There’s no question that middle school sucks. It’s a truly crappy time to be alive. I mean, hormones run rampant, tween students are adjusting to educational life outside of the simplicity and comfort of elementary school, and, if my middle school years were any indication, relationships between students are getting real very quickly.
In Ohio, the horrors of middle school life became all too real for a Muslim 6th grader when he found himself on the receiving end of an agitated 7th grader’s hostility. The 7th grader referred to the 6th grader as a terrorist, calling him a “towel head” and “son of ISIS,” and accusing the Muslim student of being responsible for the 9/11 attacks, even though both kids hadn’t been born yet when the attacks occurred. That same 7th grader then took the bullying to a whole new level when he threatened to go get his dad’s gun and waste the Muslim student.
The Muslim student did not hear the older boy make the death threat, but another student did and reported the incident to the bus driver.
The incident was captured on surveillance cameras capable of recording audio.
So, here we are. Two horrific social issues converging once again, this time on a school bus in Ohio. The altercation between these middle school students is proof positive that Islamophobia and the fetishistic view of guns held by many in this country are manifesting in children. Maybe it’s just me, but I find a middle school student displaying prejudiced and violent tendencies toward another student to be more socially detrimental than some greasy, middle-aged moron waving an assault rifle around while shouting nonsense about ISIS invading the United States because it’s all part of President Obama’s master plan.
The Muslim student’s father, Ahmad Murab, told the Washington Post that his son came home scared, saying “I don’t want to go to school, I don’t want to go to school,” and the family found out what had happened from other students who witnessed the events. Murab considers the incident a hate crime, but he does not blame the older student for it, instead blaming the news media and possibly the boy’s parents for shaping his worldview. “I don’t blame the other kid,” Murab told the Washington Post. “How does he know about the world? Adults are telling him to call people those names.”
The 7th grader admitted to using racial slurs, but as is the typical response of a middle school student when confronted with severe wrongdoing, he initially told police that he did not remember threatening to shoot the Muslim student. The surveillance footage determined that was a lie and the student agreed.
The 7th grader was arrested and charged with ethnic intimidation and aggravated menacing. School district administrators have suspended the student for 10 days, with the possibility of expulsion to follow. When the Washington Post called the boy’s mother, she claimed to have been unaware of the accusations and charges against her son.
The 7th grader also apparently wrote a letter of apology to the Muslim student.
Middle school sucks, but it should never suck this much.
