this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2024
174 points (97.8% liked)

News

23296 readers
3412 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

The chat was allegedly created by a group of 8th-grade students and involved some of the juveniles expressing “hateful and racist comments" and a mock slave auction.

Six juveniles in Massachusetts were charged in a racial online bullying incident that involved "heinous" language, threats of "violence toward people of color" and a mock slave auction, the district attorney for Hampden County said.

Students from Southwick, about 104 miles southwest of Boston, allegedly participated in a "hateful, racist online" Snapchat discussion between Feb. 8 and Feb. 9, Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said in a statement on Facebook.

Gulluni said he became aware of the incident on Feb. 15 and immediately called on the Massachusetts State Police Detective Unit to investigate.

On Thursday, at the conclusion of the investigation, the district attorney authorized members of the Detective Unit and the Chief of the Juvenile Court Unit to pursue criminal charges against the juveniles.

all 42 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 39 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Where did they get all of that from? I'm guessing the racist apple doesn't fall far from the racist tree.

[–] KoboldCoterie@pawb.social 29 points 8 months ago

The district attorney initiated forward-looking steps to "prevent future harm, encourage empathy, and build stronger communities free of hate."

They include a curriculum around hate and bullying being delivered to the Southwick school community and a partnership with the attorney general's office to create a program that addresses and remediates the harmful forces of bigotry, racism and bullying in schools.

I appreciate that the response, at least, wasn't "Crucify these specific kids and ignore the underlying symptoms".

[–] Stovetop@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Other than a few pockets of blue, Western Massachusetts is very rural and leans conservative. I try to avoid going out that far if I can help it.

These kids would be right at home in the South.

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

Boston has had its share of racism issues too.

[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Southwick is basically Connecticut. It's literally the little weird bump at the bottom of Massachusetts (called the "Southwick Jog"). It is also, unsurprisingly, one of the most Trump-leaning areas in the entire state.

WESTERN Mass is actually deeply blue like eastern Mass. It's really central Mass and then the area around the Southwick Jog that are the "pockets" of red. I.e., https://media.wbur.org/wp/2020/11/1105_Mass-Map-1000x531.png

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 24 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (4 children)

As disgusting as this event was, I’m not sure pressing charges against 8th graders is good practice. These are kids, they need education, not the criminal justice system.

Ironically, this is the same practice that has caused incredible harm to students of color. But not all equality is equally good.

[–] JustUseMint@lemmy.world 4 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I couldn't agree more. This will ruin these kids lives over stupid kid shit

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It’s a tough issue because I’ve also seen similar behavior defended as “it’s just kids being kids” to dismiss the seriousness of what happened and deflect from any corrective actions. This is not healthy or harmless behavior for kids to be engaging in and it does need to be addressed. I just don’t think the courts are the best tool for the job.

Unfortunately, our society has largely failed to develop any rehabilitative or restorative forms of justice and so we often get stuck between doing nothing or turning to state violence. Neither of which is going to make the situation better.

[–] JoBo@feddit.uk 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

How is it ruining their lives? They haven't even been tried yet, let alone sentenced.

These are the kids who will turn into the adults that will ruin, and end, many lives. Early intervention is the best option.

Not that the US criminal justice system is good at this kind of thing but ... they're white, middle-class kids. The chance of them getting a custodial is way, way lower than if one of them accused a Black kid of, say, stealing their rucksack.

[–] JustUseMint@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

Because our legal system is awful and not at all focused on rehabilitation, it's all punishment and making minor offenders into life long felons. You're acting like this is unheard of

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

How is it ruining their lives? They haven't even been tried yet, let alone sentenced.

And...you think that's not going to happen? You know something we don't?

[–] JoBo@feddit.uk 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It does seem vanishingly unlikely, yes. For all the reasons already given.

Certainly too soon to be demanding they be let off with a pat on the head.

[–] yetAnotherUser@feddit.de 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

They have been suspended from school without a trial, for a crime which didn't happen at school.

I'm sure the retaliation-only US justice system will work wonders, can't have the private prison industry lose money after all.

[–] JoBo@feddit.uk 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Oh no, suspended for bullying. So cruel, making them face the consequences of their actions. You should go on hunger strike or something, to highlight the plight of these poor little angels.

[–] yetAnotherUser@feddit.de -1 points 8 months ago

You're arguing in bad faith and putting words in my mouth

Suspending students from school for weeks, while protecting the victims temporarily from contact, has the side effect of withholding education from children. Surely they won't miss anything important while suspended for 4-8 weeks, it's not like education (or rather the lack thereof) and crime has a strong correlation.

Any justice system should have these priorities:

  1. Protecting current victim(s)
  2. Preventing future victimizations.
  3. Rehabilitating the perpetrator(s)

The U.S. justice system sole priority is bloodlust. That's part of the reason police brutality goes largely ignored: it only affects "criminals" and they deserve it anyway.

Now: how does the "tough on crime" attitude of the prosecution as reflected in the article protect current or future victims for more than a few months?

[–] tym@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Massachusetts is very puritan to this day. This punishment makes sense when you consider the state it happened in.

[–] steakmeoutt@sh.itjust.works -3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I’m afraid you don’t understand what’s happening here. Pressing charges is what leads to actual budgeting to develop and engage education to improve the situation for everyone involved, including the perpetrators.

[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 5 points 8 months ago

Is it? I have not heard of any such process, can you provide more information?

[–] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

Well at least we're not teaching proper American history to these kids, or they may have realized that what they were doing was monstrous and felt guilty about it. We can't be making white kids feel guilty, y'all.

[–] catloaf@lemm.ee 1 points 8 months ago (2 children)

What is a "mock slave auction"?

[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 8 months ago

Joking about setting up a venue in which white people bid on black chattel slaves. Literal human trafficking and insanely racist. It's what Americans did in the Antebellum (pre-Civil War) South.

[–] prole@sh.itjust.works 11 points 8 months ago

Seems kind of self-explanatory...?