12 June 2007

DURING GAY PRIDE, WE HAVE TO REMEMBER TOLERANCE
ON EVERY LEVEL.
THIS STATEN ISLAND BOY MAY NOT BE GAY,
BUT HIS DIFFICULTIES ARE HORRIBLE
AND I AM EMBARASSED THAT THEY NOT ONLY HAPPENED IN MY COUNTRY
BUT MY CITY.
...although really i don't know why staten island is a part of new york...

Teen's Family Sues DOE After They Say He Was Harassed Because Of His Name
June 11, 2007

A Staten Island teen says he was tormented so much, he had to change schools – and all because of his name. And his family says it wasn't the students that had the harshest words. NY1’s Lindley Pless filed the following report. Osama Al-Najjar, 16, says before 9/11, he never thought much about his name, but after the attack on the World Trade Center, he says teachers started to single him out. “I was sitting in class at the beginning of the semester and he [the teacher] goes where's Osama? I said right here, and he goes, ‘I thought you’d be in the back of a cave somewhere,” said Al-Najjar.

Before the harassment began, his mother Soud Abuhasna, says he was an honors student at Tottenville High School in Staten Island. She says since then, everything has changed. “Being a Muslim and Arabic is not a crime,” says Abuhasna. He is a good student. He was in a gifted program before he attended that school. And when I had to pull him out of that school, he failed all his subjects.” She says what started to unfold was more than her son could take. “The students in the school were more understanding and accepting than the teachers,” she says. “The teachers are the ones who called him names, like Bin Laden, terrorist. One of the teachers told him not to bother to come to her class, because no matter what he did, he was not going to pass.”

At one point, things took a turn for the worse, and that is when the family decided to hire a lawyer, Omar Mahamadi. “As a direct result of the hostile environment, which was tolerated, condoned and fostered by school administrators at Tottenville High School, Osama attempted to commit suicide,” said Mahamadi. On March 27th, the family filed a lawsuit against the city and the Department of Education. They say they felt they had no choice, since they asked the school to take action to stop the teachers' name-calling and abuse and they did nothing.

Last year, after the suicide attempt, Osama's parents pulled him from the school and moved him to a public high school for troubled teens. They say in the future, they want to make sure there is no tolerance for those teaching that discrimination of any kind is acceptable. “Justice – I want to make sure I wish that what happened to my son should never happen to another kid,” said Abuhasna. The city law department says it's reviewing the case thoroughly.

- Lindley Pless
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http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=70630

3 comments:

The Girl said...

We got crazy shit happening in these parts, too. Just in time for Pride Month.

http://slog.thestranger.com/2007/06/babydykes_kicked_off_bus

vanilla-bean said...

wtf mate?! portland... sad...
but i have to giggle at the name "babydykes". you just wanna hug em and squeeze em and love me all over!

The Girl said...

From your lips to god's ears ...