See, i was actually on board with WhySoCicero’s argument until that part, because in my mind (and it sounds like yours as well) the noose thing was equally if not more damaging than the “march of shame.”

I still think shaming is a fantastically bad way to deal with these kids, but what they did was very very (more)…

I know! Best to let the police handle this. That way, the black kid’s will receive the punishment, and everyone’s freedoms will be upheld. (Except for the black ones. But that doesn’t matter. Because black.)

FYI Bob dude is just a racist, concern troll. Don’t waste your time, Milton.

It says there were also comments and you don’t know what those comments were. As the incident concerns students harassing fellow students the school is entirely within bounds to discipline the offending students involved. That doesn’t preclude or prevent the police getting involved.

Fighting words have never been protected under the first amendment. Drawing a noose around a fellow student’s neck certainly fits the definition of fighting words as it’s threatening and harassing besides. Expressing racism is legal. Invoking racialized violence against your peers is illegal and always has been.

They were posting/sharing/commenting on images of black girls from the student body and comparing them to apes. This was targeted at specific individuals that attend the school. I feel like the school has an obligation to intervene.

The article did not do a good job of clearing up who was in the pictures.

The images were of other students with nooses around their necks which isn’t protected speech.

Fighting words are not protected speech and drawing a noose around a fellow student’s neck probably meets the standard of a threat. Harassment is different than simply expressing an unpopular opinion, this violates the rights of others.

Well the GOP does want to get back to the glory days of Eisenhower’s administration!

Nah, I think the issue is that since it was done publicly, online, and directed at other students/school officials, it is effectively everywhere.

If anyone knows any people (like in my instance, my parents) who were little kids during this time, go ahead and ask them how it was growing up in the pre-Salk days.

They literally shudder when they talk about how deathly afraid their own parents were about standing water (particularly swimming pools) and how their…

I think there is a strong argument to be made that although this happened off of school grounds, because it happened online it can affect other students everywhere that there is internet access (if that makes sense). This isnt some graffiti painted on an old warehouse somewhere, its students publicly creating a racist…

Ah the good old days when we were men where we fought diseases like men. Sure diseases caused blindness, paralysis, death, and more but if you made it through you were a MAN! Then America got all soft and I blame science, BAH! What did science ever give us but make us all into a bunch of pansies who are too scared to…

Racism thrives when you accept it as just another, completely legitimate competing viewpoint.

I was all set to defend the kids until I read the original story.

The public shaming aside, high school students do not get unlimited first amendment protections. The school is empowered to limit or punish speech if it has the potential to be disruptive.

March of Shame?