A major increase in absences is reported amid rumors of racial gang violence
Joel Rubin and Nicholas Shields:
Tens of thousands of Los Angeles students stayed away from city schools Thursday amid rumors of impending gang violence.
Principals and teachers at several Los Angeles Unified School District campuses let out a collective sigh of relief as the school day progressed without any major incidents. They cringed, however, at the increased number of absences that could cost the district hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost state funding.
"I'm devastated that a rumor can cause such fear," said Randy Cornfield, assistant principal at Hamilton High School. "I was telling parents it would be safer to have their kids in school than out on the street or at the mall."
Districtwide, about 51,000 middle and high school students, or 18%, missed classes — an eight percentage point rise compared with last Thursday. Though school officials speculated that some absences might have been due to "senior ditch day," they agreed that the majority were because of the rumors. At some schools, the number of absences was far greater than the district average.
At Crenshaw High School in South Los Angeles, about 1,700 of 2,800 students did not attend — more than a fivefold increase over a normal day. "I am sitting here staring at a mountain of absentee cards," said Johnny Stevenson, an attendance officer.
Students arrived at some schools amid a larger police presence, after several days of persistent rumors that leaders of a Latino gang allegedly had ordered the widespread killing of black gang members on Cinco de Mayo in retaliation for stealing drugs.
News and Blogosphere:
Thousands Miss School Amid Violence Rumors
Prayer request
please pray against tomorrow’s supposed day of retaliation
posted by Adam Lawson @ 1:37 PM
6 comments
6 Comments:
Hmm...how disheartening. Adam, I'm only a recent visitor to your blog, but I've found I rather like it, so I guess I'd just shoot this question at you: How would you solve these problems? Do you think the tendencies of violent minorities can be abrogated through stopping illegal immigration, lowering legal immigration, better schooling, and that sort of stuff? Or would you advocate a total return to the ethnic equilibrium of the 1950's as has been talked about on websites like Majority Rights and American Renaissance, where as many non-whites as possible would be deported or, failing that, be put under a system of "oppression" (so to speak) like blacks used to be in the era of Jim Crow and segregation, in order to suppress their violent tendencies?
One possible solution would be to place greater restrictions on immigration and do a better job of deporting illegal immigrants in the United States. Another thing would be to do a better job of screening immigrants for past criminal actions in their countries of origin. We have to convince immigrants that being allowed to live in the United States is a privilege, not a right and if they abuse that privilege then they should be prepared to suffer the consequences.
So you'd take my first solution? I believe that's somewhat similar to the system America used to have...back in the "good ol' days" so to speak, you were considered very lucky to be able to live in America--it was a privelage, not some nebulous "right."
Personally, I'm not so concerned with the race of the immigrants--it's their lack of skills and intelligence that worries me. I find that intelligent, talented people, including Hispanics, are generally easier to get along with and cause less trouble.
No, the reason I don't care about the race of immigrants is that I'm more concerned with the threat they pose to me and the costs they impose upon my society. I don't oppose mass immigration of unskilled Hispanics because they're not white, I oppose it because they're prone to criminality and other socially dysfunctional behaviors. I have no issue with law-abiding, English-speaking Hispanics, or law-abiding blacks or Asians, for that matter.
In 'Silicon Valley', where I used to live, many immigrants are either educated before they come, or do well enough after they get here. I'm speaking here primarily of Asians (mostly Chinese and Vietnamese, but also others) and Indians (including Sikhs).
I got to know, work with, and like some of them.
But to me they are still foreigners -- all of them. Even the ones who sought and obtained first a green card, and then US citizenship. Even their English speaking children do not seem American to me. I feel no national bond with them. In the end I left because I just did feel at home any more.
When I now see a foto of a classroom in the local paper, often I cannot spot the face of a white child. This does not look like America to me, and I would not want my child to attend such a school.
Yet I do not feel I am a racist or a xenophobe.
These folks are free to become as happy and wealthy as they are able, only I would strongly prefer they do it back where they came from.
You are free to feel differently.
But in my case it also took some time before I was comfortable addressing the ethnicity issue as openly as I do now.
Like I said: If you think the demographic heritage of America is worth preserving -- and I do -- then you have to confront this issue, and I mean sooner rather than later.
In my case, I don't believe the demography of the U.S is worth preserving in and of itself. The demographic shifts which are occuring now are undesirable because of the crime and social dysfunction they bring, nothing more, nothing less. I have no problem with shifting racial demographics if such shifts take place peacefully.
I s'pose we'll have to agree to disagree, sir. I do thank you for the calm manner in which you've expressed your opinions, though. I have met with people who have views similar to yours before, and they tended to beconfrontational and unpleasant. Thus, I'm certainly very glad you've elected to be more reasoned in your discourse. Thanks for your time.
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