呵呵！又一名华裔高中生被当成“恐怖威胁”

呵呵！又一名华裔高中生被当成“恐怖威胁”

消息来源透露说，这位在德州班德堡郡(Ford Bend County)克莱门兹高中(Clements High School)就读的华裔学生，两个多月前把自己设计的一个有关校园“射击”的地图游戏放在一家网站，让一些同学来玩。

在弗吉尼亚理工大学发生美国历史上最严重的枪击事件的第二天，两名发现自己的孩子在玩这种校园“暴力”游戏的家长，便向班德堡独立校区(Fort Bend Independent School District)的管理当局举报，后者立即对这个校园游戏展开调查。

班德堡华裔美国选民联盟主席、这名男孩家庭的熟人里查德.陈(Richard Chen)介绍说，斑德堡独立校区的警察“逮捕了他，并对他家进行搜查”，林家也同意警方进行搜查。调查人员在男孩的房间发现了一把锤子，陈先生说，由于男孩的床不太结实，这把锤子是他专门用来修理床的。陈先生暗示，被警方收缴的锤子，已被当成潜在的武器。


Chinese Community Rallies Behind Student Removed From Clements
by Bob Dunn, Apr 30, 2007, 11 57 am

Members of the area Chinese community have rallied behind a Clements High School senior who was removed from the campus and sent to M.R. Wood Alternative Education Center after parents complained he’d created a computer game map of Clements.

About 70 people attended the Fort Bend Independent School District’s April 23 meeting to show support for the Clements senior and his mother, Jean Lin, who spoke to FBISD Board trustees in a closed session.

While an agenda document does not specify details, the board is holding a special meeting tonight to address the boy’s actions and the discipline that was meted out as a result, sources close to the matter say. The boy’s name was not identified last week, and the district has declined to discuss his case.

Richard Chen, president of the Fort Bend Chinese-American Voters League and a acquaintance of the boy’s family, said he is a talented student who enjoys computer games and learned how to create maps (also sometimes known as “mods”), which provide new environments in which games may be played.

The map the boy designed mimicked Clements High School. And, sources said, it was uploaded either to the boy’s home computer or to a computer server where he and his friends could access and play on it. Two parents apparently learned from their children about the existence of the game, and complained to FBISD administrators, who investigated.

“They arrested him,” Chen said of FBISD police, “and also went to the house to search.” The Lin family consented to the search, and a hammer was found in the boy’s room, which he used to fix his bed, because it wasn’t in good shape, Chen said. He indicated police seized the hammer as a potential weapon.

“They decided he was a terroristic threat,” said one source close to the district’s investigation.

Sources said that although no charges were filed against the boy, he was removed from Clements, sent to the district’s alternate education school and won’t be allowed to participate in graduation ceremonies with classmates.

“All he did was create a map and put it on a web site to allow students to play,” Chen said. “The mother thinks this is too harsh.”

FBISD officials declined to comment on the matter Monday. “Our challenge is, people in the community have freedom of speech and can say what they want, but we have laws” covering privacy issues, especially involving minors, that the district has to respect, said spokeswoman Nancy Porter.

Speakers at the FBISD Board’s April 23 meeting alluded to the Clements senior’s punishment, and drew a connection to the April 16 shootings at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, in which a Korean student shot and killed 32 people.

The Asian community “faces new pressures” as a result of the shootings, William Sun told board members. “We urge the school and community not to label our Asian students as terrorists.”

“We should teach our children not to judge others harshly” and not to target people as being a threat because of their race, said Peter Woo, adding that the school district should lead the way in such efforts.

But Chen said Monday he and other community members don’t consider FBISD’s actions in the case to be racially motivated, and don’t think they blew the incident out of proportion.

“They all think the principal has to do something – but how much? We do understand with the Virginia Tech incident…something has to be done,” Chen said. “Someone just made a mistake, and we think the principal should understand that.”
1 anonymous and oriental - Apr 30, 12:43 pm

I sympathize with Mr. Chen and his plight for the student, however, the fact remains that the student uploaded a plan for the school to a shootem’ and killem’ game that could be a practice simulation for the real thing. If Lisa Rickert and Ken Bryant- seen making campaign promises in the parking lot at the last board meeting try to play this card for votes by again micro managing school policy, they will have sent a clear message that these two incumbents can be bought and sold. Everyone will be watching.
2 kaymc - Apr 30, 12:50 pm

So now everyone who makes custom maps or plays Quake or Doom is a terrorist suspect?

How about duck hunters? It could just be practice…
3 intheknow - Apr 30, 01:04 pm

A&O— ridiculous. I attended that meeting and Rickert and Bryant did not make a campaign speech. They simply came out after the meeting was over to let the crowd and parents know what was happening before going into closed session. This boy was not charged with a crime, the police did not consider him a “terrorist threat”, he is not a “loner” — but a well, liked honors student. From what I understand, other than using Clements as a backdrop, the game did not single out any students or teachers. It was stupid. But if every kid in FBISD who did something stupid was put in BLC, we wouldn’t have any students left in our regular schools. The game he created was “out there” for at least two months. But the complaints came a day after the Virginia Tech tragedy. I think the Board needs to show some common sense in these kinds of instances. Punishment — OK. Ruin the kids life? That’s pretty harsh.
4 joeschmo - Apr 30, 01:11 pm

we live in a very different world after 9-11.. I know that the Asian community wants their children to be safe and secure in school just like all other ethnic parents whether white, brown, black, green purple… I dont care what race the child who downloaded the material was,, the other children in the school has to be safe.. Im not for violation of rights as Im not for this city becoming a nightmare like in W Va.. We hav lost some rights,, its tru,,, but we live in a different world now.. A world where your neighbor could be a terorist of a sex offender… If your child gets killed or assaulted ,, would nt you have wanted every lead, threat, suspicion to be followed up on… ????
5 Tony C - Apr 30, 01:12 pm

This politically correct nonsense is going way too far. This young man made a mod using skills most people don’t possess and has fun playing games with his friends and people get paranoid. Violence is going to happen and it is stupid to think that video games trigger this kind of reaction . Kids have been playing so called violent games since the beginning of time and 99.9% come out fine. I guess my brothers and I playing cowboys and indians or war when we were young made us terrorists too . I am 42 years old and I enjoy playing all of the same types of video games this young man does and I have never had a thought about going out and killing anyone. I guess we should also ban military adventure books,thrillers and murder mysteries as well . People,get a clue and get over yourselves
6 J Williamson - Apr 30, 01:56 pm

We put our administrators in a “no win” situation. Take pre-emptive action and you are over-reacting and stomping on individual’s rights. Take no action and something tragic happens and you will be crucified for not taking prudent precautions. Welcome to the world we now live in.
7 anonymous and oriental - Apr 30, 04:26 pm

The fact remains that a decision has been made by school administrators and again- Board members are second guessing them for political purposes. When the president of the Chinese-American Voters League and his constituentcy are cheering two incumbent candidates in the parking lot next to a vote for Lisa Rickert sign, it doesn’t take an engineer to figure out that two incumbents and a special meeting means “we need your votes in any language.” The other incumbents should be very careful of how they deal with this issue. Everyone is watching. Ask Lisa Rickert, people don’t forget…
8 Parent - Apr 30, 04:30 pm

“All he did was create a map and put it on a web site to allow students to play,”

I haven’t seen this map, but in this day and age, the boy used bad judgement when he created this map. Although I cannot say whether the punishment fit the misdeed or not, I can say that this type of minimilization is a concern as well.

I agree with Mr. Williamson when he says we put those of leadership in a difficult place. It also puts students who may complain in the future questioning whether they should or not. Maybe next time it won’t be so innocent.

I used this as a teaching moment with my own kids and reminded them again about how careful they need to be in this day and age about what they say and do. I also reminded them the continued importance of reporting things they feel might be dangerous to themselves or others.
9 anonymous and oriental - Apr 30, 05:08 pm

so the kid spends a few days in the BLC- Behavior Learning Center- Explain to me how this becomes an issue of such magnitude for the BoT- the only reason it matters to them right now is this- Chinese- American voters. This wouldn’t even be on Bryant and Rickert’s radar any other time. There have been more serious issues that they have just pushed to the side and have cost the District $$$$. This is pandering for votes clear and simple.