Recently the Phillipsburg Wrestling team has been mired in controversy as a result of the the release of the following picture. Read the following articles for more information, nj.com article attorney for students responds, then, comment on the controversy.Based on what you have learned about the legacy of lynching in class and the circumstances behind this image, what do you believe should be done about this. Is the image racist? Why or why not? Is this a failure of education? What does this image say about teenage culture and our society at large?
In the recent debate on the Phillipsburg Wrestling team and the picture, it appears to me as a lack of education. The boys in the picture seem to be posing like it was a lynching, but I think that they don’t understand the true meaning of what they did. They most likely don’t understand the harsh meaning behind lynching or the poses that they were in. I looked on several websites and did realize that almost all of the wrestling dummies are black or brown due to the material that they are made of. It almost makes me think that they tied up the dummy wearing their opponents shirt and then thought it would be “funny” if they posed as if they were in the KKK. The punishment that they received makes sense to me, but I also think that they should be required to take some sort of class that teaches them the true meaning of lynching and the terrible meaning behind their poses. When seeing this photo, it appears more as an absence of understanding rather than an act of racism.
ReplyDeleteI understand that the Phillipsburg High was trying to promote school spirit, however I find it hard to believe that no racism was involved. This is a case of lack of education on the subject of lynching. If the wrestlers knew the seriousness of the subject they would of been more careful. In addition, even if the photo was a joke that would just make it worse that they believe lynching is funny. I honestly think the punishment they received was fair because there is no excuse for the poor sportsmanship. There are several other ways to promote team spirit and this is certainly not one of them.
DeleteI believe that the eight members of the Phillipsburg High School wrestling team just did not essentially realize how serious lynching actually is. I think they might have meant to do it as a joke but it certainly did not appear like it was a joke. I think this image is racist especially because it did not portray school spirit at all. And if they wanted to show school spirit this was definitely not the way to do it at all. I think the punishment that they received was fair especially because they just beat another team and they put the other team’s t-shirt and that definitely did not show good sportsmanship. I think this was just a stupid idea and there was really no reason why they had to take a picture of this.
ReplyDeleteThe photo above demonstrates immaturity and racism. They are high school students and they should know better and realize that the action in the picture is hurtful and illegal. However, I also think that they did not think this through well enough and did not mean that much harm. But they should know better and now they are paying the price. I think their punishment is fair and very reasonable, it could have been a lot worse. They meant for it to be funny and get them pump for the next match. This photo is racist because the color of the dummy represents the time in history that was awful and it does hurt people’s feeling. I don’t think this is an example in poor education because if they knew how to pose with wearing pointed hoods then they would also know how offensive it was. I believe that they did not think through it and this just shows how a lot of time teenagers do stuff before they think.
ReplyDeleteThe image is very racist and very offense. It cannot be viewed as “innocent” or “spontaneous” because that would be condoning this type of behavior, which is something we have come a long way from and don’t want to repeat. The fact that some of the boys have their hoods up and shaped like cones as if they were in the KKK shows just how racist they are. It seems to me that they literally lynched this mannequin and even took a picture with it like they used to do in the 1930’s. I feel as if these boys did not have enough education on the gravity of the situation, and hopefully if they knew just what they were doing that they would decide it was a bad idea. It says in the article that the dummy was wearing their rivals t-shirt, and although it is okay to be competitive it’s not right to reenact a bad part of America’s life. Considering the United States past with slavery who’d think these teenagers would know that this was bad, but I guess they looked past offending people so they could make a “joke.” All in all, this kind of behavior should not be accepted and harsh consequences should be put upon them.
ReplyDeleteThis image is extremely racist, portraying a lynching of an African American. They definitely deserve to be suspended and they should have to apologize for their actions. I think they were educated enough about this and just did it out of pure ignorance. They know what they are doing by pointing their hoods trying to act like KKK members. Trash talk is one thing, but this is way beyond that. This shows how immature some teenagers are, and it also shows how racism still isn't completely abolished in our society.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with this. These students have had a good education and proper exposure to the realities of lynching and should have known better. Because this situation has now been made public and there is no taking back what these boys have done, they should endure any punishment that comes their way. This could have been prevented but was instead overlooked.
DeleteThe image is indeed very racist and while it might have been unintentional it is still very hurtful. It is a reminder of the era of lynching back in the early 1900’s when whole towns would gather and take pictures around the victim. Similar to what is being done in this situation. These students are obviously poorly educated about the topic and should face full consequences. Also how some of them have their hoods up in points implying that they are associated with the KKK takes and that takes it to a whole new level. There is no way it was a coincidence that it was a black dummy hanging and they had hoods like the KKK. This is in no way displaying school spirit this is just a symbol of racism and the boys should face harsh punishment for the racism.
ReplyDeleteI don’t believe that the picture demonstrated a lack of education but I do believe however that it was just pure stupidity and immaturity. As high school students, they know how wrong racism and lynching are. I think that they were just trying to be funny and not using their heads. I think that these boys weren’t aware of how seriously their actions would be taken. They simply weren’t aware of the consequences. This is also an example of society today. The boys knew it was extremely offensive but they followed through with it anyway, obviously not using their heads, and just doing it to be funny and for publicity. Teens and even adults need to be informed about the consequences of these types of actions. This was very poor sportsmanship. I believe that as a consequence should be to strip them of their title that they won at the tournament.
ReplyDeleteThis picture was meant to be just a harmless prank, but it became much more in just a day. These boys were being very immature, sure you can trash talk another team and it may get more intense when it comes to wrestling. Although, this talks it too far especially after learning today that more than 3,00 African Americans died from lynching. This could really hurt someone, not just the lynching part, but the KKK reference was the other part in the picture that was could make someone upset. This just goes to show one mistake can change your life. All these boys were talented wrestlers and they most likely just took away their future by one stupid picture.
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ReplyDeleteI believe that the boys knew exactly what they were doing when they set this picture up. I do not think there is a lack of education because they are in high school, so by now they should understand that this is very racist and disrespectful. At the age they are at they should know better than to do something like this. However I do not think they meant this in an attack, I believe they thought it would be funny and didn't see how it could be interpreted by others. I do believe the boys should face the consequences of their actions, because they should have thought about what they were doing before they just went ahead and did it.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this picture is an example of pure stupidity. I understand the rivalries that go on between opposing sports teams, which is all l fun and games, but this High school wrestling team took it way too far. All of these guys look more than old enough to realize how racist and disrespectful they are being by hanging a black dummy by the neck and posing proudly around it. Not only did the dummy represent a member of another sports team but it represented the African Americans during lynchings throughout the course if history. Lynchings are terrible and it's not appropriate nor acceptable to mock them. I believe they went way too far and should be suspended. Lastly, two boys near the back have their sweatshirts pulled up and over their shoulders and, to me, almost looks like the hoods that the KKK would wear. This shows how insensitive and disrespectful our generation is compared to others.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading the article and looking at the picture of the boys, I was pretty taken back at the ignorance of the whole thing. Not only is there a body hanging by its neck, but there are also two boys with pointed hoods resembling Ku Klux Klan members. So to answer your question, this picture is undoubtedly racist. They say ignorance is bliss, however their lack of knowledge is not just hurting themselves, it is offending countless others. In my opinion, I think that the boys should be stripped of their state championship trophy and be suspended. These kids need to understand that what they did was wrong and not to be taken lightly. The one thing that I will say is that this may not actually be a "failure of the their education." You have to understand that no matter where you are, there is always going to be people who test the limits and act inhumanely to others. I am sure that in their school's curriculum, they are taught all about lynchings just as we are. These boys are old enough to know about this and its historical meaning; whether they choose to ignore that is completely up to them. So I wouldn't necessarily blame their education for this. Regarding teenage culture, I think this picture is an obvious example of the stupidity of our generation. Teenagers are so quick these days to post the first thing that comes to mind. While imitations of lynchings online are rare, this is a fine example of the thought process teenagers lack. Hopefully these boys will learn from this and own up to what they did.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with Abby. This wasn't a mistake at all. It wasn't because of "failure of education." They should know about lynching and the thousand of African Americans that died. Also, they know about the KKK. So for them to do this is really irresponsible and immature. I also agree that they should be stripped from their state championship trophy and be suspended. People should really think things through before posting things, especially on a public website where everyone can see it. It was a horrible decision and they should pay for it.
DeleteThis prank, although intended to get a few laughs and advertise a victory, was very immature. These boys, being in High school have had many years of education relating to racism, segregation and even lynching. This being said, the boys in this picture knew exactly what they were doing by posing for this picture. Not only were these students aware of the consequences of taking this picture they should've known what would happen if it became publicly viewed on the internet as well, as we've had many "internet safety" presentations throughout the years. Although this was very immature, it does not show a lack of education, it shows a lack of the application of our education.
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ReplyDeleteAlthough I do believe that the young wrestlers involved didn't understand the true magnitude of what they had done, it is undeniable that it WAS a horrible scene that they were reenacting. Though the high school officials and attorney try to brush certain aspects off, I don't believe that the presence of both the pointed hoods and the black-leather dummy are purely a coincidence. Sure, it can all be chalked up to "high-school stupidity" and "they didn't know what they were doing." But what the wrestlers were reenacting, whether premeditated or not, was a lynching resembling one from the 1900's. These were absolutely horrific scenes, and although these boys probably thought that they would look funny or silly doing this, they should have thought a little harder and seen that what they were portraying is nothing to be laughed at.
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ReplyDeleteAlthough this incident may have been because of a lack of education, it is still very disrespectful and racist. Say these boys didn't know how serious lynching was, well then they still think it is okay to hang a dummy, black or white? I am sure some people don't know what lynching is but just by looking at the photograph of a dummy being hung and boys wearing their hoods as the KKK, they would be very disturbed by the picture. This picture just shows how much of a joke teens take school/learning in.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Erica, and I would add that whether they were educated or not is besides the point. Common sense leads you to see how inappropriate and racist the picture is.
DeleteI think that this group of wrestlers don't understand the severity of lynching and how what they did resembled it quite a bit. I think the image is very racist because it is a black wrestling doll being hung like African Americans were. Also they were all posing around like white people did when they lynched people. I don't think this is a failure of education, I think it was just a misguided idea where they weren't thinking about anything historical. I think this says that teenagers can tend to be insensitive.
ReplyDeleteI think that these boys meant this as a harmless prank. I don’t think that this picture is racist. Although it is a black dummy being hung it doesn’t necessarily represent an African American. Those dummies come in such a dark color because of the material they are made out of. I don’t think that these wrestlers were thinking about lynching the other team, I think they were just trying to intimidate them. Their hoods don’t necessarily represent the KKK either; it could represent the Grim Reaper that stands for death. They did this out of rivalry. They didn’t think that everyone would take this to a whole other level claiming they are racist. Every day in society race is taken into account, and frankly I think that this issue was looked at too deeply, finding reasons to encounter race. I don’t think that there is a failure of education; this issue was blown way out of proportion. I think this shows that society can be very harsh and they will count race in everything that there is, even if they can’t help it.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that the young wrestlers were being racist, and disturbing, but i feel that it was just a harmless coincidence. If they wanted to recreate the image of an African American hanging I think they wouldn't do it in that kind of way in their school. I don't believe this is something that people should be overexerting for unless it repeats. There are other things happening that should be focused on other than this, and this just seems like a prank, or a coincidence. It just doesn't seem right to punish them unless it happens again after this.
ReplyDeleteTo me it seems like they were definitely not thinking about their actions and how horrible the "Opposing team lynching" would appear to people not knowing the circumstances. It is okay to a point to despise a rival, but bringing a racist time in history back to now, whether on purpose or by accident, is something that the wrestlers need to know is wrong and deserving of punishment. If this photo were to leak somewhere around the world, outsiders may see America differently since one of the wrestlers in the back is saluting as if to justify this act as acceptable by our country. Though they may have meant no harm, it is evident that their careless actions are completely uncalled for.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you Jake, these students didn’t make the right choice by doing any of this. They clearly weren’t thinking and most definitely unaware of the consequences of their actions because if they did they would have or should have never done this.
DeleteI believe this photo is an EXTREME example of intolerance. The wrestlers should definitely be punished because I believe they knew exactly what they were doing when they decided to take this picture. Also, the fact that they are trying to make this funny is disgusting and racist. I also believe that this photo is a failure of education because if they had seen photos of the hanging, burnt African Americans in front of thousands of people that we saw in class, they would have made a smarter decision and not have taken this picture. The images we saw in class don't just go away, they stay burned in your mind as a gruesome reminder of what happened back then. This photo is a very good example of our teenage society now because unfortunately, a lot of students don't care about what they are learning because it doesn't pertain to them, which is very very sad.
ReplyDeleteEven though these boys didn't mean any harm and did not think anything of it, it was still wrong. They should have known and thought of how people were going to take it if they were going to post it on social media. Maybe they aren't very educated on what lynching really was but we can't blame the lack of education. Being in high school they should know the difference between right and wrong, this was just a moment of no common sense. These boys should face the punishment they are receiving and apologize to the other team, but some people may be taking it too far, they are kids and I'm assuming they have learned their lesson.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the boys did mean this as a harmless prank and didn't realize what they were doing. It turned out to be something that had a major effect and response from everybody everywhere. The boys attorney claims that their minds were clouded and they were in a haze after a big win but their should be no excuse for that type of behavior. The boys need a real punishment like an adult would get to show them that what they did was wrong. The other schools deserve more than an apology because the boys had brought them into something that didn't even need to be started into the first place. Everyone-not just the boys- need to be careful about what they put on the internet including this that can represent something bad our country isn't proud of.
ReplyDeleteI have seen this photo and have heard about it on the radio a countless amount of times. This still is getting attention, which amuses me slightly. These kids had no intention of making this photo racist, it was meant to be a harmless prank to a rival school for a psych out for an upcoming wrestling match. As though the wrestling dummy does seem to be made of a dark material, this has nothing to do with the hanging of an African American. The color of the wrestling dummies is dark due to the material it is made out of, and the boys had no intention of making it a racial issue. Also, just one of the boys seems to have their hood up, and since it is white and pointed it automatically makes it a KKK hoodie and a reference to what they stand for. This is a misunderstanding, by looking at this photo you see that only one of the boys has a white hoodie and none of the others do. So this means that because of one of the wrestlers has a hood up and it is shaped like a triangle it is racist. That is a very flawed reason to insert that the whole intent of the picture was to make racist remarks to the opposing team during the time of a huge wrestling rivalry match coming up deciding if Phillipsburg goes home with the 43rd State Title. The boys from Phillipsburg High School had meant for this to be a prank, and nothing more. This shows just how a photo with one or two little "innapropriate" gestures can lead to a state wide issue about racism.
ReplyDeleteThe boys clearly know that what they did was wrong. The lynching of African Americans as well as Klan activities left a significant impact on the history of the United States. That dark period in history has been taught to all students as part of the standard curriculum in American History. The boys should know that this is unacceptable behavior especially now a days when issues like this are taken so seriously. In my opinion, the boys should be suspended from school as well as their team.
ReplyDeleteIt seems that these wrestlers were being racist and mean is some way. I don't think they are doing to harm anyone. I thing the wrestlers should definitely be punished for their action because it felt like they were meaning to do this. I don't think they have heard about lynching and how bad it was, they think is a joke and should not be taken seriously. I think this is done because lack of education and them not knowing how bad lynching was. They definitely deserve to be suspended and they should have to apologize for their actions.
ReplyDeleteReflecting on the actions of these members of the wrestling they appear to have little knowledge of the contreversy that their actions caused. I believe they weren't educated in this topic for it to make an impact. The picture makes them appear very racist. However I feel that the dummy is made of a material that happens to be dark and the dummy could have been any other color to make this situation less contreversial and racist.I also believe they should be punished for using such a situation as a psych but I believe the teachers and parents could play a bigger role in keeping things like this from occurring.
ReplyDeleteThe wrestlers in this picture are being very racist and probably offended a lot of people. The people in this picture should be punished. They are depicting a lynching of an african american, which is not the subject to joke around about. What the punishment should be, i don't know. And i get that people are saying that these kids didn't know what they were doing, but that doesn't change the fact that they depicted a hanging of an african american. This shows that people need to watch what they put on the internet, doing stupid stuff like this causes a lot of harm.
ReplyDeleteThe photo of the wrestlers displays immaturity, but I wouldn't take it to the point of an act of lynching. The wrestlers seem to have thought it would be funny to display a rival dead in defeat. I think the lack of education and their adolescent minds contributed to the belief that what they were doing wasn’t bad. It was not racist either. Just because the dummy was black, there is no need to automatically assume that the hanging was a racist one. There most likely was only one or two dummies available and there wasn’t much of a color option. I don't think this photo should be made a serious deal, yes it may be cruel, but i wouldn't take it as far as a racial leaching trying to kill their opponents.
ReplyDeleteThis picture shows just how clueless those students were when posing for that picture. Although they say they had no intension of portraying something like that, it is also very sportsman like and shouldn’t have even been considered. It is the classic case of doing before thinking and it was a very stupid and poor decision to say the least. To think that they didn’t even stop to think and see how bad the picture actually looked before sending it out into the world shows that they were failed in their education somewhere. They should have seen how their picture was very wrong in many ways. This shows that the characters of these students are so competitive that they would go so far as to go straight to doing something before even considering the consequences. This shows a lot about the culture today with competitiveness and how we don’t stop to consider the feelings of others; especially other races. This is quite frankly an abomination and there should be many lessons learned by these students through the process of their punishment.
ReplyDeleteWith a picture as controversial as it is I think it is hard to judge the racial intent of the photo. You would think that people in this day and age wouldn't be stupid enough to post a racist photo on the internet for everyone to see. Whether there are racial implications or not, this photo is still inappropriate. If the dummy had been white then the issue would have been hanging, and the implications would have been suicide. i.e. Whites go hang yourself, Blacks were going to lynch you. Either way this photo has no positive aspects. I dont think you can twist this to say that the boys were innocent in posting the photo, they are standing around a "dead" dummy of the opposing team implicating death. I dont think its something to go to prison for, no one was bodily harmed, but an apology should be provided to the other team.
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ReplyDeleteAfter reading all the articles i have found that these boys are just being stupid. They clearly didn't understand all the implications of how people could possibly view what they did. There are many people in this world who seem to make their main goal in life is to twist and turn and find every single loop hole possible. Also, no, this is not racist. This is a wrestling dummy, there are no white wrestling dummy's! No one has ever cared before that these boys practice on black dummy's which could have been viewed as racist. So, no, this is not a racist, it's stupid and wrong. If anything it is rude an mean to do that and place the opposing teams t shirt on it. They saw this as a harmless photo, this says a lot about our generation of teenagers. No one has given these boys any direction in saying this is wrong and is similar to a terrible part of our history. In conclusion, they are boys that just need to be explained to why what they did was wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think these kids didn’t realize what they were doing when they took this picture and posted it. I think these students should be expelled and have this put on their criminal record for a hate crime. I do believe this picture is racist because if P-Burg is half as smart as I think it is they will have taught their students about public lynching’s from the 1900’s. These kids clearly knew what they were doing but it just didn’t sink in. I don’t believe this is a failure of education, actually a representative of knowledge. It shows that our school systems are teaching about the good and the bad of our history but that these students didn’t recognize the true resemblance of what they did. This picture shows our teenage culture in a very bad light because it lets everyone know we are all either idiots or just not thinking before we act.
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