Anti-Semitic ("Beat the Jew") student game spurs outrage (Southern California)

Source: The Desert Sun

Some in the community say school should take action — educationally

A game with anti-Semitic elements played by dozens of La Quinta High School students has offended many but isn't illegal, officials said Wednesday.

The game, called “Beat the Jew,” has caused “extreme disappointment,” but the 40 students involved can't be punished because it happened off school property, Principal Donna Salazar said Wednesday.

Those who were offended said something more should be done to teach tolerance.

“We only have three weeks until there's not much you can do about it,” said the 18-year-old La Quinta High student who alerted officials to the game and Facebook page promoting it. She has asked to remain anonymous and is staying home from school out of fear of retribution.

“Some of these kids that have joined the group, they're like the cream of the crop of my class,” she said. “They're going to be the leaders of our future and they feel this way?”

The chase game involved a runner — called a “Jew” — and groups of people chasing in cars — “Nazis.”

“The objective for the Jew is to run down Hwy. 111 to a specified checkpoint before the Nazis can catch up to him, tackle him down and capture him,” according to a Facebook page that was taken down on Friday.

Read more: http://www.mydesert.com/article/20100527/NEWS04/5270311/Anti-Semitic-student-game-spurs-outrage

kid's birthday party I heard kids playing "smear the queer." Similar to this game, or "kill the carrier."

"Smear the Queer" as it was called in elementary school, back in the mid-late '80s.

...at the time, I never associated "queer" with "gay". I just considered "queer" in its original context as "strange."

In retrospect, I'm horrified. But funny the way some things go over your head as a kid.

Guess who was the Queer, whether he wanted to be or not? :yoiks:

we used to play "STQ" but we never really meant the "queer" to mean actual "homosexual." It was just a word for the one that was singled out. Everybody tackled whoever had the football - when you had enough you tossed the ball to someone else and everyone went after them. You actually wanted to get the football to have your turn and avoid the tackles until you had to toss it away. You didn't try to avoid getting the ball, you wanted your turn.

As an adult now I'm horrified at the term "STQ" of course, and I am even more horrified to read your post, that you were always singled out. That wasn't the game the way we played it. What you are talking about - getting "smeared" whether you want to play or not - isn't a game, it is just straight out bullying.

played. Ignorance is not an excuse, of course. But I have to say knowing about this tempers my outrage a bit about the OP's story.

I expressed shock when Mr. Brickbat told me about it. He grew up in a very liberal area, with educated liberal parents. It was just "one of those things," the way so many of "those things" are.

in reference to homosexuality, that didn't seem to be the focus of the "game" at all -- mostly it came down to Pick on the Scrawny Kid.

But as I got older I showed them! Oh wait -- no I didn't, I'm still scrawny! Dammit! :evilgrin:

Police brutalizing gays for amusement, whenever they felt like raiding a gay bar? No problem. (As if being in a gay bar was NYC's biggest safety issue.)

Hell, there are still laws forbidding gay marriage in most states, as though gays were sub-human. Not to mention DADT and DOMA.

Where's the outrage and action from most of America's hetero liberals?

In the Sixties, when it came to African Americans, it was (to white kids) "Spend at least part of your summer college vacation in the South, registering voters."

But, when it comes to gays now, it's "Shut up. Don't embarrass any Democrat in office, especially Obama. (Talk about irony!) Just take whatever crumbs may come your way and act grateful for them, too."


Shameful.

Shameful.

Shameful.

We played smear the queer on the playground when I was a kid. "the queer" was the one person in the group who had the ball, thus making them "queer" in the group. After that person was tackled, it was someone else's turn to be "the queer". That's the only way that kids saw it, and I don't think anything in any way derogatory was intended in the game; at that age we wouldn't have even understood any other meaning of the word.

Someone intended something derogatory when they named the game.

Times change, the usage of words changes with them, and it's a game kids have been playing in playgrounds for at least decades.

early as 1914. http://www.student.com/blogs/the-community-glbtq-student-blog/the-etymology-of-queer

See also http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=queer (1925)

And considered a very derogatory way to refer to them, too.

http://www.student.com/blogs/the-community-glbtq-student-blog/the-etymology-of-queer ; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay

So, I stand by my prior post: whoever named the game had derogatory intent, even if the name was given many decades ago.

Not blaming young kids who payed the game. Then again, the "kids" un this article playing Jew and Naziss are around 18, n0t 8.

That's pretty crooked thinking. You're looking for something where it doesn't exist.

amazing

being the "queer" was a bad thing; do you honestly think that in the context of the "game", the phrase meant "odd" or "strange"

why do you think "queer" is still used today as a slur

In the game in question, the word queer is 100% in compliance with the dictionary definition of the word. And from that, you are somehow finding hateful connotations. It also has a rhyming name; "tackle the odd man out" isn't really a fun or appealing name to say.

is a bundle of sticks

the dictionary definition of horse is "a solid-hoofed plant-eating domesticated mammal with a flowing mane and tail, used for riding, racing, and to carry and pull loads." We could do this all day. I have a dictionary on my computer. Give me another word.

but that would get this post pulled

takes one to know one.

We visited the Holocaust Museum in Atlanta, it brought us to tears at what was done. WE thought we knew and understood the magnitude of the Holocaust. You don't, until you see the millions of faces of the men, women and children and what they endured.

to see that happen. That is a part of history that we cannot allow to be swept under the rug, and as every year goes by we have fewer and fewer survivors to tell the story.

of behavior and not the bare minimum. Geeze.

The school was very clear in its condemnation of the game. Are you suggesting that schools should have broad authority to discipline students for behavior that is lawful because it is inappropriate and offensive? That would, imo, open a huge can of worms. For example, while I disagree strongly with the outcome and reasoning of the "Bong Hits For Jesus" case, at least it was limited to speech that occurred in connection with a school event (even if it was off school property). Would you really want to extend the schools' authority to punish students for holding a "bong hits for Jesus" rally separate and apart from any school event?

What is illegal is not a standard of good community behavior.

behavior shouldn't be something that the state, acting through the public schools, enforces with punitive measures without due process of law.

Or something else short of punitive action, but more than just a comment to a reporter?

And that has nothing to do with the law at all. :hi:

all in the newspapers. there should be a corner in the newspaper where the names of dumbasses and their stunts are listed.

After all, Paul supports racism as long as it doesn't affect Caucasians.

So, Rand's opposition to certain provisions of the civil rights act does not limit his foolishness to African Americans.

"In the final legislation, Section 703 (a) made it unlawful for an employer to "fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions or privileges or employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin." The final bill also allowed sex to be a consideration when sex is a bona fide occupational qualification for the job. Title VII of the act created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to implement the law."

http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/

Not surprised.

.."and in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed."

YHWH
Genesis 12:3

confront antisemitism.

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something everyone can take part in.

exactly what bad taste is. :(

in order to teach more tolerance.

I'm thinking of something like getting the kids together with schools from other communities, with the explict purpose of developing long term friendships among diverse groups. Social activities, but non-competitive activities. Perhaps like dances. Perhaps sharing classes for 6 weeks or so (means more busing) each year.