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Jilly_in_VA

(9,852 posts)
Thu Oct 21, 2021, 09:28 AM Oct 2021

A 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 didn’t 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 weren’t ever brought against her. Once at the police precinct, N.B. couldn’t 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.

14 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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A Black 10-Year-Old Drew an 'Offensive Sketch.' She Was Handcuffed by Cops. (Original Post) Jilly_in_VA Oct 2021 OP
Poor child. Cracklin Charlie Oct 2021 #1
The way black kids are treated in this country is so fucked up JI7 Oct 2021 #2
What is this with handcuffing children? viva la Oct 2021 #3
When I was seven, a boy kicked a chair out from under me as I was sitting down. haele Oct 2021 #4
...a chair stuck in his butt. Somehow I find that hilarious. Bravo! harumph Oct 2021 #5
Cops traumatizing black children? Common practice for USA! USA! USA! BeckyDem Oct 2021 #6
NB's mom JustAnotherGen Oct 2021 #7
Errr read beyond the headlines? Happy Hoosier Oct 2021 #12
I did JustAnotherGen Oct 2021 #14
but yeah, we don't have systemic racism in this country... bahboo Oct 2021 #8
This is yet another example of why we do not need police at schools LetMyPeopleVote Oct 2021 #9
Never had police at our high school back in the early 70's. LiberalFighter Oct 2021 #11
Something needs to be done to cops that do this.... LiberalFighter Oct 2021 #10
Hope that family has a good attorney. What an awful thing to do to a kid. Vinca Oct 2021 #13

viva la

(3,226 posts)
3. What is this with handcuffing children?
Thu Oct 21, 2021, 09:40 AM
Oct 2021

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)
4. When I was seven, a boy kicked a chair out from under me as I was sitting down.
Thu Oct 21, 2021, 10:15 AM
Oct 2021

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

LiberalFighter

(50,484 posts)
11. Never had police at our high school back in the early 70's.
Thu Oct 21, 2021, 12:48 PM
Oct 2021

It was basically the Vice Principal and few others that managed it.

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