Wednesday, March 4, 2015


News Clips For The Day


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/justice-department-findings-on-racial-profiling-all-too-familiar-in-ferguson/

DOJ findings on racial profiling all too familiar in Ferguson
By MARK STRASSMANN CBS NEWS
March 3, 2015

Photograph – Terri Franks says she has spent at least $5,000 in traffic tickets, court costs and fines over the past five years.
 CBS NEWS

FERGUSON, Missouri - Even before Michael Brown was shot, Ferguson's minority community complained that repeatedly they were profiled and harassed by local police.

So for them, this Department of Justice review is vindication.

Terri Franks showed us a lapful of traffic tickets. Ferguson has been her home for 19 years, and she says whenever she drives, she worries.

"The cops are behind you all the time and you know they're running your plates and you feel nervous for no reason and it just escalates," she said.

The DOJ investigation examined 35,000 pages of records from 2012 to 2014 and the numbers are stark. While 67 percent of Ferguson's residents are African American, they made up 93 percent of those arrested and 90 percent of people given citations.

And when an officer pulled someone over, 85 percent of the time it was an African American. When police used force, 88 percent of the time it was against African Americans.

Franks, a 49-year-old Delta flight attendant, has sons who drive. More targets, she says.

She says over the past five years, tickets, fines and court fees have been costly for her and her three sons.

"I'd say $5,000 easy," she said. "I'm a working class citizen. I don't have a lot of money."

Last September, a month after Michael Brown was killed, Franks demanded Ferguson's city council reform its police department.

"[Before] I moved to Ferguson, I never knew what court was," she said. "My sons of the top of their heads, they'll go 'Oh mom, court is Tuesday.' You can as anybody walking the street what day is court, they could tell you."

We've learned that Michael Brown's parents will meet with Department of Justice officials in the morning, before the official report is released. After that, Ferguson's mayor and police chief plan to address the public.




“The DOJ investigation examined 35,000 pages of records from 2012 to 2014 and the numbers are stark. While 67 percent of Ferguson's residents are African American, they made up 93 percent of those arrested and 90 percent of people given citations. And when an officer pulled someone over, 85 percent of the time it was an African American. When police used force, 88 percent of the time it was against African Americans..... We've learned that Michael Brown's parents will meet with Department of Justice officials in the morning, before the official report is released. After that, Ferguson's mayor and police chief plan to address the public.”

I must say, 35,000 pages of records is an amazing amount, and some 90 percent of them are tickets to black people. Today or tomorrow the mayor and police chief will hold a press conference. I'll look for further articles on this subject. There was an article yesterday about cities across the country using tickets purely to finance their government. That is harassment and racial profiling, certainly. I must say Southern towns have been doing that for many years, all the way back into my teen years. There is a small town down Highway 301 from here that did that so much their police force was actually disbanded by authorities within the last year. That's just corruption as far as I'm concerned, not to mention a violation of civil rights.




http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/report-ferguson-exposes-broader-effort-reform-municipal-courts-n316716

Report on Ferguson Exposes Broader Effort to Reform Municipal Courts
BY JON SCHUPPE
March 3, 2015

Among the raft of civil rights violations Department of Justice investigators found in Ferguson, Missouri was a municipal court system that allegedly emphasized revenue over public safety, leading to routine breaches of citizens' constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law.

But it's not just Ferguson.

Civil rights advocates have been trying to raise awareness of similar problems in municipal courts across the country.

"I think the lesson to take away from what we see in Ferguson is that Ferguson helped us shed light on this broader problem," said Alec Karakatsanis, a civil rights lawyer who runs a non-profit clinic in Washington D.C. called Equal Justice Under Law.

"All over the country we're seeing a rise in efforts to fund local municipal legal systems on the backs of the very poor, as revenue generators rather than dispensers of justice," he said. "Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, California, you name it, we're seeing it."

"If you're poor and black and standing in front of court saying, 'I can't afford this,' I think the court is less likely to listen to you'"

Most of these fights are being waged on a local basis, without the attention that Ferguson or the rest of the St. Louis region attracted after the Aug. 9, 2014 killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown by a white police officer, Darren Wilson. Brown's death triggered a wave of rioting and unrest, and prompted a national discussion of the underlying issues of race and justice.

That examination led to problems in the city's municipal court, where the Justice Department found a heavy reliance on minor offenses like traffic violations, parking infractions, jaywalking and "failure to comply." The burden fell disproportionately on the poor, who fell into crippling debt or ended up in jail, investigators found. Blacks in particular were far more likely to be hit with these petty offenses.

Similar situations, and worse, occur in many other small towns across St. Louis County, most of whom operate their own municipal courts, according to studies by legal experts and civil rights advocates.

The local nonprofit group Arch City Defenders released a report linking tensions between police and the public to the fee-collection policies in the area's patchwork of local courts. Last month, Arch City Defenders, along with Equal Justice Under Law, and St. Louis University Law School filed federal lawsuits against Ferguson and the nearby town of Jennings on behalf of 15 citizens who charged the towns with creating modern-day debtors' prisons.

"If you're poor and black and standing in front of court saying, 'I can't afford this,' I think the court is less likely to listen to you,'" said Tom Harvey, a lawyer who represents one of the lawsuit's plaintiffs, 23-year-old Allison Nelson.

That's the same accusation that the American Civil Liberties Union has been leveling against state and local courts that have turned to aggressive fee collections as a way to fund operations without burdening taxpayers. These strategies, the organization says, violate the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which promises due process and equal protection.

"All over the country we're seeing a rise in efforts to fund local municipal legal systems on the backs of the very poor, as revenue generators rather than dispensers of justice. Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, California, you name it, we're seeing it."

The ACLU has campaigned against courts in Michigan, Ohio, Washington, Colorado, New Hampshire and Georgia.

Many of those courts have dug in their heels and defended the policies as an important tool to discourage law breaking. But there are also some communities who've begun to embrace reforms. That includes Ferguson, which is exploring changes along with the rest of St. Louis County.

In that way, Karakatsanis said, Ferguson may provide be the boost reform advocates need to begin a nationwide effort.

"The only way we're going to have a movement that alters what we're doing is for people to understand the costs," he said.

— with Ron Allen




“Among the raft of civil rights violations Department of Justice investigators found in Ferguson, Missouri was a municipal court system that allegedly emphasized revenue over public safety, leading to routine breaches of citizens' constitutional guarantees of due process and equal protection under the law.... said Alec Karakatsanis, a civil rights lawyer who runs a non-profit clinic in Washington D.C. called Equal Justice Under Law. "All over the country we're seeing a rise in efforts to fund local municipal legal systems on the backs of the very poor, as revenue generators rather than dispensers of justice," he said. "Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, California, you name it, we're seeing it." "If you're poor and black and standing in front of court saying, 'I can't afford this,' I think the court is less likely to listen to you'".... Brown's death triggered a wave of rioting and unrest, and prompted a national discussion of the underlying issues of race and justice. That examination led to problems in the city's municipal court, where the Justice Department found a heavy reliance on minor offenses like traffic violations, parking infractions, jaywalking and "failure to comply." The burden fell disproportionately on the poor, who fell into crippling debt or ended up in jail, investigators found. Blacks in particular were far more likely to be hit with these petty offenses.... The local nonprofit group Arch City Defenders released a report linking tensions between police and the public to the fee-collection policies in the area's patchwork of local courts. Last month, Arch City Defenders, along with Equal Justice Under Law, and St. Louis University Law School filed federal lawsuits against Ferguson and the nearby town of Jennings on behalf of 15 citizens who charged the towns with creating modern-day debtors' prisons.... The ACLU has campaigned against courts in Michigan, Ohio, Washington, Colorado, New Hampshire and Georgia. Many of those courts have dug in their heels and defended the policies as an important tool to discourage law breaking. But there are also some communities who've begun to embrace reforms. That includes Ferguson, which is exploring changes along with the rest of St. Louis County.”

"The only way we're going to have a movement that alters what we're doing is for people to understand the costs," he said.” The costs are economic, psychological and cultural. Why are the police hated so fiercely and widely? There will be more of these targeted killings like the two officers in NYC recently, and the neighborhoods instead of improving with all that “broken windows policing,” will become more and more dangerous. We have become ever more populous as a nation and that does bring more crime even if the police are not unfairly persecuting people, but we haven't improved our justice system to keep up with it. When I was young there were such towns as Ferguson, and the police department did resemble Mayberry a little too much with one sheriff and one deputy, but the environment was much more relaxed than it is today, and everybody knew the police personally. If an officer had many incidents of unnecessary violence he would become a pariah and be fired. That kind of supervision is lax nowadays, unless an event like the Brown shooting comes up and causes a major scandal among whites, and rioting among blacks. We need overall reform. Too many officers should be fired. If the ACLU and other such organizations would file more lawsuits the towns would start to change their attitudes and behavior.





http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-killed-la-cops-was-using-stolen-identity-authorities-n316916

Man Killed by LA Cops Was Using Stolen Identity: Authorities
BY ANDREW BLANKSTEIN AND M. ALEX JOHNSON
March 3, 2015

The homeless man who was shot to death by Los Angeles police in a confrontation that was captured on dramatic cellphone video was a convicted bank robber living in the U.S. under a stolen French identity, authorities told NBC News on Tuesday night.

The man — who was tackled by multiple officers and fired on by three of them on Sunday — was widely identified earlier Tuesday as Charley Saturmin Robinet, 39, a French national. But that man was an imposter, said Axel Cruau, the French consul general in Los Angeles. The real Robinet's identity was stolen, Cruau said.

The man who was shot Sunday was actually from Cameroon, law enforcement sources familiar with the case told NBC News. Coroner's officials confirmed that he was 39 years old but haven't released his identity because of difficulty in notifying his next of kin.

The man falsely known as Robinet was convicted of armed bank robbery and related charges in the robbery of a bank in Thousand Oaks, California, in February 2000, according to records on file in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles. He was sentenced — still under that stolen identity — to 15 years in federal prison, while two co-defendants were sentenced to 10 and 15 years, respectively, according to the court records.

A still from cellphone video of the fatal Los Angeles police shooting Sunday.

Much of the case is sealed under an order that is also sealed, but other, unsealed documents filed in an appeal by one of the co-defendants reveal some details of the robbery. "Robinet" and one of other men entered and robbed the bank, while the third drove their getaway car, according to the court records. "Robinet" pistol-whipped a teller and was in possession of several thousand dollars when he was arrested, the records show.

Court documents show that the man known as Robinet was scheduled to be released from immigration custody on supervised probation in September 2013. But law enforcement sources told NBC News that the Cameroonian government refused to repatriate him because his documentation wasn't in order.

Because of federal limits on how long suspects can remain in immigration custody without being deported, he was released last May, the records show. U.S. immigration officials wouldn't comment pending the local police investigation.




“The homeless man who was shot to death by Los Angeles police in a confrontation that was captured on dramatic cellphone video was a convicted bank robber living in the U.S. under a stolen French identity, authorities told NBC News on Tuesday night. The man — who was tackled by multiple officers and fired on by three of them on Sunday — was widely identified earlier Tuesday as Charley Saturmin Robinet, 39, a French national. But that man was an imposter, said Axel Cruau, the French consul general in Los Angeles. The real Robinet's identity was stolen, Cruau said. The man who was shot Sunday was actually from Cameroon, law enforcement sources familiar with the case told NBC News.” This article doesn't say whether or not Robinet had served his whole term or escaped custody. Whatever, I assume he really and truly didn't want to be picked up by police again. I did see the video on the nightly news and in this case he did put up a serious fight when they tried to take him in. I couldn't tell whether his hand was on a police officer's gun or not, however. This case wasn't like the NYC choke hold case, when the man didn't struggle at all, but was put down anyway. I saw that video, too. It looked like murder rather than an arrest. Another article on Cleveland, OH – the Tamir Rice case – is too similar to Ferguson for comfort, but Cleveland's mayor has recently had to apologize for blaming the boy's death and his family member's interference was met with unnecessary force. The city of Cleveland and the police officers involved have been sued by the family. Hopefully something will develop in that case that resembles justice.





http://www.weei.com/sports/boston/general/john-tomase/2015/03/02/troll-call-curt-schillings-daughter-latest-victim-onlin

TROLL CALL: CURT SCHILLING'S DAUGHTER LATEST VICTIM OF ONLINE CESSPOOL, BUT PROBLEM RUNS FAR DEEPER
John Tomase
Mon, 03/02/2015

FORT MYERS, Fla. – If you're a serial internet troll, congratulations. You would've made a tremendous Nazi.

For insight into how Hitler convinced so many otherwise rational people to embrace unspeakable acts of atrocity, just log in to Twitter. The respective offenses don't reside in the same stratosphere, of course, but the underlying thinking does.

What makes it OK to subject someone to the kind of abuse heaped on Curt Schilling's daughter, Gabby, over a proud-papa tweet that she'd be playing softball for Salve Regina next year? It's simple – a systemic acceptance of behavior that reduces its targets to something less than people.

For instance, I'd like to think an actualized human never say the following to Schilling in person: "curt (sic) bleeds more from his sock than Gabby does from her [redacted] when she's on her [redacted]." Similarly, it's unlikely another would ask, "how far is Salve Regina from Jersey? I wanna come and play, but Gabby wants me to [redacted] and play."

Those words should never leave anyone's mouths in the direction of a living, breathing human. But both were actual tweets delivered with LOLing impunity to an abstraction's avatar and online profile, because what's the big deal? That's not a person. It's just a bunch of ones and zeroes.

That kind of thinking led at least two cretins to tweet grotesquely Photoshopped images of Robin Williams to his daughter the day he hanged himself. That kind of thinking led to a declaration that actress Lena Dunham raped her sister. That kind of thinking had Patriots fans slinging anti-Semitic slurs at Colts writer Bob Kravitz for accurately reporting the NFL planned to investigate the footballs used in the AFC title game.

When did this become OK? The lack of civility, of basic human decency, isn't just depressing, it's demoralizing. There's a generation being raised to believe that anything said online, no matter how rotten, mean-spirited, or repellant, somehow qualifies as none of the above.

We're cultivating online personas of casual, flippant hostility. Why bother being judges and juries when we can just immediately reach for the executioner's axe and swing it with the gusto of Ser Ilyn Payne? 

For now, those toxic attitudes remain chained in cyberspace. But at some point, the bits and bytes will blur with the atoms and molecules that comprise actual human interactions. And then I'm moving my family to the mountains.

Gamergaters posted naked photos of a videogame developer whose crime basically boiled down to being a woman in a male-dominated industry. Florida State fans printed the name and address of the accuser in the Jameis Winston rape case. Bloggers and Tweeters gleefully turned a PR woman named Justine Sacco into the face of racism over an ill-conceived joke about white people not getting AIDS in Africa, and then cheered her firing. She deserved criticism, but the response became so jump-on-the-pile disproportionate to the crime, it obliterated any sense of debate. Life ruined, Justine? Ha! You got PWNED!

The online rage machine revels in the destruction wreaked on some otherwise anonymous person  before packing the pitchforks for the next target. The tacit acceptance used to be that only public figures could face such scorn, but now anyone is fair game. 

And that includes a softball player from Medfield whose dad happens to be famous. Schilling didn't take the vitriol lying down. He wrote an impassioned blog on the subject, conducted a fiery interview with WEEI's Dennis & Callahan, and named a couple of the scumbags who had the most vile things to say. He stepped up in a way that would make anyone's daughter proud.

As a parent, I completely understand Schilling's response. And yet, it's hard to miss the irony of the backlash. After Schilling outed the lowest of his tormentors, we learned that one had interned for the Yankees, but probably not anymore. The other had his Jewish dating profile posted and was suspended from school. Neither is likely to find the job market particularly welcoming, at least not if Google is involved. While it was without question viscerally satisfying to see, it also begged the question – are we really accomplishing anything if we fight the problem with more of the problem?

After all, when a group decides that antisocial behavior is not only acceptable, but encouraged, that's when things start to break down. Children of the '80s will remember "The Wave," an after-school special that showed how easily young minds could be swayed by Fascism. I can't help but be reminded of it in this Time of Trolls, or of its cousin in the political correctness movement that shames anyone who expresses an even mildly unpopular opinion.

(And yes, I'm completely aware that I'm just daring the Twitterverse to declare, "Boston sportswriter at talk radio station compares online harassment to Holocaust!")

The perverse has become pervasive. Where does the wisdom of crowds end and the mob mentality begin?

Probably with a hashtag.





“If you're a serial internet troll, congratulations. You would've made a tremendous Nazi. For insight into how Hitler convinced so many otherwise rational people to embrace unspeakable acts of atrocity, just log in to Twitter. The respective offenses don't reside in the same stratosphere, of course, but the underlying thinking does..... It's simple – a systemic acceptance of behavior that reduces its targets to something less than people. For instance, I'd like to think an actualized human never say the following to Schilling in person: "curt (sic) bleeds more from his sock than Gabby does from her [redacted] when she's on her [redacted]." …. But both were actual tweets delivered with LOLing impunity to an abstraction's avatar and online profile, because what's the big deal? That's not a person. It's just a bunch of ones and zeroes. That kind of thinking led at least two cretins to tweet grotesquely Photoshopped images of Robin Williams to his daughter the day he hanged himself.... When did this become OK? The lack of civility, of basic human decency, isn't just depressing, it's demoralizing. There's a generation being raised to believe that anything said online, no matter how rotten, mean-spirited, or repellant, somehow qualifies as none of the above. …. But at some point, the bits and bytes will blur with the atoms and molecules that comprise actual human interactions. And then I'm moving my family to the mountains.... Gamergaters posted naked photos of a videogame developer whose crime basically boiled down to being a woman in a male-dominated industry. Florida State fans printed the name and address of the accuser in the Jameis Winston rape case. …. The tacit acceptance used to be that only public figures could face such scorn, but now anyone is fair game. And that includes a softball player from Medfield whose dad happens to be famous. Schilling didn't take the vitriol lying down. He wrote an impassioned blog on the subject, conducted a fiery interview with WEEI's Dennis & Callahan, and named a couple of the scumbags who had the most vile things to say. He stepped up in a way that would make anyone's daughter proud.”

“The perverse has become pervasive. Where does the wisdom of crowds end and the mob mentality begin?” I have heard the term “the wisdom of crowds,” in an Economics 101 course, I think. I have never considered crowds to be as “wise” as an individual person with high ethical standards, who thinks before he speaks and responds with empathy when anyone is mistreated. I believe in being an individual instead of an anonymous groupie and I have no sympathy with that kind of kid. Teenagers can get away with entirely too much on their laptop computers, and they are still ganging up physically on “weaker” or less confident kids in the hallways at school, too. I think most of that kind of thing goes unpunished. Teachers and administrators are too “busy” to be paying attention.

Most schools nowadays require that a student have a laptop. Mothers and fathers are supposed to supervise them, if only for their own child's safety from sexual predators. I was shocked to find an article about a mother, not the child herself, who went online under the guise of a teenager and abused her girl's rival. She was caught and has been charged with a crime. Luckily laws are being written to cover this sort of thing now, and more than one teen has been confronted by the police over their actions. The two preteen girls who became enthralled with the “Slender Man” and beat their friend nearly to death on the belief that the cartoon character had commanded them to do that.





http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/broward/article11924603.html

Weston teacher faces discipline over alleged slur of Muslim student
BY ANN HENSON FELTGEN
FLORIDABULLDOG.ORG
03/02/2015


Photograph – Youssef Wardani is pressing for the firing or suspension of Cypress Bay High School teacher Maria Valdes for her remark. |FloridaBulldog.org Courtesy

A Cypress Bay High School French teacher could lose her job after allegedly calling a Muslim student a “rag-head Taliban.”

The Broward School Board will hear from the student’s father on Tuesday. The board is expected to take disciplinary action during its March 17 meeting.

Youssef Wardani, father of 14-year-old Deyab-Houssein Wardani, is pressing for the firing or suspension of Cypress Bay High School teacher Maria Valdes for her remark.

Wardani, a software engineer, said his son came to him in early February to ask about the word Taliban, saying Valdes called him that when he entered the classroom.

Muslim women who wear the hijab are increasingly concerned about being targeted

“He said he knew we are Muslim, but asked what is Taliban?” said Wardani, who added that his son had worn a hooded sweatshirt to school that day with the hood pulled up around his head.

“I shield my son from every hate I can. I am very careful and pay attention to that sort of thing, so I sat him down and explained” about the ultraconservative political and religious faction that emerged in Afghanistan in the mid 1990s.

Wardani’s son told him Valdes frequently used nicknames for students and had called him the name at least twice in front of the entire class.

Wardani, an immigrant from Lebanon whose wife is from Morocco, said he went to the school the following day and explained the situation to Assistant Principal Marianela Estripeaut, who told him she would discuss the matter with principal Scott Neely.

Neely and Valdes did not respond to interview requests. Valdes, 64, has been a Broward teacher for 11 years and has no prior disciplinary record, according to a school district spokeswoman.

Later that day, Wardani said Neely called and expressed concern about the comments and said he would take action. A meeting was set for 8 a.m. Feb. 10, with teacher Valdes.

Wardani said the meeting was less than productive.
“Her apology was robotic and empty and rehearsed,” he said. “She said it was an innocent joke and then started rolling her eyes and was huffing and puffing when I asked her questions.

“She, as a teacher, has a responsibility. Look, as a Middle-Eastern man, I have treaded lightly ever since 9/11.”

Following the meeting Wardani was asked what outcome he wanted. He told school administrators he wanted the teacher fired or suspended for a year without pay. And, he wanted a public apology.

“They told me that the best I could hope for was a letter in her personnel file” due to teacher’s union rules, he said.

Wardani said he is not a man to give up, especially when an issue affects his family. He is worried because school administrators seemed more concerned about the teacher and the union than any damage done to his son.

“If my son was to make a derogatory remark against the teacher, would he have been punished?” he asked. “Of course he would. So, why is the teacher not? Why is she allowed to stay in class?”

Wardani said Assistant Principal Estripeaut gave him three choices — pull his son out of the class and put him in another French class, learn outside of class or remain in the same class. So far, the ninth grader remains in Valdes’ class.

Wardani said his son, an honor roll student and Boy Scout, now hates going to school.

“My son was not the one who needed to change,” he said. “The teacher is the one who needs to be let go.”

Feeling like he was getting nowhere with the school, Wardani on Feb. 12 started making calls. He phoned Broward Superintendent of Schools Robert Runcie and school board member Laurie Rich-Levinson. He also filed complaints with the FBI and at the Broward Sheriff’s Office in Weston, where the high school is located.

Wardani said BSO reluctantly opened a case file, but told him no hate crime occurred because his son wasn’t hurt. He said he hasn’t heard back yet from the FBI.

According to the FBI, a hate crime involves threats, harassment or physical harm and is motivated by prejudice against someone’s race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation or physical or mental disability.

Wardani said Runcie called him back and told him the matter would come before the school board on March 17. The agenda for that meeting has not been published, but school board staff said they are looking into the matter.

“The issue was brought to the attention of the superintendent who ordered staff to investigate what happened,” said Tracy Clark, chief public information officer for the Broward school district.

An investigation has been completed and “disciplinary action will be brought forth in March,” she said, adding that action can vary, with termination as the ultimate sanction. Any action must be approved by the School Board and within the guidelines of the bargaining agreement between the unions and the school board.

While Valdes could be terminated, School Board staff is recommending a five-day suspension without pay as well as successful completion of diversity training.

Clark added that the normal route for parental concerns begins at the school level. If the issue cannot be resolved there, parents are referred to the district’s Office of Parent Engagement or the Office of Service Quality.

Wardani said he wants justice.

“I am looking to be treated as fairly as any human being would.”

This is not Wardani’s first go round with Broward schools.

The family moved to Weston in July, 2013. When Wardani registered his son for school, he discovered his son’s first name was too long to fit into the school system’s computer system, which limits first names to 12 characters. His son’s name was two characters too long. The system shortened it to Deyab-Housse.

“Deyab, which is my grandfather’s first name and is Lebanese, means wolf. Houssein is my wife’s grandfather’s name, which is Moroccan and means good. My son loves his name,” Wardani said. “For cultural and ethnicity reasons, and many family reasons, it is a very important name.”

Wardani said he suggested that the school use DH, which is what his family and friends called him. However, the school said that wasn’t possible because it wasn’t his son’s legal name. He also was told it would cost too much change the software program to include the entire name.

As a result, his records and yearbook continued to use the truncated name.

“That chopping off his name is legal, that is disgusting,” he said, adding that other students had the same problem.

After going back and forth for nearly 18 months, school Principal Neely told Wardani on Feb.10 that the school could use DH as the teen’s first name.

Florida Bulldog is a not-for-profit news organization created to provide investigative reporting in the public interest. www.floridabulldog.org




“He said he knew we are Muslim, but asked what is Taliban?” said Wardani, who added that his son had worn a hooded sweatshirt to school that day with the hood pulled up around his head. “I shield my son from every hate I can. I am very careful and pay attention to that sort of thing, so I sat him down and explained” about the ultraconservative political and religious faction that emerged in Afghanistan in the mid 1990s. Wardani’s son told him Valdes frequently used nicknames for students and had called him the name at least twice in front of the entire class.... Neely and Valdes did not respond to interview requests. Valdes, 64, has been a Broward teacher for 11 years and has no prior disciplinary record, according to a school district spokeswoman. Later that day, Wardani said Neely called and expressed concern about the comments and said he would take action. A meeting was set for 8 a.m. Feb. 10, with teacher Valdes. Wardani said the meeting was less than productive. Her apology was robotic and empty and rehearsed,” he said. “She said it was an innocent joke and then started rolling her eyes and was huffing and puffing when I asked her questions..... Feeling like he was getting nowhere with the school, Wardani on Feb. 12 started making calls. He phoned Broward Superintendent of Schools Robert Runcie and school board member Laurie Rich-Levinson. He also filed complaints with the FBI and at the Broward Sheriff’s Office in Weston, where the high school is located. Wardani said BSO reluctantly opened a case file, but told him no hate crime occurred because his son wasn’t hurt. He said he hasn’t heard back yet from the FBI. According to the FBI, a hate crime involves threats, harassment or physical harm and is motivated by prejudice against someone’s race, color, religion, national origin, ethnicity, sexual orientation or physical or mental disability.... An investigation has been completed and “disciplinary action will be brought forth in March,” she said, adding that action can vary, with termination as the ultimate sanction. Any action must be approved by the School Board and within the guidelines of the bargaining agreement between the unions and the school board. While Valdes could be terminated, School Board staff is recommending a five-day suspension without pay as well as successful completion of diversity training.”

I can't believe this 62 year old female teacher was so unkind as to call him by a pejorative term as a “nickname.” She did the same to some other students, too, the article said. I hope the FBI will look into the matter and bring serious charges. The father also might try a lawsuit against both the teacher and the school system. This kind of harassment is really hurtful, and simply unfair. No wonder so many kids don't do as well as they need to if they are to get into college. Why are some Americans so very dense?