Cartoon, Facebook, Parents Blamed for Assault

November 21, 2009, Calabasas—

The Sheriff’s Department says that a 12-year-old student at A.E. Wright was assaulted Friday morning by a group of students inspired by a “National Kick A Ginger Day” posting on Facebook.

The victim, a 7th grader, was attacked by a large group of male students. His injuries were not described by authorities, but police say they did not require hospitalization.

The boy’s parents brought him to the Los Hills Sheriff’s Station, saying that he had been assaulted in two separate incidents.

Due the ages of the alleged victim and attackers, authorities are releasing no names at this time. No arrests have been made.

In 2005, the animated adult show South Park aired an episode where the often racist and anti-semitic Cartman delivers a hate speech against “gingers,” people with red hair, freckles and pale skin. From there, it gets more complicated. (See the full episode here.)

The episode appears to have inspired the Facebook sites “National Kick a Ginger Day” which has been posted in several versions. One site had gained over 20,000 members before being taken down, and its teenaged creator says it was only a joke.

In online postings, parents and fellow students have blamed South Park for sparking the whole concept, Facebook for not better policing the millions of user-created pages on its site and parents for raising kids who would be so stupid and malevolent.

This isn’t the first time “National Kick A Ginger Day” has created problems. Last year the concept spread into several Canadian schools

Aaron Mishkin, a redheaded Canadian boy, initially thought little of the mentions he heard of the day.

“But then I left the class, and we have seven minutes to get to the next class, and I was amazed by the amount of people that kicked me along the way,” said Mishkin.

Mishkin says he was kicked or hit about 80 times last November 20th, including a group assault as school ended.

“I was amazed by the lack of compassion in the people that I knew,” he said. “I just never thought that people were capable of that before.”

Several students were charged in Canada, but no serious actions were taken.

In Calabasas, the Sheriff’s Department says the investigation is continuing.