Iowa high school tight-lipped after armed students caught burning a cross in KKK hoods

[WhiteTara]

Source: RawStory



A high school in Iowa has disciplined some of its students after a recent photo was posted online of five young men dressed in Ku Klux Klan hoods burning a cross.

In addition to the KKK hoods and the burning cross, the photo also featured one young male holding a rifle, and another holding a Confederate flag.

The Omaha World Herald reports that students at Creston Community High School were disciplined for the photo but would not explain what discipline the students received.

The school told KMALand that the people in the photo are Creston students.

“This is embarrassing for everyone,” school principal Bill Messerole told the Omaha World Herald. “This is not a good reflection of Creston High School. This is not a reflection of our community.”




Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/09/iowa-high-school-tight-lipped-after-armed-students-caught-burning-a-cross-in-kkk-hoods/

---

Our country has become an open sewer.

This was a short article and no more at the link.

[drray23]

1. i though all old racists people were dying off

but apparently Trump has made it ok for new younger ones to pop up. Unless we address racism more forcefully it wont just "die off".

[WhiteTara]

2. I hear you.

[spike jones]

31. Racists raise racists children. n/t

[Achilleaze]

51. Young republicans

the party has degenerated and no longer has any relation whatsoever to American values.

[HughBeaumont]

74. The price we pay for not revisiting our sins -

We'll keep committing them over and over again . . . intentionally or not.

This is why we shouldn't rely on the "Next Generation will Fix Things" gambit. Why are "College Republicans" a thing? Why are Neo-Nazis mostly young?

[dixiegrrrrl]

93. Mayflower Heritage Christian school is 2 blocks away from the above high school.

Creston is out in flatland, halfway between Ohama and Des Moines.

How blatant is "Mayflower Heritage" ??..wow.

[Chasstev365]

3. Expel every one of their asses to show hate will not be tolerated

[Initech]

5. Throw these fuckers in jail.

[Chasstev365]

10. Absolutely!

[leftynyc]

39. As DEPLORABLE as these cretins are

I'm not seeing where any laws were broken.

[onenote]

49. Sadly, that doesn't seem to matter to some DUers anymore.

Fortunately, I think most DUers are more reality based.

[exboyfil]

53. The school has full discretion on who participates in extracurricular activities

They should have been removed from the football team. That would have been far better than suspending them. Also media should identify them if they can confirm their identities. Actually I would give them an opportunity to explain their ideology in a public assembly on school grounds. That along with a history lesson of the KKK.

[leftynyc]

57. I was responding to the poster

who wanted them tossed into jail. I think the little fuckers belong in military school and their parents shamed for raising such cretins.

[pangaia]

59. Military school? Interesting. I never would have thought of that.

Can you explain the benefits that might accrue?

[leftynyc]

65. Punishment for their actions

Discipline since they obviously have trouble keeping their id in check. And most of all, getting them away from their "friends" who may be influencing them with peer pressure and getting them away from others in that school THEY may influence. I don't know how legal this would be if they're minors but I'd also do a big spread on them in the local paper - names, their faces, their parents. Shame can be a powerful weapon.

[maxrandb]

56. Pass a Law that criminalizes terrorist organizations, much like the German Anti-Nazi statutes

and then throw these asshats in jail!

Isis, Al Queda and the Taliban can only dream of killing and terrorizing 1/1000th of the number of Americans the KKK did.

Why this organization is NOT criminalized is criminal

[leftynyc]

58. I don't think you can criminalize

organizations. I sure wouldn't want degenerate donnie deciding which organizations represent a national security threat (BLM would head their list). But you can criminalize behavior and nothing these cretins did was against the law.

P.S. I'm also not so sure about your statistic regarding the klan. isis is terrorizing millions of Muslims and their killings probably run into the tens of thousands of other Muslims.

[maxrandb]

68. I understand that

But I was talking about Americans that have been terrorized and murdered. Those number perpetrated by the klan, far outweigh the dreams of foreign terrorist groups.

It's not a matter of "deciding" which terrorist organizations represent a national security threat...we have concrete and irrefutable evidence of the violence and murder committed by the KKK

These kids are no different than those who align with ISIS.

You can argue that maybe they don't understand the evil that is the klan, but that's our fault by not criminalizing the klan.

In fact, you could argue that the klan is imminently worse than ISIS or Al Queda, because the klan is specifically targeting Americans.

[ProgressiveValue]

60. That would not work either.

You can't pass a law, then go back and jail people for breaking it BEFORE it was passed. At least not in this country. Ex Post Facto.

[gilbert sullivan]

86. That is an astonishing claim

and sounds like nonsense. 1/1000th ??????????????????????? wow.

[maxrandb]

87. The Klan has killed

Hundreds of thousands during their existence. ISIS could only dream of inflicting that kind of carnage against Americans

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. Yes, it IS a reflection of your community

at least for five of your community families, assuming those morons are not related.
And most likely there are more people in the community who support this.

I understand the legal reasons the school cannot share more info. about who these dimwits are, but the school can and should share all teh steps they are taking to send a clear message to the rest of the students, and to the community.

[icymist]

22. That principal is only embarrassed because these kids were stupid enough to post this picture

on a social media site and got caught. Yes, this reflects on the community, the school, and what leadership abilities are taught there.

[SharonClark]

75. OH? How do you know the Principal?

[Phoenix61]

6. He's right, it's not a good reflection of the school

It is, however, a very accurate one. Those young people thought it was ok to do what they did. They need to drop the hammer on them. Period. That behavior should never, ever be tolerated or excused. The principal thinks it's embarrassing for everyone? No it isn't, it's terrifying for some. Some now get to question if they are safe in their school, in their community, and in their homes.

[Wellstone ruled]

8. So true.

Mostly White Christo Fascist community. Lot of them in that region,this won't be the last we hear from them.

[icymist]

21. Embarrassing because they got caught.

Yeah this reflects on the school because they are now shown to produce stupid racists. Not that there are any other kind.

[JI7]

7. They are just doing their part to MAGA

[olddad56]

9. they are doing their part to make America hate again.

[bullwinkle428]

43. The same Iowa that gave Barack Obama a giant boost of momentum

with his overwhelming victory in the 2008 Caucus, followed by convincing wins over his opponents in both Presidential elections?

[exboyfil]

54. I still don't understand it

When the Des Moines Register poll came out right before the election showing Trump my 7 points, I realized that I did not live in the state that I thought I lived in. We have had a pretty good 8 years since the disaster of the economic crash.

[SethH]

55. some of them are "very fine people"

[vkkv]

11. Actually WEARING KKK hoods with a rifle is OK, but not photoshopping KKK

hoods ONTO classmates..

"" Two Albuquerque, N.M., high school students were suspended and could face hate crime charges for allegedly photoshopping Ku Klux Klan hoods onto a class photo.""


""Mom fears for daughters after school photo is edited to show girls surrounded by KKK"" ooooo, scary..


http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/national/article170535187.html

[Hekate]

13. You did not bother to read the article at the link you posted. Picturing 2 black girls ...

....completely surrounded by classmates in KKK hoods was bad enough, but it was preceded by three years of bullying and name calling. Porch-monkey. N____r. Friendly stuff like that.

Their father said, "They finally broke my girls. (They're afraid to go back) and we can't afford private school."

[vkkv]

19. The photoshop artists were suspended for two school weeks - yes, I did read the story.

[WhiteTara]

36. What a tragedy for those girls.

Deprived of education by hate. This is our new normal country. We are devolving into animals.

[Hekate]

37. Yes. Yet somebody here is very tender of the feelings of the white boys who persecuted them...

...and dressed up like thugs to underline the point. Just misunderstood youthful hijinks, I guess.

[Hekate]

12. Their mothers are going to be so mad about those pillowcases with holes cut out

Idiot adolescents on a testosterone power jag, thinking this is all cool and funny.

[vkkv]

20. "testosterone power jag"

So, you think this is something all boys do? All men do? Really?

nice..

[byronius]

27. Some do. Back in the sixties and seventies it was epidemic.

I get Hekate's point. They look more goofy than menacing.

I remember the bad old days too well. And yes, lots and lots of men and boys did those and far more malicious things on a constant basis.

[whathehell]

52. What was epidemic?...Where?

[byronius]

69. Cruel, damaging socially-accepted racism and misogyny.

You weren't there? You saw nothing of this? I lived in several states during my childhood, and in every one, adults and kids thought racist screeds were fun and enlightening.

I've got an old reel-to-reel of a neighbor's Christmas party where everyone launches into a 'hilarious' diatribe about how ugly and bad-smelling black people are.

1959. It's one of the worst things I've ever heard, because it's all from people who consider themselves well-read and informed.

It was everywhere.

[whathehell]

80. Nothing like what you:re describing, no.

Maybe we lived in different states, or hung out in different circles.

[byronius]

81. Wow. Are we talking the same time line? 1960's/70's?

Where would this paradise of brotherly love have been?

I believe you, I'm just shocked. I've never met anyone of my generation or older who did not immediately know what I was talking about.

Not ever. In my life.

On edit: Medgar Evers was killed in 1963, Malcolm X in 1965, King in 1968. Many white people I knew were openly jubilant. You don't remember any of this?

[whathehell]

83. Yes we are..

and what I remember most about the '60's was the civil Rights movement and, no, if the white people in my area we're upset about it, they didn't make much noise in that direction...It might have helped that my parents were NOT haters of any kind and didn't like other people who were. I started the seventies as a 20 year old in San Francisco which was a kind of counter cultural mecca at the time, so that racist shit wasn't flying there.

When I returned to the East Coast, my parents had become even more liberal and I hung with musicians and the same kind of educated, hip people I did on the West Coast.

[byronius]

84. Ah. I had Texas parents, worse neighbors, and kids all around me full of it.

Even in Saudi.

The misogny was much, much worse. Not until the late seventies did I feel it lift somewhat. Bobby Riggs vs. Billie Jean King brought out the worst in everyone, so it seemed, much as Barack Obama brought the racism to a fever pitch.

You had the luck of the whatthehells with you, so it seems.

I had to read my way out of that crap.

[whathehell]

89. Actually, I was commenting on racism..

I surely DID experience misogyny, and, like all women & girls, still
do, to one degree or another. You will even see it on DU, sometimes, though not as much as in the past. This is largely due to the vigilance of some DU feminists and the cooperation of the administrators.

According to Katha Pollitt of The Nation, 'Misogyny is the last acceptable bigotry of the Left'.

[byronius]

91. All the ills of developing primates still writ large.

We always like to think we're turning a corner, and then along comes Cliven Bundy.

[Hekate]

30. Where, exactly, did I say that "all" boys or "all" men have this problem. Really.

Reading comprehension is a gift, as is the ability to not take statements about Junior KKK Wannabes personally. Really.

[vkkv]

35. You didn't need to use the word "all" as 'all' boys and men are loaded with

testosterone, yes?

It's nearly exclusive in case you didn't know that.

It's quite obvious that you were knocking the male sex, younger adolescents, but yes, your communication was quite clear and misandrist.

[LanternWaste]

41. Your consistently inaccurate inference are certainly imaginative.

Your consistently inaccurate inference are certainly imaginative, regardless of whether doing so is 'nice' or not...

[freddyvh]

14. yeah

Creston is in SW Iowa.
Most in this area consider it part of Missouri

But it's also in Steve King's district.
go figure

[ProfessorGAC]

16. Well, That Figures

What other sort would keep electing that racist moron

[freddyvh]

17. don't blame us all

i donate and campaign for his opponent every election

[ProfessorGAC]

42. Sorry Fred

Of course, i know it's not a 100% thing. But, it has to be prevalent enough in that district that so many voters keep electing a guy who's dumber than dirt.

[rurallib]

29. Not in King's district

and to answer an earlier post Iowa is not a hotbed for the KKK.

Western Iowa is quite Republican but many believe we have a good shot at retaking the 3rd district.

[Skittles]

15. embarrassing is if they are running around naked with ribbons on their wangs

this is DEPLORABLE

[FLPanhandle]

23. Was this on school property? So many questions....

Why would the school be the one to step up and punish the kids? Can a school punish students for things they post on social media outside of school events/property?

Is this common for schools to monitor/punish students non-school activities now? Where are the parents and local authorities?

[dalton99a]

33. Photo was taken in the countryside

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/2017/09/06/white-hoods-apparent-confederate-flag-iowa-students-disciplined-after-photo-surfaces/637953001/

White hoods, Confederate flag: Iowa students disciplined after photo surfaces
Cody Goodwin,Charly Haley and Linh Ta, Des Moines Register | Published 12:43 p.m. CT Sept. 6, 2017 | Updated 5:20 p.m. CT Sept. 6, 2017

The Creston Police Department has not been contacted by the school district to further investigate the incident, said Sgt. Pat Henry.

He said it appears the photo was taken in the countryside and it is not determined to be a criminal matter yet. The school district is conducting its own internal investigation.

"We don’t believe any real crime has been committed," Henry said." People can have weapons in the country."

[Lokilooney]

34. I've wondered about this for years

Where the schools jurisdiction ends, I guess take it on a case by case basis in Latour v. Riverside Beaver School District no, but in Weedsport Central School District v. Wisniewski yes.

Like it or not as far as this incident goes unless they are breaking some burning laws it is covered under the 1st amendment.

[LisaM]

24. Good questions. Not one mention of the students' PARENTS, I see.

It sounds as if the school is determining what to do about admitting them back to the school (and what to do after that, if they do), but it doesn't seem as if this happened during or at school.

[byronius]

25. Ten bucks says none of them even know what that means.

Kids can be stupid about that stuff, acting out memes to shock without thinking of the harm. Kind of like that kid in Charlottesville who took off his white t-shirt when confronted and claimed he was just trying to be outrageous. I've known kids like that.

I don't know, just sayin' -- the photo looks more stupid than threatening. I'd be far more offended if they did the 'dress up as black people' thing, or a 'cop beats black kid' skit. That stuff seems more malicious.

[kimbutgar]

26. They've been emboldened by the racist in chief

What we have to do is shame these suckers and heap scorn on them and embarrass them in the court of public opinion. Wearing a kkk hood is despicable and unAmerican.

Whenever you see someone post a picture of them acting like a kkk attack them on Facebook and shame them for being assholes. Being a racist is not cool.

[muntrv]

28. Steve King's supporters?

[dalton99a]

32. Students are Creston High football players

http://www.crestonnews.com/2017/09/06/cchs-admins-investigate-photo-involving-students/asm1tfa/

CCHS admins investigate photo involving students
Published: Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017 10:59 a.m. CDT • Updated: Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2017 1:58 p.m. CDT

UPDATE: Sources have confirmed the students involved are members of the Creston/O-M football team.

[jmowreader]

38. Well, in that case...

The school should voluntarily forfeit the entire 2017 football season. The five people in this picture should never be allowed to play football again. And the entire team should be forbidden from speaking to college scouts until the 2018 season.

Better: have an assembly every Friday there was going to be a football game, in which the five shitheads have to apologize for costing the team a possible win.

"We can't have a collective punishment." But the collective terror they put the town through with their racist bullshit was perfectly fine.

[leftynyc]

40. Those are all excellent ideas

But the problem goes much deeper. They weren't born racists and their parents should be shamed by the community.

[jmowreader]

44. You can't heap all the blame on their parents

I have personal experience in this.

My parents are Kennedy Liberals. I have three sisters and one brother.

Sister 1 is kind of an Eisenhower conservative, and picked it up from her police officer husband, the Eisenhower-supporting sheriff she worked for. She and husband voted Trump b/c that's what Idaho Republicans do; since then they have joined the Idaho Democratic Party because it's views are closer to their own.

Sister 2 is a Carter liberal.

Sister 3...take the Obamas and Bernie, drop 'me in a Mixmaster and turn on high, and you get her. She still won't eat bananas because of United Fruit...and she wasn't even alive during United Fruit's worst abuses.

There's me, and I am quite liberal.

Then there is my brother. The only reason that man is not in the Klan is their meetings are the same night as his Marine Corps League meetings. He picked that shit up from his barracks mates at Camp Pendleton.

It is very possible they learned hate from their friends.

[leftynyc]

45. Good point

But it sounds like all your siblings are grown adults. These "kids" are in high school so haven't had the experiences in the outside world that would erase their upbringing.

[jmowreader]

46. How many children of nonsmoking parents are smokers?

Peer pressure is a real thing. If your kids fall in with the wrong group, they'll go wrong.

[leftynyc]

47. Not if they're raised right

which includes the old adage "just because your friends jump off a bridge doesn't mean you have to". Kids with a strong sense of self are the result of a good upbringing. If there is a story of how these cretin's parents are horrified and sending their little darlings to military school to teach them a good lesson, then I'll believe their parents are innocent.

[JonLP24]

48. I never see military school as a good solution

Didn't Donald Trump go to military school when his parents didn't want to deal with him anymore?

[leftynyc]

50. It's punishment

and shows the parents realize there is a problem that needs action. Letting the little shits to live the life THEY want is not an acceptable response in my opinion. What lesson does that teach?

[JonLP24]

71. I think what they need are criticial thinking skills and logic

to understand the error of their ways. All military school would do is teach them to follow orders which isn't a good thing if the parents are racists.

[leftynyc]

72. I've seen military school work

It's not only about following orders - it teaches discipline, that you can't always get or do what you want and most importantly, forces you to interact with people different than you.

[JonLP24]

73. All of that worked for Donald Trump

[leftynyc]

79. Donnie's problems aren't from

military school. His problems are daddy issues - his father hated him (all NYers are very familiar with the trump family dynamics).

[DonaldsRump]

61. I don't want to deal with him anymore either!

Can we send him back to military school?

[ProgressiveValue]

62. I think this is a case of you expecting non-human qualities.

There are lots of kids who are raised right, who make mistakes. From the way you are trying to frame it, most of the parents in the country must be awful parents since kids will make mistakes that go against how they were raised. Human nature.

I get it though. What these kids have done is very vile and goes against everything we on this site stand for. These kind of instances can cause members to lash out with their keyboards when they see it. They suddenly forget about rehabilitation and their anger at incarceration of kids long term. They want these kids identified, they want them never to get a job ever, they don't want them allowed to collect a gov paycheck either, and they want them jailed for life. I've seen more compassion for teenage armed robbers. Kicking these kids off the football team and suspending them isn't enough, gotta go for the juggular and make them lifers either by prison or living under a bridge.

[leftynyc]

66. Making mistakes is one thing

We've all done that. This is entirely different. This is hatred for others that needs to be shown IMMEDIATELY is unacceptable if you wish to be part of a decent society. I don't want them locked up for life, or not able to get a job (which will just make them more resentful and angry). But I've seen military school work - they're forced to do things they really don't want to do (that's part of real life) and interact with all kinds of people (also a part of real life). That would be my suggestion.

[AngryAmish]

63. There is a long line of research that shows parenting style does not matter.

A lot of your behavior is innate, you are born with it. Your big five personality traits are mostly innate.

The best you can hope to do as a parent is set a good example, keep your kids as far away from shitheads as possible and don't abuse your kids.

[leftynyc]

67. Research that suggests

racism is innate? I've never even heard of those studies.

[SharonClark]

76. WTF! Why not just burn down the town?

And every town with a racist in it. We'd soon all be homeless.

[Calista241]

85. Yeah, since collective punishment is such a great idea.

You realize there's may be some other people on that team or at that school that were 100% uninvolved. And you want to prevent them from going to college?

We want to prevent this from happening again, not ruining the lives of the 90% of the school not pictured in this photo.

[roamer65]

92. I agree with you 100 percent.

Hit them right where it will hurt the most. Only way out of the collective punishment should be they go public with the names and punishment for those involved.

[Blue_Tires]

64. Ah, yes... More midwest folks with "economic concerns"

[tblue37]

70. "This is not a reflection of our community. Actually, it probably is. nt

[SharonClark]

77. I am as furious at many of the DUers' responses as I am about the teenage racist morons

The responses such as locking them up, punishing the entire football team, denigrating the high school principal, and demonizing an entire town is so over the top you sound like teabaggers.

The teenage morons don't represent the town.
The teenage morons don't represent the other 80 football players, including the quarterback, who is black.
The teenage morons not supported by the high school principal.

From WHOTV
CRESTON, Iowa -- Students at Creston Community High School have seen racism before, just not necessarily close to home. "It was really scary because that's stuff you see in the history books," said Austin Bloyd, a sophomore at Creston High School. Early Wednesday morning school officials became aware of the picture on social media involving several Creston High School students, wearing white hoods similar to the Ku Klux Klan, holding what appears to be a confederate flag and a firearm. "It represents bigotry, hatred, it represents going back to a dark past, said sixth year principal Bill Messerole.

Austin, is just a handful of black students at the high school and felt as if the post was a direct shot. "It's disgusting, I absolutely despise them for it now." The picture took a toll Austin said, "I actually had to leave early. I kind of felt like I had to look out a little more with my surroundings and the people I surround myself with."

Messerole could not name who the students were but the Creston News Advertiser reported that all five pictured were members of the Creston-Orient-Macksburg football team. "That picture does not represent our culture, it doesn't represent our school and doesn't represent our community," said Messerole. But the next action does said Messerole. "How we react to this is going to say a lot about who we are and what we believe in."

Out of 444 students at Creston High School, 15 students are hispanic, 7 are black, 7 are asian and 17 students are multi racial. While the school is just 11 percent minority, the majority of the community believes there's just one right side in this issue. "It's not black or white, not red or yellow. It's not generational, it's bad for every generation," said Messerole.

[byronius]

82. Well spoken.

[matt819]

78. But the problem is ours

We don't understand rural white America. It's our fault.

BTW, I read elsewhere that the students are going to sue. Someone ought to write a book titled, The Death of Shame.

[Sunlei]

88. some young people are impulsive & stupid, easy to radicalise from the internets deplorables.

One hopes its not a rotten to the core local Creston, Iowa community where the adults are involved in kkk & RW promoted bigotry.

Everyones spent a summer vacation 'wilding' with their friends. Hopefully these youths have strict decent parents, good school & community.

Grounded for a year & no internet, no guns,no sports, no car-They'll learn from this before they do more harm(kill, beat people) then burn a cross and pose for picture.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

90. This is fucking horrible

Trump makes people think that this is OK to do. Certainly it was still being done, but the openness is mind boggling.