On my way home yesterday, I picked up a copy of the New York Post. Shortly after scanning through the front page, a headline caught my attention (the other headlines were about baseball and Judge Judy: I’m not a fan of either). “Hate Rap for Kid, 12, in Attack on Muslim girl” read the front of the paper. The story was about a 12 year old boy from Staten Island who beat down a fellow classmate because she was Muslim. 12 year old Osman Daramy apparently approached the female classmate and asked her “Are you a Muslim?” Later, Osman and an accomplice punched and kicked her to the ground, trying to rip her hijab off her head. The victim suffered a few bruises and a cut lip, as reported.
Now, at a glance, this may seem like a hate crime. 2 non-Muslim kids attacking a Muslim; but, what really got to me was the fact that these kids are 12! I have a nephew who is 10 years old and just imagining him plotting a plan to beat another 10 year old would be quite mind-boggling to me. Osman was eventually arrested and currently, he could be facing up to 18 months in a Juvenile facility. The thing that bothers me the most is the way the NY Post covered this story. The newspaper gave no empathy to Osman and was extremely harsh on him in a lot of the phrases and rhetoric used. For example, they called him a “Holy Terror,” ”Menace” and even boldly stated that he is “Staten Island's number 1 problem child”. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/staten_island/si_kid_fickle_finger_of_hate_GYtdHKlW6UTM6HtXNzuUiL
I agree that what he did was wrong, BUT it is important to keep in mind that the assault on the Muslim student happened on school property and the question that really should be asked is where were the school officials? Where were the parents? Where were the people older than 12? The NY post had only mentioned the alleged mother of Osman and had one quote from her. The quotation simply stated that it is not right to bug other people about their religion; there was no mention of the assault. This was not the first time Osman had gotten in trouble. On an earlier account,he had cut a girl's hair with scissors after running around the class with them. In another earlier incident, young Osman and a few other “Punks/Crooks” (as the NY Post delightfully put it) robbed a pizza deliveryman and got away with food and cash. These were explicit signs that this was a problem child, yet nothing was done about his actions. When one of your students is caught robbing a pizzaman, the school and parents have to bear responsibility. Why wasn’t anything done earlier? Why did the school or the parents not punish Osman accordingly? All the school did was suspend him. A more stringent punishment should have been pursued which may have prevented any of this. Although there were other incidents that young Osman was involved in, the “hate crime” against the muslim girl is something that we as a country can influence.
This is classical personaliztion bias, where the media looks at the single,short-term events now and does not look at the long-term effects.This kind of prejudice will not stop here and continue to go on if we do not educate ourselves better about the different races and cultures around the world.
This story is a microcosm of a bigger national issue.I feel that in the past,the media's potrayal of muslims has been unfair and fabricated.This feeling of uncertainty and hatred towards muslims trickles down to younger generations.What can the governing board of education do to prevent this from happening? What can the federal government do to educate our future generations on different races and cultures.I do believe it starts with the government and schools in implementing a better understanding of the different races and cultures I feel like the writers of this article created the perception that Osman was a troublemaker who could not be helped.They are wrong.I strongly believe it all starts with education.I think it is the media's job as agenda setters to shine stories like this in a light where the government can be aware of the bigger picture.I believe prejudice arrives when education has left the building.
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