UK Boy, 7, branded a racist for asking schoolmate: 'Are you brown because you come from Africa?

this is so retarded. we allow these people to come to our countries and what happens when we ask about them? we get branded racists. time for some hardcore immigration reform. no more free handouts for foreigners.

Originally posted by Bun-G
Reply to post by Raxoxane

 

I completely agree. Kids are gonna point out if your different to themselves as they are inquisitive and curious; thats not a bad thing. picking up traits from relatives and tv is where it starts to go wrong, but stigmatising this kid as a racist is disgusting.

 

Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

 

I once asked a black man when I was a child (first black man I seen) if he was made out of chocolate.
He laughed..then informed me that in fact he was.

I was fascinated...and wondered if people tried to bite him now and then.

I wasn't racist, I was curious.
come to find out, they weren't made of chocolate. what a disappointing day.
My parents were incidentally were also amused when they heard my questioning (by myself when I told them about it) But I was still given the many people, many looks, all the same underneath education.

sure, spoil my imagination...

The problem is that the black childs parents probably reported what was said...and then some action has to be taken, which I suppose is fair enough, you can't just ignore someones complaints even if you don't agree.

The response however was to give some pathetic standard form which had nothing more than the tiniest relation to what had actually happened. I myself left school once (in fact I was actually driven home by a teacher because they were worried about how ill I seemed) and went to hospital ot find out I had appendicitis, which led to a few weeks off of school. The school knew all about this and had been sending work home for me to complete, yet I STILL was sent a letter asking my mum if she knew how much time I was taking off of shcool and telling her to talk to me about it.

The problem is the the school staff don't bother to actually look at the situation, they just grab whatever form has a similar word in it...my attendance dropped so I got a letter about skipping school, a mother complained about a question that was asked about race, so they they chose a form about racism. Laziness and the failure of a system that uses standard forms is the issue here.

Originally posted by LonelyGuy
this is so retarded. we allow these people to come to our countries and what happens when we ask about them? we get branded racists. time for some hardcore immigration reform. no more free handouts for foreigners.

You realize it was the school board branding him a racist and not "these people".

and..who are "these people" anyhow...the black kid may have been 5th generation brit...

I think before immigration reform comes, perhaps some courses in critical thinking should be established.

There’s something not quite right here Olin....In January 2011 the Telegraph reported:

The figures for 2008/09, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, disclosed 29,659 racist incidents were reported by schools to local education authorities in England and Wales... Of these, 10,436 were at primary schools

Source:article.wn.com...

Compare those figures with (the Telegraph 14th September 2011):

Of the 30,147 incidents in total, around 20,000 related to primary schools.

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk...

Now, it could be the September figures relate to 2009/10, or improved 2008/09 data ....or, just maybe someone at the paper got it wrong! Adrian Hart (the Author of the report on which the article is based) wrote the following about the January piece:

Importantly though, the figure of over 10,436 racist incidents from primary schools was the total for those LEAs who offered me breakdowns by school type. Frustratingly, the Daily Telegraph (using the Mail piece) concluded, "A further 20,000 “hate crimes” were recorded against secondary school students …”. No - the figure for secondary schools was 7159 and confirms the point made in The Myth of Racist Kids

Hmmmm, if the Telegraph (using a Daily Fail article) were so far out in January, what gives you confidence in their reporting of the figures in the September article? Has either of the papers released the actual data from the FoIA request?

While I agree that the 'reporting' of Primary School children for verbal racism or homophobic remarks is rather silly mainly because I feel Teachers and Head Teachers are more than capable of dealing with incidents that do occur:
www.tes.co.uk...

www.telegraph.co.uk...

Originally posted by joewalker
There’s something not quite right here Olin....In January 2011 the Telegraph reported:

Thanks for that.

It makes sense if the reporter has written 'primary school' instead of 'secondary school'

Of the 30,147 incidents in total, around 20,000 related to primary schools.

It would make sense for the bulk of incidents to be from secondary schools.

The difference between

29,659 racist incidents

and

30,147 incidents... ...Most were related to racism. Only 22 local authorities collected data on homophobia, reporting 561 incidents.

for 2007/2008 is explainable if we assume 29,659 is for racist alone and the 30,147 for racists and other incidents, whatever they may be.

Or it could just be that the original disclosure from which the numbers are taken is itself unclear and somewhat contradictory.

What is worring is that

Today’s report – The Myth of Racist Kids – calculates that some 280,000 such incidents have been reported in England since full records began.

www.telegraph.co.uk...
www.manifestoclub.com...

reply to post by ollncasino


This is ridiculous. The article did state he merely, 'asked' the other child if he was from some where because of the color of his skin. Not told the boy. Or made a statement towards, that means he was making an inquiry, and honest question.. not a racist statement. Honestly, I believe this was innocent. Just as innocent as the sweet little girl I used to watch during after school care, who asked me if that bump on my nose was supposed to look like a mountain! (Little did she know it was a pimple I was embarrassed of) Or if that I knew my shorts made my legs like chubby today? Little kids ask and state questions like that all of the time, no harm in it. Not knowing what they were stating. That I had a pimple and my shorts were too small haha, but seriously. Kids will be Kids. Let them be kids and ask questions. Hell I still ask people on here and around me, where they come from and why their skin is that way. It's called studying and gaining knowledge. Poor Kid! Wonder what would happen if he actually made a realistically racist statement? Have to wear a scarlet R around on his shirt? Ha.
Thanks for posting this ollncasino!

reply to post by Tvv1stedJustice


umm no kids asking questions like that is pretty normal at that age sorry about u getting screwed with cuz of your color but that does not mean we need to indoctrinate and brand children as racists for asking a simple question and as most kids that age cant even fully conceptualize what racism is let alone be it brains just dont work like that at that age (i guess it could happen with full on nazzi parents or wbc level of indoctrination but then i think the kid would have been using words other then brown ones that sound like the name of a certain African country

and just as an fyi i dont even use the term African American after greatly offending an African African(he had lion and hyena bite scars and peices of a frag grenade in his arm) during a brief stay in jail so i think its safer to just say black these days just so i don't offend legitimate Africans who seem to not want to be labeled Americans in any way shape or form

reply to post by ollncasino

No worries Olln, Im just trying to find out whats going on.

It makes sense if the reporter has written 'primary school' instead of 'secondary school'

It would make sense for the bulk of incidents to be from secondary schools.

Except Adrian Hunt agrees with the (2008/09) 10'436 figure as reported in Jan 2011 by the Fail and Telegraph...
Edit : Hunt states that incidents are lower in Secondary schools...its part of the conclusions he came to in the Myth of Racist Kids report.

for 2007/2008 is explainable if we assume 29,659 is for racist alone and the 30,147 for racists and other incidents, whatever they may be.

Have any of the reports listed figures for 2007/08...the only dates I'v seen are for 08-09 and the 'More than 20,000 under-11s' figure in the headlines of the later Telegraph article which makes clear that the earlier(2008-09) figures are part of a much larger survey provided by Adrian Hunt..and he backs the lower figure as does the January article.

Or it could just be that the original disclosure from which the numbers are taken is itself unclear and somewhat contradictory.

Yep, you gonna part with the eleven quid needed to buy the report from the website and settle the confusion...I would but I'm skint

Today’s report – The Myth of Racist Kids – calculates that some 280,000 such incidents have been reported in England since full records began

Yep, thats the one. Again incidents of what? Bullying, homophobia, racism? All three?

reply to post by n00bUK


LOL I wouldn't call it London anymore if I were you, more like Londonistan.LMAO

Just to jump on the bandwagon here (sorry, didn't have time to read all the posts yet). I am originally from Africa, and are now residing in Europe.

When I attended some language classes for foreigners, when fellow (foreign) students heard I was from Africa, they would comment "But you couldn't have come from Africa, because you are white".....

Even before that, when I worked in Asia, I heard so many times that people couldn't believe that I am from Africa, because I am white.

Well, people should just forget their prejudicism, and realize that the world is now one community. That you get all colours and all flavours from every single continent, but that doesn't mean a single thing. What matters, is that we are all humans, irrespective of colour or creed.

reply to post by Hellhound604


But you can't be from Africa.. you're white?!

"Racism" itself, and "ism's" in general, constitute a trap for one's mind. Who set the trap or why I don't know yet. I do know they derive power from keeping people thinking in ridiculous and wasteful ways. I say endeavor to be decent and treat all people well- except for the next one who invokes the word "racist" or "racism"- he needs slapped in the face.

Originally posted by joewalker
Yep, you gonna part with the eleven quid needed to buy the report from the website and settle the confusion...I would but I'm skint

This appears to be an extract of the book

Leave Those Kids Alone, by Adrian Hart

tommower.co.uk...

Executive Summary In 2008/2009:

—152 out of 174 (87%) English and Welsh LEAs responded to our FOI request. These 152 authorities received 30,147 hate-speech reports from nursery, primary and secondary schools. Of these, 29,586 were racist incidents;

—In both 2008/9 and 2009/10, some 60% of ‘racist incidents’ occurred in primary schools. This would mean that around 20,000 primary school children a year are being reported for hate-speech incidents.

—Indeed, 40 nursery school children were reported for racist incidents in 2008–09 (12 in Brent and 8 in Tower Hamlets). In 2009/10, Hertfordshire reported three nursery school children for racism, and Tower Hamlets reported four; Barnet even reported one nursery-age child for homophobia.

A child at nursery was reported for homophobia?

This report includes cases of children reported for trivial incidents, including:

—Two primary school children are reported for homo-phobia after quarrelling over a rubber and calling each
other ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’;
—Two primary-aged girls are reported for passing a note in class that a boy wants some lip balm ‘cuz hez gay’;
—A primary school child is reported for shouting out in class ‘this work’s gay!’;
—Two primary-aged boys are reported, a Christian and a Muslim, who call each other ‘gaylord’, and burst into
giggles when asked what the word means.

It's disgusting that teachers are stupid enough enough to report incidents such as those above as 'homophonbia'. It's disgusting that they are supposed to.

ATS makes it clear it's the UK that's the country that sucks ass, not the USA.

Dupe. Sorry.

It's my disgust over crap like this, that is the main reason why nobody can legitimately call me left wing.

If I was, I'd be clamouring for the ability, and the legislation, to monitor the words of literally everyone on the planet, to make sure they didn't risk hurting anyone else's feelings.

Originally posted by Ghost375
ATS makes it clear it's the UK that's the country that sucks ass, not the USA.

Actually, the main reason why England is currently circling the drain, is American influence. It's the same in Australia.

America is the proverbial black heart from which the dark blood flows, at this point. Every other country that becomes corrupt, does so as a result of American influence.

My sister is a nursery nurse and told me that they have had to change the old nursery rhyme 'Baa baa black sheep (have you any wool) to Baa Baa RAINBOW sheep..

reply to post by ollncasino

This appears to be an extract of the book Leave
Those Kids Alone, by Adrian Hart

Cheers Olln, a quick read of the only complete dataset (appendix x: 2008-09 Racist reports to L.E.A) suggests the Primary School figure to be: 11,112.
Different again to the 10,436 figure previously suggested by both the Telegraph and the Author(2009, 2011)...and nowhere near the 20,000 suggested in various headlines.

What I'm thinking is this bud; As of 2009 there are 18,433 Primary Schools in England and Wales and over 4.3 million pupils....Read the figures supplied by Hunt and do the maths (its waaaay too early for me to be doing that).

Its clear that despite what the Legislation (or even the Daily Fail) says, Teachers and Schools are'nt off on some mad reporting rampage and the likleyhood is, that they are dealing with incidents of racism/ homophobia/ bullying in the same way they always have...

It's disgusting that teachers are stupid enough enough to report incidents such as those above as 'homophonbia'. It's disgusting that they are supposed to.

I tend to agree with you and Adrian Hunt. Schools should be trusted to deal with incidents and in the main they are. As previously confirmed by Hunt, in 2009 there was no statutory requirement on LEA's to retain the names of children, only the type and frequencey of any incident...an average of less then 1 report/ school suggests to me that Schools are seeing most incidents for what they are and arent passing the reports on.

I think its right that Schools/ Teachers should keep a record of why disciplinary action was taken, if my seven yr old was being disruptive in School I'd want to know the details, but then I trust my kids Teachers to know the difference between 'naughty' and 'twatty-ness' and deal appropiately.

The reports from Nursery are just stupid and who ever did that should've been told in no uncertain terms, that said, the reported 'gay lord' incident made me smile..had images of Beavis and Butthead lol, I know from experience that selective hearing is sometimes required around seven yr olds.