Quote :

"You Won't Believe Why a Boy Is Expelled A 14-year-old boy from Franklin Township, Pa., which is near Pittsburgh, has been expelled from school for more than a year for writing rap lyrics the school authorities deemed threatening and harassing. That has prompted the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania to file a lawsuit in U.S. District Court against Riverside School District. The Beaver County Times reports that Anthony Latour was expelled for writing rap lyrics that made references to shooting up his school, police officers and teachers. School officials found out about the lyrics which Latour wrote himself--but never brought to school--last April. They expelled him for the remainder of the school year, as well as the upcoming school year. In a news conference on Wednesday, Latour said, "I just want to go back to making my music." Latour's legal counsel, Kim Watterson, says the boy's rap lyrics were misunderstood by school officials. She said he participates in something called "battle rap" in which two rappers communicate through lyrics in a kind of verbal "jousting" to determine who is the better rapper, reports the Beaver Valley Times. The four songs that resulted in the expulsion were never brought to school and some of the lyrics were never even written down; however, Latour sold CDs containing the songs. The principal admitted that the songs did not cause problems in school. Anthony's father, John Latour, said his son was never asked about the meaning of the lyrics or if he intended to carry out violent acts. Meanwhile, in a news release the ACLU said "School officials are not parents, and the First Amendment limits their authority to control what students read, write, rap or listen to in their own homes." Watterson said in the news release, "Many people don't like or understand rap music, and some people won't like Anthony's lyrics. But since these songs do not contain what's known in the law as 'true threats,' school officials and local police cannot make the music a crime simply because they find the lyrics offensive." "

From an article on Netscape.com.


Amusingly its a white kid

But seriously, whattayall think? Expulsion seems a bit extreme, especially for a year, because the guy didn't bring them to school or show them off. He just wrote them. At worst, I'd say the district should be able to order counseling to make sure he isn't going to carry out the stuff he wrote in those songs. If Columbine taught us anything its to fucking take any manefestation of a threat against schools from children seriously and to try and avert said threats from being carried out...

8/5/2005 8:38:34 AM

Quote :

"The Beaver County Times reports that Anthony Latour was expelled for writing rap lyrics that made references to shooting up his school, police officers and teachers."

yea that alone i would think would provoke a suspension at least. in post-columbine days, any sort of threat like this is a threat that has to be taken seriously.

but its a damned if u, damned if u dont situation. cause if he DID shoot up the school, kill students, teachers and police officers, and these lyrics were found after the fact then people would be demanding an explanation of y nutin was done to prevent it. but since nutin has happened thankfully, people are now crying 1st amendment violation & whatever else.

8/5/2005 8:50:23 AM

I don't see what expulsion would help. Counseling would proabably be useful - try to determine, as someone said above, if it is an anger issue/would he actually consider a shooting at the school. I don't see how simply expelling him for a year is going to help anything. He'll just have more time on his hands to become angry at the school. You can prevent him from coming to school for class, but they can't stop him from coming to the school to act on violence if he really wants to.

8/5/2005 12:13:25 PM

Your first amendment rights don't cover speech that would be considered threatening to the individuals around you(in other words, if it could be reasonably expected to provoked violence).

He could have worn a "Fuck The American Educational System" tshirt and had a good lawsuit, but if he wrote "I'm gonna have'ta kill that motherfucking dumbass Pricipal Smith" he's up shit creek.

[Edited on August 5, 2005 at 12:22 PM. Reason : That said, anyone threatened by the shitty poetry of a teenager is a pussy.]

8/5/2005 12:21:49 PM

as a person planning on teaching, I say he should have been suspended

[Edited on August 5, 2005 at 12:25 PM. Reason : afsfa]

8/5/2005 12:25:06 PM

just take him out back and hit him with a belt a few times

8/5/2005 12:27:26 PM

overreaction like whoa

actually, any reaction is overreaction. the most punishment he should get is to not be invited to the school talent show.

[Edited on August 5, 2005 at 1:02 PM. Reason : a]

8/5/2005 12:33:17 PM

^^^Suspension for a short time - sure. But over a year? That's crazy.

8/5/2005 12:57:43 PM

Quote :

"but since nutin has happened"

i love nutin

8/5/2005 1:00:50 PM

you fucking people are morons


How can you justify letting a student openly talk about killing school personnel? Huh? Jesus Christ...you cant just let it ride. Calling school personnel pussies for being afraid of rap lyrics? Im not afraid of any student, but its the principle of the thing.

8/5/2005 1:01:16 PM

Quote :

"How can you justify letting a student openly talk about killing school personnel?"

but see, technically, he didnt "talk" about it. he rapped it in his song that he then brought to school and sold.

but regardless, i still agree with the suspension/expulsion and def think he should go to counseling.

[Edited on August 5, 2005 at 1:09 PM. Reason : .]

8/5/2005 1:08:25 PM

nm, you editted

[Edited on August 5, 2005 at 1:11 PM. Reason : asdf]

8/5/2005 1:10:07 PM

no its not ok...i'm just pointing out the technicality.

8/5/2005 1:11:17 PM

^^^

Quote :

"The four songs that resulted in the expulsion were never brought to school and some of the lyrics were never even written down;"

^^^^

Quote :

"How can you justify letting a student openly talk about killing school personnel?"

Obviously, we should just throw all rappers in jail. It's a well know fact that ALL OF THEM hit the chronic, do drive by shootings, etc.

How about because:

Quote :

"School officials are not parents, and the First Amendment limits their authority to control what students read, write, rap or listen to in their own homes."

Not all utterances/statements/lyrics/books are literal declarations of intended action. Should we arrest John Malkovich because he portrayed a presidential assasin in In The Line of Fire? Maybe we should throw Shim Shady (if the real one will ever stand up) in jail for talking about killing his wife. Get Nicolas Cage some counseling before he drinks himself to death in Vegas.

Surely, at least once in your life, you've said "I'd like to kick that mother fucker's ass." Should you have been arrested/counseled/whatever for that?



[Edited on August 5, 2005 at 1:35 PM. Reason : ]

8/5/2005 1:34:17 PM

Quote :

"The four songs that resulted in the expulsion were never brought to school and some of the lyrics were never even written down; however, Latour sold CDs containing the songs."

that's what i was referring to

8/5/2005 1:46:39 PM

It says that he never brought the songs to school. Since you can't just carry a song around in your back pocket, I'd say that means that he never brought any media (CD/tape/paper/iPod) containing the song to school.

Besides,

Quote :

"The principal admitted that the songs did not cause problems in school."

8/5/2005 2:02:28 PM

Eh, I art should be invoked here.

But I don't have any problem with folks "threatening" to kill classmates or whatever anyway. I talk about burning down buildings on campus and shooting students all the time. So do my friends.

Yes, if you put a gun to someone's head and say you're going to kill them, then you should get in trouble. Much past that and I'm not big on punishing threats...

8/5/2005 2:04:17 PM

Well, if people are going to sue the school systems for incidents like Columbine, saying that they should have done something, then expect the school systems to do crap like this.

8/5/2005 3:56:04 PM

I stand corrected. If he never brought the songs/lyrics to school, it's none of the school's business.

8/5/2005 4:07:38 PM

They should arrest him for being a white rapper in a place called beaver county, PA.

[Edited on August 5, 2005 at 4:15 PM. Reason : ]

8/5/2005 4:15:02 PM

The guy is white, he has about a 75% chance of actually shooting a school up


i mean look at his face and hair

8/5/2005 5:06:43 PM

I'm for the suspension; teach him to stop being a damn wigger!

8/5/2005 11:46:27 PM

8/5/2005 11:51:12 PM