Racist incident roils Pa. high school

[Guaranteed]

Source: Associated Press

LITITZ, Pa. - For years, a clique of high school students in this prosperous and overwhelmingly white borough have worn clothes adorned with Confederate flags and parked their pickups in a section of the school parking lot known as "redneck row."

The display, some parents of minority students say, was just one symptom of festering racism that school officials ignored until animosities boiled over last week.

<snip>

Erik Cora, a freshman, said he was hanging out by the flagpole with two boys — one black and one biracial — when the taunting occurred before the start of school. It broke up when the morning bell rang, but it also spawned rumors that some students planned to bring guns to school later in the week and start riots.

At a community meeting Monday, some parents said their earlier complaints about Confederate flag displays and racial slurs fell on deaf ears. Others complained that the district took too long to punish the perpetrators.

<more>

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071011/ap_on_re_us/high_school_racism

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As mentioned in the article, racism is a symptom of a need for power. We can have all the "racial sensitivity" seminars and classes we want to attempt to teach tolerance in this country, but it will never work until people reject our "tough guy" culture.

[tularetom]

1. Ah south central PA

Alabama with snow my brother calls it.

[dropkickpa]

16. Pennsyl-fuckin-tucky, as my Dad likes to say

That school is an embarassment.

[PittPoliSci]

31. funny, my dad says the same thing.

[Catherine Vincent]

2. Confederate flags in Pennsylvania?

Is there no safe place for blacks to live?

[emilyg]

3. I expect that in Macon, ga. - not Pa.

[evilkumquat]

5. It's Like Pampered White Kids Who Dress "Black"

They have no shred of self-esteem so they try to co-opt another culture, looking for anything to give them just an iota of charisma (and failing)

Or maybe these idiots have watched way too many reruns of Dukes of Hazzard on cable.

Hey, idiots in the confederate flag cars! A) it is not a symbol of "Southern Heritage", it is just a reminder how the South got its ass kicked in the war and B) Catherine Bach is in her 80's now and no amount of gravy ladled from a pan of deep-fried grits is going to allow her to squeeze back into a pair of her "Daisy Dukes".

Give it up and try and find something exciting about your own culture to be proud of... like, bowling or incest.

Evil Kumquat

[JohnLocke]

20. She's 53.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Bach

[tom_paine]

32. Ummm....I think it was sarcasm, John

But thanks for the Daisy Duke Agewatch update.

[screembloodymurder]

36. Hey, don't blame the kids. They're just emulating the police force.

Fascism lives in Lititz.

[silverojo]

8. There are plenty of rednecks in PA

I have a black friend who lives in Philly, and he says that, aside from the larger cities like Philly and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is as redneck a state as you'll find anywhere. :mad:

[happyslug]

12. And I question those cities..

When I joined the National Guard in 1981, the unit I joined was based in Pittsburgh. The Sergeants were commenting that the old First Sargent (Retired only 1-2 years at the time I enlisted) refused to take in any Blacks into his unit. The Regiment just worked around him for the unit he was First Sargent of was based on the border between East Liberty section of Pittsburgh (Predominately Black even then) and Oakland which was White do to Collages all being in Oakland.

This was 25 years AFTER Brown vs the Board of Education and more than 30 years after Truman integrated the Armed Forces (Truman legally integrated the Army in 1947, but all white and all black units survived till the Korean war where integration was fully implemented, at least in the Regular Army units). My point is that as late as 1980, it was possible, do to racism, to have all white units in the North (and I will NOT even ask about the South). Pockets of such racism exists to this day in both Pittsburgh and the Philadelphia. They are quieter then they were 30 years ago, but among themselves racism is still spoken.

This is complicated by how the Schools are run. In my High School ( I graduated in 1977 so this is 30 years old information), it was 35% black, but I only had two blacks in any of my academic classes (Gym was a different story, but all you had to do was show up and get a A, interaction was minimized). Thus while the Schools were integrated, the classes were not (And from what I have heard this is even worse in the "Magnet Schools", where Whites can get into the special programs in those schools while the blacks are restricted to the regular programs (again, classes are segregated by race while the school is "integrated". This is a joke when it comes to integration and this was the City of Pittsburgh itself NOT its suburbs and not the rural areas of the State (Where I live at present).

My point is while the rural areas of Pennsylvania are more vocal about their racism, I have seen less actual racism in the rural areas compared to the Urban Areas. Rural racists have to work with blacks do to the lack of population (Where blacks live in the area) and as such racism has its limitations (i.e. you can NOT be racist if the only people willing to work are black). Most of the Rural Racism in Pennsylvania is more support for locals (who the person has lived with his or her entire life) than any real hatred of blacks. If a black is local he is given as much support in Rural Pennsylvania as a White Family from the same area. This is NOT true of urban areas, where Racism is used to hire people NOT local so the business does not have to hire any blacks (who might be local). Thus my comment. Racism exists in the urban Centers of this state, it is NOT talked about in urban Areas but is alive and well compared to the Rural areas, where it is more talk than reality.

[dropkickpa]

17. You are dead wrong about the magnet program

There is strict control of the magnet programs. Something like 50% black/minority enrollment is the target quota and has been since about 1979. They are only now, due to the SCOTUS ruling, thinking about changing that. My daughter is in a magnet program and she is 1 of 2 white kids in her class. All programs have a specified number of slots, and, if there aren't enough applicant's to fill the slots, all applicants get in (so long as they meet admissions criteria ie. grade advancement, portfolio evaluation/auditions for arts magnets, language tests for advanced grade international studies programs etc). If the number of applicant's exceeds the slots, a lottery is done (as was done for my daughter's class).

When I was in high school, at Peabody, my school was about 60/40 black/white and I took all advanced classes, and my class make-up pretty much followed the school make-up (plus or minus one or two kids here and there due to moves). I graduated in 1995.

Racism exists in EVERY urban area of EVERY state, PA has no sole claim on this, and it's naive to think we do.

[yellowcanine]

22. There ARE problems with magnet programs. Prince George's County

in Maryland has had some problems making them work - so much so that some administrators have proposed doing away with them - and backed off because of the outcry. Nonetheless they are not a silver bullet.

[dropkickpa]

26. I know nothing about Maryland

I was speaking specifically of Pittsburgh Public Schools.

[happyslug]

24. It might be the 20 year difference (I graduated from South Hills in 1977)

But when I was in, the classes were segregated, technically by subject, but in my opinion by race.

[kath]

23. Isn't there some saying along the lines of "Pennsyvania has Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, w/ Alabama

in the middle"?

[October]

34. Between Philly and Pittsburgh...it's Pennsyltucky

Not sure who first coined the phrase, but it's true.

[murielm99]

7. About ten years ago, we had a similar situation

in my community. I live in a small community in Northern Illinois. Much of the area is agricultural.

For some reason, there was a clique of students who styled themselves skinheads. They wore and displayed all the confederate flag gear. I called the high school principal several times to complain about some of the things I had seen when I picked my kids up from school. I told him about the stories I was hearing from my kids and their friends. I know that I was not the only one trying to warn him and the police in town that something was brewing. If they had listened to a few concerned parents and others who worked with kids, they could have avoided the beating of a Hispanic boy, several arrests and a lot of bad publicity for our community.

During that time, our high school librarian took all the books about Hitler and the Holocaust and put them behind her desk. The skinhead types were stealing them and drooling over them. They were telling minority students that they deserved the same treatment as the Jews and other concentration camp victims. She would only check those books out to students who had a specific assignment on those topics. The principal backed up her decision, but seemed unconcerned.

I did not restrict any books at the public library, where I was the director at the time. We have a different policy about restricting public access to materials. But I did have to keep an eye on the collection, so that it was not vandalized or stolen. I could not believe some of the people who were coming in with our local kids. I had never seen them before. They were older, and looked like hard-core Neo-Nazis.

My kids were worried about what might happen at school. During my third or fourth call, I asked the principal what he had done about all the confederate flag gear. I asked him when he was going to replace the glass in the cafeteria door that had a large swastika etched into it. I asked him if he had met with the family whose African-American foster daughter had to be placed with another family in another town due to intimidation in our school.

He told me that he was dealing with the confederate flag gear. Those flags were no longer allowed. I told him how many of them I had seen the day before our conversation, and exactly who had them.

A rather nice Hispanic kid ended up in the emergency room after being beaten by skinhead students. The skinhead kids then called the police on a group of kids who were hanging out at someone's house. They told the cops that the group had guns, so the cops showed up with their own guns drawn. The anonymous call was made because the group of friends was racially mixed.

We had an angry town meeting. It may have done some good. Eventually the local police and the principal had to listen and act on everyone's concerns. Eventually the worthless racist kids dropped out of school, moved on, went to jail, or wherever such slime goes. But it only takes a few idiots to contaminate a whole school or community. I hope the people in Pennsylvania act sooner than they did here.

[Skittles]

9. it's not scary to just black folk

I know it's a different feeling but the kind of people displaying that racist piece of shit flag scare me too

[MarinCoUSA]

4. Sad. Very Sad

- grew up in next township south of Lititz. These kids' ancestors, like mine, were the engineer brains and hard steel stuff that drove ole Dixie down way back when. And I find it personally revolting that any kid from this area would have anything to do with this flag outside of a museum or a textbook.

The joke about PA is that it has two large Democratic cities on either end and in between is "Pennsyltucky". There are mountains running right down and thru the middle of the state and that provides great potential for your basic gun totting redneck culture. But, shit, this crap in Lititz!

Fachristsake!

sidebar: In the center of Lititz is the Sutter Inn which commemorates the original American home and eventual burial place of John Sutter. He who was born in Europe and left Lititz for California and returned penniless to be buried here after discovering gold in California.

[Norrin Radd]

10. Isn't Erie mostly Democratic?

[dropkickpa]

27. Actually, the "coasts" tend to go Dem

Pittsburgh and Erie on the west coast, Philly and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on the east.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/PA/P/00/index.html

[McCamy Taylor]

6. Confederate flags in Pennsylvania? Are these kids idiots? F for history,

geography and civics. These kid's ancestor's won the f'ing war. They did not go through Reconstruction. They were the force behind Reconstruction. And these rich Yankee snots want to act like they are the victims of some kind of oppression at the hands of minorities? Give me a break! They just want to lord it over someone, the way their daddies lord it over their servants and employees.

I vote that they be stripped of their designer clothes, expensive cars and allowances and be forced to go down south and live in actual trailer parks next to mosquito infested swamps where real rednecks live, without benefit of birth control. Their only forms of entertainment will be meth and cable TV and sex. The Republicans in Congress will make sure that no matter how low their salaries at the local convenience store, they never qualify for government sponsored health insurance. Their greatest ambition in life will be to go on permanent disability before age 50, like their parents.

Seriously, is this the white equivalent of African-Americans showing that they still have some ghetto in their soul even when they have achieved material success? Do affluent white kids now feel compelled to pretend that they identify with members of a socioeconomic class to which they would not give the time of day if they were to cross paths in real life? Maybe their parents have been coaching them. "Pretend that you give a shit about the white working class so that they will vote Republican. But whatever you do, be sure to wash your hands afterwards."

[Norrin Radd]

11. I was born in Penna, but my family moved to Georgia when I was

five. Grew up in Georgia, and my family moved back to Pennsylvania in my senior year. Some kid approached me, having heard I was from Georgia, and showed me the Confederate flag patch he kept in his wallet. I actually found that surprising, and unusual for up North, especially since, back home, I'd only ever met one kid in school who kept a Confederate flag on his car, and was openly supportive of the KKK.

[CANDO]

13. If you take away Philly and Pittsburgh....

Pennsylvania would be as red as many southern states. I'm from the north central part of the state, and boy do they resent being outnumbered by the big city voters. You should hear their shrill screams regarding possibly turning I 80 into a toll road. They insist it's only a scheme to "support" the transit systems of Philly and P-burgh on their dollars. But they don't realize that everyone else supports "them", like their small numbers of people are actually supporting their infrastructure. Conservative selfishness through and through.

[MissB]

14. Most excellent rant!

:applause:

[Marrah_G]

18. Strangely enough

I went to high school here in Massachusetts (totally NOT redneck ville). My hometown sports team (except for field hockey) are the Rebels, the fight song is Dixie, and the symbol was/is the confederate flag. We never thought about it one way or the other. AS an adult it seems a little weird to me, here in the heard of "Yankee" (not the team...bleh)territory.

[Penndems]

28. "These kid's ancestor's won the f'ing war."

They may have won the war, but they're losing the economic battle - the Rust Belt in general, Pennsylvania specifically.

Which is a shame, because that state has so much to offer in the way of overall quality of life and a skilled workforce.

[classysassy]

15. Terrorists

not all terrorist are in the middle east.

[freebrew]

19. What year is this, again?

My high school(the students) decided to integrate in 1968. Well before any of the other local schools decided to do so.
This was a school a bit west of St Louis, in a town about 35% African-American.(yes, above the Mason-Dixon line)
All of our fellow students thought it was a good idea, though we ran into a little opposition from the elders, we succeeded.
We even had our class party at a local African-American's estate, with about 90% attendance.

So, this type of behavior, in these times truly disgusts me. The administration should be tarred and feathered, and run out of town.

Absolutely ridiculous behavior. Stunning, really!

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

21. Racism is everywhere in the world

let alone in Pennsylvania. It certainly may be a need for power and it is most certainly fueled by fear. We should not be surprised by reports of rasicm anywher it occurs as it it also to a large degree,a 'learned' behavior. We don't know what goes in the homes of others, do we?

[Penndems]

29. "Racism is everywhere in the world" - BINGO

The South doesn't have a monopoly on ignorance, and for anyone to imply as such shows a massive degree of naivete and self-righteousness bordering on arrogance.

As anybody who's seen my postings on DU during the past five years, my better half and I lived in south central Pennsylvania for almost three years. When I first moved there, it was quite a culture shock for a twelfth-generation Virginian. One of the things I discovered during those ensuing first few days was that my borough was segregated.

Yep - I was living on "the white West Shore" of the Susquehanna River, outside of Harrisburg.

Having grown up in a multicultural area, I asked my husband, "Where are the black people? I don't see any minorities here."

He responded: "Blacks live either in Harrisburg or Carlisle, but nowhere else in between. I don't know why, that's just the way it is up here."

Unbelievable!

Anyway, I made friends, worked on Ed Rendell's first gubernatorial campaign, and traveled around PA. A beautiful state and wonderful folks overall, but I never got used to the fact that people of color weren't welcomed in my borough of "ten-cent millionaires", as its denizens are known in the region.

After witnessing the de facto segregation in the Harrisburg metro area, I don't want to ever hear again how racist the South is.

[NuttyFluffers]

30. check out the book "Sundown Towns" for more on this concept

it was a fun read detailing a strange North, Plains, and West phenomenon of 'lily white' residential towns. it discusses how post Reconstruction led to a rise in the worst racism our country had yet seen and an absolute purging of what once was a very diverse rural life across 'the rest' of America. fascinating phenomenon about towns with "code names" with 'White' in their name to indicate de facto racial segregation. it's a terribly fascinating read. there's even weirdness in our history where blacks and latinos were allowed in some towns, but certain asians or native americans were de facto 'it groups.' it's like diving into the rabbit hole some of the racist logic and actions that happened from 1870 up to roughly 1980 (with a few holdouts to this day). fun book.

[Penndems]

33. Thanks for the heads-up

I'll add "Sundown Towns" to my Amazon book order list.

[bigworld]

25. I live a couple miles away

... doesn't surprise me in the least. Lancaster County is THE most conservative county in the USA east of Orange County, CA. There is a lot of redneckness here.

[alcibiades_mystery]

35. Just for the record, having lived in Central PA for 6 years

The kids with the Confederate flags a) are dimwits, and b) are NOt the "rich kids" in the school.

They tend to be the poor rural kids who are zoned into the suburb or exurb schools. They are undereducated by their rural elementary and junior high schools, and they most definitely have a chip on their shoulder. They flaunt their "redneck" status, love it. And yes, their ancestors beat the shit out of the Confederates at Gettysburg, and fought in all the major battles of the war. If you go to the field at Antietam, the sheer volume of Pennsylvania markers will stun you. These kids great great grandparents bled and died to destroy the amoral Confederacy, and now these idiots embrace the Confederacy's evil, even with glee. It's sad, but they ain't the "rich, pampered" kids. Their stupidity is born in class resentment.

[Evergreen Emerald]

37. anyone that wants to be labeled a redneck may be missing a few brain cells.

You may be a redneck if...