Social Justice

[Bjorn]

I think the article addresses that though.

 

 

As much as generalizing from anecdotes is a deplorably common trend in discussions of modern culture, I don't think the article was trying to say "This is happening everywhere, look at this example!" It seemed to be responding largely to the paper (inherently accepting the paper's premise that a culture of victimhood is on the rise), then simply using the Oberlin incident as something specific to walk through and discuss.

 

I don't really give it credit for acknowledging that though, I guess?  The front half of that article is heavily, heavily loaded by being framed around an anecdote that looks to be at the pretty far extreme of what people talk about when they use the term microaggression.   Any hedging or acknowledgement after that comes after the stage has been set, and is in many ways too late.

[clyde]

Here's a short documentary that tries to provide tips on how to reduce the chances of being the victim of sexual assault in prison. I'm glad I watched it. The main piece of advice is don't accept gifts or favors.

 

[namman siggins]

HEY GUYS, THIS KID MAKING A FUCKING BOMB! YEAH

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/us/texas-student-is-under-police-investigation-for-building-a-clock.html

 

Fuck this world hard. 

 

This made me laugh a bit because of how true it is, sadly.

 

http://boingboing.net/2015/09/16/arab-looking-man-of-syrian-des.html

[Bjorn]

Obama's tweet was amazing though.

[namman siggins]

Fuck that luke warm response.

[tberton]

Ta-Nehisi Coates has a huge and fantastic article about the mass incarceration of black people in America. There's a follow-up interview on Vox too. Well worth reading.

[namman siggins]

Coates still killing it.5 love him to death

[Ben X]

HEY GUYS, THIS KID MAKING A FUCKING BOMB! YEAH

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/17/us/texas-student-is-under-police-investigation-for-building-a-clock.html

 

Fuck this world hard.

 

The kid made a clock out of wires and circuit boards and put it in a big metal case so it looked exactly like a movie bomb that then started beeping in class.

[Claire Hosking]

The kid made a clock out of wires and circuit boards and put it in a big metal case so it looked exactly like a movie bomb that then started beeping in class.

 

I'm not sure how I would transport something I made out of delicate circuitry, but a suitcase seems like a logical candidate.   

 

It doesn't look exactly like a movie bomb.

 

It looks kinda like a movie bomb: 

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qgtFatLrK5A/VGsL-4J7oZI/AAAAAAAAG68/aMv9Z6iR75c/s1600/15131061630_2d59bef1f0_k.jpg

 

but it also looks like an original apple computer: http://i.ytimg.com/vi/lppoXnpNqz0/maxresdefault.jpg

 

I tend to think if this kid had been less brown the teacher would have been more likely to associate it with the computer than the bomb. Also, if they did associate it with the bomb, a ton less likely to worry it was a real one.

[Brett E]

I find it hard to believe that if the kid was white and had different name that there would be the same result.

 

Also I think it's a damn shame that society has become so consumerist that objects which aren't wrapped in a nice neat shell are treated with suspicion.

[tberton]

The kid made a clock out of wires and circuit boards and put it in a big metal case so it looked exactly like a movie bomb that then started beeping in class.

 

Except 1) the officer who interrogated him explicitly profiled him ("that's who I thought it was"), 2) said it looked like a "movie bomb" not an actual bomb and 3) didn't even evacuate the school or call the bomb squad, so clearly wasn't that afraid of it being a bomb in the first place.

[thefncrow]

I don't know that I'd classify a pencil box as a "big metal case" or a "suitcase". For a sense of scale, use the electrical plug that's in shot.

This is a marketing photo of the case, giving you a better sense of what size that is:

[Dewar]

Except 1) the officer who interrogated him explicitly profiled him ("that's who I thought it was"), 2) said it looked like a "movie bomb" not an actual bomb and 3) didn't even evacuate the school or call the bomb squad, so clearly wasn't that afraid of it being a bomb in the first place.

 

The argument wasn't that they thought it was a bomb, it's that they thought he made something that looks like a bomb to try and cause panic. They're saying it's the equivalent to yelling "Fire."  You didn't start a fire, but you caused panic by making people think there was a fire. I go back and forth on this one, because I went to school with people who would do that sort of shit to try and disrupt class, but you'd think that no prior history of being a problem-causer would earn you a little charity.

[Zeusthecat]

Wait, are we seriously arguing that this may have looked bomb-like enough that the school and police may have possibly been justified in their reaction? Maybe I'm misunderstanding the tone of the posts here but it seems ludicrous that we would even be having this debate when it's clear from virtually every report that this kid did nothing more than make a clock that he was proud of and wanted to show to his teachers.

 

This is getting weird.

[Apple Cider]

Yeah, if a white kid had brought this in, I really don't feel like this would have been the reaction.

[Dewar]

We live in a world where someone can get suspended for bringing a squirt gun to school. I'm just saying that the reaction is somewhat in line with the ridiculous paranoid crap that goes on in schools all the time. Do I think that people are way too paranoid across the board, certainly. Do I think that a white kid would have been treated differently in this situation, maybe.

[Zeusthecat]

Yeah, if a white kid had brought this in, I really don't feel like this would have been the reaction.

 

This is so true. And I think I even saw an article yesterday pointing out all the instances of white kids doing this exact same thing without anyone batting an eye.

[Dewar]

I guess I had a lot of times where faculty were shitty to me when I was younger, so my expectation of faculty to always be shitty is pretty high.

[Reyturner]

The key, to me, is that they called the cops to arrest the kid (who only ever said it was a clock) but didn't evacuate the school. How can they argue they were following protocols in the face of a credible threat when they clearly knew it wasn't a bomb?

[namman siggins]

They can't.

It comes down to him being brown, Arab and name like Ahmed Mohmad.

That's a fact.

This is shit I've faced most my life and other people I know too: the browner and forgein you are, the higher you'll be punished for non-sense shit.

This is a fact of life. And I'm somewhat glad my parents changed my name to something more American: one less strike against ne

[Ben X]

I don't know that I'd classify a pencil box as a "big metal case" or a "suitcase". For a sense of scale, use the electrical plug that's in shot.

This is a marketing photo of the case, giving you a better sense of what size that is:

 

Wow, that NYTimes article is seriously misleading in that regard.

 

Except 1) the officer who interrogated him explicitly profiled him ("that's who I thought it was"), 2) said it looked like a "movie bomb" not an actual bomb

 

I can't find these in that article, were they reported elsewhere?

[tberton]

From the Dallas Morning News, who originally reported the story. Way down in the article.

[Dewar]

I somehow missed/spaced the fact that he was arrested, not just detained at school. That's fucked up.

[Bjorn]

Arrested, escorted out of the school in handcuffs, interrogated and suspended from school for 3 days.  And the school, the police and the mayor of the city have all defended the actions taken. 

[thefncrow]

What's more, he was a minor detained and questioned by police prior to his parents being informed, his interrogation took place without the presence of a parent or a lawyer, and police denied his request to call his parents while he was being interrogated. All of which violates all sorts of rules for how police are allowed to interrogate minors.