Excellent point. It makes me think of how these two kids will be received by some, should they be accepted to CSU or another school where they are in the cultural minority. They’ll always be in the cultural minority, and they’ll always be falling afoul of unspoken cultural expectations they had no idea of.
Seriously. Think about it. Busybody Mom called the police because the boys were being quiet! She felt threatened by two kids who were quiet. These poor kids can’t win. It breaks my heart to hear about two boys apparently from a family without enormous means, who were so excited about CSU that they signed up for a tour by themselves (admit it, many of us signed up our sons for tours), saved up and drove themselves seven hours to see the school, only to be patted down by police for being quiet.
Native American boy’s imaginary call to the campus police: “My brother and I are on a campus tour, and this strange white woman keeps on looking at us whole time and keeps on asking our names; her entire demeanor is weird. I think she has something in her purse and might do something.”
I understand what everyone is saying and I DON’T disagree. I just refuse to make blanket statements about people I don’t know or situations I wasn’t involved in. I actually enjoy these conversations and try to understand all view points.
What I don’t like (pet peeve of mine) is when someone ends their post with the word “period”. That says to me “I have the final say, I am judge and jury with no discussion allowed”
Maybe I should take that to the “pet peeve” thread.
I don’t doubt she felt concerned or perturbed by what she thought were two strange acting Hispanic looking kids. I am just thinking if I called police on every weird acting white person I met, police would arrest me for obstructing Justice.
I think she sounded perplexed…like she should call given our country’s attention to school shootings and at the same time questioning her judgement. Colorado has had multiple mass shootings unlike many other states. I would not have called and I won’t call her derogatory names. Whoever she is, she is most likely very, very embarrassed and I suspect learned a lesson about stereotyping.
To be clear, I don’t think the kid should be blamed for the parent’s actions. I can just imagine saying - do we really want to be dealing with that level of helicopter parenting? I saw the video now, it’s even more shocking.
@bhs1978 I’m the one who said period. My feelings would not be hurt if you had directed your post to me. May I ask, since you don’t know if the woman is racist…What would have made this a racist situation to where you would categorically state that this woman is racist? I’m sincerely trying to understand your POV.
@4MyKidz I didn’t want to call anyone out. Glad you weren’t offended. As I said it’s just a pet peeve of mine.
As for your other question, I can honestly say I don’t know when I would be able to state that this woman is racist. That’s because I wasn’t there. If I was there and could read the situation then I would maybe make that judgement.
But as I said before, I’m not willing to sit in cyber judgement. Maybe it’s personal to me. I had a good friend who was accused of something. He lost his job, his family and his reputation with just one accusation. After it was investigated it was proved that they were false allegations and he was cleared at all level as, all the way to the top. But it was too late. He had already lost everything. I know that has nothing to do with this situation but I choose to try to see the good in everybody. I try very hard to look at all sides of a situation. I guess I just don’t see some of these things as clear cut as others do. There are gray areas in my opinion.
Regarding registration for the tour. What would the police do if the boys could not find the registration email? Arrest them or just tell them to leave the campus? Or just let them do what they want?
I can wander anywhere in California public colleges if I don’t walk into a lab or class that I am not enrolled for. I can read the books in the libraries (I know some private colleges require card to get in).
@bhs1978 Thank you for explaining. My quiet, introverted son is 16 yrs old, 6’1, 200+ lbs, 4.0 gpa, plays the bass in his high school orchestra, and football for his all state team…and wears black tshirts, hoodies, basketball shorts and jeans. He gets judged alot, white women clutch their purses, have crossed the street, have gotten out of elevators, I could go on and on. He is an All African American teenage boy, who has never been in trouble. I am sick of him and boys like him being treated terribly simply because someone has chosen to be judge and jury of their intent/character simply because of how they look. I stand by calling this woman a derogatory term she has earned. She’s a racist. And dare I say that she, and those who turn a blind eye, make life that much more difficult for children of color.
I lean the same way you do here. I can’t get a complete picture of this person from a single event. People who don’t want others to judge without knowing more feel righteous to do exactly that themselves. I also don’t want to “label” someone as if that is the sum total of who they are. And we know nothing else about who these people are.
I will say that the woman’s voice is identifiable, so I have no doubt that she has been (or soon will be) identified and that she will get death threats. While we don’t see people carrying out their stupid death threats, it is very likely that other consequences will ensue, perhaps significant enough to impact their lives, so rejoice if that’s your shtick. Already, posters here have rejected her child from this University (and hey, why not ALL of them?).
@bhs1978, everyone understands how unpleasant it is to be accused of something unfairly. That’s why we feel such empathy for these boys. It seems a little… contradictory, given your experience and your friend’s experience, that your instinct would be to empathize and identify with the person making the unfair accusation, instead of the kids who were unfairly accused.
Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt that she was worried about these kids. I wouldn’t have called the cops, and most here wouldn’t have, but she did. Even she realized that she was probably overreacting.
So, fine. But when the cops came, she didn’t have to melt into the crowd while the teenagers faced the police based on her call. She could have identified herself to the police, explained why she called, and stepped aside while they did their thing. Then, when it was clear that they posed no risk and belonged on the tour, she could have apologized to them, helped them catch up to the tour group, and, at the conclusion of the tour, offered to buy them lunch.
Maybe she would have learned something about them. Maybe they would have learned that she wasn’t a bad person out to humiliate them. But, she took the coward’s way out. And for that, I hold her responsible.
@bhs1978 Read the transcript of her call. She could give nothing other than they joined a tour late. So what was the difference? Oh yeah…their skin. Your inability to accept racism is exactly why racism remains a problem in this country. Until we acknowledge the problem we cannot fix it. @4MyKidz Your son sounds like a terrific young man.
