Violence and Racism on the School Bus

A story published this week in the Portland Press Herald tells of a scene one would not expect to hear about in the year 2005 in Maine: a student being bullied because of his race. The scene took place last March on a school bus taking both middle school and high school kids home following after-school activities. It was instigated by 18-year old Reginald Theriault and a 15-year old peer, both of North Berwick, Maine. These two individuals allegedly began verbally assaulting a 13-year old student sitting in the back of the bus, using racial slurs and language that the reporter said was too offensive to be printed in the newspaper. According to Ellis (2005), other students on the bus not only did not come to the rescue of the student being attacked, many of them joined in. Before the end of the ride, the 13-year old victim had been both spat at and hit in the head by the 15-year old student (Ellis, 2005). Let's take a look at the impact of this incident and what actions were taken as a result.

When the boy arrived home and told his mother what happened, she brought him to the doctor's office where he was treated for minor injuries. She later reported what happened to both school officials and local police. Nothing was done for a period of time "because of the number of people involved," (Ellis, 2005, 11) but eventually the Maine Attorney General's Office filed a complaint against both the 15-year old and the 18-year old for violating the Maine Civil Rights Act. The article does not say what, if any, actions were taken by the school; however, it does note that the 15-year old student has been ordered by the court not to communicate with the 13-year old or members of his family. If he violates this order, he could be subjected to up to one year in jail. Since the situation was being investigated by the police, school officials apparently have not taken any action against the children involved.

This event affected many more people than just those directly involved. First of all, other students on the bus were affected by being forced to listen to the racist remarks that also pertained to them. Secondly, the entire school population is affected by the climate that a racist attitude in students attending the school creates and the propensity towards violence to express it. The title of the article, "Racism in Maine? Still here, still ugly, still much work to be done," says it all. This was not just an incident of one child having a racist attitude, but rather two instigators and a number of joiners-in. While the students who joined in may have just been going along with the crowd, these students should have been taught by middle school and high school age that going along with people who are picking on someone for the sake of fitting in is a bad idea. The situation should have alerted teachers and parents (along with law enforcement) that there is a serious issue not being addressed with the young people in the community.

What is being done as a result of the situation? The students who perpetrated the action apparently remained in the school and there is no indication of any serious consequences happening, other than those taken by law-enforcement officials. Even the actions taken by the courts were minimal, unless the child violates the restraining order put in effect. It is good that the students are being held accountable for violating the civil rights laws in Maine; however, they have not been held accountable by the school or the community for their actions.

What could have been done differently? One alternative to the school letting local and state officials deal with the incident would have been to get involved and start a discussion on racism and tolerance. Also, parents could have become involved in starting discussions. The article mentioned that these were kids who had generally been raised well and were from middle-class backgrounds. They also point out that Maine is overwhelmingly white (Ellis, 2005). A simple lack of exposure to diversity and lack of discussion about the issue coupled with one bad influence would have been enough to bring out a similar incident in any Maine school. The students made references to the Ku Klux Klan in their remarks, and the parents in both cases were shocked and dismayed. Perhaps some kind of community discussion at the school could have provided a clear message to students that their parents and teachers are serious about promoting tolerance rather than racism. If the consequences came only from law enforcement and the school and the parents did not reinforce them, this might send a message to students that the parents and teachers aren't serious about discouraging violence and racism.

It is clear that while publicity and restraining orders sent a message to students in this case that what they did was wrong, the school and the community should become more involved in efforts to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future. Even though many areas in Maine are overwhelmingly white, or perhaps because of this, we must teach students about diversity and respecting all people. This is clearly one aspect of these students' education that both parents and schools missed out on, but perhaps the publicity surrounding this event will be a call to action for parents and schools. Racism still exists in Maine, as does hate violence. We need to recognize this and do everything we can to stop it.

Reference

Ellis, J. (2005, November 28). Racism in Maine? Still here, still ugly, still much work to be done.

Portland Press Herald. Retrieved December 3, 2005 from

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/mondaymag/stories/051128ellis1128.shtml