Late last week, 15 year-old Darshane Morgan went on television and made some incendiary allegations about things she claimed happened to her at West Bend East High School.
According to Morgan, she has been the subject of vile racial taunts since the second day of school. Upping the ante, she says that the harassment quickly switched from verbal to physical and that she was pushed down a staircase and thrown eggs at. There are a very small percentage of African-American students at West Bend East.
The charges were so alarming that on October 13th, the school district sent a letter to the parents of every student at West Bend West and West Bend East HIgh Schools notifying them that the incidents were being thoroughly investigated.
Obviously this type of behavior is reprehensible. Anyone engaging in this sort of conduct should not only be expelled but also prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
The problem though is that it appears that Morgan's allegations may be untrue.
Yesterday, Morgan was arrested on five counts of obstructing an officer. Making false claims to authorities constitutes obstructing and is against the law. Morgan is due to appear in juvenile court today.
For her part, Morgan and her mother maintain that she is not lying. Authorities obviously disagree. Later today, we'll discuss what should happen to Morgan if it turns out that she really did make this all up?
For the record, I think that making false claims of this nature is perhaps as reprehensible as engaging in the conduct itself. It is not a prank and cannot be excused as a "cry for attention".
In today's climate, racist acts and false claims of racist acts are two sides of a very dangerous coin. For my money, people engaging in either form of conduct need to be treated harshly!
UPDATE: Here are links to the first and second pages of the West Bend Polce Department report on the incident. At first blush, it certainly seems like their investigation was thorough.
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