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Call For "Kick A Ginger Day" On Facebook Gets Three Boys Detained

by Yuliya Talmazan | November 30, 2009 at 04:49 pm

1519 views | 29 Recommendations | 10 comments

Who would have thought that this form of bullying still existed -- singling out students based on their hair colour? In today's world, it would seem the colour of one's hair would be the last thing a person could be bullied for. Nowadays, people seem to be more centered on things like skin colour, sexual orientation, accent, religious dress, and weight. But to bully a kid for being red-haired - weren't we done with that decades ago?

But, ss the case of three young bullies from Calabasas, California has shown, no type of bullying can ever be dismissed as being too primitive. Three young boys attending a Southern California school have been arrested for staging what they called "Kick a Ginger Day." The boys posted a message on Facebook asking their fellow classmates to target red-haired "ginger" kids. Two 12-year-old boys were arrested for misdemeanour battery, and a 13-year-old boy was booked for cyber-bullying. It is believed the bullying might have been inspired by a South Park episode centered on racial prejudice.

No serious injuries were sustained by the children affected.

The three suspects, whose identities were not released because of their ages, were booked Wednesday and released to their parents.

Four girls and three boys reported that schoolmates shoved or kicked them on Nov. 20 at A.E. Wright Middle School in Calabasas, an affluent suburb of Los Angeles.

In my opinion, one aspect of this story has been overlooked though. Nobody questioned what business twelve-year-old children had on Facebook. Facebook's policy clearly states, "If you are under age 13, please do not attempt to register for Facebook or provide any personal information about yourself to us." One has to be older than 13 to even get a Facebook account. And, as the this cyber-bullying incident shows, Facebook's age policy might have some merit. The bottom line is that Facebook was used as a means to relay the hateful message, without which the "Kick a Ginger" campaign might not have even taken off the way it did.

Does that warrant tighter controls on the use of Facebook by minors? What is your take?

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conspiracynexus (not verified)

at 20:03 on November 30th, 2009

Seriously?!?!? WTF its a joke, was meant to be a joke. anyone who believed it is an idiot. Are the police going to arrest people for assault when St Patrick's day comes up when people get pinched for not wearing green. These anti bullying groups have gone overboard.

marianmo

at 22:30 on November 30th, 2009

there is a lot of bullying that happens .....there needs to be a zero tolerance for bullying especially in schools yes there needs to be closer scrutiny of kids activites on line and that is a parents responsibility

generaldecay

at 22:32 on November 30th, 2009

GOOD!

A MAN WHO HATES BULLYING... (not verified)

at 02:05 on December 1st, 2009

To: conspiracynexus (not verified) (who made the comment at at 20:03 on November 30th, 2009)YOU'RE A COMPLETE ASSH*LE. THE YOUNG GIRL WAS PUNCHED, AND YOU'RE SAYING THAT THIS IS OKAY? YOU MUST EITHER BE A WIFE-BEATER, A CHILD ABUSER, OR A CON. YOUR COMMENT ON HERE IS OBVIOUSLY VIOLENT, I HOPE YOU GET PUNCHED AND BEATEN SO BAD, THAT YOU'LL UNDERSTAND WHAT IT'S LIKE TO BE BULLIED. KARMA, DUDE, KARMA - YOU'LL GET YOUR'S ONE DAY.

med mead (not verified)

at 15:02 on December 1st, 2009

this was in no way a joke . and as stated there is and always should be zero tollerance of this activity in all schools and dealt with appropriately . this is the activity that leads to other incidents and no child or person should be subject to it and no child or person should think they can do it .

clonahib (not verified)

at 11:23 on December 16th, 2009

Very good article. I was recently blogging on The Netflix Prize, which deals with the quality of the recommendation. However, conclusions are drawn primarily off of user ratings. People don't seem to bother rating on facebook, I know I don't. I wonder what correlations exist there...

Hopploose (not verified)

at 21:42 on December 27th, 2009

The French treatment of celebrities is somewhat different to other western countries. Their latest celebrity news industry is much more sedate and subtle, and they have less of a problem with the papparazi.

Kimbrerly (not verified)

at 13:07 on January 16th, 2010

This is horrible, demeaning, and just sad. Yes, i am a redhead (DOES NOT WANT TO BE REFFERED AS A GINGER) and this ISNT fair. Luckily i havent been kicked yet. But i do get made fun of ALOT about my hair color. I do not like it and do not tolerate it. I hope this isnt funny too anyone, i hope this isnt a frieken joke to anyone. This is sad and i think only people without brains would do this. ): they dont make a hug a blonde day, but yet they make a kick a redhead day? I hate south parknow because what they have did! ),: