High school girls post blackface video
Two high school girls from the West Island achieved their fifteen minutes of fame by posting a racist video that the Gazette describes as “riddled with the N-word.” The link shows that the video has been taken down, but CBC has a screenshot. Police are investigating – I suppose whether to charge them with inciting hatred.
CTV finds that high schools are full of racism, with taunts and jibes directed at people of colour a common occurrence.
I’m finding this story only reported on the anglo side, but that’s not unusual when it comes to West Island news stories.
Mark 12:16 on 2020-06-16 Permalink
It’s on la Presse now, and they have the video if you really need to validate how bad it is (spoiler: it is).
Marky 12:54 on 2020-06-16 Permalink
Curious to hear opinions on this, but what does their school, or the school board more generally have to do with these kids acting out? I’m certainly NOT in agreement with ANY of this, but if I were to do something of this nature, should I expect the company I’m employed by to be involved? IMO seems completely independent, and by dragging the school into this mess, you tarnish both the children and school’s reputation, which by the looks of things, is already pretty rocky!
CE 13:26 on 2020-06-16 Permalink
That video is somehow worse than I expected.
dwgs 13:32 on 2020-06-16 Permalink
My 14 year old assures me that this is a Very Big Deal in their circles. The girls have been doxxed, their social media accounts have been hacked, there are people intent on causing them physical harm, etc. It is a very nasty situation. I saw the video and while it is stupid, sickening, and unforgivable, I personally would not call it a hate crime, they stop short of calling for violence (although they’re pretty close to the line).
For those unfamiliar with the mood in high schools these days (Marky) I would be shocked if they didn’t get expelled. Kids get suspended from my kids’ high school if a teacher sees them smoking outside of school hours off school property. They also get suspended for online activity even if it has nothing to do with the school, the school justifies this by saying that the student is bringing dishonor to the school with such behaviour. Last summer my older son was jumped at a party in August, two weeks before school started. Three guys jumped him, one friend came to his aid and another friend afterwards issued a threat to the jumpers. My son, the friend who came to his aid, and one of the three jumpers were suspended for a week. The kid who made the threat was expelled. Things sure have changed since we were in high school.
Marky 14:42 on 2020-06-16 Permalink
@dwgs – WOW. I’m speechless. Sorry to hear about your son. Things have certainly changed since I was young. I sympathize for anyone caught in the cross-fire of unwarranted academic ‘image’. It’s one thing to act out shamefully, but to pay the price in an otherwise unrelated portion of your life (whether work or academic) doesn’t really make sense to me (within reason of course…). Then again CEO’s and certain presidential figures get away with much worse and pay far lesser penalties… But I digress..
Ephraim 15:52 on 2020-06-16 Permalink
It’s on Twitter at https://twitter.com/RetiredMaybe/status/1272706021216202752 in case you want to see it, since it seems to disappear quickly. It’s pretty awful
Kate 16:54 on 2020-06-16 Permalink
That’s a horrible little video.
I notice that the thread Ephraim links includes a doxx, and the allegation that the father of one of the girls has been fired from his job.
dwgs, I’m sorry your son had to go through that. It sounds like you’re on his side, though, which makes all the difference.
When I was in high school, there was always some minor rumbling between the black kids and the Italian kids, but I can only imagine how this might have blown up had we had social media.
thomas 17:06 on 2020-06-16 Permalink
That version is not even the whole video. I found a version that is almost 2 minutes. And guess what? It gets more awful.
qatzelok 20:28 on 2020-06-16 Permalink
I was just in the West Island yesterday, and had no idea that these kinds of things were going on behind the subterfuge of smoke trees and hostas.
But I’m not really surprised. Lawns and malls drive people crazy.
Kevin 23:09 on 2020-06-16 Permalink
This video has been a teachable moment for many parents. Racism. The permanency of the internet. How people a world away will sign petitions.
JP 23:33 on 2020-06-16 Permalink
It’s a teachable moment, but it comes at the expense of the dignity of a people. But, yes, parents should be having conversations with their kids. Not just about the consequences but how wrong it is in the first place even if you never get caught, and how you should speak up if you see this kind of thing and let teachers, school administrators, or your parents know. It’s possible the first person you tell might be dismissive, but you should find someone who will listen and take it seriously.
I can’t imagine how awful a classroom or school hallway environment with those two must be…there are probably kids who would breathe a sigh of relief if they were expelled, as they should be. I’m not normally for expelling students or suspensions, but this video was something else. It goes beyond something petty and innocuous. The lyrics, the images, they were thought out and planned.
I’m having a hard time summoning any empathy for them or even their families right now. I have to remind myself that it ultimately comes from a place of deep insecurity and self-hate. What they need is to be expelled, access to therapy, and adults in their life who can guide them through and out of this mess (though I suspect the latter might be unlikely to happen).
Dhomas 04:03 on 2020-06-17 Permalink
That video is so much worse than I thought it would be. I really thought that young folks were more tolerant to racism than the older generation, somehow.
That said, should we really be doxxing 15 year old girls, as was done in that Twitter thread? Also, though I agree that a share of the blame likely falls to the parents, should the father really have been fired over his daughter’s actions (if there is any truth to that)? There should definitely be consequences to their actions; I’m just not sure if these were the appropriate actions to take.
Dhomas 04:05 on 2020-06-17 Permalink
Just re-read myself. I didn’t mean “tolerant to racism”, but rather “less prone to racism” or just plain “less racist”.
GC 08:39 on 2020-06-17 Permalink
It’s a tough one because they are old enough to really know better but young enough that some of the blame must ultimately fall on their parents.
I do think doxxing fifteen-year-olds is extreme.
And I’m with you, JP. I hope this isn’t just a teaching moment about possible consequences. It should be one about not having these prejudices in the first place.
Kevin 14:21 on 2020-06-17 Permalink
As I reminded my kids and co-workers, we live in a society where we don’t publish the name of child murderers because we believe that even they can be rehabilitated.