Student disciplined for wearing Obama mask, carrying KFC bucket
What a Franklin-Regional Middle School student's prank says about race relations in east suburban Pittsburgh schools.
Two weeks ago, a Franklin-Regional Middle School student arrived at a basketball game wearing an Obama mask and carrying an empty container of Kentucky Fried Chicken. The student came to cheer for his home team who was playing against Woodland Hills, a school district with a large black population (Approximately one percent of Franklin-Regional students are black, according to the AP). According to Emery D’Arcangelo, Superintendent at Franklin-Regional, the student was trying to make a joke but used poor judgment.
“Our administrators reacted immediately and handled the situation appropriately,” D’Arcangelo told the Murrysville Star last week. The Superintendent went on to say that the incident had been addressed according to district policy, but did not elaborate on punishment. Franklin-Regional Middle School’s assistant principal, Ron Suvak, contacted Woodland Hills officials and offered an apology on behalf of the district.
While this student’s actions are obviously in poor taste, the incident has larger significance because it tugs at an old wound.
Both districts are located in Pittsburgh’s Eastern Suburbs, but Franklin-Regional’s student body hails from Murrysville, a smaller, more affluent community. Woodland Hills, however, brings together students from a broad pool of neighborhoods spread across a much larger geographic/socioeconomic area. And as a district, it was formed out of the ashes of racial controversy. Following a 1981 court ruling that cited educational inequalities based on race, the creation of Woodland Hills School District was mandated. Under this ruling, the lower-income boroughs of Rankin, Braddock, North Braddock, Turtle Creek, and East Pittsburgh were merged with the affluent neighborhoods of Edgewood and Churchhill to form Woodland Hills School District. The ruling did not sit well with many residents in Edgewood and Churchhill. In fact, it led many of those families to relocate throughout the 1980s and 1990s, moving further east to affluent, middle-class communities such as Murrysville (Franklin-Regional schools), Monroeville, and Plum.
It’s this complicated history that makes the Obama mask/KFC bucket prank so awkward and jarring. Are this student’s actions racially charged? Of course. But does the student even understand what that means? Did he realize the ignorance of the racial stereotype he was propagating with his prank? I imagine not. Was he aware of the delicate history of racial tension in the eastern suburbs? Of course not. But if anything, this incident is indicative of how bizarre and delicate race relations are in America. It’s easy to jump on an incident like this and cry racism. But it’s far more difficult to look at what this says about us collectively, as friends and neighbors.
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Well I am glad to see my hometown of Plum Borough mentioned, kind of. However this is not surprising at all. I remember being 16 and hearing Mark Madden, a popular sports/talk radio host in the area say that behind Boston, Pittsburgh was the most racist city he had been too, excluding the south (of course). It didn’t occur to me until I left a year later for college that he was right. Pittsburgh, Philly and Alabama in between isn’t accurate. Pittsburgh is partly Alabama itself. I’ve witnessed people walking down Carson Street, a popular bar district, screaming N bombs, with objections from no one. Behavior like this was more likely to garner high-fives. But to address your point there is about a .01% chance that this kid realizes the gravitas or historical significance of his actions. But who cares. Too many concessions get made for the youth, among other groups, claiming to be victims of their environment, their circumstances etc. But the statute of limitations runs out for ignorance pretty quickly these days with access to information everywhere and ignorance an ever-waning excuse. There is however a 100% chance that this kid will live out his days a complete idiot. Go Steelers.
Hopefully this kid will not, as you say, “live out his days a complete idiot.” However, my gut tells me you’re on the money.
BTW – I know Plum well, I attended high school there. Well, let’s say I was enrolled. I spent more time walking in the front door, then immediately sneaking out the back.
Thanks for your comments.
In response to another comment. See in context »This is a perfect example of unintended consequences. Racial understanding harmony, celebration of diversity, were all jammed down the throat of citizens by a social engineering court. Racism is a horrible societal disease. It cannot be cured by judges. All of those court actions of the 70’s led to gerrymandered school districts and more (not less) racial imbalance in neighborhoods. Same thing happened in Beaver Falls, PA leading to Beaver Falls High School (denser black population) and Blackhawk High School (practically lilly white) 5 miles away “up on the hill”.
In response to another comment. See in context »The merging of school districts (affluent and poor) may have had unintended consequences. But the racial imbalance in neighborhoods is where the weirdness comes in to play. Because in many cases, especially in the creation of Woodland Hills School District, neighborhoods weren’t socially engineered — but district lines were dramatically enlarged to encompass a large geographic area. So the affluent neighborhoods have mostly remained intact while the poor neighborhoods have continued to decline. In essence, the school district integrates students who essentially live in socioeconomically segregated neighborhoods. The challenge in a situation like this is how can educators provide a quality education that doesn’t leave any of these students behind?
Also, re: the middle schooler w/ the Obama mask and KFC bucket… you’re right Leon, racism is entrenched. And that was my point about this kid. He may not know how bad his actions were because he has learned this behavior somewhere. It’s easy to blame the parents in this case, and maybe we should. But it’s questionable. He may have learned these things in his larger environment too — neighborhood, community, etc.
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