The chat was allegedly created by a group of 8th-grade students and involved some of the juveniles expressing “hateful and racist comments" and a mock slave auction.
Six juveniles in Massachusetts were charged in a racial online bullying incident that involved “heinous” language, threats of “violence toward people of color” and a mock slave auction, the district attorney for Hampden County said.
Students from Southwick, about 104 miles southwest of Boston, allegedly participated in a “hateful, racist online” Snapchat discussion between Feb. 8 and Feb. 9, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said in a statement on Facebook.
Gulluni said he became aware of the incident on Feb. 15 and immediately called on the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit to investigate.
On Thursday, at the conclusion of the investigation, the district attorney authorized members of the Detective Unit and the Chief of the Juvenile Court Unit to pursue criminal charges against the juveniles.
Where did they get all of that from? I’m guessing the racist apple doesn’t fall far from the racist tree.
The district attorney initiated forward-looking steps to “prevent future harm, encourage empathy, and build stronger communities free of hate.”
They include a curriculum around hate and bullying being delivered to the Southwick school community and a partnership with the attorney general’s office to create a program that addresses and remediates the harmful forces of bigotry, racism and bullying in schools.
I appreciate that the response, at least, wasn’t “Crucify these specific kids and ignore the underlying symptoms”.
Other than a few pockets of blue, Western Massachusetts is very rural and leans conservative. I try to avoid going out that far if I can help it.
These kids would be right at home in the South.
Boston has had its share of racism issues too.
Southwick is basically Connecticut. It’s literally the little weird bump at the bottom of Massachusetts (called the “Southwick Jog”). It is also, unsurprisingly, one of the most Trump-leaning areas in the entire state.
WESTERN Mass is actually deeply blue like eastern Mass. It’s really central Mass and then the area around the Southwick Jog that are the “pockets” of red. I.e., https://media.wbur.org/wp/2020/11/1105_Mass-Map-1000x531.png
As disgusting as this event was, I’m not sure pressing charges against 8th graders is good practice. These are kids, they need education, not the criminal justice system.
Ironically, this is the same practice that has caused incredible harm to students of color. But not all equality is equally good.
I couldn’t agree more. This will ruin these kids lives over stupid kid shit
It’s a tough issue because I’ve also seen similar behavior defended as “it’s just kids being kids” to dismiss the seriousness of what happened and deflect from any corrective actions. This is not healthy or harmless behavior for kids to be engaging in and it does need to be addressed. I just don’t think the courts are the best tool for the job.
Unfortunately, our society has largely failed to develop any rehabilitative or restorative forms of justice and so we often get stuck between doing nothing or turning to state violence. Neither of which is going to make the situation better.
How is it ruining their lives? They haven’t even been tried yet, let alone sentenced.
These are the kids who will turn into the adults that will ruin, and end, many lives. Early intervention is the best option.
Not that the US criminal justice system is good at this kind of thing but … they’re white, middle-class kids. The chance of them getting a custodial is way, way lower than if one of them accused a Black kid of, say, stealing their rucksack.
Because our legal system is awful and not at all focused on rehabilitation, it’s all punishment and making minor offenders into life long felons. You’re acting like this is unheard of
How is it ruining their lives? They haven’t even been tried yet, let alone sentenced.
And…you think that’s not going to happen? You know something we don’t?
It does seem vanishingly unlikely, yes. For all the reasons already given.
Certainly too soon to be demanding they be let off with a pat on the head.
They have been suspended from school without a trial, for a crime which didn’t happen at school.
I’m sure the retaliation-only US justice system will work wonders, can’t have the private prison industry lose money after all.
Oh no, suspended for bullying. So cruel, making them face the consequences of their actions. You should go on hunger strike or something, to highlight the plight of these poor little angels.
You’re arguing in bad faith and putting words in my mouth
Suspending students from school for weeks, while protecting the victims temporarily from contact, has the side effect of withholding education from children. Surely they won’t miss anything important while suspended for 4-8 weeks, it’s not like education (or rather the lack thereof) and crime has a strong correlation.
Any justice system should have these priorities:
- Protecting current victim(s)
- Preventing future victimizations.
- Rehabilitating the perpetrator(s)
The U.S. justice system sole priority is bloodlust. That’s part of the reason police brutality goes largely ignored: it only affects “criminals” and they deserve it anyway.
Now: how does the “tough on crime” attitude of the prosecution as reflected in the article protect current or future victims for more than a few months?
Massachusetts is very puritan to this day. This punishment makes sense when you consider the state it happened in.
I’m afraid you don’t understand what’s happening here. Pressing charges is what leads to actual budgeting to develop and engage education to improve the situation for everyone involved, including the perpetrators.
Is it? I have not heard of any such process, can you provide more information?
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We are gonna hold 8th graders to a higher standard than Congress? Seriously.
Well at least we’re not teaching proper American history to these kids, or they may have realized that what they were doing was monstrous and felt guilty about it. We can’t be making white kids feel guilty, y’all.
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What is a “mock slave auction”?
Joking about setting up a venue in which white people bid on black chattel slaves. Literal human trafficking and insanely racist. It’s what Americans did in the Antebellum (pre-Civil War) South.
Seems kind of self-explanatory…?
Massachusetts
Well that explains it
Swift action though. If it was Texas, they would have given them scholarships.
Gulluni said he has met personally with the victims and their families.
This proves the article is garbage - if there are victims, the original described conduct of some racists having a group chat about racism can’t possibly be true. There has to be more to the real story.
Who were they pretending to auction and threatening violence against? Pretty sure those are the victims.
There are three possibilities, presupposing the threats are real:
- The threats were not specific (the article never claims specific theeats were made), in which case the victims either don’t exist or constitute every black person in America, and in either of those cases the victims could not be met with.
- The threats were specific and the specific targets were not in the chat (the article never claims anyone was in the chat except for the racists), in which case the “victims” do not legally qualify as victims and there is no case here (for a threat to be illegal you have to communicate it to your threatened target).
- The threats were specific and the targets were in the chat. That’s the only way this makes sense, which means the article utterly failed to tell us both that the threats were specific and that the victims were in the chat.
So any way you slice it, this article is hot garbage.
Are you one of those people that say girls aren’t victims when fake porn is made of them and distributed so long as it’s never distributed directly to them?
No. Are you?
No, but I also haven’t made comments like yours that display a profound lack of understanding for what constitutes a victim.
Point 2 is incredibly flawed.
I’d ask “in what way?”, but you already refused to elaborate, so it feels counterproductive.
I did not refuse to elaborate. You’re arguing in bad faith consistently.
Yeah dude, those are literally the only three possible scenarios 🙄
Name a fourth.
Logic isn’t your strong suit, is it?
Had this exact thought as well. The article is so vague that it doesn’t actually describe what they seem to be getting charged with, so unless the DA is completely overstepping bounds (possible but unlikely) there has to be more to it.
All six were charged with threat to commit a crime, the district attorney said. Two of those juveniles were also charged with interference with civil rights, and one of the two was additionally charged with witness interference.
From the article.
Sorry, I phrased my comment poorly. What I meant was that the article doesn’t describe what specifically led to those charges, apart from a racist group chat of some kind.
