Black belt teen strikes back at bully, and rallies community against racism

[astralis]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl.../National/home

Black belt teen strikes back at bully, and rallies community against racism

Article Comments (407)
JOE FRIESEN
From Thursday's Globe and Mail
April 30, 2009 at 4:21 AM EDT

KESWICK, ONT. — The 15-year-old black belt thought he was doing his tormentor a favour when he elected to fight back with his weaker left hand.

He had heard his white classmate throw an angry racial slur in his direction after an argument during a gym class game of speedball, and now the student was shoving him backward, refusing to retract the smear.

The white student swung first, hitting the 15-year-old with a punch to the mouth.

The 15-year-old heard his father's voice running through his head: Fight only as a last resort, only in self-defence, only if given no choice, and only with the left hand.

His swing was short and compact, a left-handed dart that hit the white student square on the nose.

The nose broke under his fist, igniting a sequence of events - from arrest to suspension to possible expulsion - that has left the Asian student and his family wondering whether they are welcome in this small, rural and mostly white community north of Toronto, one that has been touched by anti-Asian attacks in the past.

The 15-year-old, the only person charged in connection with the April 21 school fight, faces one count of assault causing bodily harm.

But a remarkable thing happened this week.

On Monday, 400 of his fellow students, wearing black in solidarity and carrying signs of support, walked out of Keswick High School to rally in protest in front of their school.

Organizer Mathew Winch, a Grade 12 student, said the school has fewer than 10 Asian students, but everyone wanted to stand up against bullying and racism. The story even hit the front page of local newspapers.

After the public outcry, the York Regional Police hate crimes unit reopened the case. Although the other student has not been charged, further charges are possible, a spokesman said yesterday.

The case is particularly sensitive because of a series of attacks on Asian fishermen in the same area in 2007 - given the name "nipper tipping" by locals - which led to a high-profile investigation by the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Five such cases in 2007, ranging from violent car chases to fishermen on piers being pushed into the water, led to criminal charges. As a result of the publicity, many other Asian anglers came forward to say they had been abused or harassed while fishing in the Lake Simcoe area.

The Asian boy's father is a martial-arts master who trained with the Korean national team. He brought his family to Canada in 2004.

They settled in Keswick in 2006, and his son, who is still learning English, has studied hard to become a top student.

He proudly showed off a report card with a 90-per-cent average. The boy has struggled a little socially, his parents said, which makes the outpouring of support from his classmates all the more remarkable.

"It's the first time in my life I ever fought someone. I've been trained not to attack. It's total self-defence," the boy said. "I felt sorry because I broke his nose, but I can say he deserved it because he called me the racial comment. He started the fight, he punched me first."

He said the boy called him a "****ing Chinese," a comment he instantly knew was far from a joke.

"It's upsetting," he said. "I don't know how better to tell it."

For the moment, both students are suspended from Keswick High School, but the Asian student's parents have been told he could be expelled and forced to find a new school.

They are shocked and saddened by the ordeal.

The day after the fight, an older cousin of their son's antagonist approached him in the school cafeteria and uttered a similar slur, compounding their sense of despair.

"He said, 'You punched my cousin you Chinese ****,' " the 15-year-old said. That student was overheard by a teacher and suspended.

His father explains that the easiest course would be to move somewhere else and get a fresh start for his son. But he can't do it.

"I don't want to run away. If another Asian kid comes to this school, what happens to him? Will he run into problems? Will they think they can just kick him out? I don't want to set that example," he said.

"Personally, for my kid, I should move. But as a Canadian I cannot move."

[Repatriated Canuck]

I HATE bullies with a passion. Good for that young fella sticking up for himself. Everyone has the right to defend themselves.

[Parihaka]

WTF are the police doing in this? How is it that a child can punch someone after being punched yet be charged as an adult by the police, and the antagonist go free. Have these people no brains at all?

[bigross86]

I'm impressed at the school kids' reaction. They are showing real backbone, and give me some hope that not everyone in the next generation is a complete screwup

[Bigfella]

I'm impressed at the school kids' reaction. They are showing real backbone, and give me some hope that not everyone in the next generation is a complete screwup

You are WAY too young to be talking like that mate!

[bigross86]

Which just shows you how bad it really is, if I can look at people 10 years younger than me and hang my head in despair.

[Doktor]

So, what message wants the police to send? Turn the other cheek? What happened with self-defense?

[dave lukins]

So, what message wants the police to send? Turn the other cheek? What happened with self-defense?

Jesus said to turn the other cheek. Of course he never left instructions as to what to do after the other cheek was smacked.

[Doktor]

Well, if you are still in condition, you are eligible to kick the other ones cheeks one time each. Not the Jesus version, but law's.

BTW The karate kid doesn't seem to be a Jesus follower. At least to me and my stereotypes

[Bigfella]

Which just shows you how bad it really is, if I can look at people 10 years younger than me and hang my head in despair.

No, it just shows that like every other generation in human history you think that the one coming after you is a waste of space. I suspect that the parents of the so-called 'greatest generation' moaned about how little their youth would amount to as well. Par for the course really.

[USSWisconsin]

Jesus said to turn the other cheek. Of course he never left instructions as to what to do after the other cheek was smacked.

And of course we know what happened to Jesus. Not everyone is willing to make such a selfless sacrifice.

In hindsight - a strike to the solar plexus might have been a better choice than the nose. But regardless, the kid was defending himself, and this official reaction is so terribly wrong.

[bigross86]

Do you see anything good coming from the generation that idolizes this:



this:



and this?



I see the children on the street today, 12 year old girls wearing the skimpiest of clothing, the teenagers playing their bad music on their cellphones on the bus and not caring how many times people ask them to shut it off. In Israel no one is allowed to buy alcohol in stores after 11:00PM because of children getting drunk at night and causing trouble. You could have just gotten married and want to buy a bottle of Dom, they won't sell it to you.

Look at this example: Used to be that when a friend was in need, you immediately got his back. Now we're surprised that the school is rallying behind this kid, even though he did absolutely nothing wrong. I'm not even 25 yet, and I'm ashamed of the youth today. People 10 years younger than me. Not even the next generation, my own generation. I've seen a teenager, couldn't be over 13 or 14, lay across 3 bus seats while a stooped over old lady stood in the aisle. The kid only cleared one seat after three people asked him to and the bus driver made him. He did the old lady a favor and let her sit down.

The children today have a feeling of "I deserve this", whatever they want, they get. I speak to some friends at uni, they don't understand why I would want to fight long odds for a room in the dorms instead of living by my folks. But I don't blame just the children. I blame their parents for this as well, because they brought up their children to be like this. Two years ago I went to watch over my 3 year old niece in kindergarden because she kept getting into fights. In reality, some kid kept stealing everyone's toys and pushing kids around, and my niece was the only one that fought (scratched) back. When the teacher's called in the boy's mother and told her what was happening, she suddenly was all indignant and claimed that the teachers were all wrong, even though 3 different teachers plus myself saw this kid push my niece off some cushions that were 4 feet high. Luckily there was a mat on the floor.

No, Bigfella, this is not par for the course. This is systematic. When I was in the army, as a bonus I went on a tour along with 6 other IDF representative with a group of 50 22-26 year olds that had come to visit Israel for 10 days. I will tell you that at 20 I was more mature then EVERY SINGLE PERSON on that group. I'm not talking about students unwinding on a trip away from University, I'm talking about immature children that couldn't do a thing for themselves. I'm not criticizing the next generation, I'm criticizing my generation, but more than that, I'm criticizing the previous generation, your generation, for letting it reach this level. Because the previous generation screwed up, it is up to me and my generation to fix this problem. What makes it harder is that no one perceives it as a problem, just more entitlement

[antimony]

And of course we know what happened to Jesus. Not everyone is willing to make such a selfless sacrifice.

In hindsight - a strike to the solar plexus might have been a better choice than the nose. But regardless, the kid was defending himself, and this official reaction is so terribly wrong.

I couldn't agree more.

I do not buy into the Peace out BS. Anyone bully throwing a punch around needs his ba!!s broken.

[gunnut]

Hmmm...being called "Chinese" is now a racial slur? I've been called Korean before but I didn't get mad. In fact I found it amusing because they couldn't tell one from the other.

[Mihais]

Yep,BR,amazing how many of our generation could not be trusted with hitting nails straight,let alone doing something more complicated.

The South Koreans had a program that forced the computer dependent teenagers through some months in a boot camp.It was very succesfull IIRC.
Bleeding hearts parents that could not smack the sh!t out of their kids deserve a good beating.They actually ruined the future of a good part of our youngsters,that have to learn in their late 20's by hard contact with reality what they should have known at 15.