Bullying could have led to graffiti

A few days ago, you published a letter from Mr. Maeda regarding the recent graffiti at the Meridian High School campus. Every day, since the arrest of a suspect, I sadly wondered what would make a young person want to lash out at society in that way.

As a retired school nurse, I have seen how unkind words can hurt a child as much as broken bones. I don’t know what happened, or what was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but there must have been prior bullying that affected his mindset.

Don’t get me wrong; I believe that we all must suffer the consequences of our actions and choices, either here on earth or later. I just can’t get this off of my mind, so, I respectfully ask our city leaders to not prosecute this behavior as a hate crime. Because, if you really think about it, the act of bullying could be considered a hate crime, too.

Robbie McKee

Bailey

 

Community failed graffiti suspect

Reference: Your View “Race issue requires counseling”, The Meridian Star, Wednesday, May 17. I commend the perceptive analysis by Joshua M. Maeda pertaining to the alleged acts committed by Jordon Wolfe. While volunteering at Parkview Elementary and Magnolia Middle Schools, I frequently observed Jordan’s “antisocial” behavior and it was obvious to me, a layperson, that he could use counseling. However, it should have been crystal clear to the school’s staff, especially his teachers who saw him daily. Mayor Percy Bland was quoted as saying “… Meridian has come together and will not tolerate this.” I agree; however, we should also not tolerate the apparent lack of concern (including me) shown Jordan before these allegations.

Conversely, I was dismayed by the “rush to judgment” and in my opinion the apparent lack of due diligence displayed by Mayor Bland and Police Chief Dubose. If Chief Dubose was correctly quoted: “…the anti-defamation league and federal authorities are looking into this case to determine if will be classified a hate crime,” without knowing the underlying causes one could easily conclude that we were on the verge of being invaded by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime of World War ll. If the timeline of events is accurate, I agree the Jordan should have been initially charged with vandalism and upon further investigating, if other charges were warranted, bring them forward at the “appropriate” time. But to make the leap from vandalism to the anti-defamation league, to federal authorities, is far above my pay grade.

I am a firm believer that everyone should do what is right, just and fair, especially our elected and appointed officials. And in the Jordan Wolfe’s case, I don’t believe that the right, just and fair doctrine was adhered to.

In a final analysis, we are our brother/sister’s, keepers. To quote Joe Louis’ response when an interviewer asked the question “…if Billy Conn runs, will you chase him?”; Joe Louis replied, “He can run, but he can’t hide.” The Joe Louis parable is analogous to the Jordan Wolfe’s case; there are thousands of “Jordan Wolfes” that are faced with the same challenge that he was/is facing but far too many of us are attempting to run and hide.

Whether I/we acknowledge it, I/we failed and continue to fail the Jordan Wolfes in our society. Remember the law of cause and effect and also, we can run, but we can’t hide.

Willie E. Heidelberg

Meridian