High-schoolers disciplined for wearing white robes and a hood on 'Spirit Day'

[SummerMadness]

'Racism is a taught behavior': High-schoolers disciplined for wearing white robes and a hood on 'Spirit Day'

The two students stormed through the front doors at Riverton High School on Wednesday with wide grins on their faces. Both wore white robes, and the boy in front had a tall, pointy hood. He wore a large cross around his neck and waved an American flag.

When Micah Lott saw a viral image of the students later that morning, he had no doubt that they had dressed as Ku Klux Klan members — a choice all the more shocking in Riverton, a small Wyoming town surrounded by the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Riverton, a town of roughly 11,000, sits on land that was carved out of the Wind River Indian Reservation in the early 20th century, a fact that has long led to tensions between the mostly white residents and the roughly 14,000 Native Americans who live on the tribal land.

Lott said he saw that tension firsthand when he went to Riverton for school as a child.

"We were always told to ‘go back to the res,'" he said. "But then you grow up and realize, 'What does that really mean?' Because we're on the reservation, we're surrounded by it."

Encouragement of this type of behavior starts in the home.

 

[Hammster]

I can’t read the article, but judging by the headline they were disciplined. So at least it’s not systemic “racism”.

 

[SummerMadness]

I didn’t know the KKK was associated with racism in quotes.

 

[Hammster]

I didn’t know the KKK was associated with racism in quotes.

???

 

[Go Braves]

I didn’t know the KKK was associated with racism in quotes.

It's not. It's the very epitome of racism & a shame on our history. The action of these kids are a shame on our present.

 

[Chesterton]

Well if they both had wide grins on their faces then it was obviously a joke, you know, like when celebrities and rappers joke about killing the President.

 

[SummerMadness]

Well if they both had wide grins on their faces then it was obviously a joke, you know, like when celebrities and rappers joke about killing the President.

Poor attempt at whataboutism and grinning doesn't mean it's just a joke, it means you don't care about the people that have lived with Klan terrorism for decades. And the Klan is still active today:

White Mississippi man who burned cross near black residents' home has been charged in federal hate crime case

A second man is accused of burning a cross in 2017 near the homes of black residents in Seminary.

A criminal information filed June 25 in federal court charges Graham Williamson of Collins with intimidating/interfering with fair housing and conspiracy to use fire or explosives to commit a felony.

 

[Go Braves]

'Racism is a taught behavior': High-schoolers disciplined for wearing white robes and a hood on 'Spirit Day'



Encouragement of this type of behavior starts in the home.

I definitely think encouragement of that type of behavior does start externally, instead of the kids just becoming racist on their own, but it's not necessarily in the home.

I've shared before about living for a while in a rural area where my grandparents lived, where some folks were blatantly racist. We moved there after my grandpa had a major medical crisis pretty young in life, and my grandma was going through cancer and couldn't care for him. Both my parents were commuting from there to Atlanta and so they hired caretakers for during the day. It was from a caretaker that I heard the n word. It was confusing on account of how the caretaker was loving towards my grandparents. I heard it from many others in the community including at a church picnic. When we were back in Atlanta I repeated that word innocently, using it the same way you'd refer to somebody just as being black or African American. There was no maliciousness or spite, no ugliness. I got shamed in front of everybody by this lady who went off on me. Called my mom. She wasn't angry at me, she was devastated I'd learned that word. The caretaker was replaced. Obviously I was much, much younger than the HS kids who did this prank, but my point being that it's not necessarily that their parents are at fault for this. They could have brought the "costume" with them to school without the parents knowing, put it on there. There's a ton of things that influence kids, like the brain rotting 4Chan & other message boards, YouTube, so forth. Now, if the parents defended their kids for this, then yes, they need to be blamed & shamed.

 

[Chesterton]

Poor attempt at whataboutism and grinning doesn't mean it's just a joke, it means you don't care about the people that have lived with Klan terrorism for decades. And the Klan is still active today:

White Mississippi man who burned cross near black residents' home has been charged in federal hate crime case

Okay so they don't care. Is there a law about that or something?

 

[durangodawood]

Okay so they don't care. Is there a law about that or something?

No, the point was you dont care.

But yeah, there's no law about being indifferent to domestic terrorism that targets minority groups.

 

[Chesterton]

No, the point was you dont care.

I didn't see that point even attempted.

But yeah, there's no law about being indifferent to domestic terrorism that targets minority groups.

Okay, so some teenagers are teenagers then. Big news story.

 

[Hammster]

I didn't see that point even attempted.


Okay, so some teenagers are teenagers then. Big news story.

It’s my opinion that when you (generic) are a hammer, everything’s a nail. So if you want to try to show how widespread “racism” is supposed to be, every article is evidence, regardless of how localized it is.

In this case, two youths did something stupid. I’m not sure the reason because the article is behind a paywall. But they were disciplined. So does this make “racism” a systemic issue? If it is (which I’d argue against), this article does nothing to support that view.

 

[SummerMadness]

It’s my opinion that when you (generic) are a hammer, everything’s a nail. So if you want to try to show how widespread “racism” is supposed to be, every article is evidence, regardless of how localized it is.

In this case, two youths did something stupid. I’m not sure the reason because the article is behind a paywall. But they were disciplined. So does this make “racism” a systemic issue? If it is (which I’d argue against), this article does nothing to support that view.

It's sad to see that some people don't associate the KKK with racism and instead resort to putting in quotes as if it's not real. What this really demonstrates is the lengths some will go to ignore intolerance because it is not directed at them.

 

[Hammster]

It's sad to see that some people don't associate the KKK with racism and instead resort to putting in quotes as if it's not real. What this really demonstrates is the lengths some will go to ignore intolerance because it is not directed at them.

Racism doesn’t exist because there’s no such thing as race. There is sin, however, as was demonstrated by the youths in the article.

 

[rambot]

Well if they both had wide grins on their faces then it was obviously a joke, you know, like when celebrities and rappers joke about killing the President.

If only they had the power that a president had.

Someday the importance of the concept of "punching up, not down" will become evidence and important.

 

[SummerMadness]

Racism doesn’t exist because there’s no such thing as race. There is sin, however, as was demonstrated by the youths in the article.

Racism exists because European (and later American) society classified people based on skin color and ascribed value to skin color. Race does not exist biologically, but that doesn't stop people from treating others differently based on their skin color. The fact that people are treated differently based on their skin color is what defines racism.

 

[Hammster]

Racism exists because European (and later American) society classified people based on skin color and ascribed value to skin color. Race does not exist biologically, but that doesn't stop people from treating others differently based on their skin color. The fact that people are treated differently based on their skin color is what defines racism.

Well, I’ll stick with biblical terms as much as possible.

 

[durangodawood]

Racism doesn’t exist because there’s no such thing as race....

Say what?

Race absolutely exists as a social construct. And racism operates as a social phenomenon.

 

[Hammster]

Say what?

Race absolutely exists as a social construct. And racism operates as a social phenomenon.

Sin exists. Melanin levels do not matter.

 

[durangodawood]

Sin exists. Melanin levels do not matter.

Sin doenst "exist". Its an action. Just like racism. People actually really do it.