The Gally 6 or 7?

Here's a story just breaking over the last several hours that could rival that of the "Jena 6" incident that took place not too long ago. This incident may be a racially motivated attack against a Deaf black high school student that took place at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD - see map) which is a deaf high school located on the campus of Gallaudet University. Mishka Zena has the info on the MSSD Official Memo to the Deaf community about the grave matter that took place on the campus of Gallaudet University on Wednesday, October 3rd.

This "hate attack" occurred when seven Deaf high school students held against one Deaf black high school student against his will in one of the MSSD dormitory room for 45 minutes. The seven students used markers to scrawl "KKK" and a swastika on the black student. Officials are investigating this and say that this may lead to charges of hate crime. But the irony in all of this is that the seven students involved, six of them are white and one is black. CNN reports this breaking news as a national story.

A black student was held against his will and then released with "KKK" and swastikas drawn on him in marker at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf on Sunday, she said.

No charges have been filed, and no names have been released, Lanier said.

The incident began when a group of black students and a group of white students were in a dorm. "My understanding is the two groups engaged in friendly horseplay," she said.

But, she said, the groups got "angry with each other."

The two groups separated, she said, but later, six white students and one black student -- all between the ages of 15 and 19 -- took one of the black students into a dorm room and "held him there against his will."

"They used markers to write 'KKK' and draw swastikas on the student," Lanier said.

The student was released after about 45 minutes. He notified dorm and school authorities, who called police.

Lanier said police have identified and interviewed the students involved and the "investigation is ongoing."

"The support we've received from the campus and from the school employees has been tremendous," Lanier said. "And I think they're supporting us in making a very strong statement that this investigation may lead to charges that could have enhanced penalties for a hate crime."

It was only last year that Gallaudet University was national news when a protest broke out that lasted for months over the selection of the first ever Deaf woman university president, Dr. Jane K. Fernandes. The protest resulted in the arrests of some 133 protesters, mostly students.

But prior to the 2006 Gallaudet University's protest, the six remaining potential candidates were to be selected to be a part of the three finalists. All five candidates were white (4 males and one female named Dr. Jane K. Fernandes) with one black candidate, the highly respected Dr. Glenn Anderson. Soon, the Presidential Search Committee removed Dr. Glenn Anderson from consideration to be among the top three finalists for the university president position, leaving 2 white males and one white female, Dr. Jane K. Fernandes who was soon selected to become the first ever Deaf woman Gallaudet University president.

After the selection, a campus wide protest ensued. But the interesting twist here was that there were very little protest, campus wide, over the removal of Dr. Glenn Anderson for consideration for selection. This move prompted an organization called National Black Deaf Advocates to formally lodge a written protest to Gallaudet University Board of Trustees over the removal of Dr. Anderson from consideration to be among the top 3 finalists for the university president position. Racisim on the campus of Gallaudet University has often been sidelined or even ignored to a certain degree seeing it as not an issue by many people for many years. Even including the issue of rapes on campus.

So, in asking this, how is this different from the "Jena 6" incident? Well, the "Jena 6" was an entirely over-blown incident where 6 black students attacked, unprovoked, a white student. Why? Well, Jason Whitlock, a well known black sportswriter, wrote an opinion piece in the Kansas City Star explaining exactly why the mainstream media ignore the real story and made the "Jena 6" look like a racially motived hated crime. He wrote a piece called "Lessons From Jena, LA" where he brilliantly exposed the mainstream media, including people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, who purposely withheld the real story of the "Jena 6" incident just to cause more racial tension rather than reduce it. If it was indeed a racially motivated hate crime then the 6 black athletes who "cold cocked" the white student from behind ought to be the ones charged with a hate crime along with other criminal charges, however. Jason Whitlock explains:

There are undeniable racial and economic inequities in our criminal justice system, and from afar the "Jena Six" rallies certainly looked and felt like the righteous protests of the 1960s.

But the reality is Thursday's protests are just another sign that we remain deeply locked in denial about the path we need to travel today for true American liberation, equality and power in the new millennium.

There was no "schoolyard fight" as a result of nooses being hung on a whites-only tree.

Justin Barker, the white victim, was cold-cocked from behind, knocked unconscious and stomped by six black athletes. Barker, luckily, sustained no life-threatening injuries and was released from the hospital three hours after the attack.

The mainstream media, as usual, have almost universally ignored or downplayed the real story behind the "Jena 6" case. But there's more:

A black U.S. attorney, Don Washington, investigated the "Jena Six" case and concluded that the attack on Barker had absolutely nothing to do with the noose-hanging incident three months before. The nooses and two off-campus incidents were tied to Barker's assault by people wanting to gain sympathy for the "Jena Six" in reaction to [Jena District Attorney Reed] Walters' extreme charges of attempted murder.

Will the "Gally 7" become another over-blown "racially-motivated" incident but with the ironic twist where you have a Deaf black student who was part of the 7 attackers? And I ask this question. How can a hate-crime be applied when a black student was part of this unnecessary "hate attack"? Unless, of course, if the black victim is gay and the attack was a gay hate crime incident.

Not likely.

I'm sure investigating officials will find this to be a conundrum and figure out how can a hate crime charged? Even though the concept of a "hate crime" is in itself riddled with too many Orwellian-type of thought policing at work.

Will Jesse Jackson come to the rescue of "Gally 7" of which one black student could be charged with a serious hate crime?

Or will he support the victim? Or both?

Or will Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton politely make themselves unavailable chalking this up as nothing more than some 7 dumb Deaf high school students who didn't know any better requiring only a slap on the wrist?

Or will white advocates come to the rescue of the "Gally 7". How far will this go and how much of the mainstream media will try and twist this story only to cause more racial tension when it could have been nothing more than horseplay? And that these students really didn't understand history or the seriousness of such symbols and meanings?

Keep watching. But bloggers are going nuts over this one.


UPDATE: A letter sent to Gallaudet University almost one year ago by a former alumnus accusing the then university president of exhibiting a "plantation mentality" for 18 years.

UPDATE II: Reports are saying that it was a "war game" that went too far. In other words, horseplay that got out of hand along with bad judgement. Investigation continues.

UPDATE III: Paotie chimes in. So does DeafDC. And Lolypup about making racist jokes.