Teen charged over racial announcement at New Jersey Walmart

Could have told you one. I've seen such things on YouTube.

Why turn him back over to his parents. That's most likely where he learned his good manners and ability to win friends. < :-)

“Winters said she hopes the boy will get counselling and be educated about sensitivity so he can understand the consequences of his actions.”

Stand the little smart a.. outside the store for a week with a sign round his neck saying sorry. At the end of that week he will have been “educated”.

grafton...excellent idea, but he should have to apologize verbally to EVERY customer who goes into Walmart...

Sharky1

Do you think he could avoid doing so standing there? One way or another.

This is such a load of bull. Obviously the kid is an idiot. Quite possibly a racist, but that doesn't mean he should be charged with a crime. If he had gone on the intercom and said something just as stupid, but slightly less offensive, they wouldn't have made a big deal out of this. But because he said something racist, somehow that means he should be charged with a crime.

I cannot even begin to express how offended I am by this. The PC police are definitely out in force on this one. If I was there, I'd have been offended too, but he damn well shouldn't be charged with a crime. Freedom of Speech means protecting the speech of everyone, even those you disagree with. Whether its white racists like this idiot, or black ones like Al Sharpton. Neither one of them should be charged with crimes.

Clearly the kid is white, otherwise they wouldn't be charging him with a crime and be preparing him for an ultra-strength dose of diversity training. On the other end of the spectrum, there are numerous cases in America where minorities should be charged with hate crimes-in addition to their real crimes- but aren't, because of the bizarre, social calculus prosecutors use in deciding who gets slammed with a "hate crime" charge.

America was once the land of the free. Now it is the land of the thin-skinned whiner.

Hahaha! This is just a prank with a kid being a clown. America is so precious about "racism" these days.

“This was an extremely disturbing event on many levels,” Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean Dalton said

Really??? A teen makes a prank call over a PA system and it's "extremely disturbing"? Is this Mayberry? If the county prosecutor is "extremely disturbed" by a stupid teen's prank I hate to see what he is like when confronted by a case of assault, or a car wreck, or something else serious.

Isn't everyone going way-y-y-y too far with international news, condemnations, and boycotts of WalMart because of a stupid teen prank? Is it actually possible to overreact more?

Am I the only one who thinks this was funny?

“This was an extremely disturbing event on many levels,” Gloucester County Prosecutor Sean Dalton said at a news conference. “Any statements like these that can cause harm or grave concern must be addressed as quickly as we possibly can.”

Molenir is mostly right. I hardly think that this warrants police action. Whatever happened to STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES? The Prosecutor actually says that the statement can cause HARM or GRAVE (morbid? death-related? life threatening?) CONCERN. What? I think the pranskster said all black people should leave the store, not that they should die.

What a screwed up country. If the prosecutor is serious and sober, then what he is saying is that a simple statement like this will incite others to harm and kill people. If he is not serious, then he is a stupid man in a position of great power. The press seems to make a big deal about this, which points to the former interpretation. America is a smoking powder keg of violence, apparently. Was this the equivalent of yelling FIRE in a crowded movie house? Sure, if you live where everyone has a gun it is.

And I hate racism more than the next guy, but what if the kid had been black? What if he had been trying to tell black people to boycott Walmart for racism? Nothing would have happened. Could it be that America has become racist by definition? Justice used to be blind, now lady justice has to know skin color before she decides to files charges and before she determines what charges to file. Whatever happened to equality under the law?

If someone shouts "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater I do believe its a crime if there is in fact no fire. I can't think of what that crime is technically called, but that is what I see here. He could have caused a minor panic by grabbing the mike of a PA system that is not his, and grabbing other's property like that is probably also a crime in some way.

But harrassement and uh bias discrimination (whatever that is!)? I think any decent lawyer will rip through those like a wet paper bag! Yes, the PC police need to pull their panties out of the bind they are in and find the real problem here. The teen has every right to be a racist and speak his mind. But he has no right to use other people's property to do that in a way that could cause a panic.

Just a young fellow having a laugh

I find it funny that a site populated by "gaijin" who get enraged at every little slight by the Japanese ("Someone wouldn't sit next to me on the train!!!")are so nonchalant when racism occurs that doesn't effect them.

If someone shouts "Fire!" in a crowded movie theater I do believe its a crime if there is in fact no fire.

That's the 'clear and present danger' exception to free speech in the US. The intention is to render illegal dangerous speech like "That guy just touched my son!" when not true and could cause serious damage. I hardly think an announcement like this over a WalMart loudspeaker is the same.

I find it funny that a site populated by "gaijin" who get enraged at every little slight by the Japanese ("Someone wouldn't sit next to me on the train!!!")are so nonchalant when racism occurs that doesn't effect them.

Those same complainers aren't necessarily the responders to this thread, are they? And perhaps I am black?

pawatan said: I hardly think an announcement like this over a WalMart loudspeaker is the same.

To demand all black people leave the store now suggests a danger that was not there.

Thank you for the clear and present danger explanation.

Am I the only one who thinks this was funny?

No

Noliving at 11:56 AM JST - 21st March “Am I the only one who thinks this was funny?”

No, I actually did laugh when I first read this and can well imagine this little smart as…saying the first thing that came into his head, not because he is a racist but because it was (for him) the first mad idea that came to him. And is anybody going to accuse me of being racist when I would have been (had I been there) one of the people he asked to leave the store? I have few black American friends and one the main reasons is that their sense of what is and isn’t racist is so uncomfortably close to the surface all the time. It is a constant in any conversation and I find it exhausting. Granted I do not know what living in the states is like for them, maybe there is that constant pressure, I somehow doubt it, but if it is then it must be one seriously screwed up country.

But he has no right to use other people's property to do that in a way that could cause a panic.

Then Wal-Mart is really the victim since the incident could cause them to lose black shoppers (who can take their business to a competitor big box retailer). I'm sure there is a way to charge the kid with a criminal offense. If, to get to the intercom system for example, he passed through an area open to "staff only," they can get him for trespassing. Did his false announcement cause panic among shoppers? That's another issue.

Then Wal-Mart is really the victim since the incident could cause them to lose black shoppers (who can take their business to a competitor big box retailer). I'm sure there is a way to charge the kid with a criminal offense. If, to get to the intercom system for example, he passed through an area open to "staff only," they can get him for trespassing. Did his false announcement cause panic among shoppers? That's another issue.

See thats the problem. This is not a police thing. Or it shouldn't be. Getting the police involved is crazy for something like this. And neither is it trespassing. He is a customer in a store, one that has not asked him to leave. No, they could file a civil suit and seek potential damages against him, and that I'd support. If your speech causes a person, or company to lose money because of it, then sure, pay the price. But saying stupid things should, unless it causes a panic and kills people, never be cause for charges.

Ya gotta admit... That's pretty damn funny.

(For those that're in an indignant, self-righteous snit, not to worry... jacka** will get his.)