Update: Of Racism and Basketball Hoops

When officials at Brown Deer Middle School locked up the basketball hoops on its playground to deter trouble on school grounds, they were asking for trouble in court.

Brown Deer -- A village resident has filed a discrimination complaint against the Brown Deer School District for its use of an anti-theft device on the basketball hoops at one of its schools.

The complaint, filed earlier this week with the U.S. Department of Education's office for civil rights in Chicago, contends that the district's use of the Club on all of the basketball rims on the outdoor court of Brown Deer Middle School, 5757 W. Dean Road, is a "discriminatory practice."

"The impact of its policy falls more harshly on African American children than it does on non-African American children, because African American children were the predominant users of the basketball courts," Henry Hamilton III, who filed the complaint, said today.

Obviously, the easiest thing for the school district to do would be to remove the damn Clubs and get Hamilton to go away.

I suppose Hamilton would demand some sort of formal apology to be issued by the District and maybe a promise that Clubs never, ever be used again to target African American children.

In a few weeks, kids will be back at school and the hoops won't be locked anymore.

I don't think that will satisfy Hamilton. The irreparable damage has been done.

I'd like to know what the African American children that used the hoops did with them locked.

Did they find somewhere else to play?

Most likely.

Were they despondent over their civil rights being trampled on, too depressed to enjoy their summer?

I highly doubt it.

Or worse, were they forced to commit crimes and act out violently, all because of the racist practice of Brown Deer Middle School?

Some might buy that as an excuse for bad behavior.

The fact is there are battles over REAL discriminatory practices that need to be fought.

This isn't one of them.