Sat, 15 Mar 2008 04:00 CST -

Maysam Amanishourbariki says he been called a terrorist at his Highland Park high school at least three times since the fall.

BY JUDY MASTERSON Waukegan News-Sun
Click here to read the article...

OK, I also know this student and his family. Many facts of this case have not been made public so don't judge yet.
I agree with previous blogs, if Maysam had said the teacher looked like a terrorist- and then high fived a student, he would have been suspended.
Perhaps the teacher was cajoling him into taking off his hoodie by making a inappropriate joke, but then, when the entire class erupted in laughter, she high fived a student! What does the high five mean? Yeah- this is a good joke? Let's all laugh at how funny this is! This "joke" was at Maysam's expense.
What has not been said is the teacher never apologized to Maysam until approximately 2 weeks later when his parents called the school to say how outraged they were.
By the way, this incident occured the second week of January. 3 months ago. Have the parents actually filed a lawsuit? No- hmmmmmmmmm.........
Perhaps they would just like the courtesy of an actual apology from the school and the teacher and maybe this messy situation would be finished.

To help people put this in perspective:
Scenario: Suppose you were one of the few black students in Westchester, Connecticut. Your teacher tells you to take off the kerchief you wear on your head ( which by the way, is not against school rules to wear). She then says to take it off because you look like Aunt Jemima. The class starts laughing, and the teacher laughs and high fives a student.
Do you think your black parents would be upset?

There was an Egyptian (Christian) where I used to work in 2001 who I remember was very sensitive about being from an Arabic country after 9/11/01.. he would joke about it, but in a way that you knew not to follow along and make any jokes yourself..

Eirc