Is this racist? (obviously I can't tell)

[Gallstones]

Not enough information to tell definitively.

Nor should there ever be. School discipline of a child should not appear in public in any context unless there is criminal activity involved, and then only if public safety information must be disseminated or there is a question of adult wrongdoing. That these people would violate that precept by disseminating pictures of their own child tells me everything I need to know.

Going public is one avenue for justice. I won't fault them for it.

I am not convinced that the school was correct.

Based solely on what was presented in the OP, my judgment is no, it is not racist.

Would you recommend that school officials not discipline?

No. Was there an offense that warranted discipline? There isn't enough information there for me to be able to tell.

Expulsion seems a bit extreme given that all that happened was a comparison between one notable person and another was made.
What makes that comparison racist?

In the US, a person is not subject to persecution for holding bigoted views, or of expressing them as long as they aren't threats to do bodily harm or violate some Federal statute.

Or that they disseminate the details in public to defend themselves?

Minors get some protection from publicity of their alleged crimes.
If there is a lawsuit the school would get no automatic protection from details being made public.
Whether making the details known best serves the school or the child I can't say. But I am suspicious of those who make efforts to hide such details.

[Schneibster]

No one said that.

[charlou]

I remember an afternoon about a month and a half ago when I got a phone call from a very tense and upset school official.
My son had allegedly hacked into the school computer system. Son's story was a bit different; his assignment file was missing and he went looking for it. The whole thing was oh so serious.

Anyway, he was suspended from using the school computers for 72 days (?). This occurred in Advanced Computer class.
They gave him a notebook (computer) and he had to read actual books in the meantime.

First quarter grades came in last week.
He got his only A in that class.

Hacked into the school computer system? That's showing initiative and skill if you ask me. He should have been given some even more advanced computer classes, to see how he handles the challenge.

But he's not conforming to the dictates of over zealous paranoia and bureaucratic oversight. For that nobbling his progress is the obvious constructive response.

[charlou]

This poor kid obviously hasn't yet figured out that we're meant to celebrate diversity whilst simultaneously maintaining that we are all exactly the same. Noting that two black people look alike is admitting that there are such a thing as black people

Whip that boy.

It looks like the family isn't the slightest bit racist. From the end of the first article:

"Is it because my son is from Alabama originally?” Darren says he asked Winger. “Is it because Schauble is someone of importance? In Grayson’s group of friends, every single one of them is of a different ethnicity—Korean, Vietnamese, black, white, Hispanic. Our home has always been open to a wide range of people.”

That includes Julian Eubanks, a childhood friend of Grayson’s mother who bunked with the Thomas family for the first six months of 2011 while he looked for acting work.

“As a man of color and a close friend to this family, I am [offended] that such a grotesque accusation could be made against any of them, especially my ‘G-Man’,” Eubanks recently commented on a blog. “The so called adults in control of this situation have handled it horribly…they need to intervene and clear this young man’s name.”

Yes, but let's not let facts get in the way of an arousing outburst of outraged indignation and righteousness.

[Feck]

Don't know all the facts , but should you expel a child for racism anyway ? What did he say or do that was harmful Who was hurt by what he said ? Was he bullying anyone ? does the child have a bad attitude to other children from other 'races' ?

[hadespussercats]

Was it Sugar Ray Leonard on that seinfeld episode?

Especially ironic, considering what happened to Kramer.

Eh, I don't think there's any way I could know enough to have a stance on this story, but I do know that some people are, from my point of view, oversensitive to the lookalike remarks that happen when any person looks at people of a race they're not that familiar with.

For example, a black woman stopped my friend Roxana and me to ask if we were sisters.
R and I are different heights, have different color and texture hair, different eye color, different skin tone, different builds...

After she left, R looked at me and said, "I guess all us white chicks look the same!"

"Racist bitch!"

We laughed and went to get lunch.

On the other hand, we weren't eleven-year-olds, and it wasn't someone talking about our dads...

[charlou]

Was it Sugar Ray Leonard on that seinfeld episode?

Especially ironic, considering what happened to Kramer.

Eh, I don't think there's any way I could know enough to have a stance on this story, but I do know that some people are, from my point of view, oversensitive to the lookalike remarks that happen when any person looks at people of a race they're not that familiar with.

For example, a black woman stopped my friend Roxana and me to ask if we were sisters.
R and I are different heights, have different color and texture hair, different eye color, different skin tone, different builds...

After she left, R looked at me and said, "I guess all us white chicks look the same!"

"Racist bitch!"

We laughed and went to get lunch.

On the other hand, we weren't eleven-year-olds, and it wasn't someone talking about our dads...

I think it's kinda natural (not a value judgement, just an observation) for our ability to discern unique differentiating features to be hampered by something new or unusual to our mind.

Take pets for example ... Anyone who has pets will know that their pet has unique features that sets them apart from others ... If your pet is a german shepherd you'll pick your pet out easily among a group of german shepherds who all look kinda different from each other ... but if your pet is a german shepherd, and you are introduced to a poodle association, you'll maybe just see your pet and a bunch of poodles. The more familiar (and interested?) we become, the better able we are to discern less obvious / more subtle differences.

I think it's an intriguing aspect of how we process information.

[hadespussercats]

Was it Sugar Ray Leonard on that seinfeld episode?

Especially ironic, considering what happened to Kramer.

Eh, I don't think there's any way I could know enough to have a stance on this story, but I do know that some people are, from my point of view, oversensitive to the lookalike remarks that happen when any person looks at people of a race they're not that familiar with.

For example, a black woman stopped my friend Roxana and me to ask if we were sisters.
R and I are different heights, have different color and texture hair, different eye color, different skin tone, different builds...

After she left, R looked at me and said, "I guess all us white chicks look the same!"

"Racist bitch!"

We laughed and went to get lunch.

On the other hand, we weren't eleven-year-olds, and it wasn't someone talking about our dads...

I think it's kinda natural (not a value judgement, just an observation) for our ability to discern unique differentiating features to be hampered by something new or unusual to our mind.

Take pets for example ... Anyone who has pets will know that their pet has unique features that sets them apart from others ... If your pet is a german shepherd you'll pick your pet out easily among a group of german shepherds who all look kinda different from each other ... but if your pet is a german shepherd, and you are introduced to a poodle association, you'll maybe just see your pet and a bunch of poodles.

I think it's an intriguing aspect of how we process information.

Very much so.

I remember when I was working a lame job at a bank, a Korean student came in to open an account. Out of nowhere, she asked if I could tell what country she came from. At the time, I couldn't, because I was a college student who'd grown up around mostly white people. I'm a little better at that sort of thing now.

But when I told her no, she went off about how white people couldn't tell the difference between different nationalities of Asian people.

True enough, but I doubt she could have told me which countries in Europe my ancestors were from-- something most white people could (or could at least make a decent guess.)

I wasn't quick enough to turn the question back on her. I was too flustered with being called a racist, when I was just ignorant.

[charlou]

And it was understandable, yet unnecessary defensiveness on both your part and hers, really.


On an evolutionary scale, to me, "race" is a ludicrous notion ... A species will adapt to environment, but that's obviously not the only contributing factor to superficial physical differences ... mixing genetic makeup lays the notion of "racial" difference among homo sapiens being anything more than superficial to rest.

[hadespussercats]

And it was understandable, yet unnecessary defensiveness on both your part and hers, really.


On an evolutionary scale, to me, "race" is a ludicrous notion ... A species will adapt to environment, but that's obviously not the only contributing factor to superficial physical differences ... mixing genetic makeup lays the notion of "racial" difference among homo sapiens being anything more than superficial to rest.

You're right. At least from what I've understood of what I've read, genes don't show racial difference-- race is a cultural and social construct. (Though I'm a little unclear on how to resolve that with things like sickle-cell anemia or certain congenital disorders that seem to occur in a race-specific way.)

Still, social and cultural constructs are powerful-- even overwhelming at times. Particularly for two college girls who hadn't been out in the world much.

Living in a more diverse environment has really helped me to lighten the fuck up.

[charlou]

In me experience, it really does!

[charlou]

Homogeny ... that's maybe the only reason I lament global integration ... but at the same time, my sentiment about it really depends on the ethics underpinning the end result

[charlou]

Is an 11 year old expected to have any of this in mind? Is his expulsion the way to ensure he and the other students understand it? I don't think so.

It's simplistic, kneejerk social reactionism. Just what we all like to see in the education system.

[hadespussercats]

Homogeny ... that's maybe the only reason I lament global integration ... but at the same time, my sentiment about it really depends on the ethics underpinning the end result

There's a lot I could write to this, But damn I really ought to go to sleep.

Night.

[charlou]

Tomorrow perhaps?

gute nacht hades pussy kitteh