Some mean kids used politics and religion as a pretext for bullying kids at Aberdeen Central High School this week. In response, Superintendent Becky Guffin issues this letter to parents:
I’m thinking the issue is not so much that kids said mean stuff on social media—where the United States Supreme Court is right now considering whether the First Amendment protects students posting comments outside of school grounds and school time—and more that little thugs coached by four years of that shouting bully in the White House used social media to coordinate a campaign to provoke and bully the students organizing and participating in the contested Unity Week activities by bringing hateful banners to school, committing vandalism, and staging their social media posts in the school commons during school time:
A photo of two high school students displaying T**** banners on school grounds—festooned with anti-gay slogans—was posted on social media, marring a week dedicated to diversity and sparking calls for a federal investigation.
One of the banners shown in the post depicts an American flag with ex-president Donald Trump in the center. The second says T**** 2020— Keep America Great. A pair of Aberdeen High School students held them up in the school commons and a photo of it was posted on Instagram.
…[Aberdeen Central student Andrew] Lin told The Daily Beast that one of pro-T**** students waved a banner around on Tuesday and said T**** was his “papa.” He said he was told students also drew Xs on a Pride flag and spit on and burned one.
A second Snapchat post urged students to bring Bibles to school, to shun students taking part in Unity Week events, and to wear black on the day others were dressing in colors signifying support for diversity, according to a report in the Aberdeen American News [Tom Lawrence, “T****-Loving High School Students Derail Diversity Week with Anti-Gay Campaign,” The Daily Beast, 2021.05.07].
The federal investigation may come courtesy of South Dakota’s High School Democrats, who hear from an Aberdeen Central student that bullies have coordinated anti-LGBTQ attacks during Unity Week every year. The HS Dems say such coordinated bullying in school constitutes a violation of civil rights warranting investigation by the United States Department of Education Office for Civil Rights:
Such bullying is the predictable outcome of electing bullies and bigots to federal and state office. Such bullying is the predictable outcome of electing a Governor who in contradiction to her professions of Christian love promotes politically convenient hatred of transgender kids, public schools, outsiders, and diversity and change. Such bullying will drive away good people and recruit bad people to this state unless we stand up and change the public discourse to make clear that everyone is welcome in those state except for those, like the Aberdeen Central bullies, who selfishly refuse to extend a universal welcome.
Honestly I feel bad for the idiot hick kids who were raised to hate people who are different and to trust what the salesman on the teevee said.
They are still developing and are only partially responsible for their behavior. It’s the parents and school staff that are at fault here. One more reason to steer clear of that sinkhole of a town, as if we needed more.
https://www.rawstory.com/maga-students-on-lgbtq-unity-week-met-with-civil-rights-complaint-filed-with-dept-of-education/
Caution, some images have naughty words and, like magats, are disturbing.
In the meantime, Texas students auctioned black athletes as slaves for a day. I read somewhere South Dakota rodeo clubs were going to hold ‘slave auctions’ and then thought better of it, or something.
Districts generally have pretty clearly defined policies, as well as behavior expectations delineated in high school handbooks. The ones I was familiar with in Rapid City drew pretty clear lines on this sort of behavior, and could result in suspension or expulsion. I hope Aberdeen has similar policies and uses them on these bullies.
kids learn this crap from their parents & consecrentally bring it to the school.apperantly some don’t learn much.the work of those of us who search for justice is never done.facism is continues to pop up in the damnedest places.
The governor and business interests spread the fatal pandemic’s evolving virus nationally, and required airplane travel, and airport and community congregation for the boisterous m/c rally and the mass fireworks celebration in the national monument’s Trump rally over the last July 4th tourism holiday. (Kristi: only a “handful of infections”, then admitting “120 infections” on Fox News live from Pierre; but actually there were at least some 450 documented infections in 30 states, according to medical experts.
For travelers, hotel rates are $310/night in RC right now. Direct round trip flights from LAX are just $220. Rental cars might be that much, per day.
Trump fireworks fire prevention costs last summer were very high, as well as were Indigenous protest suppression costs, and Presidential military armada costs surrounding “luminaries” Don Jr., Kim Guilfoyle and sole masked Dusty Johnson were sky-rocket high and out-of-this-world; and last month, under “Kristi’s command” (C) (she was dressed in full camouflage overseeing the Black Hills Nemo to Keystone wild fire) the Schroeder fire suppression costs have not yet been fully made transparent (voodoo economics?). She excels at manipulating data, like she did muzzling CDC/OSHA April 2020 regulators in the meatpacking super spreader debacle.
Black Hills Super Spreader Summer,Year II. (C) Kristi Noem. Tourism maven Julie Jensen urges locals to be nice to tourists. So the governor and business interests can continue charging them.
The governor won’t publicly encourage vaccination. What good is she? Her state-wide data is sketchy. Pretty obvious what she is teaching our kids and grandkids. Vaccine hesitation. She is a bully. She should be held accountable.
BTW, a second “jab” at Lakota’s OYA’TE health ctr mass vaxx event this week, a walk-on/outside administration of all covid vaccination types in RC’s Memorial Park campus near Rapid City Central High School, was fast, thorough, efficient and professional in every way. Awesome. Kudos to all participants and sponsors for these all-day operations!!
Get a vaccination. Keep wearing a mask until we are sure. Don’t be stupid.
Sorry Ryan, high schoolers know the difference between right and wrong. They are responsible for their own behaviors. Just a guess but this is probably NOT their first incident.
V, the fact that this is not the first incident or an isolated incident is a key point in the civil rights complaint. Students are saying that the bullies have coordinated attacks like this every year that student groups have held Unity Week.
I feel shame for the offensive student’s parents – what kind of parent teaches their child to think and act this way?
The reproduction of such anti-human ideas is, to my mind at least, child abuse, but as fear and hatred is so endemic to South Dakota, you the Republican majority tend not to see it that way.
I remember laughing at swastikas on a building in Aberdeen when I lived their along time ago. I read they had some nut spray paint them a few years ago. Stupid people have stupid kids. Just find them and throw them out of school, then they can live up to their potential. A small room with bars and three meals a day or they can do work for the trumpies, or both, it’s a living. Really it just takes the Republican village acting together stupidly. They stole it from Hillary’s book you know.
Well…tragic this is happening in Aberdeen. As a college town, I thought it might be a little more mellow than the hinterlands…but take pride in the South Dakota High School Democrats. The future is in good hands.
Similar behavior is happening at my high school. I brought it up at a staff meeting and was told that it could be worse.
I’m so proud of the students at Aberdeen Central who stood up against bigotry. They’re the folks I’m looking to the most. I wish I could say that Aberdeen was a more liberal place when I was in school there – I’m a NSU alum – but I recall being one of VERY few campus Democrats at that time. As in, the Dem group was a simple handful of people then. I most certainly didn’t feel comfortable being open about the fact that I’m bi/pan there – though my friends knew – and now that I am out as trans/nonbinary, the thought of being out there at that time is terrifying. I don’t think I could have done it. I’m nervous about even visiting family again in the hills this July now that I’m much more openly out than I was 2 years ago when I last made a trip out.
But the world *is* changing and becoming more welcoming and inclusive, even if incidents like this call our progress into question.
This incident frames an impossible position our public schools face: how difficult it is to be on the right side of history, inclusion, acceptance, and diversity (much less science and truth), while governed and surrounded by a majority of those who oppose all that. Schools are in opposition to every other moment and influence in which these students live.
V, do you think high schoolers should be able to drink, smoke, go to war, consent to sex, sign contracts, get married, or get face tattoos? They’re barely human beings at that age, they’re still forming their sense of self.
So yes, to some extent they understand abstract right and wrong, but expecting kids to apply that understanding in an environment full of racism or hate is naive in my opinion.
Well Ryan, when I was in high school I could drink, I was 18, smoke, they definitely wanted me to go to war, but alas I had number 93 or 96, can’t remember exactly. Consensual sex, I won’t go there, but I did sign a work contract that summer, didn’t get married since I hadn’t gotten anyone pregnant, and nobody was getting tattoos then so my face was clean. The reason I could drink was that uncle Sam wanted to draft me at 18 and send me to war, so he let me drink. A curious thing but I didn’t mind, nothing like walking to the three two bar and having a beer during a break. I know your right, but in those times the adults thought differently about things. I also had my shotgun in the back seat of my car parked next to the high school. Duck hunting after school you know.
Mr. Anderson is righter than right on this issue. Except the face tattoos. Nobody should be allowing to get face tattoos without going through the Board of Face Tattooing to make sure the subject matter is appropriate. Although perhaps today, if you tattoo your maw and wear a mask it would be OK. As long as the mask isn’t offensive.
Ryan is correct about the undeveloped mental and moral capacities of high school age kids. The SCOTUS has recognized this fact in ruling that executing a person who commits a crime (no matter how heinous) when he or she is under the age of 18 violates the 8th Amendment. Likewise, statutes that impose mandatory life sentences without parol on these young people violate the 8th Amendment. The opinions in each case painstakingly cover the solid science supporting these rulings.
As for consenting to sex, however, SD’s so-called stautory rape laws apparently only prohibit sex with children under age 16. Otherwise, in SD 16 year old children are deemed sufficiently mature to consent to sexual activities with older people, including sexual predators. Somewhat ironically, however, federal child pornography laws deems these same children under 18 incapable of consenting to being photographed or video-taped in sexual activity or sans appropriate clothing, etc. So, for example, in SD Matt Gaetz is permitted by law to have all the sex he wants with a consenting 16 or 17 year old so long as he doesn’t take a photo or videotape of his young protege in action.
Nevertheless, Ryan’s point is worth reflection, children engaging in extremely stupid conduct definitely are not equally culpable to adults engaging in similar stupid behavior.
The little darlings should realize that this will follow them for the rest of their lives. If they decide to run for office, someone will bring this up. Should they want to go into law enforcement or serve their country this will come up. Anytime they hope to move outside that tiny group they now belong to, there will be someone who knows and will speak about it. And if you post it on the net, it is there forever. One dumb mistake even as a dumb teen can follow you all your life and can be a game changer for your life plans.
It seems as if an inordinate amount of mischief is occurring in Aberdeen these days.