Is it time to rethink the anti-bullying rules?

[dcbogey]

I read this story and was thoroughly disgusted. Have we come so far that someone can't defend themselves in the school yard?

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090430.wkeswick30art22312/BNStory/National/home

Black belt teen strikes back at bully, and rallies community against racism

JOE FRIESEN
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
April 30, 2009 at 4:21 AM EDT
KESWICK, ONT. — The 15-year-old black belt thought he was doing his tormentor a favour when he elected to fight back with his weaker left hand.

He had heard his white classmate throw an angry racial slur in his direction after an argument during a gym class game of speedball, and now the student was shoving him backward, refusing to retract the smear.

The white student swung first, hitting the 15-year-old with a punch to the mouth.

The 15-year-old heard his father's voice running through his head: Fight only as a last resort, only in self-defence, only if given no choice, and only with the left hand.

His swing was short and compact, a left-handed dart that hit the white student square on the nose.

The nose broke under his fist, igniting a sequence of events - from arrest to suspension to possible expulsion - that has left the Asian student and his family wondering whether they are welcome in this small, rural and mostly white community north of Toronto, one that has been touched by anti-Asian attacks in the past.

The 15-year-old, the only person charged in connection with the April 21 school fight, faces one count of assault causing bodily harm.

 

[Back Burner]

Not to worry. This thing has gotten so much media attention the charges will be dropped.

 

[dcbogey]

Not to worry. This thing has gotten so much media attention the charges will be dropped.

Perhaps - but what about the instigator? And, more importantly, why should someone who defends themselves have to depend on "media attention" to right a wrong?

 

[The LoLRus]

Not to worry. This thing has gotten so much media attention the charges will be dropped.

Charges never shouldve been filed in the first place (assuming it really was self-defense)

 

[escortsxxx]

Zero tolerence

As I understand it charges are always laid now if someone gets hurt, no matter what, in school at any rate. Thus the rise in cyber bullying and other meathods of non violent torture, which their are currently no rules against.

QUOTE=The LoLRus]Charges never shouldve been filed in the first place (assuming it really was self-defense)[/QUOTE]

 

[dcbogey]

As I understand it charges are always laid now if someone gets hurt, no matter what, in school at any rate.

So why wasn't the instigator charged?

 

[dcbogey]

Thus the rise in cyber bullying and other meathods of non violent torture, which their are currently no rules against.

True - so why not let the kids settle it on the playground? It seemed to work in the past, why not now? I know we didn't have the ability to cyber bully a few years ago but there is something to be said for for being able to face the bully and take your chances - mano-a-mano, so to speak.

 

[The LoLRus]

So why wasn't the instigator charged?

Because this is Canada

 

[dcbogey]

There should be only one person charged with assault, the white kid who threw the first punch!

I think most would agree. My question is how did we get this place where the other kid is the one charged? The pendulum has gone way too far the wrong way.

 

[Aardvark154]

Several points:

Legally if not perhaps in the way most people think - in general you have a duty to retreat if you can. Bob hits me, if I can get way from Bob and call the police, legally I can't karate chop Bob in the neck and of course I can't use lethal force if Bob has not.

However in mitigation the black belt teen is only 15 years old.

Despite using his left hand was a strike to the nose (which is taught in military self defence as a potential lethal move) appropriate or an escalation.

So you the instigator don't like the kid - don't you have anything better to say than an ethnic slur? Unfortunately it says far more about the instigator (negatively) that seemingly the most important reason he didn't like the Korean kid is that he is Korean or doesn't speak English fluently.

Nice that most of the School stuck up for the Korean Teen (I call him that merely because the article gives no name).

Too bad that it apparently took that to make the York Regional Police take a real look at the case.

 

[alexmst]

I broke a classmate's nose when I was in 3rd grade.

He stole my lunch, and when I said "Give it back" he gave me the finger and told me to go F--- off. I punched him once in the nose, and, while it wasn't my intention, broke it.

As it turned out, I didn't get to enjoy my lunch afterall as I got hauled to the principal's office and chewed out for an hour by him, threatened with a whipping, etc, but then I got to go back to class as normal. The other kid went to the nurses station. Back then the police found other things to do than investigate schoolroom brawls.

His parents came to the school to get him. His father said he was going to kick my ass, but after the teacher explained the lead up to the punch his dad said to the teacher "Well, if my son wants to be a foul-mouthed thief, then he deserves what he got".

 

[dcbogey]

Aardie - thanks for the legal input. I understand the requirement to walk away if possible. In this case I suspect this wasn't the first time the racial slur was used, especially since the cousin of the instigator used the same slur the next day.
So far, only the Korean teen has been charged but a there is an hate-crime investigator looking at the situation.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090430.wkeswick0430/BNStory/National/home

At the end of the article - a thoughtful comment from the father "The boy's father said he hopes the media attention doesn't place too much pressure on everyone involved. He doesn't want this incident preceding his son into every classroom, colouring every teacher's perception of his character. But he said he can't concede without a fight."

 

[squash500]

I've been reading about this incident in the Toronto Sun for the past couple of days. That's why my intellect is so high--lol. For all you americans on Terb the Toronto Sun doesn't usually attract the high brow readers of Toronto society.

The incident took place in Keswick which is a small town near Newmarket. Keswick has a very small asian population. What happened according to the newspaper articles is that this white kid in gym class punched this 15 year old black belt chinese guy in the face and began calling him a "fu***** chinese.

the 15 year old chinese guy couldn't take the bullying and racial slurs anymore and broke the instigators nose and the instigator also suffered a deviated septum as a result of the chinese guys punch. The chinese guy was the only one originally charged because according to the paper he did extensive physical damage to this instigator bully.

It was only after the entire keswick high school launched a protest for a day where they all boycotted classes in support of this chinese guy that the chief of the york regional police decided to reopen the case once the media got wind of what was going on.

I personally don't blame the 15 year old black belt one bit for what he did. Bullying in schools has got to stop. I really hope that the instigator gets charged as well. IMHO an even better result would be if all charges were completely withdrawn!

 

[dcbogey]

Ah, I remember the good 'ol days.

As a newbie to a school I moved to in grade 3, I got all the attention, much to the chagrin of a class bully & primadonna, who was even bigger than me. He rallied a whole bunch of classmates against me after class. Outside he shoved and pushed me, and I did the same back to him which is what he was looking for - an escalation. Eventually, being a wuss, I lost the fight and went home crying, but I did not forget.

I got my bigger cousin to kick the bully's ass - who taught him a lesson, 'pick on someone your own size'.

This used to be the natural order of things. I'm not sure that today's way is any better.

 

[Insidious Von]

As an immigrant to Canada at a young age I have ample experience with bullies. There are two items to consider when dealing with bullies.

-Bullies do not attack unless they have a position of advantage.
-Bullies spend an inordinate amount of time maintaining their cadre of support.
-Bullies will never get into a tormentee's face one on one, they cannot risk the loss of control.*
-Bullies will always sneak the sucker punch in as long as they know intervention is forthcoming.

*The anti-bullying ad with the bully confronting the target in the stairwell is unrealistic. When I was a kid I could only dream of that happening to me, my response would have been swift and decisive.

As to music videos promoting the thugh lifestyles; dont forget a thugh is an adult bully - a coward at heart.

 

[lawyerman]

I've been reading about this incident in the Toronto Sun for the past couple of days. That's why my intellect is so high--lol. For all you americans on Terb the Toronto Sun doesn't usually attract the high brow readers of Toronto society.

The incident took place in Keswick which is a small town near Newmarket. Keswick has a very small asian population. What happened according to the newspaper articles is that this white kid in gym class punched this 15 year old black belt chinese guy in the face and began calling him a "fu***** chinese.

the 15 year old chinese guy couldn't take the bullying and racial slurs anymore and broke the instigators nose and the instigator also suffered a deviated septum as a result of the chinese guys punch. The chinese guy was the only one originally charged because according to the paper he did extensive physical damage to this instigator bully.

It was only after the entire keswick high school launched a protest for a day where they all boycotted classes in support of this chinese guy that the chief of the york regional police decided to reopen the case once the media got wind of what was going on.

I personally don't blame the 15 year old black belt one bit for what he did. Bullying in schools has got to stop. I really hope that the instigator gets charged as well. IMHO an even better result would be if all charges were completely withdrawn!

If this is the actual story, then the charges should be dropped.

Back in the day, the school jock wanted to fight me and beat the crap out of me and he wanted to prove his point to me and everyone else for that matter. We had recess (love those breaks during school...lol) and that was the time when we were supposed to fight. It took me a little while but I took him down without a scratch. Not only was he strong as hell but he was an excellent athlete so I challenged him to a race (100m) and I beat him handily. From the on, no one bothered me again. I was never in the popular crowd in school because I did not want any part of belonging to a clique. I did my own thing and I excelled in athletics (worked hard at it) and given the respect from everyone from the school. I also became quite popular because of it. It's funny though because I never went out with anyone from my high school but when I visited other schools (to meet friends or participate in a basketball game or track and field), I would pick up girls like crazy.

 

[Moraff]

True - so why not let the kids settle it on the playground? It seemed to work in the past, why not now? I know we didn't have the ability to cyber bully a few years ago but there is something to be said for for being able to face the bully and take your chances - mano-a-mano, so to speak.

I'm guessing you were never the recipient of serious bullying. Don't know where you went to school, but all the bullies I came across never settled things mano-a-mano, if there was any chance at all you might win you'd be facing many-a-mano instead.

For those who faced serious bullying back "in the past", it has had lingering effects into their adulthood for the most part.

 

[train]

So why wasn't the instigator charged?

If what the reporter wrote was completely accurate then the instigator should have been charged, or neither.

It was heartwarming to see that the kid has the support of 400 fellow students.

Not enough details to answer your question - are the cops racist - don't know.

 

[tboy]

So why wasn't the instigator charged?

Duh, cuz he was white........(and got it worse than the victim)

 

[tboy]

Agree 100%

There was a guy who kept shoving, pushing, smacking me at school. I said we should settle it after school, away from the school and we did, just the 2 of us....became friends after that.

I bet we all have stories like that. There were two that continually picked on me, stole my bike, etc. The school wouldn't do anything until the cops stepped in because of the bike. They were both WAY bigger than me. Back in my day we didn't even THINK of knives, now there's guns. The thing is, guns are a big equalizer so the little guys can put down the big ones. I wonder how many school shootings are victims taking revenge against bullies?

I know when I was the victim (and terrified of going to school) that if I had access to a handgun I most certainly would have used it.

(btw: both bullies ended up being arrested for a whole string of crimes and last I heard one was STILL in prison).