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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA Black 10-Year-Old Drew an 'Offensive Sketch.' She Was Handcuffed by Cops.
Honolulu cops allegedly handcuffed and detained a 10-year-old Black girl with disabilities after she was accused of drawing an offensive sketch of a student who had bullied her, according to a letter sent to state and city officials by a local law firm and the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii this week.
Ultimately, the child was held for over four hours by either school staff or police. By the time she was released, she was very hungry and exhausted, according to the letter.
The child, described only as N.B. in the Oct. 18 letter, was traumatized by the January 2020 incident, which occurred after a school parent demanded a police response to the drawing. The handcuffs left marks on her wrists, the letter alleges, and she didnt understand why she was being arrested; while she drew the picture, other children had colored or written on it, yet none of them were detained, and charges werent ever brought against her. Once at the police precinct, N.B. couldnt even follow officers orders to take off her earrings and shoelaces, since her mother usually did those things for her, according to the letter.
After N.B.s arrest, in addition to the trauma of being interrogated and arrested as a ten year old, she had to change schools before the end of the school year and eventually moved out of state without her mother, who remained in Hawaii for a new job with the U.S. Department of Defense, the letter reads.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvngvm/black-10-year-old-handcuffed-by-honolulu-cops
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This is a fuller exposition of a story that was submitted yesterday. It's even more outrageous than you thought.
Cracklin Charlie
(12,904 posts)Sickening.
JI7
(89,172 posts)viva la
(3,226 posts)We've seen that in several of these weird arrests lately. It's cruel and it's unnatural and it's unnecessary. It's not like a 10 year old poses any danger, or that somehow they're gonna get away from a bunch of grownups determined to jail them.
The authorities look at black children and see threats. The racism goes very deep. Remember Tamir Rice.
haele
(12,581 posts)Circle story time in school. Teacher didn't see it, so he didn't get in trouble. The only reason I remember this is because as an upset seven year old, I drew an unflattering picture of him being a mean, very fat little boy with a chair stuck his butt. I was a pretty good artist then who could already spell at a fifth grade level, so this wasn't a stick figure with squiggles, it was pretty clear who I intended it to be.
And boy-howdey, did I get in trouble for making fun of him. It was explained clearly to me that I was being a bully, even though I was mad at him for kicking the chair so I fell on the floor. Even though, 55 years later, I still have that feeling that it was him being a bully, not an accident as they said it must have been
But they would never just have put me in handcuffs for a drawing. They would have talked to me about it and the rules of the classroom, just as they did to the boy when they finally caught him intentionally kicking chairs and bumping people.
Elementary school kids are still learning boundaries, and other than a very few damaged sociopaths, most can be and are re-directed by observant teachers and staff. This "No Tolerance/just arrest them" BS does not belong in elementary school.
Haele
harumph
(1,871 posts)BeckyDem
(8,361 posts)JustAnotherGen
(31,681 posts)Needs a Civil Attorney to sue these people - all of them - into the next century.
Happy Hoosier
(7,073 posts)The ACLU and a lawyer are getting involved.
JustAnotherGen
(31,681 posts)Answer doesn't change.
I hope they school the district into poverty
bahboo
(16,234 posts)jesus christ....
LetMyPeopleVote
(143,998 posts)LiberalFighter
(50,484 posts)It was basically the Vice Principal and few others that managed it.