LOS ANGELES (YBH.ME) – A 12 year old boy in the L.A. suburb of Calabasas was beaten and kicked by up to 14 fellow students because he had red hair. November 20 had been declared “Kick a Ginger Day” in a Facebook message the students received. Ginger is a nickname for redheads more common in the U.K. and Canada, but made famous by a 2005 “South Park” episode which focused on redhead prejudice.
Social Media Message Leads To Violence?
According to law enforcement investigating the incident, a “South Park” Facebook group was presumed to be the source of the message. A.E Wright Middle School, where the incident took place, is in an affluent suburb a short drive to Malibu beach. It’s a high academic-achieving campus with a good teacher to student ratio, rarely if ever in the news.
School authorities responded by addressing the issue of prejudice in a school announcement and class discussions. November 20, 2008 saw a similar middle school attack in a Catholic school in Canada. The originator of the Facebook group was a 14 year old boy who explained he “meant [it] as a joke.” Canadian Mounties at the time considered prosecuting it as a hate crime. The mother of the Canadian girl who was attacked at the time stated, “It’s assault – it’s racist, too.”
The “South Park” episode described redheads as “evil” and “soulless”.
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