Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Blaming The Victim


Talk about cyber bullying! Not to mention lousy writing

 
Camila Carpio, a shrill senior at Amherst Regional High School, started a petition on Change.org yesterday imploring Amherst School officials to ban Dylan Akalis from participating in the ARHS graduation ceremony next month at the Mullins Center.

Oddly enough, Principal Mark Jackson had informed Dylan and family on Friday that he was indeed banned from the June 6 graduation ceremony.

While Ms. Carpio was somewhat correct in saying he was the, "white, male, senior High School student who threatened to bring a gun to school" she is wrong about him "racially harassing black students."  More like the other way around.

She's also wrong about Dylan "not being allowed to return to Amherst High School."  School authorities issued a 12 day suspension after the January 27 "unforeseen circumstances" school closing:  Ten days for the Facebook threat and two days for using the "N-word" (the five letter version ending in A).

The parents decided to keep him out for the rest of the year because school authorities had done little to nothing to the three black students who threatened him -- one of whom laid hands on him.

Since this regrettable drama started over 3.5 months ago no media outlet (or blog) has mentioned Dylan's name.  Yet Camila Carpio does so in an Internet petition which has the potential to be viewed by millions.

With factual errors bordering on libel.




 Camila Carpio ranting at January 28 Regional School Committee meeting



57 comments:

Anonymous said...

how about a petition to allow Dylan to participate at graduation. with the actual FACTS of the story!

Anonymous said...

How about a petition to not let Camila Carpio partake in the ceremony!

Larry Kelley said...

Yeah, Principal Jackson may want to have a conversation with her tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

Principal Jackson won't be having a conversation with Camilla. I think the administration is afraid of her. She is a wing nut and racist to boot. Good riddance to her.

Anonymous said...

Camilla is not the press. She can name him or not. It's free speech. Remember?

Larry Kelley said...

Yep. And free speech works both ways.

Anonymous said...

Enough already, time to move on.

Larry Kelley said...

"You can't handle the truth!"

Anonymous said...

How sad and discouraging that the black students who bullied Dylan are guests in our town, brought here through the A Better Chance program.

Anonymous said...

Are the signatures private? Are the people even from ARHS or Amherst?

Larry Kelley said...

Vast majority are not students and not from Amherst.

Anonymous said...

Camila Carpio is a fraud.

Anonymous said...

Someone should petition for her not to walk. It was freedom of speech but Dylan was supposed to remain a anonymous but clearly she felt it was okay to put his name out there maybe we should put the black students names out there as well because that would be only fair. If we're gonna go on this freedom of speech then where the hell does it say that a white person is not allowed to use the word "n***a"? Maybe she should get the full story before completely pointing fingers seeing both parties were in the wrong but if she wants to act like she knows everything she's wrong. Do these boys think they would be able to bully a white kid from Springfield or Holyoke for using such a word? It is a highly used word by most of the youth today they hear it in movies and in music they need to get over themselves if they think they "own" the word. If she's able to look up the statistics on school shootings maybe she should look us the statistics on how many people die from fights, guns, and other weapons because the statistics show that more people die from fist fights and other weapons and less have died from guns. Maybe the Amherst school department should go and take a multi cultural class or even a class on bullying because the newly licensed teachers that are coming into the schools are far more knowledgeable and educated than any of the Amherst teachers.

Dr. Ed said...

Excuse me, the Mullin's Center is UMass property and located in the Town of Hadley. Exactly what right does Herr Jackson have to deny anyone the right to attend a ceremony held therein?

You hold your party in someone else's house, you loose the right to say who can't attend....

Dr. Ed said...

You know Larry, the "Bong Hits for Jesus" case comes to mind here -- it's a US Supreme Court case that has a real (and different) name but involved a high school student who wasn't on school property holding up a sign saying that. Court said student could be disciplined.

ARHS can discipline this girl if they want to...

And when they don't -- well, it's yet another act of racial discrimination. Paging Bill Newman, Paging Bill Newman...

(And they wonder why some of us hold the ACLU in such contempt...)

BTW, do I hear "picketing the Mullins Center?"

Your cash intoxicates them said...

Oh come on people,

Camila's simply feeling a bit

conflicted

at the moment.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Msg09dDU6cM


Can you blame her?


-Squeaky Squeaks

Anonymous said...

I am interested in seeing who has signed to support this but can't access the list. Is there a way for you to publish it before it disappears?

Anonymous said...

"You hold your party in someone else's house, you loose the right to say who can't attend"

Wow! Good to know. So I guess I'll see you at the next Academy Awards ceremony, right Ed?

You are simply amazing -- a case study in how many times someone can undermine his own credibility, on even the simplest of matters, and make an utter ass of himself.

Anonymous said...

I am so disappointed that this school system would capitulate to race-baiters and resort to public shaming in the name of political correctness, and I will work with others to raise funds for the legal challenge that the victim's family ought to bring. Larry please report on that activity if information is available.

Anonymous said...

I will donate money to this effort. Perhaps someone can contact the ACLU. Call Bill Newman.

Anonymous said...

I am very disappointed that the Amherst NAACP would promote this inaccurate, hate filled petition. Horrible!

Anonymous said...

Dr. Ed said...
"Excuse me, the Mullin's Center is UMass property and located in the Town of Hadley. Exactly what right does Herr Jackson have to deny anyone the right to attend a ceremony held therein?"

-------

First of all, it's the "Mullins Center," not "Mullin's."

Second, Amherst RHS, and any school, can absolutely decide who walks in their graduation ceremony. Violations of school policy are a common reason for such denial.

It doesn't matter where the ceremony is held or how owns the building in which the ceremony takes place.

I disagree with Jackson's decision to deny participation in this case, but the decision is completely within his power.

Anonymous said...

I'm not surprised that the Amherst branch of the NAACP is supporting this petition...after all the president is Kathleen Anderson, an older version of Camila Carpio. The Amherst branch of the NAACP has been hijacked by virulent, white-hating racists.

Anonymous said...

involved here are young adults, teachers, parents and an educational institution. so they should be talking, listening, instructing and help. students make mistakes. instead we have-- ?

Anonymous said...

Apparently, forgiveness and reconciliation are not in the ARHS curriculum.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the entertainment. It is so comical reading from people who actually believe that someday racism will go away with liberal views and education. When you open your eyes to reality, you will see it never leaves. Everyone always has an excuse when things don't go their way. When all else is gone, people of color always use the race issue, even when it doesn't exist. Who, in their right mind can argue the use of a word is enough to cause all this shit anyway? Good luck with your fight on all the (ism's) in the world, you're just another generation with blinders on. Maybe, if we all tried to live by the Golden Rule life would truly be better.

Anonymous said...

When are we going to learn the names of the kids who harassed and bullied Dylan? When will their identities be put out there for all the world to see? Will they be prevented from walking next year when it's their turn to graduate?

Anonymous said...

Nobody gets more indulgence from adults, especially in Amherst, than a kid with a cause.

Anonymous said...

Larry Kelley mischaracterizes the events that took place in his usual biased and inflammatory way. Dylan was the bully and when there was a response, he claimed that he was victimized. This is a typical response from all of the racism deniers who now want justice for poor, little white boy who can't walk at graduation because he made threats about bringing a gun to school. I doubt if he would be showing the same support for him if he had been a working class Latino or African American boy.

Anonymous said...

I wish people would stop attacking this young woman. You would be up in arms if anybody made comments like this about your children, but I guess she is fair game because she is Latina! Shame on you!

Dr. Ed said...

Wow! Good to know. So I guess I'll see you at the next Academy Awards ceremony, right Ed?

When I try to keep my word count down, when I try to keep things simple, someone inevitably exploits my having done so. There is a little distinction between a public event to which the general public is invited and a private one to which the general public is not.

A graduation ceremony is required to be a public one -- not only are the faculty publicly stating that they consider this person worthy of the degree and all the "rights & privileges attached thereto" but there once was a time when seeing it handed to the graduate was the only real way the community knew it actually had been conveyed.

All one had was a diploma to show people, and people had no way of knowing it was authentic. (There also was nothing really preventing one from pretending to be the person whose name was on a diploma issued to someone else.)

Remember too that a high school diploma was once what a baccalaureate is today, something that a lot of people didn't have. That "rights and privileges" part once had an awful lot of meaning in ways that it doesn't today.

I believe (but am not certain) that a requirement of high school accreditation is that the graduation ceremony be public. I've never heard of one not being -- excepting newspaper reporters covering the event, the general public has no desire to go but that doesn't mean they can't, particularly if there isn't a shortage of seating.

Hence, as the ARHS graduation is a public event, no invitation is needed. The only way to prevent someone (or his family) from being present at graduation is to "trespass" them.

The ARSD has the authority to "trespass" people from it's own property (you may remember that Larry) but only the UMPD can "trespass" someone from UMass Property -- which the Mullins Center is. Mark Jackson can't do this and my suggestion to the boy and his parents is to call the UMPD at 413-545-2121 if Team Maria in any way attempts to impede their entry into the building.

THIS is what I meant by "UMass property located in Hadley" -- the Amherst Police only have the authority which the UMPD wishes to grant them via mutual aid agreements and a state statute being changed to define UMass as "a municipality."

Some years back I dealt with a similar issue relative to some life-safety concerns I had about the July 4th fireworks and the post-event chaos. The APD didn't have jurisdiction, the UMPD wasn't going to provide officers unless someone paid for the detail, and I'd been rather freaked out by a few things I had seen and knew how potentially bad the consequences could have been. ("1979 Cincinnati 'Who Concert'" bad -- and I did get my concerns addressed.)

And you couldn't pay me enough to attend the Academy Awards ceremony -- although it's not an event to which the general public has an open invitation. Facts do sorta matter sometimes...

Now you ~must~ act said...

"I doubt if he would be showing the same support for him if he had been a working class Latino or African American boy."


Why is that?


Because Kelley's a racist?


Like all white people?


Fck you, hate baiter.


-Squeaky "white as snow" Squeaks

Anonymous said...

Wrong again Ed. A limited number of tickets are given out to each graduate. Not uncommon.

Anonymous said...

Crying in public is always an effective technique.

Anonymous said...

I thought the superintendent said the schools were not going to do suspensions and punishments anymore but do restorative justice? What is this?

Anonymous said...

So, now you are beating up on high school students? Great job Larry.

Larry Kelley said...

1999 all over again.

Dr. Ed said...

Second, Amherst RHS, and any school, can absolutely decide who walks in their graduation ceremony.

That is a very different issue. Attendance is open to anyone, but they aren't giving everyone who shows up a diploma.

Violations of school policy are a common reason for such denial.

I don't believe it would be upheld if challenged -- and I know of one case where a different high school quickly backed down when it was.

Remember that a graduation ceremony is not an extra-curricular event. That's an important point.

1: People forget that if a school conduct regulation isn't on file with DECE, it legally doesn't exist. They can make up whatever they want to make up, if it isn't already on file with DECE, it doesn't count.

2: I believe there is a right of appeal to the School Committee and in Dylan's case, Team Maria has already screwed up so much stuff procedurally that the school committee is going to be in a really difficult position denying Dylan the ability to march.

Unless they are completely stupid, and I don't think they are, they gotta know that there is a line beyond which "sovereign immunity" doesn't apply -- a point at which they can be sued personally and not indemnified as public officials.

Team Maria has got to know this too, and Maria G is, if anything, exceptionally good at "CYA." Jackson is a blustering bully and I'm not surprised he's "made the decision" except that I don't think it is his to make.

3: The child is graduating without having attended school all spring. In order for this to happen (as taking & passing classes is a prerequisite for graduation) there had to be some sort of alternative or special education involved. No matter what was actually done, I can only see it being done under the auspices of one and/or the other.

I want to be very careful about saying "SPED" here because IDEA & ADA cover a hell of a lot more than people often realize they cover, including persons who do not actually have a disability but who are considered to have one. This is particularly relevant when an educational institution has considered a student to have a disability -- it's held to a high non-discrimination standard and the fact that the student doesn't have a disability is completely irrelevant.

If you don't allow a SPED student to march at graduation solely because he's a SPED student, that's actually worse than not letting a Latina student march solely because she's a Latina. (And you know how bad that would be...)

It's worse because while there is only a prohibitive mandate against racial discrimination, IDEA creates an affirmative mandate for both inclusion and "least restrictive environment."

This also is a situation where Bill Newman becomes irrelevant -- there are several Disability Advocacy groups that would love to sue the ARSD for this, I can think of three right now.

And Appy is a licensed psychologist (now that she's remembered to renew her license). Remember why MDs don't have MD license plates anymore -- people would intentionally run into them and then sue because a MD is legally held to the standard of a MD, not a regular person. I've heard of the same thing happening to licensed engineers, even if they were in management.

With Appy as chair, the School Committee likely would be held to the standard of knowledge of a licensed psychologist -- and that puts Dylan in a hell of a lot better position legally.

This could be Maria G's Waterloo...

Anonymous said...

Why try to keep your word count down, Ed? You always manage to demonstrate what a know-nothing fool you are, whether you spew six words or six thousand.

Anyone who wants to go to the ARHS graduation ceremony will need a ticket. Does that fact sorta matter, bonehead?

Anonymous said...

Every day we see where the Question Authority ethic takes us.

Exercising authority and oversight has become a thankless task, and fewer people are willing to do it.

Everybody has a grievance, and comes to School Committee (or Town Meeting) to dump it off, usually in a loud, public display, on someone they think is responsible.

See Larry's video.

Dr. Ed said...

"If she's able to look up the statistics on school shootings ..."

She ought to look at the actual shootings which have occurred at UMass. The most egregious involved two perps shooting at each other INSIDE the Malcolm X Center at a "Black" dance. The UMPD pursued one, going through downtown Amherst in excess of 80 MPH and then up over the "notch." Three teenagers were arrested, in a stolen car, and memory is that the arrested shooter was a 15-year-old from Springfield. (The other got away.) And yes, two different sizes of bullet casings were recovered at the scene.

The Lord was looking out for people that night because I still can't imagine how that many bullets could fly around a relative small room, ricochets still being lethal, and absolutely no one getting hit.

And this was by no means the only time that a high school student brought a gun to a UMass "cultural" event -- I know of two different times when someone was actually shot, as well as a stabbing involving high school students from Amherst & Northampton (I forget which one stabbed the other) in the Student Union Ballroom.

If you add up the bullets and bodies, there is far more carnage from these Racial-Identity "Cultural" Events than from school shooters. That is a morbid fact -- but it is a fact.

Dr. Ed said...

Larry, I just had a very chilling thought -- maybe it's not Dylan that Team Maria is worried about.

A decade ago, I knew (as a fact) that MS13, Latin Kings, and La Familia were well established in South Amherst -- I suspect they probably still are.

I know they are armed -- I literally lost count of the number of sawed-off shotguns being recovered, and there was that incident when the 9MM round went into the adjacent unit.

I heard of one situation where the APD told a group of UMass students, in no uncertain terms, that they *must* move if they wished to remain alive. (I'll give you the details on that one personally Larry if you wish - you can verify it if you so desire.)

That shooting in the Malcolm X Center happened back in the late '90's and I know it happened because I know someone who was there at the time -- not to mention that I had a scanner on *and* that I heard a lot of stuff through the housing grapevine.

Is there a concern that Dylan may be the intended VICTIM of a DIFFERENT shooter(s)?????

Could the fear be that someone is going to start shooting at him -- and while they don't much care about his safety, they very much are worried about everyone else's, including their own.

When it came out what they had, I never quite understood why the Bomb Squad investigated the High School. If that is ALL they had.

Could someone else be making threats as well???? Everything is consistent with that -- right on down to pandering to Camila Carpio in hopes that the person or persons whom they truly are afraid of won't do anything.

This is scary. And this is where not being able to trust Team Maria makes things a hell of a lot more scary.

Anonymous said...

Well, there is a grassy knoll there

Yokal said...

If I was considering two students for position in my college and was having trouble deciding, or perhaps admitting 9 out of 10, and I found out about all the hoopla at ARH....I think it would be easy to pick the one that was not going to be admitted. All this PC hoopla that never ends is hurting your kids. Employers and Colleges know that this town is ripe with tension and don't want any of it at their businesses or schools. It does not matter if your kid is the good one, your kid comes from Amherst, where nothing is settled and more resources are always demanded - your kid comes from the place where everything is a problem. Just like the schools label the kids, society labels the towns. Amherst is the wining baby, when looked at from the outside. First world problems in a third world.

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous said...
I wish people would stop attacking this young woman. You would be up in arms if anybody made comments like this about your children, but I guess she is fair game because she is Latina! Shame on you!"

No, she is fair game because of what she says and does...not because she is Latina. It's time people stopped hiding behind their color when they do and say outrageous things...like Camila Carpio.

Anonymous said...

"Could the fear be that someone is going to start shooting at him -- and while they don't much care about his safety, they very much are worried about everyone else's, including their own."

Yes, the Latin Kings always shoot people at high school graduations. Ed, you have crossed from idiotic to insane. Perhaps they are worried that space aliens will capture him if he crosses the stage. Makes just as much sense as your cray theory.

Anonymous said...

Could it be that we really don't know all that has gone on here, and that further speculation to the detriment of any party is completely futile?

Just throwing that out there.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for stirring up this tempest in a teapot Larry. This will definitely up your monthly count.

Anonymous said...

Larry, I'm suing you for an injury that you gave me. I sprained my finger scrolling past Ed's comments.

Anonymous said...

Larry didnt stir this up, the girl did by starting the petition. The papers contacted the boys family, and it was in both local papers because of her.

Anonymous said...

It appears that this young lady has gotten the attention she was seeking.

Larry Kelley said...

Or as my Chinese friends would say, "Be careful what you wish for."

Anonymous said...

Larry

Do You know what's going on with ARHS tonight?

Anonymous said...

That's not a Chinese saying.

Anonymous said...

Camila is a coward and extremely hypocritical. How can you fight and believe in equality and out the only white boy who was being bullied by three black boys. She needs to learn the definitions to everything seeing EVERYONE is racist in their own way and using a highly used word by all races in a positive way does NOT make someone a racist. Maybe Amherst should learn how to educate their students on racism, equality, and biased because they know nothing of the above. She is just as racist as she is claiming Dylan to be she is sticking to her guns after it was said to be proven the other boys did the bullying but because they are black males and she believe we love in a racist society she will back them up. She should not be allowed to attend graduation for putting information that does not pertain to her out there. Clearly she stuck her nose in the wrong place and opened a can of worms that she had no business being in. I would love to see where she takes this because she has only screwed herself and if the school system does nothing to protect Dylan from another type of bullying I think the state of Massachusetts and the town of Amherst should re-evaluate the "professionals" they have running that school system.

Larry Kelley said...

Anon 8:33 PM
Another threatening note found at the High School.

Dr. Ed said...

Yes, the Latin Kings always shoot people at high school graduations. Ed, you have crossed from idiotic to insane.

Are you also defining all the police officers hanging around the high school as "insane"?

They seem to be taking something fairly seriously. Just sayin....