Hateful activity cannot stand

Sherman R. Frederick

Marinscope

We have hard decisions to make regarding the hate recently reported at Redwood High School. As you know, unidentified students attending that school made anti-semitic statements on Instragram. They claimed  to be “active,” “organized” and making list of Jewish students.. 

This alarmed the school and the wider community. The school district is not fooling around in its quest to cull the kids responsible from the public school herd. 

But here’s the potential rub: When the kids are identified, do you keep the larger community in the loop?

Look, while I don’t have this from official sources, it’s clear to me that school officials and the DA’s office have suspects. 

But, as DA Lori Frigoli told a recent Zoom meeting “the case is still active. I can’t discuss it more.” That’s DA-speak for the idea that it may not be an easy case to make.

And, if a case can be made, the privacy laws surrounding juvenile suspects, may shut the public out from understanding what went on. 

She said: “That may not be a satisfying answer,” which is the understatement of the year.

This case contains such ugly ramifications the details are important.

Was this a handful of goof-ball kids playing with fire, or is there, indeed, an organized anti-semitic group in our high schools targeting Jewish kids? And, I for one, would like to know where in the hell did they learn this behavior? 

As a community we need to stare down this behavior. That will require straight-up transparency. I hope we get it.

CHURCH DESECRATION

It was an odd arrangement. Social media tipped law enforcement and church officials to a Columbus Day protest of the Junipero Serra statue in front of St. Raphael Church in downtown San Rafael. Church officials asked police officials not to interfere — and they complied.

So cops stood by and watched protesters desecrate the statue. Afterwards, police cited five individuals with felony vandalism. Given that deal with the church, It will be interesting to see how those police charges stand up as they go through the courts.

I ran across this observation from a Marin resident on social media. It may sum up what many are thinking: 

“I didn’t know the police took orders from private organizations. What message was sent by that action?  What about the others who defaced the statue and or stood by on Church property and cheered the desecration?  So mobs may stand outside or on one’s property and threaten violence while the police solicit directions?  Where is the public outrage over a blatant political act of public intimidation and terrorism?”

A LONG WAY FROM SKYNET

I didn’t know this but Facebook has an honest-to-gawd automated anti-nudity filter. It  scans the platform for things that look nasty. 

So, imagine the surprise of the folks at Gaze Seed Company who were notified by the Facebook bots that a pile of onions in one of its ads was flagged as porn. 

The onions were deemed “overtly sexualized.” 

Hoo-boy. The good news is that if Facebook’s bots can’t distinguish between a pile of onions and a nude body, we’re still a long way from SkyNet, the satient computer network that terrorized humanity in the Terminator movie franchise. 

ONE MORE THING

— A skeleton walks into a bar and orders a beer and a mop.

— Awkward moment when the group said dress like dominos for Halloween … and I come dressed as a pizza. 

— If pro is the opposite of con, then progress is the opposite of congress.

— Did you know there are no canaries on Canary Island. Same thing for the Virgin islands. No canaries there either.

And with that, I’ll pick up my knitting and let myself out. Stay safe. Mask up.

Sherman R. Frederick is the founder of Battle Born Media, a journalist-based, family-owned company dedicated to the preservation of intensely local community newspapers, such as this one.  You can follow him for his daily musings on Facebook at facebook.com/sherm.frederick/. He may be reached at shermfrederick@gmail.com.)