The police and courts really had few choices. They had to follow the laws. I am open to the idea that disputes between adolescents could be mediated more efficiently, but for whatever reasons, no such mediation was conducted that prevented this from becoming a police matter. I am also wonder if the adolescents in this case didn’t make poor decisions in court that worsened their legal outcomes.

McGovern’s article may not have established the ‘absolute Truth’ about this incident, but we now have the official version of this long-running story. Police, courts and prosecutors are far more neutral than some of the other versions of this story that have received wide circulation. As are good Samaritans, bus drivers and school officials. It is fair to believe that everyone has an agenda here, but these stories provide a great deal of balance to the accounts of the adolescents and some of the advocates. Isn’t that what courts are designed to do?

It is not mere ‘stereotyping’ to wonder if any of the agenda-fueled statements of some participants in this dispute might be true. I see no evidence that public servants such as the Ann Arbor Human Rights Commission or the Police are trading in stereotypes. That is the kind statement disputants were making, and these claims need to be sorted through and the court outcomes do not suggest an uncritical acceptance of them.

I personally think it is wrong to continue to post claims of mob violence for which there is no shred of credible evidence. But advocates are neither ‘bad’ nor an ‘industry’ for having agendas and publishing their points of view. That is, John, what you and I are doing. We just have different standards of evidence than they do. On the other hand, some advocacy efforts do not seem to have served the Ann Arbor community or the adolescents well in this matter.

The Prosecutors Office, The Human Rights Commission, and the hate crime community response groups state-wide must sort through these kinds of claims every time an incident occurs. Wild claims abound. The conclusion of this case suggests our public servants’ sophistication, rather than uncritical thinking about the charges of mob violence, hate-speech (as defined by statute), stereotypes and ethnic intimidation that were made here. I think our community has been well-served by their efforts. And this sorting process is an necessary part of building the improved community and social networks I think Floyd is quite right to have called for.

As for the court intervention: it probably did fail to heal the hatred between two adolescents. Floyd is probably right. It is unlikely that punishment alone has moderated this. But perhaps we can serve as a good example to them if we use this story to build the better social networks that will moderate this kind of dispute in the future. That is going to require listening to points of view that are we do not agree with while trying to find the basis for constructive agreements in the face of these differences. In that, Judy’s article and this thread are a valuable community service. Thanks to all who have worked to bring understanding to this issue

It strikes me that we use the courts for matters such as this, when community – social networks that connect people, create social norms, and engender some measure of personal forbearance – is weak or non-existant. We need boundaries around violence, but the apparent absence of restraining social networks, and the criminalization of mere archetypally poor adolescent judgement, scare me more than any one particular cat fight, whatever its origin.

It strikes me that we need wisdom more than Judgements.

John Floyd
Republican for Council
5th Ward

The lesson we should take from this is that there needs to be some discussions or counseling at home, Mosque/Church/Temple and school that promotes tolerance for others that do not look like each other. Where there is one fight, there are probably 100 brewing.

~Stew

I feel that political groups always want to get involved when it comes to Arab-Americans and other Muslims nowadays. They feel as though they are heavily targeted, which in many cases, is simply not true.

Like it was previously stated, fights happen every day. Everywhere. In all schools. Many of which are just personal fights, nothing regarding race or religion. And since the Arab-American girl could not keep her story straight, it is clear that she was lying. The African-American girl was smart, and owned up to her mistake of being guilty for fighting, even though it does seem as if it was self-defense.

It saddens me that all these political groups decided to get involved and create something that it was not. I believe that the African-American girl and the young boys should take a case up against them for making this into more than it was, and against for the Arab-American girl for lying and try to play a victim when in fact, it seems as though she was the aggressor…

People need to get over themselves–the whole race thing, all the crazy political rhetoric, etc. When we can do this, we will be strong as a country. As long as people are playing the victim role, we will continue to weaken and divide.