Did Punishment Fit the Crime?

When seven African American males took part in a brawl in the stands at a football game at Eisenhower High School in Decatur, Ill., on Sept. 17, the school board--citing its policy of zero tolerance for violence--punished the students with two-year expulsions. Some believe that race was an issue in doling out the punishment.

Others, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who led 3,000 protesters on the students’ behalf, argue that the issue was fairness. Later, the school board reduced the punishment by assigning the students to an alternative school for a year and allowing them to return to Eisenhower the following year.

Was the school board’s punishment in this case too severe? Students shared their views with MARY REESE BOYKIN.

CHARLES DAVIS

15, sophomore, Crenshaw High School

Fights happen all the time. It’s not as if someone pulled out a gun. A one-month suspension would have been a fair punishment. Two of the young men were third-year freshmen. How would they ever catch up on their work? They probably wouldn’t even want to return to school.

I think that the protesters were not supporting the students’ bad behavior. They were opposed to the students’ expulsion for fighting. Even though the school has a zero-tolerance policy for violence, there were probably incidents of fights that occurred where administrators gave a lighter punishment.

They say race is not an issue, but it is always an issue in situations like that. Black males are frequently put down and put in situations where we can’t succeed. Things are done to make us quit.

In junior high school, I attended a school in the Wilshire area. We black males were treated differently from other students. We were sent to the dean’s office more frequently for talking in class. We were given detention and slips for unsatisfactory conduct more frequently.

Crenshaw is my neighborhood school. I like being around my kind of people because they understand me better.

DERRICK YBARRA

17, senior, Inglewood High School

If the students were not people of color, the whole situation would not have gone that far. For one thing, if they were white males, the video footage of the brawl would not have been shown. Someone would have argued that their identity should not have been revealed publicly because they were minors. There may have even been a concern and thoughtfulness about not embarrassing the students’ parents. I think that one of the reasons for the harsh treatment of the black students in Decatur is that at schools where black and brown students are the minority, there are not generally enough minority administrators to be sensitive to the needs and issues of minority students.

I did feel less sympathetic toward the students when I read that two of them were third-year freshmen and one was a second-year freshman. That meant that they were problem students already. Their combined 350 absences meant they were ditching school or cutting class periods. But the school should have intervened earlier. Maybe prior to the incident the students should have been sent to an alternative school so that they could bring up their grades. I wondered whether the school was just waiting for something to happen to expel the students.

JESSICA CONTRERAS

18, freshman, Cal State, L.A.

If these young men were serious students, why wouldn’t going to their classes, studying, doing their homework and being involved in extracurricular activities have kept them busy? If they were taking care of their responsibilities, they wouldn’t have time to think about fighting.

But the initial punishment of two years’ expulsion was excessive. I doubt that the students would have accomplished anything during the two years. It definitely would have been difficult for them to find a job if they were expelled for violence. I think a more just punishment might have been a short suspension and possibly therapy to determine what caused their behavior and what they can do to change it.

In high school, I played in the band. At one game, as we sat in the stands with our backs facing the street, we felt things hitting our backs. It was frightening. The game was stopped. The football players fled the field for the school bus. The crowd ran to the field for safety. When we band members got to our bus, we had to keep our heads down. The lights were turned off. At the time, I was scared but later I felt disappointed. The reason for the fight? The pride of the “wood”--Lynwood or Inglewood. I think a person has to be selfish to put others in danger just because he has something to prove or an urge to fight.