Thought Crime In America: Asian-American student..

[which doctor]

Essay arrest baffles experts
CARY | Say student's creative writing violent, but suggest counseling, not arrest

April 27, 2007
BY DAN ROZEK, ROSALIND ROSSI AND ABDON M. PALLASCH Staff Reporters

Police Thursday released portions of an essay used to charge a Cary-Grove High School student with disorderly conduct, leaving several experts puzzled at an arrest based on such schoolwork.

Asked to write about whatever he wanted in a creative writing class, would-be Marine and honors student Allen Lee, 18, described a violent dream in which he shot people and then "had sex with the dead bodies.''

Police on Thursday released portions of an essay used to charge Cary-Grove High School honors student Allen Lee, 18, with disorderly conduct.
(Richard A. Chapman/Sun-Times)

Cary-Grove High School senior Allen Lee was arrested Tuesday for an essay he wrote in a creative writing class. “There definitely is violent content, but they’re taking it out of context,” he said Thursday, later adding, “I have no intention of harming anyone.”

But then he immediately dismissed the idea as a mere joke, writing, "not really, but it would be funny if I did.''

A second disorderly count accuses Lee of alarming first-year teacher Nora Capron by writing that "as a teacher, don't be surprised on [sic] inspiring the first CG shooting,'' an apparent reference to Cary-Grove High.

Lee said Thursday he was "completely shocked'' to be arrested Tuesday for his essay, especially because written instructions told kids not to "censor'' what they wrote.

"In creative writing, you're told to exaggerate,'' said Lee. "It was supposed to be just junk. . . .

"There definitely is violent content, but they're taking it out of context and making it something it isn't.''

"I have no intention of harming anyone,'' said Lee, who has been transferred to an alternative school setting. "I miss school.''

Lee's father, Albert Lee, who emigrated from China 32 years ago, said his son has a clean academic and police record. He, too, insisted his son's essay was not threatening but authorities "drew a conclusion before the investigation. They didn't want to do the investigation.''

However, the father would not comment on whether he believed authorities acted quickly because his son is of Asian heritage, as was the Virginia Tech campus shooter.

Family therapist Michael Gurian, author of The Minds of Boys, said Allen Lee needs at least good counseling, but "If he was arrested solely based on those words, I don't see that as the most helpful course.''

Bernardine Dohrn, director of Northwestern University's Children and Family Justice Center, laughed when she heard the charge.

"You might want to talk to him, talk to his parents, but the criminal justice system seems to be the last thing you'd want,'' said Dohrn, a former Weatherman leader who lived for years as a fugitive.

Mike McInerney, former head of the Cook County Public Defender's Juvenile Court office, said he "wouldn't be happy'' if his son wrote such words but "I wouldn't criminalize free expression. . . . I don't think it's going to hold up criminally.''

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/360827,...essay27.article (http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/360827,CST-NWS-essay27.article)

[Mujer Libre]

I'd be more worried about him becoming a marine and, you know, actually killing people... Oh wait, he's Asian. Can you say hysteria?

[Sand Castle]

I was suspended from school earlier this year for basically the same thing. They told us to write a monologue from the point of view of someone who was labled, and I did a school shooter. The drama teacher gave the monologue to the principles and they suspended me the next day and said that I would need to get a threat evaluation before they let me back in. I had a clean record and everything though.

They suspended me for 10 days, but I came back in 6 because my mom and the county's lawyers told them that what they were doing is a violation of my First Amendment rights and they shouldn't take the risk of getting fired over a poorly written monologue. My mom also contacted the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). So, they cleared my record and let me back in after momy gave them hell. For the record, I am white and born in the area I live in.

[YSR]

Interesting to hear Dohrn quoted for this article.

And this is very clearly related to the VT incident and is exactly what I predicted would happen.

[Jude]

I wouldn't say that it is because he was asian, but whenever something 'bad' happens, there is always some reactionary, temporary, PR bulshit by a self minded politician with lined pockets and little blue pills for his secretary!

[coda]

It's so hypocritical. The kid who wrote the essay can easily go in any book store and read the same kind of stuff from Stephen King, who has taken it to an art form, won awards and made millions from doing it.

Don't forget to tell that to your teacher, Sultan.

King so blantantly stood out in the forefront regarding violent fictional writing that he had to make a statement about "red flags" after the V Tech shootings

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20036014,00.html

[Qwerty Dvorak]

This is absolute bullshit. I love the way whenever something goes awry in society it's nobody's fault but the students who try to use their right to self-expression to shock people (a common and entirely legitimate practice in the art world). It's the same with the V-Tech guy, instead of addressing social issues or the gun control problem most of them just went on about he was so evil because he wrote a "disturbing" play. Absolute shit. Relative to his time and society, Shakespeare was an incredibly shocking and disturbing playwright, and is he so ruthlessly blamed for society's problems? No; he is force-fed to children in schools as an example of "fine literature". (Not disagreeing with this view of his works, just pointing out the hypocrisy.) And of course look at Tarintino or, has been pointed out, King, who make millions from subjecting society to their gruesome and shocking tales.

[Fightin Da Man]

Some guy at my university said in a phone conversation "If I didn’t have a moral compass, I’d do what the Virginia Tech kid just did." His roommate narced on him and he got thrown off campus for the remainder of the year. This zero tolerance crap really just means zero common sense.

[Jude]

Wow, punishment for saying that you won't kill people... uh... whatthefuckisgoingonintheworld?

[apathy maybe]

This sort of shit shows the crazy hysteria in (especially) US society today. It shows a culture that is paranoid of the slightest deviance and is hypocritical. Write whatever you want..., but censor yourself.

As others have pointed out, violent shit can be found in more places then just the class room, it can be found in most bookstores, and even on TV where children are regularly exposed to it.

Of course, this sort of crap is likely to spread too, I wouldn't be surprised if Australia and the UK become the next places where you hear crap happening. Though the political systems are different, and the police aren't accountable to the local level of government (the crazy level it could also be called sometimes, but considering the shit that happens on the other levels, it is obvious that all levels of government are fucked up...).


Oh, and "If I didn’t have a moral compass, I’d do what the Virginia Tech kid just did". Fuck... if I *didn't* have a moral compass, which implies that I *do* have a moral compass, meaning that I *wouldn't* fucking do shit...


Fuck stupid people. Fuck this crap.


I think the fact that a person could be asked to write what they want, in a creative writing class even (!) and then get arrested (!) for it! The teacher, the principle and all the cops need to be taken out back and taught a valuable lesson...

[apathy maybe]

Oh, and here is another example of crazy fucking crap. From Slashdot, http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/05/02/1839251 " Student Arrested for Making Videogame Map of School" (with a post to the original article at http://www.fortbendnow.com/news/2847/chine...ver-pc-game-map (http://www.fortbendnow.com/news/2847/chinese-community-rallies-behind-student-removed-from-clements-over-pc-game-map) but it is being a bit slow right now, I wonder why ... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slashdot_effect). As has been mentioned on Slashdot, what law again? What law did any of these "violent criminals" break? "It's probably not within the spirit of the law, but there's probably a local sodomy law or disorderly conduct law that could be 'stretched to fit'..." (my bold). Fuck them all...

[Jude]

Its all about quotas and PR! Thats it! I'm writing an article, and sending it to various papers!