Racial Epithets On Tucker High School Track. It *REALLY* makes me wonder... [Archive]

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Ben E Lou

05-26-2004, 05:00 AM

First, the story as reported by the media:

Racist graffiti probed at Tucker High School

By JEN SANSBURY ([email protected])
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/24/04

DeKalb County school officials are investigating racist graffiti found on the running track at Tucker High School the day before classes ended last week.
Vandals also tore down a nearby goal post on the practice football field.

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width=175 align=left border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/00/60/89/image_689600.jpg (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/0504/TUCKER_2.html)
JEN SANSBURY/AJC
(ENLARGE) (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/0504/TUCKER_2.html)
</TD></TR><TR><TD class=caption>A goal post at Tucker High School was the target of vandals last week. Vandals also painted a racial epithet — quickly painted over by school authorities — on the running track.
</TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width=170 bgColor=#ffffff border=0><TBODY><TR><TD align=middle width=170 bgColor=#cccccc><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=10 width=168 bgColor=#ffffff border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width=148>http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/08/26/62/image_262268.gifEMAIL THIS (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/0504/25tucker.html#)
http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/03/27/62/image_262273.gifPRINT THIS (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/dekalb/0504/25tucker.html#)
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Principal Scott Butler said it is unclear whether someone sawed through the hollow metal pipe, which was severed near its base, or rocked the post back and forth to knock it down.

The graffiti, written in bright orange paint on the track nearby, used a derogatory word for blacks and called for violence against them. Butler said the school's plant engineer painted over the graffiti shortly after a walker reported it early Thursday morning.

"Virtually no student saw it, none. Maybe community people walking the track," Butler said.

Rumors about the graffiti have been circulating among some parents at the school.

An anonymous weekend fax to media outlets referred to an "unlawful malicious terroristic threat" and urged that parents be warned of the "potentially dangerous . . . hostile atmosphere at Tucker High."

Peggy Raheem, whose son Tariq is a rising 10th-grader on the Tiger football team, was disturbed when she heard the rumors and went to see the vandalism for herself Monday morning.

"I believe that this was a hate crime," she said, questioning the timing of the incident, which occurred during the week of the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision striking down school segregation. "I don't think this was a coincidence."

Raheem's son transferred to the school last semester from low-performing McNair High School.

Because of last week's incident, she said, she urged him to be more alert this summer during football practice.

Tariq said the graffiti bothers him, but not as much as it bothers his mother.

"There's no way of knowing who did it, so there's nothing I can do about it," he said.

Butler said he doesn't think there is any racial disharmony at the north DeKalb school, which is on LaVista Road several miles outside I-285. Nearly 60 percent of Tucker's students are black, but the majority do not live in the school's attendance zone, he said.

"This is totally foreign to the racial atmosphere of this school," he said. "I think the students who travel these halls will be the first to tell you Tucker High is a safe school and a school that gets along well."

Jim Hanson, deputy chief of the DeKalb school system's police department, said graffiti is usually removed quickly, but photographed first to help investigators. But Butler said no pictures were taken.

"I was determined nobody see it," Butler said. "I had it painted over immediately."The media is going after a racism-in-Tucker angle on this story, but I'm not sure I buy that one. Sure, there are probably a small handful of racists around, but the fact is that most left when Tucker had a mini-white-flight in the late 80's/early 90's. The school's racial population has stabilized in the past 5-10 years or so, and Tucker now has one of the better racial climates that I've observed (although it still boggles my mind to see white kids and black kids greet each other with "What up, nigga?", but that's another discussion ;)).

I, along with a mixed-race bag of community leaders and media representatives, received the e-mail below yesterday: Stick up for your beautiful, peace-loving and spiritual community:

Who knows anything concrete about a racial epithet found on the Tucker High School Football field?

The press may want to hear from you before it does its usual racist tarring without vigilantly reviewing the intentions of its sources. Apparently no fewer than a dozen or so newspapers and TV stations were sent a fax (with no return #) or claimant—from a supposedly “concerned Tucker resident”. (A professionally orchestrated media campaign). Was this report from someone who happened to be walking by (on the way where…)—must have been a jogger on the track.

Let me understand—we are to believe that the most unified school across racial lines in DeKalb County is beset by racial “hate”? This is the same school where over 200 students of any number of races and nationalities converged for a tear-filled candlelight vigil after the death of Coach Venable and his son three months ago—recorded on several television stations in full length news features.

Is someone suggesting that there are racial problems in the Tucker community? Been to Mathews or the coffee shops lately—blacks and whites, meeting over schools, business and church?

The Tucker voting precincts were just violently smashed to pieces by the DeKalb Election Board (superintendent Linda Latimore—see DeKalb TV, Channel 23 for coverage of last week’s meeting—first 30 minutes). Where is the outrage? There isn’t any outrage—they don’t “do rage” in this peaceful little town. Change is for the better, most say. We’ll give up a Livsey precinct (consistently in the Top 10 precincts for turnout %) and start voting on Lawrenceville Highway—we’ve been voting in the same place for 40 years—but we’ll change. Change is welcome—we’ll make new friends.

So is some agitator trying to smear Peaceful Little Tucker as a racist community. (Never happen)

OR

Can we expect little “brushfires” all over DeKalb until the election Primaries are over—just to keep the press and electorate busy on anything but REAL Election issues?

OR

Is this the run-up to the expected massive overhaul of school districts, making Tucker too gun-shy to advocate to keep its schools and communities intact over the next few months?

The political conspiracy seems far-fetched to me. Further, there are some who have suggested: "student senior prank." I'm having a hard time buying that one either. Frankly, I'm thinking that this is football-related. Follow my thought-line:

1. The "bad senior prank" theory doesn't hold water with me. Ignorant, racist high school kids don't send anonymous faxes to the media over the weekend of the last day of school. They're too drunk/high to do such a thing. ;)

2. As alluded to in the e-mail, my rather-educated guess is that Tucker has the best involvement and interaction of both black and white parents of any high school in DeKalb County. If you haven't stood on the track during football practice and observed how much interaction, friendship and cooperation there is across racial lines at Tucker, then you really don't get it.

3. I would imagine that there are people out there who are frustrated by the number of black athletes who choose to use loopholes in the system to attend Tucker High School.

4. Success breeds success. It was well-publicized in the local media that Tucker had 12 kids earn football scholarships this year. Sure enough, it seems that lately more black athletes than ever are figuring out ways to get to Tucker High. I've mentioned it in passing on here, but one of the better QB's in the county has decided to transfer to Tucker in the fall now that D.T. has graduated. Right now, Tucker is *very* attractive.

5. What better way to make Tucker seem unattractive than to paint THS as a racist environment???

cthomer5000

05-26-2004, 05:05 AM

Ben E Lou

05-26-2004, 05:06 AM

(More, because I didn't want my first post to get *TOO* long. ;))

A factoid for those who don't know the demographics of our community: South DeKalb is 95%+ black--and a good chunk of it is black middle class. Last time I checked, South DeKalb had the second-largest black middle-class-or-higher population in the nation. North DeKalb is majority white middle class. Tucker is the school farthest south that has a significant number of white people. The next line of schools to the south: Stone Mountain, Clarkston and Avondale, all are less than 10% white.

My working theory is this: There is a contingent of black folks who are, and very rightly so, proud of the South DeKalb community. They want to see the schools in South DeKalb excel in every way. The once-proud football programs at Redan and Southwest DeKalb in particular are no longer state powers, and the other 10-12 schools in South DeKalb, who used to at least be competitive, are mediocre or just flat-out suck. Tucker beat McNair, who romped through a mostly-South-DeKalb region in the regular season, by a 30-0 score in the playoffs, and it could have been *much* worse. Tucker's arch-rival, Marist (a North DeKalb private school), beat SW DeKalb, probably the best of the South DeKalb schools last year, by a 35-3 count. In the 90's there was a lot of jealousy and frustration from South DeKalb folks toward Dunwoody High School, a far-North DeKalb High School that won a state championship by (I'm stating it the way a lot of people see it...) hiring a black football coach, who recruited the best players from South DeKalb to come play for him. Lately, the lightning-rod for the same scorn/criticism from South DeKalb has to be Tucker. Many of the star athletes at Tucker who I've reported on in my dynasty thread live much further south in the county than the Tucker district.

I'm guessing that this is a conspiracy. The faxing-to-media-outlets just seems too weird to me. This sounds like way to paint Tucker as racist to scare black athletes away, and I'm not alone in this theory. Thoughts?

Ben E Lou

05-26-2004, 05:19 AM

Not specific to Tucker, but I think in general the media seems to love a good "hate crime" story. I think it's always overexaggerated. Does one (or or a couple) jackass speak for the feelings of a city or state? No chance.I agree 100%, but so far they've reported the facts, as they are, accurately. However, they definitely angled the "fear factor" in, and found a parent willing to give 'em some juicy quotes. The black parents I've talked to aren't in the least bit concerned about "racism in Tucker."

Ragone

05-26-2004, 06:05 AM

I'm fairly certain it's safe to assume the Racial word of choice was the "N" word..

What bothers me to no end is how kids throw it around to each other like its a nickname.. and not a derogatory term.. I think we as a society are becoming more and more detached from the fact that it's still a issue.. and a matter of respect.

But its hard to respect the up and coming society, the next generation if you will.. if they cannot respect themselves.

GrantDawg

05-26-2004, 06:07 AM

Ben E Lou

05-26-2004, 06:16 AM

That is an amazing stat. I grew up in Stone Mountain and went to a 99% white elementary school (there was only one black kid in the whole school my last year there in 1981). My sister went to Redan and the vast majority of black kids in that school were bussed in (back then, Dekalb was under a federal court order for bussing). To hear that they are 90% black now is incredible. Where did all the white people go? (They went to Rockdale, Newton and Walton, I have discovered)Redan and Stone Mountain in particular underwent *incrediblly* fast racial transition in the early 90's. It happened faster than anyone was prepared for. I was responsible for re-starting YL at Redan beginning in the 1994-'95 school year, so I know it pretty well. (We had a guitars-and-country/folk-music oriented club that was booming in the late 80's. It died with the racial transition. We re-started with a gospel/rap oriented ministry that year.) By then, the school was around 98 percent black--and mostly middle class. Hidden Hills Golf and Country Club is now virtually all-black.

GrantDawg

05-26-2004, 06:16 AM

By the way, I talked to Skydog about this yesterday. It may be that this is a conspiracy working against Tucker football (believable considering how important football is in Dekalb. In that case, this would end up the work of black kids or adults). I think the sawing down of the goalpost may be symbolic of that.

But as I pointed out to him yesterday, it is conceivable that it was racist kids. Some people stupid enough to be racist are also lazy enough not to move out of an area that has demographically changed. It wouldn't be a surprise to me if this was a handfull of redneck kids "acting out" in a way in which they feel they can get away with. Then someone else is using this to paint Tucker as a "racist" community. More oppertunistic than a true conspiracy.

GrantDawg

05-26-2004, 06:19 AM

Hidden Hills Golf and Country Club is now virtually all-black.Roland Office and Jerry Royster were a couple of the few black families that lived in Hidden Hills back then. Pretty nice golf course, too.

Ben E Lou

05-26-2004, 06:23 AM

It wouldn't be a surprise to me if this was a handfull of redneck kids "acting out" in a way in which they feel they can get away with. Then someone else is using this to paint Tucker as a "racist" community. More oppertunistic than a true conspiracy.I agree that it is a possibility, but I'd be surprised that the word got out. It was painted over before any kids got to school, and kept quiet until the media got word via the faxes. That's the part that is still confusing. What isn't is this: whoever sent those faxes had a bigger agenda than a handful of redneck kids acting out.

Ragone

05-26-2004, 06:26 AM

Ben E Lou

05-26-2004, 06:44 AM

woah woah woah wait a second.. the only way the media would have ran a story like that from a fax.. was if it was from a source.. inside the school.. not from some random joe schmoe.. sounds like you got some kinda conspiracy going on there..An anonymous weekend fax to media outlets referred to an "unlawful malicious terroristic threat" and urged that parents be warned of the "potentially dangerous . . . hostile atmosphere at Tucker High."So, are you saying that you think the faxer identified themselves to the media, but asked to remain anoymous?

A more likely scenario is this:

1. Principal decides best course of action is to paint over it, and let it die.
2. Media gets fax.
3. Media calls THS to confirm if it happened.
4. Principal tells the truth, that it did happen.
5. Media reports story.

SFL Cat

05-26-2004, 06:55 AM

Unless of course, the reporter called the school to check with officials to see if the info in the fax was true. Some reporters do still check on things like that.

*edit* oops SD beat me to it.

I can see it both ways. Perhaps white elements at Tucker, who have seen the racial transition in South DeKalb, do not want the same thing happening there, and did this to "scare off" the influx of black athletes at the school. As others have suggested, I can also see black elements resentful that increasing number of their athletes are transfering to Tucker are trying to manufacture a "bad rep" for the school. My gut feeling tells me its the former, but I find the second scenario plausible as well.

Ragone

05-26-2004, 06:55 AM

So the question is.. who has the most to gain from undermining the school adminstration? Cause its obvious the principal didn't want the story to get out

Ben E Lou

05-26-2004, 07:04 AM

I can see it both ways. Perhaps white elements at Tucker, who have seen the racial transition in South DeKalb, do not want the same thing happening there, and did this to "scare off" the influx of black athletes at the school. As others have suggested, I can also see black elements resentful that increasing number of their athletes are transfering to Tucker are trying to manufacture a "bad rep" for the school. My gut feeling tells me its the former, but I find the second scenario plausible as well.I can definitely see how one would think that the former is a possibility. However, like in many Southern communities, while most of the players are black, the game-day attendance, non-parent Quarterback Club membership and financial support are all heavily majority white. There are a *lot* of white people that have a ton personally invested in the football program at Tucker. Sure, there could be a few who want to "scare off", but the racial demographic has pretty much stabilized at Tucker over the last few years. (If anything, the white population looks to be slightly *increasing* over the next few years...) 10-15 athletes in each class don't make that big of a difference.

Ben E Lou

05-26-2004, 07:07 AM

So the question is.. who has the most to gain from undermining the school adminstration? Cause its obvious the principal didn't want the story to get outhttp://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/images/icons/icon3.gif {Smacks head} http://dynamic2.gamespy.com/~fof/forums/images/icons/icon3.gif

I got it! It was one of the black assistant principals!!!!!

:D

Ragone

05-26-2004, 07:09 AM

heh Or maybe it was someone starting their world geography final a little early? without spell check? :)

Tekneek

05-26-2004, 07:16 AM

Damn. This is 2004, right? Sometimes I wonder. If they are so proud of themselves and their idiotic beliefs, they should go on TV and talk about it. Don't destroy and vandalize public property under the cover of darkness. Get out in the spotlight and reveal yourself. If the fax was to have been from the perpetrators, they should be able to nab them.

I hope there wasn't anyone who felt threatened by it. At least it wasn't football season and there is plenty of time to replace the goalpost (although I don't recall there being a whole lot of time spent practicing field goals/extra points in highschool football anyway).

SFL Cat

05-26-2004, 07:21 AM

GrantDawg

05-26-2004, 07:26 AM

JonInMiddleGA

05-26-2004, 07:26 AM

A more likely scenario is this:

1. Principal decides best course of action is to paint over it, and let it die.
2. Media gets fax.
3. Media calls THS to confirm if it happened.
4. Principal tells the truth, that it did happen.
5. Media reports story.
Just based on my experiences in & around the Atlanta media, I'd say you've hit on an extremely likely chain of events.

Still, if there's anyone with something to gain from blowing this out of proportion, it's the media -- especially the Atlanta TV media. As someone mentioned up the thread a bit, the media just loves a good racial angle. And I don't believe there are many places where that's more true than Atlanta.

Sidebar question -- There's been something that I haven't been clear about since the original story broke yesterday (and I haven't been following this too closely, so it may have been cleared up already) -- did the principal order it painted over before notifying police or after calling them? If he did it beforehand, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he is at least reprimanded by the school system for destroying evidence. Even if his intentions was good, pure, and proper, seems to me the cops at least needed to see the scene intact.

Anyhow, FWIW -- this strikes me as more opportunistic than conspiracy with regard to the football angle. Especially if the opportunity presented itself in a scenario such as "Adult-learns-of-senior-prank-plan -- adult-decides-that-senior-pranks-are-part-of-school-life-but-hates-to-see-
an-opportunity-go-unexploited". (note: "senior pranks" aren't always limited to pranking your own school, IMO it could easily have been done by students from elsewhere).

GrantDawg

05-26-2004, 07:30 AM

Sidebar question -- There's been something that I haven't been clear about since the original story broke yesterday (and I haven't been following this too closely, so it may have been cleared up already) -- did the principal order it painted over before notifying police or after calling them? If he did it beforehand, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he is at least reprimanded by the school system for destroying evidence. Even if his intentions was good, pure, and proper, seems to me the cops at least needed to see the scene intact.

Good question, and if the police were informed that would be how the "mysterious faxer" got the information.

SFL Cat

05-26-2004, 07:38 AM

Just based on my experiences in & around the Atlanta media, I'd say you've hit on an extremely likely chain of events.

Still, if there's anyone with something to gain from blowing this out of proportion, it's the media -- especially the Atlanta TV media. As someone mentioned up the thread a bit, the media just loves a good racial angle. And I don't believe there are many places where that's more true than Atlanta.

Sidebar question -- There's been something that I haven't been clear about since the original story broke yesterday (and I haven't been following this too closely, so it may have been cleared up already) -- did the principal order it painted over before notifying police or after calling them? If he did it beforehand, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he is at least reprimanded by the school system for destroying evidence. Even if his intentions was good, pure, and proper, seems to me the cops at least needed to see the scene intact.

Anyhow, FWIW -- this strikes me as more opportunistic than conspiracy with regard to the football angle. Especially if the opportunity presented itself in a scenario such as "Adult-learns-of-senior-prank-plan -- adult-decides-that-senior-pranks-are-part-of-school-life-but-hates-to-see-
an-opportunity-go-unexploited". (note: "senior pranks" aren't always limited to pranking your own school, IMO it could easily have been done by students from elsewhere).

Yeah, I recall there were always minor "vandalism" incidents between our school and our big county school rival, especially during the summer months. The worst I can remember was that the courtyard statue of our school's mascot had its head knocked off one night, and a week later the statue of their mascot was mysteriously toppled -- heavy police patrols put a stop to the nonsense after that.

Ben E Lou

05-26-2004, 07:50 AM

Still, if there's anyone with something to gain from blowing this out of proportion, it's the media -- especially the Atlanta TV media. As someone mentioned up the thread a bit, the media just loves a good racial angle. And I don't believe there are many places where that's more true than Atlanta.Excellent point.

Sidebar question -- There's been something that I haven't been clear about since the original story broke yesterday (and I haven't been following this too closely, so it may have been cleared up already) -- did the principal order it painted over before notifying police or after calling them? If he did it beforehand, I wouldn't be surprised in the least if he is at least reprimanded by the school system for destroying evidence. Even if his intentions was good, pure, and proper, seems to me the cops at least needed to see the scene intact.I'm not sure if it was before or after, but I know it was fast. The school has a campus police office (resource officer I believe they are called). I'd imagine that he at least told him before he did anything.

(note: "senior pranks" aren't always limited to pranking your own school, IMO it could easily have been done by students from elsewhere).There are plenty of people in Tucker who would LOVE to see some Marist kids get nailed for this. ;) (It has been my experience that, in general, people from Tucker loathe Marist a good bit more than far-left Dems loathe Dubya.)

Ben E Lou

05-26-2004, 07:54 AM

At least it wasn't football season and there is plenty of time to replace the goalpost (although I don't recall there being a whole lot of time spent practicing field goals/extra points in highschool football anyway).This is a semi-big-time program, don't forget. I saw four kicking-only specialists at spring practice (all soccer players). All they do at practice is kick. :)

What is ironic is that if they were trying to disrupt anything, they definitely tore down the wrong goal post. Kicking practice is pretty much always done at the other goalpost, because there is much more dead space to retrieve balls on that end of the field. The field is only used for practice, not games. There really isn't a compelling reason to replace that goalpost. ;)

Ben E Lou

05-26-2004, 08:01 AM

Having grown up in a Southern town myself, I could also see this as the result of angry white elements who might think that out-of-district black athletes have unfairly taken starting slots that would have gone to white athletes if they weren't there. I would think this could especially be the case if Tucker has become a college recruiting hotbed.To some degree, I do feel sorry for the kid (white) who was somewhat in line to be the next starting QB before the Lithonia kid came on the radar. However, even in his case, his parents are still *very* involved. In fact, his father cut the grass and painted fresh lines on the field for the spring game--the game in which his son would be relegated to #2 QB behind the black transfer.

(Actually, the #2 QB's family is an example of what I referred to earlier in the thread. They are "re-move-ins." They lived in the far-north, lilly-white suburb of Alpharetta for a few years, and chose to move back nearer to town, to Tucker, as their first child approached high school age. I respect them a ton for that decision.)

Samdari

05-26-2004, 09:25 AM

woah woah woah wait a second.. the only way the media would have ran a story like that from a fax.. was if it was from a source.. inside the school.. not from some random joe schmoe.. sounds like you got some kinda conspiracy going on there..

I wish that were true. The media does not work that way anymore. These days even respected media outlets have an attitude of "get it fast" rather than "get it right." Besides, the fax does not need to be from anyone in particular for the report reading "We recieved a fax claiming..." to be accurate.

JonInMiddleGA

05-26-2004, 09:37 AM

These days even respected media outlets have an attitude of "get it fast" rather than "get it right."
LOL, because you just reminded me of a (now) old joke that used to make the rounds in Atlanta about one particular TV station.

We sometimes joked that their station news motto was incomplete, and that if it ran in full would read:
"Dedicated ... Determined ... Dependable ... 2 out of 3 ain't bad"

digamma

05-26-2004, 10:33 AM

Redan and Stone Mountain in particular underwent *incrediblly* fast racial transition in the early 90's. It happened faster than anyone was prepared for. I was responsible for re-starting YL at Redan beginning in the 1994-'95 school year, so I know it pretty well. (We had a guitars-and-country/folk-music oriented club that was booming in the late 80's. It died with the racial transition. We re-started with a gospel/rap oriented ministry that year.) By then, the school was around 98 percent black--and mostly middle class. Hidden Hills Golf and Country Club is now virtually all-black.
I started at Hambrick Elementary in 1984 in the 3rd grade. There were three total minorities (of any race or ethnicity) in my class of 30 people. By the time I graduated from Stone Mountain High School ten years later it was more than 65% black.

Buzzbee

05-26-2004, 10:34 AM

Considering it was done at the end of the school year, it just SMACKS of senior prank. My theory is that it was kids from a rival high shcool (McNair? Marist perhaps?). When the graffiti was painted over, before anyone really saw it, the prank was pretty much submarined. What good is a senior prank if nobody knows about it? Therefore, the fax (over the weekend) to the new stations. The pranksters wanted credit, but since school was out (Friday) the vandals had pretty much missed their window of recognition. In regard to the goal post, my guess is that it was for impact/bragging rights. Spray painting graffiti on a track is pretty low on the totem pole of senior pranks. Cutting down the goal post kicks it up a notch.

Just my theory. Of course, I'm curious if the police will try to get phone records to see if they can determine where the faxes originated. It would be pretty funny if my theory is correct and the pranksters were nailed because they faxed it from their PC.

digamma

05-26-2004, 10:38 AM

Ben E Lou

05-26-2004, 12:16 PM

I guess this is playing off GrantDawg's post earlier in the thread, but often times there are football counter-cultures at schools in the South. I noticed this particularly when I spent time in Valdosta. Typically, these groups are white "punk" or "alternative" kids. In Valdosta, the problems they were having were with Satanic cult-like behavior. I think it would be pretty easy for a group of a few kids like this to develop racist feelings at a place like Tucker.I will definitely confirm that there is a small skater/punk/alternative culture at THS (maybe 30ish kids). They all hang together, and you never see them at football games. (They were sitting in the first section to the right of you at Awards Day. You may have noticed them cheering every time an "alternative" kid's name was called.) However, the problem with that theory is that there are two black kids who are very much "insiders" this group. A black girl in particular seems to be becoming sort of the "queen bee," and is only a freshman.

Of course, on second thought, that could fit into your theory. "They're even taking over OUR group!" Hmmmm....

chinaski

05-26-2004, 12:23 PM

I will definitely confirm that there is a small skater/punk/alternative culture at THS (maybe 30ish kids). They all hang together, and you never see them at football games. (They were sitting in the first section to the right of you at Awards Day. You may have noticed them cheering every time an "alternative" kid's name was called.) However, the problem with that theory is that there are two black kids who are very much "insiders" this group. A black girl in particular seems to be becoming sort of the "queen bee," and is only a freshman.

Of course, on second thought, that could fit into your theory. "They're even taking over OUR group!" Hmmmm....
Skater/Punk/Goth kids.... racists? gimme a break, if anything they are the least racist you will find. Why dont you look up in the hills around Tucker High, there arent any major redneck kids out there?

Ben E Lou

05-26-2004, 12:28 PM

Skater/Punk/Goth kids.... racists? gimme a breakI've seen it before. There was a brutal beating with screaming of racial epithets in Atlanta a few years back, done by 20-something skater/punk/goth types.

Samdari

05-26-2004, 12:41 PM

Skater/Punk/Goth kids.... racists? gimme a break, if anything they are the least racist you will find. Why dont you look up in the hills around Tucker High, there arent any major redneck kids out there?

You are unwisey categorizing two groups here. The group of skater/punk/goth kids you are familiar with are not racist, but they are a small percentage of people who would fit that archetype.

In general, hate, stupidity and needless violence come from all classes of people, all races and geographic origin.

chinaski

05-26-2004, 01:05 PM

You are unwisey categorizing two groups here. The group of skater/punk/goth kids you are familiar with are not racist, but they are a small percentage of people who would fit that archetype.

In general, hate, stupidity and needless violence come from all classes of people, all races and geographic origin.
Right, a skater/punk/goth - just like every human on this planet - has the ability to be racist.

I only commented because of these 2 quotes, which were pointing out people simply because they are 'alternative'. Just because a group of people dont participate in the high school bs, they become outsiders, they are SO different, they must be bad!

Typically, these groups are white "punk" or "alternative" kids. In Valdosta, the problems they were having were with Satanic cult-like behavior. and

I will definitely confirm that there is a small skater/punk/alternative culture at THS (maybe 30ish kids). They all hang together, and you never see them at football games. (They were sitting in the first section to the right of you at Awards Day. You may have noticed them cheering every time an "alternative" kid's name was called.)

druez

05-26-2004, 02:02 PM

Knowing absolutely nothing about this at all, I'm going to make up a few scenerios.

1. There is a white player, who was benched or didn't get to play at his chosen position because a black player got the spot.

2. Some rednecks were board and thought they would have em selves a good time.

3. This was really done in protest of the law that doesn't allow piercings anymore. "not sure how that fits but it might"

I don't get it to tell you the truth. Its obvious the community itself has good / excellent racial harmony. This is just a bad apple, they happen everywhere. I hope the community and the students just go on about their lives and you guys stop giving it so much attention. That is what the person was trying to do create problems, division and attention. So the best thing to do IMHO is to simply go about your lives as you always have, play football and have fun.