Black Santa Monica High Student Says Wrestling Teammates Hung Noose, Chained Him to Locker, Shouted 'Slave for Sale!'

By Simone Wilson Thu., Jun. 30 2011 at 6:30 PM

Is Samohi breeding bigots?

Updated after the jump: The L.A. County Sheriff is now investigating administrators who knew about the hate crime and didn't report it to police -- technically breaking the law.

Looks like there's still some unabashed racism in paradise: The Los Angeles Times was just recently notified of a disgusting locker-room incident at the prestigious Santa Monica High School, better known as Samohi, though it occurred back in the beginning of May.

A black student on the wrestling team told authorities that, upon entering the wrestling practice area on May 4, he found a noose tied around the neck of one of the team's practice dummies -- the brown one. That's when things went from insensitive to scary:

He then went to the locker room to change and two students restrained him in a bear hug and used a cable and lock to chain his pants to a locker, according to the report. The students allegedly made racial remarks.

These racial remarks, according to Santa Monica's LookOut News, included the two boys shouting "Slave for sale!"

The student didn't immediately report the incident, reports LookOut, because he was told by administrators that the wrestling program might get cancelled if word got out -- and he "didn't want to jeopardize the wrestling program." The pigs who had jumped him were merely suspended for a spell (three days of freedom!) and given sensitivity training.

dit">Santa Monica Mirror

Principal Hugo Pedroza

In an e-mail to parents, Samohi Principal Hugo Pedroza euphemistically called the attack "an incident with racial overtones." Cell phone photos of the dummy were reportedly destroyed by school officials.

[Update: A Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District spokeswoman tells us that the racial makeup of the school is 7 percent Asian, 34 percent Latino, 11 percent black and 46 percent white.]

Victoria Gray, the student's mother, didn't find out what happened until May 31. After becoming frustrated that the school's administration was keeping the attack so hush-hush, she finally went to the local police department on June 21. Now, Sergeant Richard Lewis tells the Times that the student's assailants "could face charges of assault and battery for allegedly restraining him" in what "might be classified as a hate crime."

Might? Wow. (Also, can we stop with the "African-American" thing already? It's rude.)

SMMUSD

Superintendent Tim Cuneo

Update, June 29, 5:45 p.m.: Here are the administrators who were involved in the aftermath of the locker-room attack, aside from Principal Pedroza:

Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Superintendent Tim Cuneo. The black student's mother told press that Cuneo "wouldn't give her a copy of the full incident report, citing privacy concerns for the students involved." He refuses to speak with the Weekly about what happened, repeating only, "Now that it's under an investigation, I have nothing more to say."

Wrestling coach, Mark Black, who came in and broke up the mini mob. He arranged sensitivity training and counseling for involved parties, but never reported the blatant hate crime (let's just call it what it is) to police.

Leslie Wells, the principal of H House at Samohi (there are six "houses" on campus). According to Gray, the principal told her son that if he spoke up, he could get the whole wrestling program canceled. However, Wells tells the Weekly he is "unable to comment."

Whether or not they meant to do harm, all adults involved were breaking the law by not reporting the noose to police. From the Santa Monica Daily Press:

The SMMUSD has serious problems with this latest incident. Terrorizing people with a noose is a criminal offense (California Penal Code, Section 11411) and must be reported. Police were never called by district officials although they had collected student cell phones and deleted photos of the incident, according to news reports. Meanwhile, the two instigators were suspended for just three days each.
Not reporting the crime aside, destroying photos (or evidence) could be viewed as obstruction of justice and lead to criminal prosecution. And, the district could also face litigation for failing to protect the civil rights of its students.

Update: Sergeant Richard Lewis of the Santa Monica Police Department told us yesterday evening that officers were "looking into who knew about [the attack] and didn't tell."

He says that the department was notified on June 21 of the May 5 crime, and immediately began investigating.

"During that investigation, some information came to light that there may have been some mishandling of the incident by schol administrators," he says. Because "if nothing was reported [to police], that could be a crime in and of itself."

So now, the investigation has been split into two parts: Santa Monica police will look into the locker-room incident itself, in which Lewis says there are two suspects and "several witnesses... several of them being minors," while the L.A. County Sheriff's Department helms the probe into Samohi admin.

"Here at the [police] department, we have a close working relationship with the school district," explains Lewis. "So we don't want to appear to be biased."

We've contacted the Sheriff's Department for comment.

Originally posted June 29 at 9:15 a.m.

[@simone_electra/swilson@laweekly.com]

Tags:

hate crime, locker room, noose, racism, Samohi, Santa Monica High, wrestling

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SAMOHI WRESTLER

none of you know what you are talking about i am a member of the wrestling team and the article above is flat out incorrect and does not have the facts i was there and i know what happened the boy that was "locked" to his locker was laughing the whole time and is good friends with the kids that locked him and there were no epithets used i know this because i was there the whole time the kid actually told school admin many times that there were no epithets used

know what you are talking about if you are going to critisize because you all look like idiots get the facts straight

Gusteau

First of all, incidents like this don't surprise me. I live in Santa Monica. I know that there are a lot of racists here. These kids get these attitudes from their parents. Secondly, I just hope the powers that be handle this as they should.

BullshitSpotter

What's also widely unknown (covered up???) is that Blacks are indigenous to this land.

And PAH-LEEASE STOP using that legal construct "African American." These clowns change what they call us every 10-15 years.

FYI: We are referred to in "legal" terms not English. Here's the term that floored me when I began studying law. "Colored." Colored "in law" means "having the appearance of, but not actual.

Also, FYI, the creator of a legal fiction grants to, denies, or revokes from that legal fiction whatever rights and privileges it wants. You control what you create. Now think 14th Amendment. It was enacted to grant the newly freed slaves IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA a legal "status" (i.e. citizen, person (notice I didn't say people)).

By accepting and responding to these legal fictions as if they are us in the flesh places us in a position of servitude AGAIN.

Any negative responses from this you can for certain assess that the one doing so either doesn't know, or does and doesn't want anyone else to know.

Lasalle

I cannot believe that the Administrators and the Wrestling Coach of Santa Monica tried and are still tring to brush this under the carpet. This Student was a victim pure and simple. This was a crime. I hope that they are made an example of by the ACLU, so that they understand they are there to protect the rights of ALL students. I ashamed of SMMUSD, the Supt, the Principals and the Coach. Shame on you

Wonderboy-c20

this is bullshit !!!!!!!!! im mexican and when i was growing up blacks hated on me . more than white folks .....i ended up in the dumpster twice a week after school no body did shit about it ..... but i dont give a shit now because that made me the man i am today ...im just waiting for a brown precident the even this shit out....this pot is melting but still not fusing ........

Poland626

There's a difference between a dumpster, and threatening someone with a noose. A dumpster is a dumpster. A noose, to a black person, might mean a whole lot more due to their history with the civil rights protests and all of the blacks getting hanged at the time.

I'm not saying your wrong. A bully here and there isn't so bad as long as it doesn't get out of hand (I say a bully helps build character, like it did with you) but there is a HUGE difference between the two.

Mimimaravic

Their are many areas of concern and fault...1st. the school officials appear to be more concern for the violators than the victem. The victem was not protected, the parent was not notified of the incident or given information that her son was a victem of a hate crime. If the school officials knowingly had the evidence and instructed the students to deleted; This is a very sad situation where the victem remains the victem and the violators are protected!

Jill

The perpetrators should be punished, but the administrators should not be fired or go to jail. That's ridiculous. A hate crime is when somebody is injured or killed. This boy was bullied.

...disgusted

Jill, By your definition, bullying is just a bruise away from a hate crime. If they had not been stopped by a teacher, would they have stopped themselves? Could their victim know that he would get out of the situation safe or alive? That student was traumatized. I'd say don't cancel the entire wrestling program, but throw the perpetrators off the team - and any extra-curricular programs - immediately and permanently. Or expel them. Assault is assault.

kls525

What will be interesting is to see how lenient the punishment (if any) will be.

Sandytoor

This is outrageous as a teacherI know what's going with admin. and its WRONG!!!!

ArtsBeatLA

Utterly deplorable.

Frawsty

Cancel the wrestling program. It teaches them nothing. Punish the students by making them all read a book about hate crimes. Hopefully they can read by now, they are in high school.

Kate

This is the most disgusting thing I've heard done in a school in a long time. SHAME on the administrators too! They're clearly all entitled pieces of shit.

Quincy K

Suicide in January..., now this?

Completely unrelated. Matthew Mezza was severely depressed, a condition for which he was receiving treatment. His death was not connected to or triggered by his experiences at school. As a graduate of Samohi who witnessed the trauma my teachers and classmates endured after Matthew's death, I resent your insinuation that the school somehow caused it.

Hedfurst

Yeah... why are we Afrrican Americans when we arent from Africa... we been removed for almost 10 generations... were Americans just like the white ones... Even if we dont want to be...

Coneill

Agreed! Some are more American (been here since 1700's ) then the white European immigrants from the 1800's!

Taddypro

History shows removed for @500 years to the "New World" in some cases. And having visited West Africa, prefer Black, it indicates the divide; neither here nor there