Series of incidents across Canada leads to investigation. South Park Snippet and News Report http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/up/player/popup/index.php?cl=10789507 Assault on red-haired student investigated as hate crime CALGARY (CBC) - Thirteen high school students in Calgary have been suspended after a red-headed teen was beaten because of the colour of his hair. The Grade 10 boy was attacked in the locker room of St. Francis High School after gym class Thursday, students told CBC News. The victim was taken to the hospital for examination, and a spokeswoman for the Calgary Catholic School District said Friday he sustained "some minor bruising" to his upper body. Calgary police are looking into the assault as a possible hate crime. "The fact of the matter is from a policing prospective, it is a hate crime, and this individual was targeted because of the fact they have red hair," police spokesman Kevin Brookwell told CBC News. The attack came on a day promoted by a Facebook group as Kick a Ginger Day. The Facebook group urged members to kick people with red hair - referred to as ginger kids - on Nov. 20. The phenomenon originated with South Park, an animated TV show. An episode of the satirical show that originally aired in 2005 presented red-haired people as evil and soulless. Calgary police said they were aware of the campaign but decided not to issue any warnings. "We didn't want to bring any more profile to this campaign to the city or the students and so the decision was that we would just see what happened," said Brookwell. Ken Logel, a Grade 12 student at the northwest school, admitted kicking some classmates had been a running joke all day. "I have a few buddies with red hair. You just kind of kick them lightly just as a joke. But when it gets carried way, that's not cool," he said Friday. His friend, Simon Burke, added: "Some kids took it too far in the locker room yesterday and ended up really hurting one of the kids at our school. It's really hard to hear about it and I'm pretty disappointed in the kids that did it. "Mostly, kids at the school are pretty good people and don't really expect people to be hurting other ones just for having red hair. It's just pretty ridiculous." The school is also investigating the incident. "From what I understand, he was targeted based on the colour of his hair," said board spokeswoman Janet Sutherland. "Regardless of why the incident happened, I think it's important to note that violence in school is never tolerated." This week, schools in Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador sent warnings to students and parents about the prank. Thu Nov 20, 10:25 PM VANCOUVER (CBC) - A boy in northern B.C. singled out because of his red hair was bullied at school Thursday in an incident that appears to have been incited by a group on the social networking site Facebook. ADVERTISEMENT The Facebook group declared Nov. 20 Canada-wide "Kick a Ginger Day" following a recent episode of the television cartoon South Park that poked fun at red-haired children, referring to them as "nasty" and "born with a disease." I like South Park and find it pretty funny if not hilarious at some times. My kids are 7 and 12 and I won't let the older one watch it yet. I know that there are kids on my street that have been watching it since about 7-8. I think that it is irresponsible on the parents part and the show is not suitable for you young kids. The language alone in that show is pretty bad depending on the episode. Do you think that shows, or video game companies should be more responsible in the products they are producing? or do you you think that parents should be more responsible in keeping an eye on what their kids are watching and doing? Also do you think that kids would act out like this regardless if they watched such programs and this is just an excuse to put the blame on someone else like TV shows or the Video Gaming Companies? There seems to be a lot of blame recently for kids behavior due to the violence in Video Games. Do you think there is truth to it? Discuss..............
That was a great episode. One of my favorites. These attacks have nothing to do with South Park - they were acts done by depraved assholes who would have attacked someone, anyway, and used this episode as a lame excuse or game.
Kids don't have enough of an outlet today, we should invest in more basketball courts or skating rinks or baseball or youth clubs or whatever.
What kids needs is an inspiration, when they see South Park it gets them excited and they get inspired to do the evil in that cartoon. What kids need to see is preaching of God, instead of cartoons, they should see biblical stories, biblical animations of Bible stories.
BAD IMMORAL CARTOON => BAD KID Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! GOOD MORAL CARTOON => GOOD KID Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
No. I am saying they would have beat SOMEONE anyway - they would have just found another excuse. Are you saying that children who do not watch South Park do not beat or bully other children? Have you seen the episode? The gag is that Eric gains power by doing a school report claiming that Gingers do not have souls. Watch it. It's really pretty silly. Do you really think thses kids belioeve that Gingers have no souls? Of couse not.
Roman, they would have found some other reason to atack SOMEONE. It might not have been this kid for having red hair but some other kid for being gay or having a mole (austin powers) or god knows what reason. You cant blame a TV show for people being assholes. Sam i agree 100% with your first post, youth amenities are a low goverment priority sadly. All goverments seem interest in is punishing kids for hanging around together, look at how "loitering" laws have been used in shopping centers
Kids need to be spanked for bad deeds and bad things they say, they have too much freedom these days. They also need to be rewarded when they do good deeds.
There are tons of basketball courts, parks, baseball diamonds, recreation centers with pools where we live. I don't think the city needs to invest anymore money in it. The Canadian Government also lets you write off $500.00 per child for any sport or recreational club your put your child in. Just because there are all these things available to the kids......teenagers I should say, doesn't mean they are using them. Most of the kids in this neighbourhood have basketball nets right on their driveways and access to a few parks in a 5 min walking distance. Most of the teenagers just want to hang around looking cool getting into mischief though.
It's not just having them, but using them - you are right. IN every case that I am aware of, when people start things like midnight basketball leagues, crime drops in the area. Don't just build it and expect them to come. Invest into outreach programs, leagues and othe such projects to make community cooperation available and appealing.
