October is Domestic Violence Awareness month. This is only one of the reasons that a skit at a pep rally held in New York was so very disgusting and demeaning to minorities. The skit featured white students wearing black face and satirizing domestic violence.
You'd think that even the most obtuse individual would have recognized that the Waverly High School pep rally showcasing a skit performed by three white male students wearing black face, or make-up to make them appear black was wrong.
That these students were allowed to re-enact a 2009 domestic abuse incident when Chris Brown attacked his former girl friend Rihanna for laughs is unconscionable.
CNN contributor Matthew Dishler explains:
At the most recent Pep Rally for Waverly High School, located in Waverly NY, the usual fanfare of cheering for the home team to get them ready was in full swing. As the rally progressed you had your usual cheers and rally cries for the fall sports teams and the football team. It seemed to have done well, with Waverly defeating their opponent 70-21. But what happened at that pep rally went much farther than simple cheers. Three white students were to perform a skit in black face, depicting Chris Brown and Rhianna most notibly. In this skit they would display acts of domestic violence as satire to an audience that included not only students but parents, faculty, and various members of the media and community leaders. None of them stopped the skit.
Now that people are coming together to slam the entire incident, Joseph Yelich, superintendent of the Waverly Central School District claims that district officials will be taking a closer look at what happened at the pep rally.He might want to begin with the faculty that failed to put a stop to this.
While effectively saying nothing of value, he said, "The Waverly School District is committed to creating a positive atmosphere through our activities. I will be working with our building administrators, our staff and our students to examine our current activities and develop future activities consistent with our commitment. Ultimately, our administrators are going to need to meet with the whole student body to set clear expectations for our behavior and the impact it has on all people."
Waverly, N.Y., is 72 percent white, according to the 2010 Census. Depending upon who you ask, the opinions are split over whether the Chris Brown-Rihanna skit was controversial.
Communities everywhere are taking a stand against this horrendous act which very often ends in murder, therefore all schools, grade, middle and high, should also reflect the lack of tolerance to domestic violence. The cycle of violence begins early, after all.
That these students were allowed to re-enact a 2009 domestic abuse incident when Chris Brown attacked his former girl friend Rihanna for laughs is unconscionable.
CNN contributor Matthew Dishler explains:
At the most recent Pep Rally for Waverly High School, located in Waverly NY, the usual fanfare of cheering for the home team to get them ready was in full swing. As the rally progressed you had your usual cheers and rally cries for the fall sports teams and the football team. It seemed to have done well, with Waverly defeating their opponent 70-21. But what happened at that pep rally went much farther than simple cheers. Three white students were to perform a skit in black face, depicting Chris Brown and Rhianna most notibly. In this skit they would display acts of domestic violence as satire to an audience that included not only students but parents, faculty, and various members of the media and community leaders. None of them stopped the skit.
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| A scene from the skit. |
While effectively saying nothing of value, he said, "The Waverly School District is committed to creating a positive atmosphere through our activities. I will be working with our building administrators, our staff and our students to examine our current activities and develop future activities consistent with our commitment. Ultimately, our administrators are going to need to meet with the whole student body to set clear expectations for our behavior and the impact it has on all people."
Waverly, N.Y., is 72 percent white, according to the 2010 Census. Depending upon who you ask, the opinions are split over whether the Chris Brown-Rihanna skit was controversial.
Communities everywhere are taking a stand against this horrendous act which very often ends in murder, therefore all schools, grade, middle and high, should also reflect the lack of tolerance to domestic violence. The cycle of violence begins early, after all.
