PC gone too far?

Bob Sacamano

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Should the kid have been arrested and charged?


http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Teen-charged-in-NJ-Walmart-apf-588972312.html?x=0WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) -- A 16-year-old boy patronizing a Walmart store in southern New Jersey took over the public-address system and ordered black people to leave, angering customers and prompting company leaders to apologize, police said Saturday.
Police said the boy, whose name is not being released because he is a juvenile, went on the intercom at Walmart's Washington Township store Sunday evening and calmly announced: "Attention, Walmart customers: All black people, leave the store now."
The teen was arrested Friday on charges of harassment and bias intimidation. Authorities said he was released to the custody of his parents; they did not know whether he had a lawyer.
"This was an extremely disturbing event on many levels," Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean Dalton said at a news conference. "Any statements like these that can cause harm or grave concern must be addressed as quickly we possibly can."
Dalton said the case would be handled in juvenile court in neighboring Atlantic County, where the boy lives. He would not say whether the boy has a criminal record, citing the teen's age, and would not disclose the teen's race, saying that did not factor into the investigation.
Authorities would not say whether the announcement was planned or made impulsively. Police said they were also investigating a teenage boy who accompanied the suspect to the store, but they had not charged the other boy.
Although a manager quickly went on the intercom system and apologized for the remark, many customers expressed their anger to store management. Some community members said Saturday that they've heard reports of similar incidents happening at the store in recent months that were not reported to police.
"We are concerned about that, and we're looking into these incidents. We want to work with the community to make sure these types of incidents don't happen," said Loretta Winters, president of the Gloucester County chapter of the NAACP.
Winters said she hopes the boy will get counseling and be educated about sensitivity so he can understand the consequences of his actions.
"I'm assuming this person didn't realize how hurtful his comments were," she said.
Officials for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said the announcement was "unacceptable," and Dalton praised the company for its strong cooperation in the investigation.
"We're pleased this matter is resolved," Walmart spokesman David Tovar said in a statement issued after the news conference. "We have updated our intercom system at this store to prevent this from happening again. We again apologize to all of our customers and associates who had to listen to something so offensive."
The incident was the latest in a series of problems the retailer has had in its dealings with minorities and women.
There have been several past instances of black customers claiming they were treated unfairly at Walmart stores, and the company faced lawsuits alleging that women were passed over in favor of men for pay raises and promotions.
In February 2009, the retailer paid $17.5 million to settle a class action lawsuit alleging racial discrimination in its hiring of truck drivers.
And the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued the company in May 2009, claiming some Hispanic employees at a Sam's Club subsidiary in California were subjected to a hostile work environment. That suit alleges managers failed to stop repeated verbal harassment, including the use of derogatory words, against employees of Mexican descent.
However, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has said the company has worked hard in recent years to show it cares about diversity.
 

Cajuncowboy

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Hmmm. I like to go into a wal mart fitting room and then yell out...

"Hey! Who took all the toilet paper?"
 

Alumni2k11

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Honestly, if someone yelled "all white people please leave" on the intercom, I would have laughed (i'm white).
 

bbgun

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Believe it or not, people have the right to be racially insensitive in this country, or maybe the NJ police missed every episode of All in the Family, South Park, The Chapelle Show, and Family Guy. Now, had the kid started a riot or some sort of dangerous stampede, that would be different, but it seems to me the most they can charge him with is commandeering a store's PA system. Anything beyond that is PC run amok.
 

ScipioCowboy

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Stupid kid. A butt whooping might be the best remedy for what ails him.
 

rkell87

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bbgun;3314339 said:
Believe it or not, people have the right to be racially insensitive in this country, or maybe the NJ police missed every episode of All in the Family, South Park, The Chapelle Show, and Family Guy. Now, had the kid started a riot or some sort of dangerous stampede, that would be different, but it seems to me the most they can charge him with is commandeering a store's PA system. Anything beyond that is PC run amok.
no you dont, you cant say or do or have anything that might scare or offend anybody. we no longer have x-mas breaks in school it is now winter break(just happens to be the week of christmas every year:rolleyes: ) families every year are told to take down nativity scenes, you cant yell fire in a theater or bomb on an airplane even though it goes directly against our first amedment rights. technically you can be ticketed or arressted for cussing around anybody all someone has to do is call the cops and say they were offended and scared for their saftey. its all bs while i dont condone what the kid did he has the right to do it, personally if i had been a black person in that store i would have walked right up to him and told him to make me.
 

Cajuncowboy

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bbgun;3314339 said:
Believe it or not, people have the right to be racially insensitive in this country, or maybe the NJ police missed every episode of All in the Family, South Park, The Chapelle Show, and Family Guy. Now, had the kid started a riot or some sort of dangerous stampede, that would be different, but it seems to me the most they can charge him with is commandeering a store's PA system. Anything beyond that is PC run amok.

Well, we just have scratched the surface on what is happening in this country. It's about to get much worse.
 

masomenos

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bbgun;3314339 said:
Believe it or not, people have the right to be racially insensitive in this country, or maybe the NJ police missed every episode of All in the Family, South Park, The Chapelle Show, and Family Guy. Now, had the kid started a riot or some sort of dangerous stampede, that would be different, but it seems to me the most they can charge him with is commandeering a store's PA system. Anything beyond that is PC run amok.

Most likely, he'll be charged with criminal harassment.

It's not an issue of political correctness running amok and it's entirely different than the TV examples you listed.
 

bbgun

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masomenos85;3314451 said:
Most likely, he'll be charged with criminal harassment.

It's not an issue of political correctness running amok and it's entirely different than the TV examples you listed.

It is if they try to charge him with any kind of hate crime. Stay tuned.
 

Hoofbite

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Kid was being a POS.

I don't know why anyone has a problem with him getting what he has coming.
 

Cajuncowboy

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Hoofbite;3314462 said:
Kid was being a POS.

I don't know why anyone has a problem with him getting what he has coming.

The kid was being a 16 year old dumb***.

He should get some punishment but to charge him with a hate crime is beyond stupid.

He did no harm to anyone. He just pulled a stupid prank.

Like I said, he should be punished, but the punishment should fit the crime.

The crime of being a goofy 16 year old.
 

Hoofbite

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Cajuncowboy;3314479 said:
The kid was being a 16 year old dumb***.

He should get some punishment but to charge him with a hate crime is beyond stupid.

He did no harm to anyone. He just pulled a stupid prank.

Like I said, he should be punished, but the punishment should fit the crime.

The crime of being a goofy 16 year old.

Is he being charged with a hate crime?
 

theogt

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Bob Sacamano;3314509 said:
The kid did something racist, inflammatory, and quite obviously illegal. He was charged accordingly. He deserves punishment. Society can't allow people to do things like this without being punished. End of story. He wasn't over-charged. But, of course, the knee-jerk reaction is that it's overboard. I think some would rather him not even be charged.
 

rkell87

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theogt;3314511 said:
The kid did something racist, inflammatory, and quite obviously illegal. He was charged accordingly. He deserves punishment. Society can't allow people to do things like this without being punished. End of story. He wasn't over-charged. But, of course, the knee-jerk reaction is that it's overboard. I think some would rather him not even be charged.
he did something wrong, he didnt do anything illegal
 

Bob Sacamano

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theogt;3314511 said:
The kid did something racist, inflammatory, and quite obviously illegal. He was charged accordingly. He deserves punishment. Society can't allow people to do things like this without being punished. End of story. He wasn't over-charged. But, of course, the knee-jerk reaction is that it's overboard. I think some would rather him not even be charged.

The kid is 16. I think the charges have more to do with outside pressure. Such as WalMart already having to settle for a boatload of money due to charges of racially profiling truck drivers, and customers right after this incident planning to boycott buying at that WalMart unless they "do something about it", more than anything else. And besides, this will be off his record in 2 years, tops.

I also don't like where this could lead. I mean you might as well allow parents to bring charges of harassment against other kids' parents for picking on their own in schools.
 
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