High school pulls newspaper over racist opinion piece

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Carson High School pulled this month's school newspaper because of an anonymous article that likened rowdy black students at a nearby Taco Bell to "a pack of monkeys."

The article, titled "Looks like the circus is in town," was on the editorial page of the issue distributed Tuesday, school officials said.

The piece describes raucous and impolite behavior: "The one thing that I hate more than anything is standing in that line with dumb-as$ people paying and acting a fool around me."

The writer says most of the crowd is black and variously describes the students as stupid, rude, immature and insensitive, summing up: "When I go to Taco Bell, I want to go to a restaurant, NOT A ZOO! Stop acting like animals … behave and clean up after yourself."

The newspaper's student editor, Alex De Vera, and faculty advisor Gregory Vieira said they were in full agreement with the principal's decision to pull the paper. They said the article escaped their normal vetting because the page was late and only two people saw the piece in advance — its writer and the page editor.

[...]

The school of 3,450 students is 44.3% Latino, 23.1% Filipino, 21.5% African American and 11.1% other ethnicities.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-ca...-home-headlines

Edited November 24, 2006 by Gupt

[Jenn! 918]

Y'all gonna make me act a fool up in here, up in here!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

They should expell the student who wrote it as well.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

from the ebonics translator

" You bettah stop jivin' bad about us or we'll come an' smoke yo' ### Jus' like Orenthawl James."

[PlatyPius 5]

They should expell the student who wrote it as well.

Why?

Is he not allowed to have an opinion about how people are acting in public? Where were the racial slurs? I only read that he described them as acting like animals. I've said the same thing about people of all racial backgrounds, if they were indeed acting like animals.

It's only "racial" if someone associates monkeys or animals with blacks. So far, I've only seen the "liberal" here do that.

[almaty 19]

just wrong..the article was written with bias as evident from the choice of words

[one...two...tree 2,762]

They should expell the student who wrote it as well.

Why?

Is he not allowed to have an opinion about how people are acting in public? Where were the racial slurs? I only read that he described them as acting like animals. I've said the same thing about people of all racial backgrounds, if they were indeed acting like animals.

It's only "racial" if someone associates monkeys or animals with blacks. So far, I've only seen the "liberal" here do that.

It's the connotation of refering to them as monkeys. Like I've said before, try going up to a cop and call him a pig vs. somebody else and see if you get the same reaction.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

They should expell the student who wrote it as well.

Why?

It's the connotation of refering to them as monkeys. Like I've said before, try going up to a cop and call him a pig vs. somebody else and see if you get the same reaction.

Should a high school kid be expelled for calling a cop a pig? IMO, no. Nor should he be expelled for writing this article. Disciplinary action should, however, be directed at the gatekeepers of the newspaper... the people who were responsible for keeping this sort of content out of the paper to begin with.

[PlatyPius 5]

*shrugs*

I still fail to see the offense in the article/letter. If people prefer to see themselves as monkeys and take offense at an article that shows no racial bias that I can see, then the problem is theirs, not the authors'.

Sounds like someone WANTING to find prejudice/racism to me.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

They should expell the student who wrote it as well.

Why?

It's the connotation of refering to them as monkeys. Like I've said before, try going up to a cop and call him a pig vs. somebody else and see if you get the same reaction.

Should a high school kid be expelled for calling a cop a pig? IMO, no. Nor should he be expelled for writing this article. Disciplinary action should, however, be directed at the gatekeepers of the newspaper... the people who were responsible for keeping this sort of content out of the paper to begin with.

I think it would depend on how well defined the school paper's guidelines were. If the student knowingly violated those guidelines, I don't think expelling them would be too extreme. I've heard of students being expelled for less.

[PlatyPius 5]

Ok, I've just read the entire article on the website.

"Just in case of any potential problems, Keener requested extra security from the school district but said the incident provoked only classroom discussions and some calls from parents."

The only racism I've seen in this whole thing is white people saying that blacks are apparently like monkeys, and that violence is to be expected (see quote above) because of the comments in the paper.

Funny that....it's always the PC people who make it worse.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Ok, I've just read the entire article on the website.

"Just in case of any potential problems, Keener requested extra security from the school district but said the incident provoked only classroom discussions and some calls from parents."

The only racism I've seen in this whole thing is white people saying that blacks are apparently like monkeys, and that violence is to be expected (see quote above) because of the comments in the paper.

Funny that....it's always the PC people who make it worse.

Calling a black person a monkey is a racial slur and it has been used before...

NBA Fan Banned for Calling Player 'Monkey'

The fan who allegedly directed a racial slur at Houston Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo was banned for the season Monday by the NBA and Orlando Magic.

http://www.drudge.com/news/87053/nba-fan-b...g-player-monkey

Edited November 24, 2006 by Steven_and_Jinky

[PlatyPius 5]

Wow. Some people are REALLY sensitive. "Monkey" isn't used in that way around here, at least not that I've heard. ESPECIALLY when you say that some group of people were ACTING like monkeys. If a group of people are being unruly and rude, it might be described as being a "madhouse" or a "zoo" in there. How people make the connection between someone saying that a group of people were acting like monkeys and someone calling a person a monkey is beyond me.

I guess when I was a kid and my teacher used to tell us that this was a classroom, not a zoo, and that we were acting like a bunch of crazy monkeys, we should have been offended. Especially the two black kids in my class. Guess they didn't have a white, PC, "Big Brother" there to tell them they should be offended.

[ILIKEALLCAPS 0]

I've been called a monkey before.

I was even born in the year of the monkey.

Am I to be offended because of that? If so, then I'm offended at all the references to the word "monkey" in this thread.

I also claim all vowels as being part of my culture and feel that you're being incredibly insensitive if you continue to use them, here or offline. (I mean, if the word "monkey" cannot be used due to racial issues.....then you all must stop your hateful use of vowels)

And based on the ethnic breakdown of the school.....isn't it the majority picking on the minority to not let the whities print their opinion? Why shouldn't everyone else be expelled for such oppressive actions?

discuss please

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

And based on the ethnic breakdown of the school.....isn't it the majority picking on the minority to not let the whities print their opinion?

Why do you assume the author was white? Referring to raucous behavior on the part of African-Americans as 'monkey-like' is certainly not something only white people do. I've heard it from Latinos, East Asians and South Asians as well. Heck, given the racial makeup of that school, the author is more likely to be Latino or East Asian than white.