Tape Shows Beating on Bus of St. Louis Teen

[Buford T. Justice]

Pretty much what a high school beat-down looks like. This one might have been racially motivated too. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

And it's probably a good idea to know all the facts before getting all full of self-righteous indignation.

I agree with all of this.

I wonder why he did not defend himself, move, or at least cover up. He can take a punch though.:box:

[chow184]

Looks like a regular ole ass kickin to me based on the video.

The interview process will determine why.

Beating up a kid while sitting down (for sitting down) is lame.

its a sucker start.

it happened because he was the white kid trying to sit with all the "cool" black kids on the back of the bus. I've seen this same exact thing happen before back when I was in middle school.

average white kid=not welcome

if it was just some random black kid nothing probably would have happened.

it's not completely based on race,but I'd say half based on race and the other being childish ignorance and the inability to get along.

I agree with all of this.

I wonder why he did not defend himself, move, or at least cover up. He can take a punch though.:box:

you're 1 white kid sitting on a bus of 30 black kids. you want to start hitting people :laugh:

[Vicious]

Child violence should be met with extremely harsh punishment, before it spreads into their latter years. Violent people are simply not welcome in society, kids need to be taught this before they spend the rest of their lives going in and out of jail.

[aREDSKIN]

Beat-up dude just made alot of money. The school district will be sued for a nice tidy sum.

[Destino]

I see kids acting like criminals and adults acting like children. One of the things that needs to happen in politics is a return to serious adult conversations on the issues with solutions in mind.

My take on that video:

1 - Bully behavior being cheered on by students on the bus. This is nothing new at all. Most people reading this most likely remember a similar incident happening in high school. I never saw a fight that didn't include people cheering in high school.

2 - There is nothing at all to suggest race was a motive in the fight other than the race of their participants. That assumption in itself stinks of personal bias and yes that works both ways.

3 - Over simplified thinking and racism. If you happen to be the only person with purple hair in a highschool you will be targeted. If you are smaller, fatter, uglier than most you will be targeted. This is human behavior that I think most people are born with that shows itself if never corrected. We naturally group up and then naturally dislike those outside the group. Those viewed as more vulnerable are targeted by bullies and most people are too careless more mean spirited themselves to oppose it. They cheer. If race is a factor here I suspect it has more to do with the get the outcast thinking than it does "we hate white people". This concept of group thinking is too complex for lawmaking and frankly for most to consider. They will prefer to focus on race and traditional racism instead of the actual cause. After all they have political points to score with old enemies like Al Sharpton.

4 - What the hell can be done about it and who acted wrongly? The first step is obviously removing the attackers. They have to be punished because what they did is absolutely terrible. That child deserved none of what he got and a public beating while others cheer is not something easily shrugged off and forgotten. The damage done to him will last long after his bruises heal. The second issue however is the other kids on the bus. Save for the students that stepped in I personally would suspend the entire bus. Witnessing this and failing to do anything at all is a shameful act. Not everyone has to step in but what lesson are we giving children if we don't at least demand that they try to get help or at least immediately contact authorities? We are teaching them not to snitch, not to be good citizens, and to go along with the behavior of criminals. The entire lot of them should face punishment publicly. There names listed in the school paper as a lesson to the rest that this mob mentality is wrong and will not be praised or tolerated.

It is not enough to punish those that attacked in situations like this. They were seeking the praise of the mob and they got it. The mob will continue to reward those that humiliate and attack the weak because as is seen from this video that is what they think is cool. That is the cause and that must be engaged by the school.

[RedlightG20]

Well the police spokesman came back and said that he did not believe it was racially motivated. Whatever.

On a side note, the second kid who jumped in looked like he landed one or two good shots on him. Looks like he was nearly knocked out as he fell back into his seat.

And after further review, you can see that there were one or two white kids behind the fight, one of which was clearly smiling as the fight broke out. If it was truly racially motivated, he probably wouldn't have been smiling.

Here is the link for the fullsized video

http://videos.stltoday.com/p/video?id=6172583

[JonsieRB34]

2 - There is nothing at all to suggest race was a motive in the fight other than the race of their participants. That assumption in itself stinks of personal bias and yes that works both ways.

.

I agree it does not make sense to assume this was racially motivated. My comment, similar to other posters, is that if the situation were reversed, the media and general public would have already assumed this to be racially motivated. The bias works both ways but it is disproportionate.

In fact, I would wager that Sharpton (and other idiots) would argue, without any of the facts, that the white kid probably said/did something racially offensive.

[Baculus]

I would definitely say this is a racially-motivated attack. How can it not be? If the kid was singled out for his race, doesn't that fit the description?

EDIT: Yes, there may be circumstances which are not evident from the video, but it seems like these "circumstances" are always dragged into such attacks. Remember the guys who beat up that Latino -- an attack that killed him -- that were found not guilty?

[Predicto]

I would definitely say this is a racially-motivated attack. How can it not be? If the kid was singled out for his race, doesn't that fit the description?

How do you know he was singled out for his race?

He might have been. He also might have been singled out because he was a total jerkwad. Or because he had a wad of cash. We don't know.

Professor Gates assumed that he was being singled out by the Cambridge Police and hassled in his own house for racial reasons, and EVERYONE here came down on him like a ton of bricks. Yet all the same posters are perfectly willing to make the same sort of racial assumptions about this incident, and about Kanye's stupidity, and everything else that they see.

As far as I can tell, the only difference is that black people who jump to assumptions of racism must be racists themselves, while we white folks who do the exact same thing are just applying "common sense."

[Kilmer17]

"I'll take Jena Six for the win please Alex".

[Destino]

As far as I can tell, the only difference is that black people who jump to assumptions of racism must be racists themselves, while we white folks who do the exact same thing are just applying "common sense."

Good point.

[Destino]

"I'll take Jena Six for the win please Alex".

So you think the kids on that bus were all victims of institutionalized racism and were lashing out at the victim after being victims or racist attacks themselves on several occasions all of which were ignored by the authorities? I don't.

[Predicto]

"I'll take Jena Six for the win please Alex".

I dunno. The nooses hanging from the tree in that case kind of muddled the waters, and the real controversy was about whether the kids were overcharged by the DA for political reasons.

Nevertheless, the point is well taken.

[Kilmer17]

So you think the kids on that bus were all victims of institutionalized racism and were lashing out at the victim after being victims or racist attacks themselves on several occasions all of which were ignored by the authorities? I don't.

Nah. Just pointing out that this incident, liek the overwhelming majority of race card incidents, arent racially motivated at all. And as such, this one deserves the same scrutiny.

Based simply on what Ive read and watched, Ive seen nothing that indicates to me a racial motive. However, that never seems to stop it from applying in other cases.

[Destino]

Nah. Just pointing out that this incident, liek the overwhelming majority of race card incidents, arent racially motivated at all. And as such, this one deserves the same scrutiny.

Based simply on what Ive read and watched, Ive seen nothing that indicates to me a racial motive. However, that never seems to stop it from applying in other cases.

So the whole noose tree thing in the Jena Six incident wasn't a hint of a racially charged environment?

[Kilmer17]

So the whole noose tree thing in the Jena Six incident wasn't a hint of a racially charged environment?

No more than this incident. And neither are an excuse for unlawful behavior.

Sometimes teenagers fight. Just because they may be of different races doesnt automatically make it a racist event.

[Devastate]

Child violence should be met with extremely harsh punishment, before it spreads into their latter years. Violent people are simply not welcome in society, kids need to be taught this before they spend the rest of their lives going in and out of jail.

Sorry I'm a fan of irony just had to point that out "Vicious: heh

[Titaw]

Let me clarify:

Do I believe race played a role in this, DEFINATELY. Do I think it was the ONLY reason, absolutely not. If the roles were reversed the benefit of the doubt would be thrown out the window and it would INSTANTLY be called racist.

Even if the attacks aren't racially motivate Al Sharpton should go out and say that if you act in a certain way it has the possiblilty of being viewed as racially motivated. You have to be more civilized and treat others in a manner in which you would like to be treated.

[Predicto]

Let me clarify:

Do I believe race played a role in this, DEFINATELY. Do I think it was the ONLY reason, absolutely not. If the roles were reversed the benefit of the doubt would be thrown out the window and it would INSTANTLY be called racist.

Even if the attacks aren't racially motivate Al Sharpton should go out and say that if you act in a certain way it has the possiblilty of being viewed as racially motivated. You have to be more civilized and treat others in a manner in which you would like to be treated.

I think that it is unlikely that Al Sharpton will do this.

But that doesn't really prove much about anything.

[Baculus]

How do you know he was singled out for his race?

He might have been. He also might have been singled out because he was a total jerkwad. Or because he had a wad of cash. We don't know.

Professor Gates assumed that he was being singled out by the Cambridge Police and hassled in his own house for racial reasons, and EVERYONE here came down on him like a ton of bricks. Yet all the same posters are perfectly willing to make the same sort of racial assumptions about this incident, and about Kanye's stupidity, and everything else that they see.

As far as I can tell, the only difference is that black people who jump to assumptions of racism must be racists themselves, while we white folks who do the exact same thing are just applying "common sense."

It is true, Predicto, that I don't know if this kid was singled out for his race. But I have noticed a recent trend of black on white violence which has been ignored. I am not going to launch into a tirade on reverse racism, but I think we sometimes have a tendency to ignore racial violence against whites.

It seems like in this day and age we are sometimes overly-sensitive about perceived racism while ignoring other outright forms of it. I think this goes both ways, such as the Gates example you cited.

[Baculus]

No more than this incident. And neither are an excuse for unlawful behavior.

Sometimes teenagers fight. Just because they may be of different races doesnt automatically make it a racist event.

That is true. Maybe he is just the outsider, regardless of his race. I do admit it is easy to jump to a conclusion whenever a person of one group (race, political affiliation, etc.) is attacked by members of another group. I am just as guilty as anyone else of doing this.

But, of course, sometimes it is indeed what it appears to be.

[Elessar78]

So you mean to tell me that the group of people cheering, all of which I can see are black, that a white student is getting beaten by two black kids are just cheering to see a kid get beat up? If the kid doing the beating was white and the kid getting beat was black would they still cheer?

Give me a break, post-racial world. RACISM EXISTS! Just because it isn't white on black doesn't mean it isn't racist.

Apparently, we're not in a post-sarcasm world.

[jnhay]

Why is this news?

[aREDSKIN]

but I think we sometimes have a tendency to ignore racial violence against whites.

So true, but it's not a tendencyI think it's almost as if it's a coordinated campaign to extinguish any thought of this actually happens or is possible. I wish others would just admit this too.

[Predicto]

So true, but it's not a tendencyI think it's almost as if it's a coordinated campaign to extinguish any thought of this actually happens or is possible. I wish others would just admit this too.

Why would we admit something that we don't think is accurate?

I think the media loves to play up any possible race angle, no matter who the parties are.