a fast growing minority population at LC (mainly hispanic but some Black) and some of those kids are enemies of David too.
I'm not trying to come down hard on you because I have anything against you. But as many times that I COULD HAVE pulled the race card (but didn't because it would be irresponsible and irrelevant) I know people who HAVE DONE SO and tried to ruin the names of people who were more ignorant if anything, but not racist. There are serious racial hate crimes out there that are NOT being taken seriously because people pull the race card in the most inappropriate situations...so then when something legitimately racist happens, people will ignore it because they will be like "you're not gonna get me this time!".
The truth is that that none of us entirely know the truth and all the details. Again, I'm not going to defend anybody but due to the fact that the story has changed so many times already, I'm not going to take an impulsive viewpoint on this situation. I'd rather just wait and see what the facts are and what the evidence shows. Then, if the school corporation is found to have been negligent, I'd certainly be in favor of having those involved be removed from their positions immediately. I've been reading The Times for too long to be fooled into thinking that what they report is entirely true. They don't check facts, and they report whatever is told to them, regardless of whether that will tarnish an individual or school corporation's reputation.
Msamhunter - first of all there is a fast growing population of Arab students in the LC district, and specifically Jordanian such as this student. Of course they are still in the minority, but to assume there are very few would be false. For what it's worth, this student and his family are Catholic. Are there Arab students in this district that probably get called names because of their background? Ya, probably. There are also probably white kids, black kids, and hispanic kids that also get made fun of and called names because of who they are or what they look like. They're teenagers, the "making fun of others" trait will always be present at that age group. Again, nothing that happened here between the students is anything that should be representative of the area as a whole. It's also not an incident that couldn't happen in other districts in the area and around the country. All that being said, if the district and administration are eventually found to have been negiligent then I hope the Haddad family maximizes their settlement amount. Let's just wait to see how it all plays out.
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