Doll Lynching at Georgia School
VALDOSTA, Ga. — Three white students painted a doll black and hanged it from a schoolyard tree, prompting calls from parents and the local NAACP that the FBI should investigate the act as a hate crime.
Lowndes High School officials suspended the students for five days, calling the incident a stupid and embarrassing prank. Principal Ann Rodgers said students found the doll hanging from a tree last Thursday, took it down and turned it in to school officials, she said.
Students also discovered the letters “KKK” scrawled in a restroom, which has since been closed for painting.
“We’re sick about this,” Rodgers said. “One of our greatest assets is our student body and they are as disturbed as we are that a few would shed this type of light on the school.”
School Superintendent Steve Smith said the incidents were not signs of larger problems in the community just north of the Florida line.
“We have an opportunity to use this as a teaching and learning experience,” he said.
Leigh Touchton, a 1978 Lowndes High graduate and president of the local NAACP, said she wanted the FBI to treat the mock lynching as a hate crime.
“There are some things that shouldn’t be tolerated,” said Touchton, the first white woman to head the Valdosta chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. “That’s one of them.”
“Based on what the superintendent has done, we feel he has taken the correct steps to deal with the problem,” she said. “We are currently pressing for the Federal Bureau of Investigation to treat it as a hate crime, the same as they would do for adults.”
With 2,750 students, Lowndes High is Georgia’s largest high school outside the Atlanta area and the eighth-largest in the state. About 25 percent of the students are black.
A junior and two repeating freshmen were responsible for the hanging, Rodgers said. The students, whose names were not released, had no history of disciplinary problems.
They were scheduled to return to school on Thursday, but Smith said they will be transferred to the system’s alternative school at least until the end of the semester in December.
“The parents of the students involved are as embarrassed as us,” Rodgers said. “I think it was done out of stupidity. I don’t think they were raised that way.”
Black and white students said the school has good race relations, noting that last year’s homecoming queen and king were black.
“It’s not that we’re going around hating white people, or that white people are going around hating black people,” said Demetrius Henry, captain of the football team. “You never know when you might need a helping hand. You can’t judge people by color.”
Student council president Hanna Ary, who is white, said the mock lynching and graffiti were “just plain childish. It’s not what represents us.”
Linda Buford, whose black niece and nephew attend Lowndes High, said no one wants to talk about what happened.
“The kids think if they don’t say anything, then it will go away and never happen again,” she said. “We need to make this type of behavior stop. What if they had a real black child hanging there instead of the dolls?”
October 14th, 2002 at 9:58 am
This can not be ignored. These students must be made aware of the serious nature of this crime. This is a terrorist act. Anytime you terrorize people or living things is an act of terrorism. Terrorist are not just from the middle east. They can be anybody or thing. Hate is real. Students should be free of this kind of thing in school. If the students who did this act did not learn it at home then their parents needs to investigate what hate group they are attending. The FBI should also investigate where these students got this idea from.The KKK is a terrorist organization. They should be treated as such. If it had been a white doll hanging with the name of a black gang on it the outcome would not be the same. Black people can continue to dismiss this type of behavior if they want to. But We will pay the price sooner than later. Nip it in the bud ZERO tolerance for this mess period!!!!!
October 14th, 2002 at 10:39 am
Just writing a quick note to say how much I agree with Judith. The history of relations in America between Whites and African Americans is in large part a history of officially and semi-officially sanctioned racial terrorism, which has always been a very real component of the oppression of the latter group by the former.
That history stretches back to well before the founding of the USA, all the way back to the slave patrols which kept African slaves in line by nightly displays of terror and violence.
And, left unchecked, this sort of “prank” by high school children turns into the sort of fraternity lynching parties we saw last year at Auburn University.
November 1st, 2002 at 8:48 pm
Hmm! While I do not agree with these childish pranks, I do not agree with what you all are saying. I have never heard of a hate crime being filed against a black, because of something they did to a white person. By the way, I am a European American. I am not just a white! To honestly get to the root of these problems, we all need to share in the blame. I go to Wal-Mart, and most of the time I get mowed down in the aisle by an African American with no manners. Terrosim, comes in all shapes, colors, and sizes, just look at the Wichita Massacre. Tell me, who did the terroizing there? They will not even let this trial on tv because it does not fit the stereotype of hate crimes. I do not believe the media, and I know they skew everything to fit their purpose. Which is one world government, and eventual elimination of the European race. Don’t laugh, research and find out some things for yourself. By the way, I am not a redneck, I am a intelligent, articulate European, Confederate, Caucasian, and proud of it.
December 8th, 2002 at 11:25 am
Amen! Kudos to Shannon Burdick. I definately don’t agree with what the students did, but since this discussion has delved into the real root, here goes……… Society says that we must pay close attention to things whites do against blacks, and turn the other cheek to things blacks do against whites. Try going to the governments web page for statistics on racial crimes. Look at the ratio of black against white crimes and white against black crimes. The statistics say the total opposite of what modern, liberal media says. Or, if you don’t want to go to the web page, just try going to the store like Shannon says. Pay close attention to who is passing the evil eyes and against whom they are passing them. Open your eyes, forget everything the media says and have an original thought of your own. Racism is an issue, but reverse racism is at LEAST just as bad today. Deny it and you are simply one of the puppets!