Role of race in school fights downplayed

By: TRAVIS FAIN | Winston-Salem Journal
Published: November 10, 2011
Updated: November 11, 2011 - 12:26 AM
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School and police officials said this week that last month's fights at Parkland High School weren't racially motivated, but warrants in the case repeatedly mention race, describing two small groups of black and Hispanic students facing off.

One warrant, filed by Parkland School Resource Officer Kraig Sandell, describes a "Hispanic group confronting the African-American group."Another arrest warrant accuses a Hispanic student of "provoking African-American students to engage in a physical confrontation," and another says a Hispanic student was "attempting to engage in a physical altercation with African-American students.

Other warrants accuse at least two black students of "provoking Hispanic students to react with violence" or "attempting to fight and provoke Hispanic students in the hallway.

The latter is an accusation against Wayne Anthony Cameron Jr., who was charged with affray, a misdemeanor, after the Oct. 27 fights that brought dozens of officers to the school.

Cameron, 17, told the Journal that his fight started when he bumped into a group of Hispanic students in the hall.

Cameron said the student told him they were going to "whoop y'alls' black a--."It was just'cause I'm black, I guess," Cameron said.When Sandell and Principal Tim Lee laid out the details of the fights Monday during a two-hour meeting with parents, they acknowledged that the fights were between black and Hispanic groups, but said race wasn't a motivating factor.

Asked about the warrant language Thursday, both men stood by their version of the incidents.Sandell said his brief descriptions in the warrants were meant to describe the situation, not to relay any sense that race sparked the fights."You can't explain everything in just a couple of sentences," Sandell said. "That's how (the students) divided up … that's their friends.

"When I was there, I never heard any racial slurs," Sandell said. "And when I spoke to students, they said, 'Those two guys just don't like each other.

Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools Superintendent Don Martin said he couldn't speak to the motivation for the fights, but he said the warrant language doesn't contradict details given to parents.

"They said that the groups were African-American and Hispanic, but they didn't believe the fight was racially motivated," Martin said in an email. "They were there and did not hear any racial slurs being shouted.

Sandell said he did not interview Cameron, who was charged on the strength of an eyewitness report from an assistant principal.But Sandell did an extensive review of security tapes showing the fights, which he said lasted only a few minutes, involved only a few students throwing punches and resulted in no serious injuries.

Since the fights, rumors have been rampant. Parents at Monday's meeting said they'd heard gangs were involved, that students were armed and that race was a key ingredient.That sentiment seems to have flowed from students, including those who witnessed the fights.

"I saw the fight," said Treshawn Thomas, 17, who was charged with disorderly conduct, also a misdemeanor, but denies doing anything but watching.

Thomas said he witnessed Hispanic students jump one black student, who "didn't do nothing" to provoke it, he said.

There were also rumors that someone would shoot up the school in the week after the fight, something the school and police took seriously and brought in extra officers to investigate.

Nothing came of the rumors, Lee and police officials told parents Monday.
There was no evidence of any weapons in the Oct. 27 fights, Lee and Sandell said, and none of the warrants references any weapons. But Cameron was cited by police late that night — in an apartment complex parking lot near his home and about a mile from the school — with carrying a concealed 6-inch knife in a sheath.

Police said that incident was unrelated to the fights at Parkland, and Cameron told the Journal that he didn't have the knife with him at school. As for potential gang involvement, Lee told parents that he believes some of the students involved have gang ties, but that doesn't seem to have factored in the fights. Sandell agreed.

"I just think the students had a personal problem with each other," the officer said.Parkland's student body is about 50 percent black and 28 percent Hispanic.
Anything that happens there, be it a fight or an after-school club meeting, is bound to involve black and Hispanic students, Lee told parents Monday.
The prinicpal also told parents that he has worked in schools with a race problem, and they have a different feel than Parkland.

I don't a sense of racial tension in the hallways here," Lee said.

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