by Bruce Lindsay
This past week in our High Schools was anti-bullying week. Ironically, right in the midst of that on Thursday, was ‘Kick a Ginger Day’. I only learned about this after the school day when my son, Clifford, came home and told me about how Stupid people were acting at school.
The general idea was that on Thursday, red-heads (Gingers) were to be targeted and kicked. And they were.
During the morning announcements the principal told the students he ‘has heard about Kick a Ginger Day. That bullying would not be tolerated and that anyone found kicking someone with red hair would receive an automatic 3 day suspension.’
This past week in our High Schools was anti-bullying week. Ironically, right in the midst of that on Thursday, was ‘Kick a Ginger Day’. I only learned about this after the school day when my son, Clifford, came home and told me about how Stupid people were acting at school.
The general idea was that on Thursday, red-heads (Gingers) were to be targeted and kicked. And they were.
During the morning announcements the principal told the students he ‘has heard about Kick a Ginger Day. That bullying would not be tolerated and that anyone found kicking someone with red hair would receive an automatic 3 day suspension.’
One teacher who is a class favourite threw up her hands in frustration and said “That’s just great! Now everybody knows about it!”
At least a dozen students were given the 3 day suspensions, although from what I’ve heard there were many other incidents of bullying that went unreported.
This day, Kick a Ginger Day, was the inspiration of a Cartoon called South Park. The show is a hit with High School aged kids. It’s about a group of foul mouthed kids growing up in Colorado – actually the producers went to Columbine High. Yes, that same Columbine High school that had the massacre a few years ago. In one episode one of the characters has an issue with another boy and blames it in the boy’s red hair, saying ‘Gingers’ are inherently evil.
A 14 year old Vancouver boy and some of his friends took this message and created a Facebook page called ‘Kick a Ginger.’ The RCMP state that the boy will be investigated for inciting hate-crime. The boy has apologized to the 5000 members, and has taken down the Facebook page. He says it was all a joke. The boy had previously told to “Get them steel toes ready” for Thursday, November 20th.
School boards in Manitoba, Newfoundland & Labrador, to their credit, took the threat seriously and sent home information with students so that all parents would be aware of the threat. The other provinces took a ‘wait and see’ approach. That led to a whole lot of kicking, abuse, fear and crime. Not to mention self-esteem issues for red-heads in the future.
This day, Kick a Ginger Day, was the inspiration of a Cartoon called South Park. The show is a hit with High School aged kids. It’s about a group of foul mouthed kids growing up in Colorado – actually the producers went to Columbine High. Yes, that same Columbine High school that had the massacre a few years ago. In one episode one of the characters has an issue with another boy and blames it in the boy’s red hair, saying ‘Gingers’ are inherently evil.A 14 year old Vancouver boy and some of his friends took this message and created a Facebook page called ‘Kick a Ginger.’ The RCMP state that the boy will be investigated for inciting hate-crime. The boy has apologized to the 5000 members, and has taken down the Facebook page. He says it was all a joke. The boy had previously told to “Get them steel toes ready” for Thursday, November 20th.
School boards in Manitoba, Newfoundland & Labrador, to their credit, took the threat seriously and sent home information with students so that all parents would be aware of the threat. The other provinces took a ‘wait and see’ approach. That led to a whole lot of kicking, abuse, fear and crime. Not to mention self-esteem issues for red-heads in the future.
At my son’s school, the Principal made a 2nd announcement at noon. Telling a story about how lemmings will blindly follow other lemmings over a cliff even to their death and how he expected so much better from High School students. He was very disappointed in what he was seeing. He told students that he knew that the majority of kids knew it was stupid to ‘Kick a Ginger’. He asked all students, who don’t want bullies in our school, and who want to apologize for the stupid actions of today, to wear pink on Friday.
Clifford came home and was looking for something pink to wear for the next day. Surprise! No 13-year old boy has anything pink in his wardrobe! In my wife’s drawer, he found a pink long undershirt and a dark pink tee-shirt. He wore them to school the next day. Clifford told me that most of the girls wore pink, but very few of the boys did. He expected that it’s because most boys don’t have pink clothes. He thought it should have been red (Ginger).
Clifford came home and was looking for something pink to wear for the next day. Surprise! No 13-year old boy has anything pink in his wardrobe! In my wife’s drawer, he found a pink long undershirt and a dark pink tee-shirt. He wore them to school the next day. Clifford told me that most of the girls wore pink, but very few of the boys did. He expected that it’s because most boys don’t have pink clothes. He thought it should have been red (Ginger).
There are many things one could say about this incident. Many people are talking about it. Some blame South Park and say it should be off the air or sued or something. Other people blame Facebook or computers in general, and say it should be censored or banned or kicked. As always, many people blame parents for being negligent or soft and permissive. Others blame the school boards and suggest it’s all gone down the toilet since teachers can’t administer the strap anymore. Some suggest that Gingers should go to school armed with knives to stab anyone stupid enough to kick them!
The comments are amusing to read. The knee-jerk reactions are so predictable. But then I read this comment from Joe Blow of BC. “I am a parent who had to pick up his son from school yesterday because he 'kicked a ginger' and was suspended. He did it, not because of some stupid TV show that we won't let him watch anyway. He did it, not because of a rally on Facebook that organized kids to lash out. He did it because of peer pressure. He did it in jest, did it lightly, and patted the kid on the head after the fact for good sportsmanship. He accepts full responsibility.He's a good kid growing up in a good and stable home. It's not his parents fault, because he knows better. Unfortunately, he knows all too well now. It's not the fault of a TV show, which in my opinion, should not even be on the air.I don't know how to correct the problem, other than to continue to teach and encourage my son to make proper choices. For all those that continue to blast parents for the faults of their kids, either you don't have kids or you live in a sheltered world, home-schooling your children. We try our hardest. Sometimes kids will just be kids.”
I think that “Sometimes kids will be kids” is another way to say “Sometimes kids will be Stupid”. The truth is that Stupid has always been with us. There will always be the Stupid among us. We have to deal with our own Stupid, and overcome it. That’s tough enough, but sometimes we have to deal with Stupid in others too. That gets tougher. A whole group full of Stupid is often more than one person can deal with so it’s often best to walk away and let the Stupid run its course. We can legislate against the results of Stupid and the actions of Stupid, but there is no official crime for being Stupid.
Recently we were eating dinner with one of Clifford’s friends. He had never tasted shrimp before, but had heard it was good. He took a shrimp, still in the shell, dipped it in sauce and tossed it back, shell and all. Clifford asked him how it tasted. The boy was trying not to choke, but managed through his coughing and gagging to say “Good”.
We all bust a gut laughing. He was OK, but I used that chance to explain that, although it’s funny, we must remember that children don’t know anything, until they’ve been taught. Parents can’t possibly teach children everything, so it’s important to ask questions about anything you don’t know about or doesn’t make sense. I know that if kids had asked their parents about Kick a Ginger day they would have been told that it’s Stupid and not to participate. Unfortunately, some kids have to learn the hard way.
Source:
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id=1656d500-3b6f-4e52-9cfc-223242dc1829
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=49022ee5-66d1-46e0-a057-7707de6e140b
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/11/20/bc-kick-ginger-day.html#socialcomments
Note from Murray Lincoln
I was horrified when I learned of the “Kick a Ginger Day” that was reported last week. I couldn’t believe that something like this could happen in our 2008. In 1958 I saw it happen and felt it happen as a “Freshie” in High School. It was vicious and unkind what was done to the Grade 9 students that came into the first year of High School. The bigger and meaner male students relished the idea of picking on the younger and smaller “Freshies”. They would look around the crowd that had assembled or walked by a certain area – spotting some one that is smaller, ask if he was a Freshie and then demand that he do their bidding.
Down on their knees in the new pants, that had cost the parents lots of money, they were forced to do the bidding of the Senior. One ‘down on your knees task’ was to scrub the school tiles with a tooth brush while others jeered from the sideline.
I looked on as my friend had to scrub the dirty tiles, smearing the dirty already there with the water in a cup he was given. It was humiliating. I ducked behind the taller students in front of me avoiding the searching eyes of big mouthed and Stupid older boys that were looking for victims.
I escaped that terrible week long torture at school (that is how long it was allowed and encouraged by teachers) – up to the last day. I was leaving school to walk home the 10 blocks to our place. I had safely completed this walk home each day that week by dodging down the back alley where no one else walked – running across the street to the next alley way and hiding behind the garbage cans.
As I crossed the street in front of the High School to head up an alley, a voice called out “Hey FRESHIE, Hey you… come over here!” I tried to run faster but the voice called with a command that was loud and clear. “Come over here!” Others were moving toward me and I definitely had been singled out – some were blocking my way to the alley way. I turned to face my greatest fear – being taunted and torn because I was little.
Instead of the big Stupid boys of Grade 12 – it was the prettiest Girl I had ever seen. She was with three other very pretty girls who were giggling as the taller one looked directly at me. I stood still as they walked over to me to dish out my fate. My heart raced inside my chest.
“You are ‘my’ Freshie… and I want you to carry my books home!” She passed me her books which I slipped under my arm. My own carrying case was in my other hand. I walked behind the girls all 8 blocks to their homes. They smelled pretty. They didn’t talk to me but rather once in a while glanced over their shoulders and giggled.
My shame of being caught and made to do something as a Freshie – was transformed into a minor victory. My other Freshie friends at school saw me get caught. I had a walked the prettiest girl in school home. She was the Captain of the Cheer Leader Squad and from that day on I drooled(quietly) from the sidelines. Later she would talk to me from time to time – remembering the day that I walked her home.
“Kick a Ginger”, “Frosh Days” and all the other Stupid things that people do are from Peer Pressure that Bruce wrote about above.
Fast forward to the next three years in High School. Every Freshie week at the beginning of the year I made a commitment to walk a Freshie home and protect him. They all became my friends. Together we walked down the back alleys for one week… and not once did they get caught!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
The comments are amusing to read. The knee-jerk reactions are so predictable. But then I read this comment from Joe Blow of BC. “I am a parent who had to pick up his son from school yesterday because he 'kicked a ginger' and was suspended. He did it, not because of some stupid TV show that we won't let him watch anyway. He did it, not because of a rally on Facebook that organized kids to lash out. He did it because of peer pressure. He did it in jest, did it lightly, and patted the kid on the head after the fact for good sportsmanship. He accepts full responsibility.He's a good kid growing up in a good and stable home. It's not his parents fault, because he knows better. Unfortunately, he knows all too well now. It's not the fault of a TV show, which in my opinion, should not even be on the air.I don't know how to correct the problem, other than to continue to teach and encourage my son to make proper choices. For all those that continue to blast parents for the faults of their kids, either you don't have kids or you live in a sheltered world, home-schooling your children. We try our hardest. Sometimes kids will just be kids.”
I think that “Sometimes kids will be kids” is another way to say “Sometimes kids will be Stupid”. The truth is that Stupid has always been with us. There will always be the Stupid among us. We have to deal with our own Stupid, and overcome it. That’s tough enough, but sometimes we have to deal with Stupid in others too. That gets tougher. A whole group full of Stupid is often more than one person can deal with so it’s often best to walk away and let the Stupid run its course. We can legislate against the results of Stupid and the actions of Stupid, but there is no official crime for being Stupid.
Recently we were eating dinner with one of Clifford’s friends. He had never tasted shrimp before, but had heard it was good. He took a shrimp, still in the shell, dipped it in sauce and tossed it back, shell and all. Clifford asked him how it tasted. The boy was trying not to choke, but managed through his coughing and gagging to say “Good”.
We all bust a gut laughing. He was OK, but I used that chance to explain that, although it’s funny, we must remember that children don’t know anything, until they’ve been taught. Parents can’t possibly teach children everything, so it’s important to ask questions about anything you don’t know about or doesn’t make sense. I know that if kids had asked their parents about Kick a Ginger day they would have been told that it’s Stupid and not to participate. Unfortunately, some kids have to learn the hard way.
Source:
http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/city/story.html?id=1656d500-3b6f-4e52-9cfc-223242dc1829
http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=49022ee5-66d1-46e0-a057-7707de6e140b
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2008/11/20/bc-kick-ginger-day.html#socialcomments
Note from Murray Lincoln
I was horrified when I learned of the “Kick a Ginger Day” that was reported last week. I couldn’t believe that something like this could happen in our 2008. In 1958 I saw it happen and felt it happen as a “Freshie” in High School. It was vicious and unkind what was done to the Grade 9 students that came into the first year of High School. The bigger and meaner male students relished the idea of picking on the younger and smaller “Freshies”. They would look around the crowd that had assembled or walked by a certain area – spotting some one that is smaller, ask if he was a Freshie and then demand that he do their bidding.
Down on their knees in the new pants, that had cost the parents lots of money, they were forced to do the bidding of the Senior. One ‘down on your knees task’ was to scrub the school tiles with a tooth brush while others jeered from the sideline.
I looked on as my friend had to scrub the dirty tiles, smearing the dirty already there with the water in a cup he was given. It was humiliating. I ducked behind the taller students in front of me avoiding the searching eyes of big mouthed and Stupid older boys that were looking for victims.
I escaped that terrible week long torture at school (that is how long it was allowed and encouraged by teachers) – up to the last day. I was leaving school to walk home the 10 blocks to our place. I had safely completed this walk home each day that week by dodging down the back alley where no one else walked – running across the street to the next alley way and hiding behind the garbage cans.
As I crossed the street in front of the High School to head up an alley, a voice called out “Hey FRESHIE, Hey you… come over here!” I tried to run faster but the voice called with a command that was loud and clear. “Come over here!” Others were moving toward me and I definitely had been singled out – some were blocking my way to the alley way. I turned to face my greatest fear – being taunted and torn because I was little.
Instead of the big Stupid boys of Grade 12 – it was the prettiest Girl I had ever seen. She was with three other very pretty girls who were giggling as the taller one looked directly at me. I stood still as they walked over to me to dish out my fate. My heart raced inside my chest.
“You are ‘my’ Freshie… and I want you to carry my books home!” She passed me her books which I slipped under my arm. My own carrying case was in my other hand. I walked behind the girls all 8 blocks to their homes. They smelled pretty. They didn’t talk to me but rather once in a while glanced over their shoulders and giggled.
My shame of being caught and made to do something as a Freshie – was transformed into a minor victory. My other Freshie friends at school saw me get caught. I had a walked the prettiest girl in school home. She was the Captain of the Cheer Leader Squad and from that day on I drooled(quietly) from the sidelines. Later she would talk to me from time to time – remembering the day that I walked her home.
“Kick a Ginger”, “Frosh Days” and all the other Stupid things that people do are from Peer Pressure that Bruce wrote about above.
Fast forward to the next three years in High School. Every Freshie week at the beginning of the year I made a commitment to walk a Freshie home and protect him. They all became my friends. Together we walked down the back alleys for one week… and not once did they get caught!
~ Murray Lincoln ~
1 comment:
Kudos to Clifford for having the courage to stand up for what is right - pink or no pink! Prayerfully, this will be the last we hear of this particular type of targeted bullying!!
~mp:)
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