ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Four or five students from a suburban St. Louis middle school face punishment for their role in what the kids dubbed "Hit a Jew Day" at the school.
The incident happened last week at Parkway West Middle School in Chesterfield. It began with an unofficial "Spirit Week" among sixth-graders - first-year students at the school - that started harmlessly enough with a "Hug a Friend Day." Then there was "High Five Day."
Soon, though, the days moved from friendly to silly to, reportedly, hateful. Next there was "Hit a Tall Person Day" and, finally, "Hit a Jew Day."
In most cases, the Jewish children were touched or slapped lightly on the shoulder, district spokesman Paul Tandy said. But one child was allegedly slapped in the face. All told, fewer than 10 children were hit or touched. The school has about 35 Jewish students.
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The incident comes at a time of increasing reports of anti-Jewish behavior in the region, Aroesty said. A hate crime is under investigation in another St. Louis suburb, University City, where someone threw eggs at families of Orthodox Jews, she said.
She believes the economic crisis may be spurring anti-Jewish sentiments.
"When economic crisis hits, somebody has to be blamed, and historically, Jews get the brunt of this," Aroesty said.
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Why does this always seem to happen, aren't we supposed to be an enlightened nation of smart people? Or is it what I just know that children are inherently cruel and vindictive and schools don't teach them anything useful about the real world.
Bah, the whole thing just pisses me off in general.
