Actually, I agree with most of what you are saying here. Especially the part about the threat should probably not have been made. I think a wrap hold would have been much more appropriate. Along with, perhaps, a tranfer to a special needs program if it seems indicated, a referral to cps if the mother is the issue, family counseling, counseling for the child, *something* better than this.
You are right that the bit about race is an assumption. However, look at that photograph. Black child, white cops. Inappropriate use of authority. This is the South. I think there is necessarily a racial component in the circumstances, if only because I guarantee you that the child and her family now see it that way. Whether this was conciously in the mind of the teachers or the police, we don't know, but I can tell you that when my kids were smaller and doing the public school thing we moved quite a bit and there is a definite correlation between a school's corporate culture and the nature of the neighborhood it serves. Dana On 4/24/05, Jim Davis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Dana [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2005 3:13 PM > > To: CF-Community > > Subject: Re: just plain wrong > > > > Jim > > > > I've done the restrain thing, and I've seen FITS. My neighbors used to > > call the police and tell them I was beating/torturing/hurting her. > > Again, nobody ever considered arresting the *child.* Though yes, it > > truly sucked at the time. > > Again - I wasn't talking about this case but Isaac's assertion that ALL > five-year olds would fall into the same category. > > I've already said (several times) that I would have expected the educators > involved to be able to handle the case at hand. > > To address this specific case: > > I still don't know enough about it to comment on the "right" or "wrong" of > it. This is not, as you're painting it to be, a situation that got out of > hand and resulted in the police being called. > > Rather this is one point in a continuing situation. The police involved > obviously knew the family. They told both the child and the mother (for > some reason) that handcuffs would be used "next time". > > In this instance it seemed to me that the officer was following through on a > previous threat. Now following through is generally considered "good" but I > doubt this particular threat should have been made in the first place. > > Still - this only a sliver of seemingly a much larger picture. I can only > say what I would liked to think I'd have done, not what anybody else should > have done. > > > A couple of other points: > > > > If this child really has some sort of behavior problem it is up to the > > school system to provide some sort of structured learning program for > > her. One that doesn't involve handcuffs. Or do you really think this > > child has so much power (at five!) that she cannot be dealt with? Come > > on. > > Again - I'm can't say anything about _this_ child. I was addressing Isaac's > point that such force would _never_ be warranted for _any_ five-year old. > > Many children (at five!) need much more help than most public schools are > trained or have the resources to give (which is exactly why certain kids are > not in public schools). > > > And that brings me to my second point -- if this were a school in a > > nice middle class white neighborhood, that is probably the way it > > would have gone. To me, this is about arresting a black child because > > we assume she is going to wind up in jail anyway. > > Again I respect your assumption for what it is - an assumption. I see > nothing to indicate this story has a racial component. > > It seems to me that the officer involved, having had dealings with the > family before, could be viewed as going "above and beyond" if he's sticking > with the case like this. > > That could be taken both ways (he may be going out of his way to help or to > hinder) but that could definitely be the case. > > Jim Davis > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:155174 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
