Slur in yearbook may prevent seniors from graduating
Updated 09 June 2004: New information from Jack Mitcham (at bottom of post)
School yearbooks recalled to remove racial epithet
Perry Hall High School seniors received their yearbooks last week. On Tuesday a student discovered a racial slur next to the picture of a bi-racial student. It had been placed there by his white friend as a joke and is a term they comfortably use with each other. The school immediately recalled the yearbooks. At this point the story takes a turn South.
Yesterday school officials were calling seniors individually and asking them to return their yearbooks, said school system spokesman Charles A. Herndon. Students who will not return their yearbooks might not be allowed to participate in tomorrow’s graduation ceremonies, he said.
Does anybody else see shades of 1984 here? “�MemRec insert, yearbook doubleplus ungood possible thoughtcrime raceword, new file yearbook unraceword postdate.� (Thank you to James Lileks for reminding me of this Orwellism.)
Their desire to ‘correct’ something that’s already happened is so great that they are threatening and forcing the students to comply with their wishes. Turn that yearbook in so this mistake can be vanished or you don’t graduate. A much better option would be to allow students who want their copies to be corrected to turn theirs in and to allow those who don’t care to simply keep theirs as they are.
(Tip credit to Jack Mitcham)
UPDATE
Jack Mitcham left this information in the comments:
Some updates on this story:
Only two students in that entire senior class didn’t surrender their personal property to the school system. One of those students showed up for graduation anyway, since he did pay for it afterall.
A school administrator was on television. He said, “We are only asking to borrow the yearbook for a week.” Wow, he sure has a funny way of “only asking.” Somehow, “Turn in your personal property or you will not be able to attend the ceremony which you both earned and paid for” doesn’t feel like “only asking.”
Most of the students interviewed said “I don’t think he should be held from graduation like that,” but none of those students stood up for their property rights. The family of the student turned away at the door is considering a lawsuit last I heard.
The plan is to collect the yearbook, unbind it, replace the page, and rebind it, then re-distribute them.
Many students would rather just mark over the word with a black marker, so they wouldn’t have to be without their yearbook. Some do not want their private messages written in their yearbook to be handed over to administrators. Either way, it is a bit much to force people to return THEIR yearbooks that THEY bought.
People should have the right to exchange in the yearbook if they wish. Heck, it is their yearbook, they have the right to write “NIGGER NIGGER NIGGER” all over their yearbook if they wish.
Reported by another local news agency, the freshmen, sophomores, and juniors were told they cannot leave the building unless they turned in their yearbooks. It is just a very heavy-handed response.
Also, if you read the article, the evil Confederate flag turns up again. A black kid in the school wants to transfer because of this joke, and because he sees people wearing confederate flags on occasion in the school.
School district is definitely in the wrong on this one. That and the yearbook sponsor should be more aware of what his yearbook students are putting into the thing. He or she obviously didn’t go through the thing very carefully before sending it off to the printers.
But forcing students to turn in books that the school sold to them, even with the slur, is just plain asinine.
It wasn’t his yearbook students that put it in. After the yearbook was finalized, but before it was sent to the printers, some idiot hacked into it and added the word.
Some updates on this story:
Only two students in that entire senior class didn’t surrender their personal property to the school system. One of those students showed up for graduation anyway, since he did pay for it afterall.
A school administrator was on television. He said, “We are only asking to borrow the yearbook for a week.” Wow, he sure has a funny way of “only asking.” Somehow, “Turn in your personal property or you will not be able to attend the ceremony which you both earned and paid for” doesn’t feel like “only asking.”
Most of the students interviewed said “I don’t think he should be held from graduation like that,” but none of those students stood up for their property rights. The family of the student turned away at the door is considering a lawsuit last I heard.
the idiot is john M. i am a student at the school, and this is how it happened, the student was in the newspaper staff, and he put nigger in the yearbook index next to my friend who is bi-racials name in the index, and he also calls me names about me being a jew, and will pay for all yearbooks and is also currently expelled
Bobby’s clarification tells us much more about this incident. The student who put “nigger” in the index and anti-semetic comments in is at fault — not the school district. The district responded (rather ineptly and with a heavy hand) to protect themselves from the inevitable lawsuits and Office of Civil Rights (OCR) investigation. Can you blame them? This “prank” is going to cost the citizens of this school district hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars! If a single person complains or sues, the OCR will find racist actions ( if nothing else — the yearbook is proof) and a federal court will order changes that will cost millions! The district has to show they made an extraordinary effort to collect and destroy the offending yearbook pages. If there are only 2 yearbooks still not changed (doubtful), what choice does the district have? They have little way to pressure graduating seniors to comply.
I don’t normally support zero tolerance (this is a typical example of it) but I understand the importance and significance of this issue. Which is more important — the right to walk across a stage or the protection of the district from being labeled a racist institution in need of court supervision and the loss of local control?
barry
I think the rights of the students are infinitely more important than protecting the district. Let the district rot.
As unfortunate the situation may be, this kid does have a right to keep his yearbook without corrections; after all, he bought it, and I don’t think the Patriot Act applies here.
I agree with Barry (although I think he slightly misread Bobby’s comments — there was just one slur in the yearbook). The school district needed to take all reasonable measures to remedy a bad situation. Keeping a kid who wouldn’t return his book out of the graduation ceremony seems appropriate. He was apprised of these consequences, and made his choice.
The only zero intelligence I see here is the yearbook staff kid who added his racial slur touch before the book went to the publisher. Kids do some really stupid things sometimes. I hope he can make amends with his classmates and put this behind him.
Bobby, thank you for actually telling us which slur was used. The Baltimore Sun apparently didn’t want to offend reader sensibilities by actually printing the facts. Until I saw your comment, I didn’t know whether the slur was “nigger”, “nigga”, or something else you crazy kids are using nowadays.
Sigh.
Also keep in mind that the school didn’t give a refund for the cap, gown, or graduation ceremony tickets to the person that refused to turn in his own personal property as an additional cost to enter.
hey bobby..go screw your jew self. youre prob the one who gave up his name to the media you pathetic loser otherwise you wouldnt be on this page trying to bash in your words “idiot” it was a mistake between two friends …the bi-racail student erased kracker next to his name but the other forgot too. story over. the end.