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Boston Arts Academy students go up to New Hampshire to perform jazz, have to deal with racist crap

A contingent of Boston Arts Academy students traveled up to Durham, NH, yesterday to perform at an annual UNH jazz festival. Sandra Marcelino reports what happened while they were eating lunch (AirDrop is an application that lets iPhone users exchange photos and other files):

My kid and her classmates were enjoying lunch peacefully not bothering anybody when some ignorant little derelicts thought it would be funny to send airdrop pictures of their mockery of Black history month.

These individuals sent these images to the tables of the only children of color in the room trying to incite who knows maybe a fight? I’m proud to say that our kids did not react ; reported this behavior and went and performed after this and Absolutely slaid the stage. Kudos BAA students; but this needs to be talked about because this is not OK . Since they (the other students) thought it was important for them to share their images, I think it’s important for me to share their images as well.

Boston Public Schools issued a statement tonight about the incident:

We are deeply disturbed that Boston Arts Academy students were subjected to racist conduct during a regional high school jazz festival out of state, and are ensuring that the affected students receive support. There is no place for such hateful and vitriolic conduct in our society. Boston Public Schools is working with the University of New Hampshire officials to review this incident.

The school's headmaster sent this message to parents tonight:

March 10, 2019

Dear Boston Arts Academy Families,

I am writing to inform you that Boston Arts Academy students who participated in the Clark Terry Jazz Festival at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) on Saturday were subjected to a disturbing incident of racism. Shortly before the students were scheduled to perform, a number of them received a racist image on their smartphones sent by one or more individuals nearby. This incident was completely unacceptable, and I am very sorry that our students had their otherwise positive experience disrupted by a hateful act.

When this was brought to my attention, I immediately began contacting the affected students to offer my support. We are working with the BPS Office of Equity and officials at UNH to ensure this incident is investigated and addressed.

Each and every day, we strive to foster a safe, welcoming, supportive, and inclusive environment at Boston Arts Academy and throughout the Boston Public Schools. I commend our students for carrying on with integrity, maturity, and respect after this deplorable incident occurred.

Boston Arts Academy is full of trusted adults, and we are always here for any students who wish to talk or are in need of counseling or other resources. Racism has absolutely no place in our society. We must do all that we can to support one another and stand up against this type of offensive behavior.

Sincerely,

Anne Clark, Headmaster

Boston Arts Academy

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Comments

I hope every Boston Arts Academy student who was subjected to this racist harassment has a chance to file a complaint for violation of their civil rights; through the City of Boston, the MA attorney general's office, and through the U.S. Department of Justice.

Holy Michael Imperioli! You must have to be the most insecure, jealous POS adult to harass school children just trying to share in a love of jazz and play a concert. Yikes.

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Bring Carmen Ortiz out of retirement to Aaron Swartz those guys!

/sarc

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But tepid sarcasm about Boston school children being harassed isn't really relevant here...

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These little darlings are the right age to have been raised by all those lovely "adults" in places like Wilmington and Dracut who just couldn't keep their filthy traps shut when kids from diverse places like Medford and Revere were on the soccer field. Lovely people like that raise this sort of knuckledragging fuckhead.

Heck, some of the little darlings found out what "red card" means for screaming racial slurs at other kids - slurs that indicated that they had not ever met a black person or set foot in the communities that they were playing.

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Which means complaints should be filed with the NH AG's office, city of Durham, etc. The MA AG has no jurisdiction over racist behavior across state borders.

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Boston Arts Academy is a Boston Public School, located in a little-known place called Boston, Massachusetts. Boston Public Schools is a municipal organization.

Crimes committed against Boston, Mass.-residents/minors absolutely are under MA AGO jurisdiction.

To use municipal court as an example: Dorchester resident seeks a protection order following an event that happened in Brighton. The Dorchester resident would seek the order through Dorchester District Court, not Brighton Municipal Court.

If anything, there are probably MORE avenues of recourse for these kids between MA and NH. *Jonathan Richman voice* oooohhh, New England!

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No, if there is a crime related to this, the prosecution would be where it happened, which is New Hampshire, not where the victims are from.

Your harassment-order example doesn't apply because that's something the kids themselves would have to seek; it's not something a prosecutor would try to get (except maybe as a "stay away" order as a condition of bail, and we're hardly at that point).

And it probably wouldn't work because there are two main types of harassment orders in Massachusetts, one in which the victim would have to show that he or she is in fear of being physically harmed, the other which would require them to show they have been subject to harassment at least three times. Based on what we know, I don't think either applies here.

But this all assumes we're talking about a criminal matter, rather than a school disciplinary matter. I suspect we'll be hearing more about this soon.

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EDIT: I did not suggest that possible recourse for these students would include harassment orders in Boston Municipal Court. I was making a point about jurisdiction and speaking figuratively. Just clarifyin'...

And another fun fact: Healey's office is currently suing the President in a joint lawsuit with other states. The lawsuit was filed in Oregon.

The minute these UNH students decided to harass non-white Boston public students on a school putting with racist content sent over this AirDrop...it became a concern of the Mass AGO...and a possible violation of federal civil rights protections.

So if these kids had called the Massachusetts Attorney General's hotline and reported this incident right when it happened...Maura Healey's office would've call them back and been all like, "Nah, sorry kiddos, you're on your own...that's Granite State business."

That BPD officer whose firearm was allegedly stolen by a stripper in Rhode Island...he reported his firearm stolen to the Pawtucket Police Department.

He was still placed on administrative leave by the BPD for something that happened in another state.

Lastly, at least according to Boston Municipal Court: (anti) harassment orders and protection orders are two different things (very similar though).

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Wasn’t he place on leave cuz his BPD gun was stolen by some skanky stripper?

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If this wasn't a BPS outing then the Mass AGO would probably have little jurisdiction.

But this was A) a BPS outing and B) Boston school students/minors were subjected to racist harassment. The harassment violated their civil rights...so this could even be a federal matter.

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I was not going to comment on your postings but your speculation of student recourse is pretty much off track so I'll take a moment to offer another POV (I probably will regret injecting my comments)

Jurisdiction is the authority granted by law to the courts to rule on legal matters and render judgments, according to the subject matter of the case, and the geographical region in which the issue took place. Areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal laws, which means that, for instance, a violation of federal law is tried in federal court.

In the court system, there are three primary types of jurisdiction: subject matter, territorial, and in personam jurisdiction. If a court without proper jurisdiction hears a case, it does not have the authority to render a judgment, to provide the plaintiff with a remedy to his legal issue, or to hand down sentencing.

Typically, a court holds more than one jurisdiction type in any case. This might mean the court can hear cases that originate in its geographical jurisdiction, and it has subject matter jurisdiction as well. As an example of jurisdiction, a family law court has the authority to hear and decide matters related to divorce, child custody, child support, and other related issues, if the family lives in its geographical region.]

Courts of general jurisdiction have authority to hear any type of case within its geographical and governmental jurisdiction, except where prohibited by law. These courts are often called “district courts,” or “superior courts,” depending on the state.
In order to determine which court has jurisdiction over a legal matter certain questions must be addressed. These are:

Which court has jurisdiction in that geographical area (a civil lawsuit for an accident that occurred in Florida cannot generally be heard in California)…which court has jurisdiction over the defendant (or over the person being charged or sued)...which court has jurisdiction over the subject matter (is it family law, traffic violation, or civil lawsuit)…if the court in which any legal matter is filed lacks jurisdiction in even one of these areas, it does not have the authority to render judgment.

While most states have courts of general jurisdiction, even if they have a system of courts with limited jurisdiction. On the other hand, the federal court system is limited by Article III of the U.S. Constitution as to subject matter. A primary issue in whether a federal court has jurisdiction over a civil case is whether the plaintiff has claimed a violation of the U.S. Constitution or federal law has occurred. This is referred as “federal-question jurisdiction.”

Criminal cases may be brought in either a state or federal court, depending on whose laws were violated. A defendant charged with violating a state theft law cannot be charged with that crime in a federal court. If he is accused of violating a federal law, such as trafficking in child pornography, he can be charged and tried in federal court. In some cases, a person may be charged and tried in both state and federal courts related to different elements of the same crime, and it has been ruled that this does not amount to double jeopardy.

Just a few things to think about.

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... because this happened to BPS students on a BPS outing (municipal).

Massachusetts General Law Chapter 272, Section 28 lay out offenses related to "Matter harmful to minors, dissemination; possession; defenses" (state).

Massachusetts Superior Court has issued a ruling on this statute previously. And these racist photos were sent to these kids via AirDrop aka "electronically":

Editor's Note: In a ruling several days after the ruling in Zubiel, a Massachusetts trial court ruled that the creation and transmission of a photograph to a minor via a cellular phone fell within the “harmful to minors” statute, because the statutory definition of “visual material” expressly included computer images. The court also took judicial notice of the fact that “many of the devices we commonly refer to as cellular telephones have the technological capabilities of computers,” and thus fell within the statutory definition of “visual material,” which includes “pictures—moving or still, whether on paper, film or computer.” Commonwealth v. Romero, 26 Mass. L. Rep. 458, 2010 Mass. Super. Lexis 22 (Mass. Super. Ct. Feb. 11, 2010)

The Civil Rights division of the Department of Justice could investigate this as a civil rights violation (federal) with help from the Mass AGO.

But the Commonwealth has no jurisdiction when it comes to Massachusetts minors/students being harassed Boston Public Schools outing...where the federal civil protections of these students were violated...hmm...

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If one violates Massachusetts law in New Hampshire, assuming the entire violation took place in New Hampshire, they could not be prosecuted in Massachusetts. Let's flip this. Let's say that someone from New Hampshire visits Massachusetts, purchases cannabis at a legal shop, consumes said cannabis, then travels (hopefully not under their own power) back to New Hampshire, they could not be arrested for violating New Hampshire marijuana laws.

The best thing is for the UNH or Durham police to do their thing, then go from there.

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are those which deprive persons of their civil rights to which they are entitled under the United States Constitution.

And the alleged civil rights violation happened "electronically"...again on a Boston Public Schools outing with Massachusetts residents who were also minors.

The Mass AGO can and does go to bat for Bay Staters whose civil rights have been violated on a federal level.

I wonder if because racism (especially anti-Black racism) has become normalized that it is easy to forget that racist harassment/attacks violate federal civil rights protections under the law.

It was U.S. Marshals who escorted Ruby Bridges to school in Louisiana after a SCOTUS ruling on a case in Topeka, Kansas

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Is sending someone a tasteless photo a "civil rights violation". Is a civil right the right to not be airdropped photos?

Not trying to be a jerk, and think it was a shitty thing to do, but I think you're exaggerating.

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EDIT: I think you are trying to be a jerk but to paraphrase Desus and Mero: the jerk brand is strong. You've conveniently switched out "racist photo" with "tasteless photo." How reductive! And if "taste" (or lack thereof) was a civil rights violation then I'd personally ask that the Fashion Police arrest Mayor Walsh for those damned cargo shorts.

How is this a civil rights violation? Because this incident violates the protections these BAA students have under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act.

[Reading Rainbow Levar Burton voice] but don't just take my word for it. Here is what the Department of Justice's website says:

The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, created in 1957 by the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, works to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The Division enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability, religion, familial status and national origin.

So* targeting BAA students by send racially demeaning AirDrop content deprives these students of their right to be free from discrimination/discriminatory behavior on the basis of race. Specifically, it violates the protections these students have under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act: https://www.justice.gov/crt

"Title IV of the Civil Rights Act" respective to Boston public schools students...why does that sound so familiar?

BOSTON – United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz announced today that the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s independent investigation of alleged civil rights violations at Boston Latin School (BLS) has concluded. A resolution agreement has been reached with the Boston Public School District (BPS), home of the nation’s oldest public school. The investigation focused on alleged incidents of racial harassment of BLS students and the school’s response to those alleged incidents.

Furthermore...

After interviewing over 200 people including BLS administrators, faculty, parents, students, and alumni, as well as BPS Central Office employees, and after reviewing thousands of pages of documents from BPS, the USAO determined that there was one violation of Title IV of the Civil Rights Act. Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination against students based on race, among other bases, by public schools.

Here's the link: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/pr/us-attorney-ortiz-concludes-investiga...

A few addendums ("addenda?"):

"Discrimination/discriminatory behavior" is not just behavior which excludes members of a protected class.

*I know that grammatically, sentences are not supposed to begin with coordinating conjunctions but grammar is a bourgeoisie concept and I'm feeling rebellious, hahaha

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Let's say the air dropped message said "I hate [insert slur here]". That is probably protected speech. You can call anyone anything you want. This photo may have a violent connotation which may violate some sort of threat/intimidation statute but even that would be very vague.

All in all if this happened in Massachusetts, I do not think a crime would have been committed.

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And the BAA students's civil rights override whoever sent this AirDrop's content to these kids.

You can call anyone anything you want.

No, you actually can't. Defamation suits, laws against verbal abuse, et. al, etc. make this really rather obvious.

I mean, you technically *can* call anyone anything you want but that doesn't that mean that such an act is without consequence.

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But Freedom of speech is going to trump pretty much everything. Unless there is an restraining order, or something really obscene, you can call someone anything you want to.

In this case, if someone sends a photo of someone in a noose saying black history month, they have the right to do that. Not a crime, Not in MA, not anywhere.

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Were it a federal civil rights violation, the U.S. Attorney's office goes after it. Most likely, it would be the New Hampshire Office. If a transgendered Massachusetts resident goes to Wyoming and feels that someone violated their rights under Massachusetts laws on transgendered rights, Maura Healey wouldn't touch that case with a 10 foot poll, except to note the injustice of Wyoming law.

As for your final point, you do know what the US is SCOTUS means, right?

Just let the state that has jurisdiction handle this.

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Hmm...I'm gonna guess that the US in SCOTUS is probably the same "US" as in "US Department of Justice."

Anyway, let's the grant premise of your example...just for funsies thought experiment!:

If a transgendered Massachusetts resident goes to Wyoming and feels that someone violated their rights under Massachusetts laws on transgendered rights, Maura Healey wouldn't touch that case with a 10 foot poll, except to note the injustice of Wyoming law.

First and foremost: the correct adjectival modifier for your phrase "Massachusetts transgendered resident" is "transgender Massachusetts resident", not "transgendered."

Secondly, what are the circumstances of the transgender Massachusetts resident's travel of the hypothetical incident in your example? Is this Mass. resident a minor? A student? Are they travelling to Wyoming for a school activity? Those are all points that you have seemed to ignore in your example.

Thirdly: could you evidence your claim that "Maura Healey wouldn't touch that case with a 10 foot poll?"

This jazz concert was an event for regional middle and high school students. This incident violated the students's civil rights (on a state/federal level). There's possible violation of M.G.L. Chapter 272 (, Section 29B...and determining if this incident violated said M.G.L. is squarely in Healey's jurisdiction.

Also: I haven't made any claims that UNH/New Hampshire should not "handle" this incident. The statement from BPS says that its working with UNH to investigate this.

Lastly, I've read that New Hampshire has one of the largest KKK presences on the east coast so I'm a little skeptical if the Granite State would thoroughly investigate and resolve a matter like this. I guess we'll have to see how this unfolds.

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One cannot enforce Massachusetts law in New Hampshire.

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From the Mass AGO website:

The Civil Rights Division

The Civil Rights Division enforces and safeguards Constitutional and statutory civil rights and liberties on behalf of Massachusetts residents and visitors. The division works to end discrimination, ensure equal and meaningful opportunity for Massachusetts residents to participate in civic society, and protect individual rights of free speech and privacy.

Not only does the Mass AGO Civil Rights Division enforce/safeguard Constitutional and statutory civil rights and liberties on behalf of Massachusetts residents...but they also do so for people who do not live in Massachusetts but are merely visiting the Bay State.

Here's the link from the information I copy & pasted: https://www.mass.gov/service-details/learn-about-the-attorney-generals-p...

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There is an implication in the statement that the Civil Rights Division enforces and safeguards Constitutional and statutory civil rights and liberties on behalf of Massachusetts residents and visitors in Massachusetts. Read up on Article IV of the US Constitution. Your statutory civil rights in liberties enshrined under Massachusetts law ends when you set foot outside of the Commonwealth.

Here's an example based on the full statement. In 2006 a gay couple travels from North Dakota to Massachusetts, get married, and returns to North Dakota. Massachusetts' Attorney General, who by oath must uphold the precedent under Goodridge allowing for a gay couple to marry, could not force the State of North Dakota to recognize the marriage. The couple could try to sue in federal court, which was the basis of the Obergefell v Hodges. Massachusetts AG could advocate on behalf of Obergefell, but at the same time, the overlooked Article IV means that Massachusetts cannot enforce its laws in other states.

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An "implication" is defined as "something that is suggested without being said directly : something that is implied"

The Mass AGO website EXPLICITLY states that it "enforces and protects the civil rights and liberties of all people in Massachusetts."

1.) BAA stands for Boston Arts Academy.

2.) Boston Arts Academy is a Boston public school.

3.) Boston is in Massachusetts.

4.) Boston public schools students reside in Boston, Massachusetts (unless there's some new kind of residency finessing that I don't know about).

5.) Boston Arts Academy students are Massachusetts residents.

And my points/views are mostly predicated on the hypothetical idea that these students would choose to file a civil rights complaint through Mass AGO. Whatever happens, I hope these kids are receiving support and not letting this inhibit their love of jazz.

The Commonwealth of Mass. v. ExxonMobil was perhaps not the best example (not sure that ExxonMobil was alleged to have violated anyone's civil rights) though. I'll admit that.

Also...why then did Suffolk County Juvenile Court issue a warrant for the arrest of this 16-year-old New Hampshire resident who was charged with making threatening phone calls to bars in Massachusetts? Dbar is in Dorchester, not New Hampshire. And surely the phone calls originated from a New Hampshire phone, yeah?

https://www.wbur.org/news/2018/11/25/arrest-boston-gay-bars-threats

Bonus points because public school students in Massachusetts arguably have more protections and recourse as public schools students than, say, private school students in Massachusetts.

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Oh, wait. You don't know that New Hampshire is a different state, do you? Sorry.

Anyway, since Massachusetts and New Hampshire are two different states, they can only enforce the laws of their states within the borders of their states. That's how that whole "state" thing works. If I were murdered while visiting Colorado, Rachel Rollins would not be doing the prosecuting. They have prosecutors in Colorado who enforce Colorado's laws, and since the crime occurred in Colorado, Massachusetts prosecutors would not have jurisdiction.

Still haven't started studying Article IV, have you?

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The (possible) civil rights violations are alleged to have occurred on at an extramural jazz concert at UNH attended by Boston public schools students. Specifically, this incident happened at a performing arts event attended by students of a Boston public performing arts school.

Not at leisurely outing that these students attended but one attended as an extracurricular school activity.

Boston public school students are said to have been victims of the racist harassment, via an electronic transmission of racist content through AirDrop.

A few notes, too:

Rachel Rollins and Maura Healey are two different people. I'll take any mention of Rachel Rollins, though. Rollins seems to make so many cameo-mentions on UHub. I voted for her so I'll take it.

Racist harassment of Massachusetts public school students/minors on an extramural trip, hypothetical murder of a Bay Stater in Colorado, and hypothetical transphobic harassment in Wyoming...are, like, barely equivalent.

None of these extreme examples seem to take into account that there are protections these BAA students have through their status as Massachusetts public school students on an extramural outing.

EDIT: I mean, like, why is the BPS Equity Office working UNH/New Hampshire authorities to investigate this incident? UNH is not a Boston public school tho...

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You can't simultaneously be snarky & cite Wikipedia as source, like, come on, bruh.

Also: if you genuinely think that I do not understand that Massachusetts and New Hampshire are two different states...then why continue to reply to me and what I post in this thread?

Uh-oh, somebody's got a (wholly unrequited) crush on me!

Several times now I've linked & copy/pasted from the official Massachusetts Attorney General website as well as the official Department of Justice website...

and the Commonwealth's official site containing the General Laws of Massachusetts Legislature.

You do know the difference between Wikipedia and more reliable sources, right?

It would not be unconstitutional for the Mass AGO to investigate a possible civil rights violation (aka a violation of constitutional rights) of Massachusetts public school students (aka MA residents).

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Then provide a link to Article IV that’s better. I was going with the perceived level of education.

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And another theoretical- if this occurred at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, would a Massachusetts prosecutor have jurisdiction in your world?

As for the case you added to a few posts back, the New Hampshire kid called a Massachusetts bar. The crime occurred in Massachusetts, since that’s where the victim was physically present when the crime occurred. Again, unless you are asserting that the crime we’ve been dickering about happened while the students were in school in the Fenway, the crime occurred in Durham, New Hampshire.

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Boston Arts Academy students are Massachusetts residents and afforded protections through their status as Massachusetts public school students.

Sorry that upsets you so much. Watch out with the blood pressure: heart disease is one of the most fatal conditions for men.

And it's not my job to "look up" things for you, Wikipedia Wally. Stay obtuse and stay mad, though!

And another theoretical- if this occurred at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, would a Massachusetts prosecutor have jurisdiction in your world

"My world" is Boston, Massachusetts. Where Massachusetts General Laws and federal civil rights protections hold weight here. And the Attorney General Healey enforces and safeguards said civil rights of Massachusetts residents.

And that is that. Find something to do with the mad that you feel, lil' buddy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9E-I7yBwIc

Anyway, all this...whatever this is going on in this thread has really helped me reflect on how grateful I feel to have grown up in Boston. I hope this doesn't discourage these kids from pursuing their passion for music and performing arts. Music and arts education are really important.

Samantha Marcelino, a 14-year-old ninth grader at Boston Arts Academy, told NECN the students had first received different meme pictures before the black face picture. “I felt weird ... kind of out of place after that,” she said.

(Quote source: https://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20190311/high-school-students-receiv...)

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The Attorney General of Massachusetts has the unlimited ability to enforce the laws of Massachusetts anywhere in the world, despite what the Constitution says. Are you happy?

(idiot)

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Uh-oh! Somebody has to resort to namecalling to make his point!

If I'm such an "idiot" then why have you continued to engage with my so-called "idiotic" ideas?

Oh, yeah, it's your massive, creepy ass crush on me. Not interested, little fella! You strike me as extremely emotionally unstable.

Anyway...

[to the tune of "Baby Shark"]

Why you mad, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Why you mad, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Why you mad, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Why you mad?

You seem mad, doo doo doo doo doo doo
You seem mad, doo doo doo doo doo doo
You seem mad, doo doo doo doo doo doo
You seem mad!

Please stay mad, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Please stay mad, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Please stay mad, doo doo doo doo doo doo
Please stay mad!

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Is there too much doo doo in your head dood?

Laws are enforced in the jurisdiction where the violation takes place. Jurisdiction can be a bit iffy in some cases - especially civil (if a NY company wrongs a consumer in MA, you might be able to sue in MA). But crimes and things like civil rights violations are typically enforced where the violation happened. The MA AG has no authority to pursue crimes etc. in NH, even if the residents are from MA.

Give it a rest - Waquiot has schooled you on this. You are flat out wrong no matter how many silly lyrics you make up.

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It has become abundantly clear that he will not accept that the jurisdiction of the Attorney General of Massachusetts does not extend into New Hampshire (or Canada for that matter.)

Some people think the earth is flat. Some people think that the Attorney General of Massachusetts can prosecute someone from Maine (theoretically) who violated the civil rights of a Massachusetts resident while all were physically in New Hampshire. You can't reason with these people. It's how their brains are wired.

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Wired?

Not sure either of these things are happening.

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From the UNH website:

The annual UNH jazz festival features guest artists, UNH jazz faculty, the UNH Jazz Band, and high- and middle-school students from throughout New England.

So, who sent the air drop? I'm assuming it's through a public internet connection?

Seems like people are jumping on UNH members rather than anyone throughout New England in the 12 to 22 year old range. Of course it's late, and I could have misread something.

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And, yes, you're right - it could have been kids from another high school, not UNH students. If the event is like other events, they probably had a room set up specifically for lunch for performers.

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But I have no idea how the function was set up and who was there.

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I went up to UNH for this jazz festival with instrumental groups from my suburban (almost all white) central Mass school district every year from 7th-12th grade. Granted this was 10+ years ago, but at the time the performing students were welcome to eat in one of the campus dining hall areas. I don’t remember seeing many/any college students around at the time (guessing they didn’t want to eat around swarms of middle and high school students), but the performing kids aren’t necessarily separated from college age students who could be in the vicinity. Even so, my first guess is that this was from a sheltered suburban high schooler from a place like where I grew up who has no real exposure to non-white people and idiotically thought this would be funny, not a UNH student...but who even knows these days.

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oh, I dunno....as an alum, I can't say I'd be the slightest bit surprised to learn it was UNH students.

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Airdrop is a feature on iPhones where you can do direct file sharing between devices that are in close physical proximity. It's a quick and easy way to share photos and video directly without having to send them in a text or email so it's a pretty useful feature. You can modify the settings so that your phone's availability to airdrop is visible to nobody, only contacts, or everyone. They must have had it on the latter.

Since it's limited in range it means that whoever did this must have been nearby when this popped up on their phone. I'll bet if someone stood twenty or thirty feet away and said, "Hey Mark!" it would have been pretty easy to narrow down who was the culprit.

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Hold on with the labeling of UNH students as racist. They were on spring break during this. There are ignorant people in all corners of our country (yes, NH too) and we still need to expose them, make them accountable and educate them.

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AIRDROP SHOULD BE SET TO "CONTACTS ONLY"...

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Or just turned off altogether.

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I'm not familiar with Airdrop but maybe these kids were not expecting that they'd be subjected to racist harassment when they went to play this concert. And also: THEY'RE SCHOOL CHILDREN, FFS.

The goal posts remain unmoved: these kids are not to blame. The blame for this rests solely on the adult UNH college students who chose to harass these kids in this way.

And as we saw in the DOJ probe of Boston Latin School: sometimes it's your "contacts" and friends/acquaintances/schoolmates you know sending the racist content over messaging applications.

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Might be HS kids from NH or Maine (there were Maine kids there as well).

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I hope the BAA students dealing with this are getting support.

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UNH started their spring break on friday,so very few students would still be on campus.

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were why I assumed that it may have been a college student responsible for this.

It is definitely likely that this was another middle/high school aged student...which somehow makes this more of a bummer.

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There's been a good number of reported crimes committed this way, in which someone is subjected to harassing or other revolting material via AirDrop because they have it set to public. Most commonly, it's pornographic images sent in public places.

There's nothing wrong with encouraging people to use basic device security to avoid receiving unwanted messages and/or viruses.

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Do you think the BAA students who received this hateful content via AirDrop were expecting that this would happen right before they performed?

Or that an incident like this happened before?

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I think the default is "everyone" and while I've changed mine I think a lot of people don't know about this feature so it stays wide open. As I said above since this feature only works in close proximity I bet if someone stood twenty or thirty feet away from their table and said, "Hey Mark!" the culprit would have given himself away with a head turn.

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New Hampshire was the last state to recognize MLK day as a holiday.

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I thought it was Arizona.

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Part of the problem was that the legislature was always too cheap to give state workers an additional holiday. The bills to make MLK day a state holiday always did so at the expense of Fast Day. There were at least some people who were fine with making MLK day a state holiday, but wanted to keep Fast Day, too. That's not to say there wasn't racial bias against the idea of an MLK Day, too, since I'm sure that was driving part of the opposition, too.

I'm glad they came around on MLK Day, but I wish they'd kept Fast Day. I think each state should have it's own quirky local holiday, like Massachusetts does with Patriot's Day.

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What's that part that is whited out?

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Added to the original post.

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Some of the fine people who come to Boston for games and parades and then trash the place.

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With a copy of the e-mail message the academy's headmaster sent to parents tonight.

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Thanks for the stealth Airdrop, "MARK'S IPHONE".

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Technologically, how did this happen-

These individuals sent these images to the tables of the only children of color in the room trying to incite who knows maybe a fight?

I put what I found odd in bold. How could the table, full of people who "Mark" doesn't know be the only one's sent the dumbass image? I mean, I could see the guy trying to send it to his equally racist friends only not to know it was broadly sent, or deliberately sending it to everyone in the area to be a racist asshole, but would the technology exist to single out otherwise unknown recipients?

And to be clear, "Mark" is a racist asshole. That's a given.

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Theoretically to tell someone nearby that you dont know you like them or something.

Apparently it's more frequently used by pervs in subways to send nasty pics to anyone that doesn't have a privacy wall so you can see their reaction to them seeing a photo of ur privates.

The pervs are always one step ahead...

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I asked the college kid in our household (home for spring break) if she'd heard of AirDrop and, of course she had (given that she has an iPhone, as opposed to my stolid Android phone) and she told me she and her friends frequently use it in the cafeteria to exchange funny photos.

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While the image was most likely directed at the BAA students, it most likely wasn't sent to them only, unless somehow they knew the kid.

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Ignorant people sent those photos. Good for the kids to be strong. UNH needs to apologize for the event on their campus and kick those students out of their classes.

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Kick what students out of their classes?

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What a stupid piece of software. Who decided that strangers should be able to anonymously send photos to any phone in the vicinity?

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Look, forget all the courts and other remedies. Where are these kids' parents because that's where they learned it? The school needs to discpline the offender, the offended shouldn't have to seek out justice. The little snots should be expelled immediately and their parents charged with any legal or other costs the school or the offended kid's parents incur.

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My kids attended this festival at UNH high school a few times. It's a wonderful event and I chaperoned a few times. The UNH students are usually on Spring break, so the campus is rather empty while the high schoolers are there. The kids, for the most part, are amazing, talented and well-behaved. I hope this one episode does not taint the festival - many talented young musicians compete and show how their school (and amazing music director!) fosters music education. Lots of cities and towns no longer offer music education because of budget cuts and it's impressive to see all these kids together sharing their love of jazz.

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