The kids at Wingfield Academy in Rotherham, Yorkshire, England, apparently held an unsanctioned
Kick-A-Ginger-Day a month early, on Friday. The Telegraph reports that
six red-headed kids were kicked and punched on the way to school to the point
that their parents were called and they were removed from school. The Telegraph points out that it’s not just
boys who are on the giving or receiving end:
Kick-A-Ginger-Day Not Funny To This Kid |
It
is both boys and girls who have been carrying out this bullying and I want
action from the school to make sure it does not happen again.”
The
father of a 13-year-old girl said his daughter had also come home with bruised
legs after being singled out because of her hair colour.
"I
think it's disgusting,” he said. “It's very upsetting for my daughter. If I
went into school and kicked a kid then I would be arrested.
The Telegraph, a national
newspaper, helpfully points out that Several
websites devoted to ‘Kick a Ginger Day’ have listed 20 November as the
‘official’ date, leading to concerns there will be further attacks on pupils
next month.
This goes back to South Park, and
to discrimination against red-heads in general.
It’s B.S. Unfortunately, satire
didn’t take with preteen kids who watch the show who don’t seem to realize that
this is the same as attacking someone because of their race and should be
treated as such.
The school stated that "The
pupils involved in carrying out these acts of violence have been strongly
reprimanded and a school-wide warning has gone out that any future acts of
violence, carried out in the name of discrimination, or any other reason, will
be met with similar strong and decisive action.”
These are 11-16 year old kids we’re
talking about. Hopefully suspensions
were doled out for the young kids and more serious punishment for the older
ones. This isn’t bullying. This is
pretty close to, or literally is, a hate-crime.
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