September 30, 2007

Parents Protest Beatdown of Black Teen in Palmdale

One thing that we learned from the Jena Six affair is that we can no longer go away quietly into the night when one of our children is abused in a racially-biased manner. 16-year old Pleajhia Mervin was beat down by a school security guard for not cleaning up some cake crumbs from the floor.

Instead of calling a janitor the security guard decided it was best to break the wrist of the youngster.

The incident was caught on tape by a student with his cell phone camera. It shows 16-year-old Pleajhia Mervin being held down by a security guard. The school says it all started when students began throwing pieces of a birthday cake around the lunch room.

Dozens of parents, students and civil rights activists gathered in front Knight High School in Palmdale Friday morning to send the message. The message: Stop the security guard violence against students.

Najee Ali (Project Islamic Hope) said,
"We are seeing a trend of black students being victimized and today, we say enough is enough, enough is enough."
The security guard has been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation.

Jim Clingman, nationally syndicated columnist, lays it out quite well in his essay, 'Here a Jena, There a Jena, Everywhere a Jena Jena'

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