Case Study

Black boy 'tied to lamppost and whipped' at school as "mock slave auction" which was ran by white teenagers

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/black-boy-tied-lamppost-whipped-12180662
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/white-pupils-at-bath-school-tied-up-black-boy-for-mock-slave-sale-drhdlzm2x
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5496951/Seven-white-teenagers-whipped-black-pupil-mock-slave-auction.html

In this case study I will be analysing a recent story on a tragic bullying event that happened in an all boys’ school in Bath Somerset. Unfortunately, I am unable to mention the name of the school due to legal reasons and to also protect the identity of the victim of bullying.

This recent act of bullying that was reported not long ago in the Bath Chronicles, involved a group of teenage boys, who has allegedly tied up a fellow black student to a lamppost and then whipped him in a 'mock slave auction'. This story is such a disappointing and tragic story to come across, it is so sad that somehow after all the proud historic moments we celebrate such as Women's Rights, The Vote for Women, Declaration of Independence, etc. but regardless of all this effort for trying to move forwards, somehow we are also moving backwards. Why is it so difficult for many people to accept others different from themselves? Is asking for respect, asking for too much?

The key problems of this story is that seven young, well educated boys, racially abused a young black male student in a lunch break, and after being expelled by the headmaster, the school board rejected the expulsion and the punishment that was faced for the seven boys was instead, a two week exclusion. It is always disheartening to hear about stories like this where society shows that hatred for other races still exist.

Imagine coming into school one morning, thinking the day was going to be like any other day. Questioning whether you’ve done the homework done for today, thinking what you’d do for lunch? Normal, everyday things flow through your head. Little did a student know, it was not going to be like every other lunch today. This student whom I cannot name to protect his identity, was ganged up by seven of his peers, chaining him to a lamppost, whipping him with sticks and shouting racist comments at him, all to create a ‘mock slave auction’. We have little information of what happened after, but police are investigating the incident, trying to discover why those seven boys have done such a thing, and why the school governors rejected the expulsion.

After the incident, the victim’s parents did not wish to comment on what had happened to their son, but many other parents from the school and those reading the news were alarmed and outraged by the abuse committed on school grounds, during school hours. Here are a few things that some of the parents had to say:

A father of a mixed race child at the school told the Bath Chronicle that allowing the pupils to return to the school sent the wrong message. “I’ve got a mixed-race son. He’s thinking ‘they’re going to stick up for the white kids but we get in trouble if we do something wrong’,” he said.

His partner agreed, saying that she is still shocked over the message the school is showing to the other students about racism and the impact of it on the already traumatised victim. “The boy it happened to is just the sweetest little thing ever,” she said. “He’s so sweet and kind and gentle. It just makes it even worse.” She said she did not blame the perpetrators, who were “just children”, but that responsibility lay with their parents, the school and the governors. “The boys are stupid,” she said. “What they did was really, really stupid and silly. But I’m not sure if they realise what they were doing was so terrible, but it is the parents duty to ensure that their children understand the meaning of acceptance and we cannot be punished for things we cannot control.” “As a parent, my moral compass at the moment is screaming. Someone has to be held accountable for it. Someone has to say sorry.”

What is probably most disheartening to this story is that the students that were racially abusing their peer did not receive any more charges, but a few weeks exclusion, this is outrageous and shows corruption in what we thought was a peaceful and respectful community, it is up to our teachers, as the student’s leader to guide them, to show them that exception of other races is key in life, life that we aim to have. Instead, in this case, the students who racially abused their peer will be able to return and continue with what they were doing, with only having a couple of weeks of ‘exclusion’, more known as a ‘holiday’. What is stopping them from doing it again, the incidents were not taken seriously enough in my eyes, and due to this, it represents a tear in our society and shows the younger generation that it is okay to punish someone for something they cannot control.

Solutions to help this case include things like weekly of even monthly assembly’s about acceptance and its importance, in these assemblies the students could participate in different exercises where they take part in different controlled scenarios, this will allow the students to feel like the victim, thus giving them ways to prevent that kind of situation to happen to other students. The advantage to this solution is that it allows the students to understand the feeling of hurtful words and then making them more aware of their actions, physical and verbal. The only disadvantage to this is the access to space, it may not be ideal to hold whole school assemblies as this will mean that less people will get involved, ways to help this could include doing separate assemblies for each year groups in the school and timing them so that all years are given the chance to participate in this practise. It is important for the school that they are trying to rectify the situation and I feel that this is the best way in doing so. What the school needs to aim in doing is to rebuild the safe environment feeling for all cultures. The boys that were involved must also understand what they did wrong and so could receive counselling every so often to establish that connection, it also allows the teachers to monitor the students’ thoughts on the topic of racism.

To conclude this case, I believe this situation was not taken seriously enough and through the research I did from previous articles on this story shows this. We must ensure that to create a peaceful and accepting environment where our children aren’t scared to go into school due to the fear of being beaten up for being different, we must aim to create an environment where are children are encouraged to embrace their differences and thought to accept others for theirs. All and all, the solutions that I have given are definitely options in which the school should consider in order to increase their reputation for being a safe learning environment for children and young adults.