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Catholic Memorial students ordered away from tonight's game at the Garden

In a statement today, Catholic Memorial School says it's taking several steps to deal with the repercussions of Friday's anti-Semitic chanting by fans before a basketball game against Newton North, including banning students from tonight's MIAA Division 1 semifinal against Cambridge at the Garden.

The team itself, which had nothing to do with the chants, will be allowed to play, the school says:

After consultation with the administration of Newton North High School, Catholic Memorial has decided that the varsity basketball team will take part in the MIAA Division 1 semifinal contest tonight out of respect for the players and coaches who would like to finish what they have worked so hard for.

School officials are holding a series of meetings with students today and plan a schoolwide assembly at the end of the day:

We will use this incident as a teaching opportunity to help students understand the gravity of the actions of student fans, the hurt they have caused to Newton North High School, the residents of Newton, the broader Jewish community and their school.

On Saturday, Catholic Memorial reached out to the Anti-Defamation League to both apologize and to seek assistance with identifying resources for educating our students about Anti-Semitism. CM President Peter Folan will also continue conversations with Newton North High School Principal Mark Aronson. ...

There are no excuses for the actions of the student-spectators who took part in the chanting, their behavior was appalling; their actions and words do not align with the teachings or the value system of our school or the Catholic Church.

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Comments

administration at Catholic Memorial. Good leaders show the way.

Can anyone tell me the last time a public school administration punished a student body in a similar manner?

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That would require a spine and a willingness to deal with lawsuits.

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Do you have examples of public-school students in the area yelling anti-[fill in the group] slurs at opposing fans? And on the order of Christ-killer slurs?

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Any white kid unlucky enough to attend a standard-issue BPS high school what they hear and experience on a daily basis.

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We're talking about public sporting events here, not what may or may not be going on in hallways. But nice attempt to deflect away from the issue.

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Being a racist POS isn't as bad as being a jackass in response to someone else being a jackass?

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I was replying to somebody complaining that public schools don't react the same way to negative screaming at sporting events as Catholic Memorial and asked for proof that situation has even come up.

As for hallway stuff, as the parent of a BLS student, I'm going to argue that, yes, at least in Boston, and at least right now, BPS is taking this stuff very seriously - and was doing so even in the weeks before the US Attorney decided she needed to step in. In fact, there's a meeting for parents with a mediator at BLS tonight (which no, I'm not attending partly because our daughter's a senior and partly because the very specific "parents only" admonition would make me uncomfortable attending, given that I'm also a reporter - and yes, I would get over that if our daughter were not a senior).

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Every white kid is simply addressed to as "hey white boy."

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Oh, anon. Don't ever change.

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Newton North fans were yelling homophobic ones at the game.

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Whether "sausagefest" is homophobic is, as we saw in the other discussion, open to debate. There's no debate that calling people in a city with a large percentage of Jews Christ killers is anti-Semitic.

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If you don't think sausagefest is meant to be homophobic, what is it meant to be? You clearly didn't attend or play against any all boys schools.

This is not to suggest that CM was the better party. It was abhorrent behavior and it is good they are being disciplined. But should progressive Newton get away with homophobic slurs? Is homophobia not also a major issue today? I think this is a good opportunity to teach all high schoolers a lesson on hate speech, regardless of the jocular intent. Whatever happened to "Airball!" or whatever?

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Ask any geek or nerd.

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And why is that a problem?

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sausage fest is a homophobic slur; I've used it many times with my bros.

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sausage fest is a homophobic slur; I've used it many times with my bros.

If that's the case, you're doing it wrong.

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take it from me, a gay man

a sausagefest isn't in any way homophobic

to me it sounds like a party!

but the Catholics saying this behavior is unacceptable sounds a bit disingenuous when it's the gospel they read from and worship from and venerate and teach their kids that teaches that the Jews were responsible for what the Romans did to Jesus

the kids are only repeating what they're taught in school

but it would take another Council of Trent to change it

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The swift action by the administrators at the game and the steps taken yesterday show that. The home, maybe ...

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You really think some Newton North students were really just taunting, "you have no girls at your school!" in a different way? I hardly think that's what the taunt meant. But if it makes you feel better to think that...

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Said Sausage Fest? Yes it refers to both, and seeing that it followed "where are you girls/women" it rather safe to say they were calling they gay!

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Guys sit around and talk about the girls who aren't there.

Why, what do you think happens?

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I've heard "BC High BC Low that's where all the fagots go" at a bunch of hockey games when I played there is the mid 90's.

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Things have changed since then. Or maybe not.

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Any chants like the sausagefest chant has as its origins the "BC High, BC low" chant and that type of what we now call homophobic chants.

A few years back some publics started the "we've got girls" chant. That was usually met with chants about the looks of the female student body, so it faded.

That said, going Christ killer was totally out of line. Perhaps if a more erudite catholic high school were playing, a better response would have been issued.

Oh, and if this poster actually played for the Eagles in the mid-90s, congrats on being the first BCHigh team to win the Super 8.

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Sausage Party NSFW new movie Red Band trailer

I'm guessing if it were a "homophobic slur" this movie never would have made it out the door at Sony...

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Why is there no debate that it's anti-Semitic? How is it anti-Semitic? Is it hatred or discrimination or something else? Or just a kinda-mean, factually-accurate, disrespectful chant? How is it "anti-" anything? Why isn't a case of teenage boys trying to one-up the other team's fans' "Sausagefest" chant? Of course, that would prevent the outrage-machine from getting all fired up, and that's what drives clicks and headlines these days. Who cares what a bunch of teenagers at a high school basketball team chant? Sure, CM should admonish its students and remind them to be good sports and respectful, but why is this news?

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I'll pretend you're not really a troll. From pretty much the day the Roman emperors adopted Christianity, Jews have been persecuted, tortured and murdered as "Christ killers." It's right up there with the canards about killing Christian babies for their blood at Passover, poisoning wells to spread the Plague, etc., except it's the one eternal slur, the one that never ends, the one that just keeps resurfacing. It was passed from father to son, from mother to daughter, for generation unto generation. Jews killed Jesus and they deserve to die, as horribly as possible!

It wasn't until 1965 that the Vatican graciously agreed that Jews were no longer responsible for Christ's death. Very nice of them to finally recognize that, but old habits die hard, apparently, and even to this day, at least some Catholic kids are still getting the message that Jews are nothing but a bunch of Christ killers.

I think CM handled this very well - they cut that crap right out as soon as it happened - and I think the pretty mild punishment of not being able to go to a basketball game coupled with education is the right answer to the other night. But let's not kid ourselves into thinking this was just some harmless banter - there's a reason they screamed that at Newton North and not, say, Dedham.

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He/she doesn't sound like a troll and they are beating you hands down in this debate.

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Because there's not really any debate that screaming "You killed Jesus" at a group of Jews is anti-Semitic. But don't ask me, go ask Sean O'Malley.

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There's no debate about whether the anti-Semitic slurs are anti-Semitic, anon @ 1:44 PM, because they're anti-Semitic. They're intended to be and have historically been connected to hateful violence.
This comment is more directed at others reading this than you, since you assume that "the Jews killed Jesus" is "factually-accurate." It is not.
Perhaps you are just trolling, but you sound very much anti-Semitic yourself - sometimes ignorance rises to a new level of awful. Please educate yourself.

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Looks like your book of imaginary nonsense says so, so it must be the truth!

Let's go kill somebody based on what this ancient fiction tells us!

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so why do you get your panties in a twist over teenagers chanting the equivalent that 'you killed Roger Rabbit'?

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The "You (Jews) Killed Jesus" chant is totally not the equivalent of chanting "You Killed Roger Rabbit". As a number of people on his board have pointed out, the "You (Jews) Killed Jesus" chant has a millennial history of encouraging, promoting and condoning the most horrific violence against the Jewish people, ranging from exclusion from things, confiscation of property and money, to programs, physical expulsions from countries of residence, all of which culminated in the "Final Solution" (albeit, the Holocaust.

The whole "teenagers just being teenagers" excuse and attitudes don't even begin to hold water, either. There's no excuse for them.

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Except it's not, any more than trash-talking athletes are anti-mom when they tell you what your mother did last night.

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Well, this:

Except it's not, any more than trash-talking athletes are anti-mom when they tell you what your mother did last night.

is a giant-sized, steaming pile of crap, anon! I don't buy it.

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I thought it was the Romans.

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.. how the whole blood guilt thing got started in the first place. The Romans tried Jesus, flogged Jesus, crowned him with thorns & executed him. All the Jews did was hand him over to the civil authorities after he appeared before a religious tribunal. Catholics should be streaming through the North End screaming, "You killed Jesus!" and the Vatican, as arguably the successor to the Roman Empire, should be kicking its own ass.

I went to a Catholic high school & once rendered my religion instructor speechless (difficult to do with a Jesuit!) by expressing myself more or less as I did above. And when I went on to point out that, even if the Jews killed Jesus they would have been doing God's will since "He sent his only Son to die for our sins," he sputtered and changed the subject. I guess I was being too "jesuitical" ;-)

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...Of the evils of education! ;)

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Trump says it was Sanders supporters who killed jeesus.

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My friend who is Jewish and from Newton said he would have responded with a "Spotlight" chant. Probably not appropriate at a school function but probably on the same level.

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I read in the Globe (I think it was) that a person interviewed did mention in the past Newton North kids did chant things along that line to CM.

Kids will be kids and hopefully it will be a learning experience.

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The phrase "the Jews killed Jesus" is anti-semitic, without a doubt. Moreover, that kind of slur has been used as justification for all kinds of programs, inquisitions, massacres, etc., to be visited upon the Jewish people throughout the world for over two millenniums.

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Personally, I've only heard sausagefest used in a non-homophobic way to describe a situation in which there are mostly men. Similarly, henhouse describes a group of mostly women... there's nothing anti-lesbian or derogatory about it. Just my personal opinion and observation of course. However, I certainly don't know many teenagers and the few that I know aren't homophobic so maybe I'm out of touch with bigoted language of today's youth.

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In fact "sausage fest" is only an insult because it relies on the belief that the men present would prefer to be in the company of women, but are too gross / inept / creepy to make that happen.

How is it an insult to insinuate that a gay man enjoys the company of other men? That's just kind of... the definition of the word. It makes no sense as a slur.

Whereas the men at a "sausage fest" usually show up expecting to meet women at a social event, only to stand around awkwardly because they actually want nothing to do with each other.

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From Urban Dictionary:

a party of only guys (or at least 80% guys), where there is a substantial abundance of weiner.

From Wiktionary

Noun[edit]
sausage fest ‎(plural sausage fests)

(slang, derisive) A party or gathering where the vast majority of the people are male.
This party is a total sausage fest! Let's call Sarah and have her bring some of her girlfriends over.

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what do you think is done with a sausage? And the comparison of male genitalia to an edible item is mere happenstance? And the fact that a bunch of guys are engaged in a sausage fest is just another way of stating the preponderance of male participation, all implications of swallowing the meat just bothering us gutter minds?

Jeesh, all this verbal gymnastics is making me hungry, hungry for honesty.

That said, the proper response to the Newton North students should have been gefilte fish!

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Sausage fest is used pejoratively for sure, but not like you seem to think. It means that there is a gathering of a bunch of dudes who are unlikely to get laid...by anyone including the other dudes they are hanging out with. A sausage fest is a party of losers.

Jeesh, all of this talk of sausages is making me hungry. Pass the mustard.

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if you have the buns, hold the mustard please.

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Mustard abate somewhere else.

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I was craving a sausage, not a cocktail weiner.

Go put your pig in someone else's blanket.

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straight between us. I was talking about a foot-long hot Italian sausage slathered with all the fix-ins inside some hot buns.

I just can't understand why teen boys would think a perfectly factual observation comparing sausages to an all boy school had any indecent, sexual innuendo at all.

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Most of us have genitalia 24/7, either of the sausage variety or the other kind. Nevertheless, we're not constantly compelled to use them, or to seek out a use for them. It is possible to be around other people, of whatever genitalia, without obsessing about swallowing them.

tl;dr: yes, it is you, now get your mind out the gutter.

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You are working much too hard at being offended.

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I suppose it's how you interpret what the Mansfield fans said, but knowing the South Shore well... http://patch.com/massachusetts/mansfield-ma/mansfield-basketball-fans-ac...

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Adamg wrote:

Do you have examples of public-school students in the area yelling anti-[fill in the group] slurs at opposing fans? And on the order of Christ-killer slurs?

but not local. For example,

http://www.oregonlive.com/today/index.ssf/2016/01/phoenix_high_school_st...

and

http://www.kcra.com/news/local-news/news-sierra/dad-racial-slurs-cheered...

and

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/students-held-trump-cutout-chan...

In every case, there was no response as appropriate, classy, swift and punitive as the CM administration's actions noted above.

I know you are the admin of the website, Adam, so in the future I may not respond since there is potential for asymmetric conversation.

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That's a new one.

The CM leadership is getting credit for their strong action. The CM team is getting play in the next game as they earned with their victory over Newton. The CM kids who yelled this are getting exposed on a national level as turds. What's your specific issue here? I suspect that you just don't think a little anti-Semitism is any worse than juvenile teasing.

How about you find some real examples where 'sausage fest' was used as a homophobic slur, not as a disparaging remark about a situation with a male/female imbalance.

Also if you post a comment and then Adam responds in kind, that's asymmetric conversation? What, do you want him to recuse himself from the topic for some reason because he doesn't agree with you? Did Adam threaten to doxx you using your IP info or something or what's the concern there?

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Not just national -- international as well: the UK's Daily Mail also ran the story.

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Adam's a big boy, I'm sure he doesn't need your help in defending himself against being called out for biased reporting, dragging a non-story on for too long or thinking that slurs against the Jewish community are the only actionable ones. As the reporter, he needs to be mindful of his position and not worry about differences in opinion.

I noticed you didn't respond to the content of my post, merely that I posted a differing opinion and asked Adam to be sensitive to me.

As far as being threatened by DOXXing, perhaps you should consider your own motivations here.

Finally, Irish Catholics were the first slaves in the "new world", the British conducted genocide against the Irish for decades, perhaps centuries and discrimination against Irish immigrants is what led to the founding of Catholic schools. No one group has a monopoly on historic suffering, so get over yourselves.

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let us know when you've found something showing sausage fest to be homophobic though, like to the extent that 'you killed Christ' is linked to acts of anti-Semitic violence over the millennia.

The history of the Irish has zero to do with this story. Or were only Irish American kids being impacted by the decision to ban students from the game? Maybe that's more facts the media won't report on...

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dude, I was sitting next to Al Gore when he invented this darn thing feeding him my sausage, but hey no homophobic implications here!

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Wow, an impassioned defense of the Irish as history's greatest downtrodden group, AND drive-by accusations of editorial bias because this news site about Boston doesn't report on high school events in Oregon. This is usually where I get out the bingo cards, but this is such breathtaking, world-beating dickbaggery and tonedeafness that I think the effort would be wasted.

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is not a reference to a sausage, just a guy named Richard and his carry on luggage.

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You should go down to the JFK library on Evacuation Day and reconsider your harsh remarks.

If you want to play bingo, maybe the KofC in Roslindale with the Dapper comparative plaque in front has it?

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The Irish were not the first slaves in the New World. The natives of the Caribbean came first. That Columbus, such a mensch.

I don't think slurs against Jews are the only actionable ones. I would argue, however, that calling a bunch of presumed Jews Christ Killers, something that has been used for centuries to justify killing Jews, is just a tad more serious than a taunt that refers to the lack of girls at a party.

I am heartened, however, that people who are sticking up for Catholic Memorial are so concerned about homophobia. That is very refreshing and I'm sure represents a true concern about the treatment of gays in society and not just as an attempt to find some way to deflect from the fact that a bunch of kids were screaming something about Jews that their own church leaders rejected 50 years ago.

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Adam,

Wrong on both counts. Here's a dailyKos article. There are plenty of scholarly articles but too lazy.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/27/1265498/-The-slaves-that-time-f...

The Caribos were tough to enslave; no agricultural work culture, hard to train, easily escaped into their home turf. Columbus tried but failed with large scale enslavement. You are right that the Spaniards enslaved many people before the Brits, I was referencing the British import slave trade.

As for the politically motivated Papal actions of 50 years ago, I think you are misinterpreting a bunch of things. Of course, the Jewish people have nothing to do with events of two millennia past. It is called forgiveness, but the student of history, like yourself, knows better.

Anyways, you don't even believe in the historical figure of Christ, so for unbeliever's I suppose the slur is equivalent to 'You killed Roger Rabbit'.

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You do realize that most of the "scholarship" in this area is promulgated by white supremacist organizations, right?

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or just thrashing about for something to say? But I hear ya, the dailyKos, playground of white supremacists...

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My apologies for being so, um, parochial. I was thinking about the Boston area; I really have no idea what's going on west of Worcester.

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but it is a big world and lessons are important from all over. Generally, private schools discipline much more than public ones. It is one of the attractions for parents.

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Generally, private schools discipline much more than public ones.

And your basis for this statement is?

Maybe you should talk to someone who has worked in both sometime. Let's just say that public schools don't rely on keeping tuition-paying parents unbothered.

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I've extensive experience throughout both the private and public schools.

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For the future of our nation

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But that has more to do with the popularity of Donald Trump than any of the kids I meet.

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I went to CM, these chants were pretty tame compared to what fellow students said 15-20 years ago..

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Can confirm that CM students were not classy with their chants way back then.

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Chants at sporting events amateur and professional are often not classey.

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Yes, at a BC High game this year, the public school kids were chanting "Father Nolan". For those of you who don't know, he was a pedophile that operated at BC high. They also regularly hear "spotlight" chanted at games. So, those nice public school kids are referencing pedophilia to taunt the BC high boys.

You might want to get off your high horse and actually attend a high school basketball game. Public school kids are not blameless.

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Not Christ killer horrible, but getting close. I mean, Nolan preyed on students, so it is a form of victim mocking.

I was amazed back in 2002-03 that there wasn't more of that crap. I was happy that administrators or students or whoever kept it out of chants, but in the end the students might have just been ignorant of current events.

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In 16 years of Catholic school the only time i recall it coming up was in a class dedicated to the topic in HS. We were specifically taught that Christ was obviously killed by the Romans. Very easy to prove. Only Romans crucified. Christ's crimes in Jewish faith would most likely have been heresy which I believe was punishable by stoning.

Where do kids learn this crap. Not likely in school.

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Specifically Cartman.

Season 7 “You f------- Jews have ruined Christmas again!”

Season 8 Cartman dresses up as Hitler and convinces people to march and shout German anti-Semitic chants.

Season 9 Cartman reveals the existence of "Jew Gold" - a bag of gold all Jews wear around their neck

Season 13 - Cartman reveals the existence of a secret "Jew cave" where massive amounts of hoarded money is hidden.

Season 14 "You are a liar and a swindler who would do anything for money. The Jews have been persecuted across the earth for good reason, Kyle. You are a race of beady-eyed thieves, Kyle, who throughout the millennia have squirmed and worked your way into the dark cubbyholes of society. Where exactly did the Jews first get their power and how are they able to manipulate our minds today?”

----------------------

A lot of people surely do not take it to heart that Cartman is supposed to be a full-blown bigot, as occasionally he is on the mark with his misguided adventures and often is a brilliant anti-hero by the end of the episode who delivers deserved comeuppance to some equally reprehensible character. Couple that with the years of the Daily Show (which followed the South Park time slot) badmouthing the Jewish Neocons and pretending to be a hip source of news on current events and bam!.... a generation or two of confused kids, some of who are now parents to teenagers. I myself constantly quip that everything is microaggression and racist to my kids when they bring up anything about color. I think they are taking me seriously. My washing machine has a "Whites Only" setting. Guess what is written in sharpie above it?

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Why do they have to ban all students from attending the game. This seems unfair to the players. Why not just ban a student section and chants? I would feel upset if I was a parent of a student and wanted to go to the game but my son could not. The students were reprimanded at the scene of the crime and apologized. Why draw this out anymore than it has already been drawn out. I applaud CM for taking action but feel this is going overboard.

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The Globe headline is slightly different.

"Catholic Memorial asks students not to attend semifinal game after anti-Semitic chants"

Regardless, unless they're banning me, if I go to CM, I'm going to the game to support my friends on the team.

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"The Catholic Memorial administration has told members of the student body that they cannot attend tonight’s game."

All members? Some members?

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From CM website ,

''LATEST STATEMENT FROM CATHOLIC MEMORIAL SCHOOL

3/14/2016
Following a series of meetings over the weekend, Catholic Memorial School has begun to take steps, both immediate and long-term, to ensure that the incident involving anti-Semitic chanting Friday night becomes an opportunity to better educate our students about intolerance.

Immediate next steps for CM include a series of assemblies today. Administrators met with faculty first, and are meeting throughout the day with students by grade to address the incident Friday night. We will hold an open forum later in the day for all students to voice their concerns and ask questions.

We will use this incident as a teaching opportunity to help students understand the gravity of the actions of student fans, the hurt they have caused to Newton North High School, the residents of Newton, the broader Jewish community and their school.

On Saturday, Catholic Memorial reached out to the Anti-Defamation League to both apologize and to seek assistance with identifying resources for educating our students about Anti-Semitism. CM President Peter Folan will also continue conversations with Newton North High School Principal Mark Aronson.

“We will also strengthen and enhance our curriculum to better educate our students on the subjects of intolerance and bigotry. Student behavior and leadership responsibilities will be included as part of a revised curriculum. These next steps will be made with a great deal of deliberation, thought and input from the Jewish community and the Archdiocese of Boston,” President Peter Folan said.

There are no excuses for the actions of the student-spectators who took part in the chanting, their behavior was appalling; their actions and words do not align with the teachings or the value system of our school or the Catholic Church.

After consultation with the administration of Newton North High School, Catholic Memorial has decided that the varsity basketball team will take part in the MIAA Division 1 semifinal contest tonight out of respect for the players and coaches who would like to finish what they have worked so hard for.

The Catholic Memorial administration has told members of the student body that they cannot attend tonight’s game.''

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The Catholic Memorial administration has told members of the student body that they cannot attend tonight’s game.

Sounds like a ban to me.

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This isn't The Blues Brothers...how do they plan on determining or even enforcing such a concept?

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Many Independent / private/ parochial schools have a code of conduct that allows the school to punish students for behavior that occurs on or off campus. So in this case, showing up to a game where forbidden could be punishable. Folan is making it a big deal because his school's reputation has taken a hit on a national level. It may take the school years to recover from this whether you feel its a big deal or not.

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Are they going to get ticket sales data to cross-correlate with their student roster? Make everyone take a polygraph the next day and ask if they went to TD Garden? Or just put nuns at the doors to pull the offending students out of line at entry?

You can have all the codes of conduct you want. They still have to be enforceable. So a student shows up to the game...now what? How you do you know they did if you're the school's administration in order to enforce your code of conduct that will let you take punitive actions against the student?

Otherwise, stating "you can't go" when there's zero method of enforcing such a statement is possibly noble when attempting to "right a wrong" but ultimately toothless and unenforceable making it completely useless to have stated it (and a cynic might even say that they know it's unenforceable in practicality and so it's only lip service to tell students they can't go just to make the Jews feel like the school is "taking action" when it's actually not).

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They will only have one gate open, and staff can be at the gate, as well as looking through the stands which they would be anyway as well, and if threat of expulsion is out there, why would a kid risk a chance of going?

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We are talking teens. No way any one of them can do a verboten act without sharing somewhere on social media.

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Its not likely the Fleet Center will sell out for a HS basketball game. There are around 700 students who attend the School. You think it would be that hard for CM to place administrators at the gates? Not to mention teachers and administrators who will be there to support the student athletes who are playing in the game. I can't answer your questions honestly, but I can take a rational approach and state that its not difficult. I know the head of school and know he is deeply troubled by this and I guarantee he knows every one of his students. Not sure what the role of the nuns will be, or if they even have nuns, or is that just a slur against Catholic schools.

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Really, it's not that hard.

Teachers know the student body from their school. They'd recognize CM students, especially any who probably originally planned to attend in groups.

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7:30 PM: Cambridge Rindge & Latin vs. Catholic Memorial (Division I Boys) - Tried to buy a ticket from TDGarden site said " No venue tickets currently available... now what? "

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Can someone point out the actual demographics of Newton North? It's not like Catholic Memorial where you've got an enrichment of students due to it being a catholic school. It's a public school that just happens to be in a community that's enriched in Jewish population. However, the best I can find is that Judaism only makes up like a third of Newton's demographics...and nothing that I can find suggests they all live north of Comm Ave or anything.

So, while I get why Jews would be upset by the chant...it's not clear to me why exactly Newton North has taken on the role of Jewish surrogate in all of this...or even why the CM fans exactly thought making Jewish slurs would be particularly effective except to paint *something* on Newton North as a whole based on a guilt-by-association type thing....which, let's be honest, seems to have succeeded if we're now turning to Newton North as a Jewish surrogate and saying that the public school should feel injury at the chant, whereas while some of its student population might, the school itself isn't Jewish and probably has at least 50% of its student body that isn't even Jewish.

It's just weird to me how this is all playing out in the media and in the roles people are assigning to public institutions, etc.

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just another example of an untrustworthy media and the reporting around it. For example, inappropriate comments at high school basketball games have always been an issue. Also, it wasn't until the comments from readers brought up the NN homophobic chants that the media started to include it in their stories.

And people wonder why Trump's clashes with the media have been viewed positively by a huge cross section of voters.

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The cheering section at any college hockey game would make sailors blush.

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I also wonder what percentage of the team is actually Catholic.

Also, I remember a few years ago a Jewish kid the CM hockey team scored the winning goal in a tournament game.

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Remember Herb at BU ?

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Newton North High School, as well as the City of Newton, generally, has a very large Jewish population, and so it's understandable why offense would be taken at the "You Killed Jesus" chant on the part of the guys at C. M.

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Again, the current demographic in Newton is about 33% Jewish across the entire city. Is Newton North somehow enriched above 33% because all those Jewish people live north of Comm Ave? I doubt it. I can't find any proof one way or the other on that online. Then there's the question of whether Jewish people are sending their kids to public or private schools at differing rates, etc. So, that's why I ask what the actual demographics of the school are.

Then even if the school were 90% Jewish, it's a public school. Its principal isn't a Jewish surrogate (although apologizing to him might be relevant if he himself is Jewish). The school isn't a stand-in for the local synagogue or whatever other emissary of Judaism you want to put up as the apology-accepter or who you should turn to for responses. Yet, because one school is Catholic-based and some undetermined portion of the other school's students were the recipients of the taunting and the taunt offends a community of people who have an oversized influence on the district/city...the school becomes a convenient crutch for the media to label as by-and-large "Jewish"...which is odd, because that's what the CM students were doing by way of their chant (painting all the students of Newton North the same).

If this was the Gann Academy, then it'd be wholly appropriate to make apologies to the school, etc. But it's not and we're not even likely talking about a majority of the students at Newton North being Jewish...but we've allowed the CM taunt to become the narrative about the whole student body at Newton North which is bizarre...and likely just lazy journalism.

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Doesn't make it right though. I remember back in the day when Patrick Ewing played in the state tournament and the opposing school's students chanted "You can't read."

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My brother attended that game. Ewing's response was to score something like 60 points crushing the opponent's team. Further, the students involved were severely disciplined. Basketball is susceptible to this type of behavior because of the close quarters for fans, the relative quiet and closeness to the court.

I think the answer is actually simple. Ban being a teenager...

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That was my high school that chanted that, and 5 years later, when I got to the school, the teachers were still lecturing us (who, again, were in 5th grade when it happened) about it and how horrible it was. Using this as a guideline, if my 3 year old makes that sad academic choice and somehow convinces us to pay for CM, he will probably be hearing about this incident in freshman orientation.

By the way, I think that the student-fan ban for tonight is a great punishment, though making the kids sit through a week of "Facing History and Ourselves" should be another given. I wouldn't let the offenders off with a trip to the Holocaust Museum, since that is kind of a vacation, unless it is a day trip by bus.

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At the end of the day it was a funny display of chanting by a bunch of high school kids.

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and Ourselves is a wonderful curriculum and shouldn't be used as a method of punishment for kids (and parents) who need to develop some awareness. The kids who take the class now at various schools choose it because they want to learn.

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In Brunswick Me. , if someone speaks in a manner that shows bias or prejudice you can report them to the police who will investigate. The bias reporting form is on the police Web site.

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Not to mention Orwellian. No way it would it survive scrutiny in the courts.

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the Newton North basketball team *must* attend the CM semi-final match at the TDGarden...

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Let's not kid ourselves - no one at CM gives a rat's ass about homophobia.

But it's a convenient excuse/response to the actions being taken against the CM students who made the anti-Semitic comments. And they were very anti-Semitic. In that they have been used for centuries to justify the killing of Jews. "Sausage fest" just hasn't.

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CM is a hotbed bigots and homophobia? How do you know this, or is this just what you are thinking in your imagination?

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You really know nothing and it shows.

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Local channel 7 news just showed video of the CM students at the game with Newton North. Previously I figured it was just a few students chanting. However, it was a at least 40 or so, all sitting together, wearing matching red shirts pumping their fists in the air in unison. It was a disturbing to see such a large group of local kids acting with unabashed bigotry. Bigotry like this is taught and these kids obviously learned it well. Sad.

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So by your logic, the kids who chant "Father Nolan's sausage fest" and "Spotlight" at the BC high boys games are 1) learning to mock the victims of pedophilia at home? 2) learning that pedophilia is fine at school? Who is teaching those kids that this behavior is acceptable? Should be blame their parents? Their school? Our larger community?

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Cait. I wasn't defending Newton North. I stated that after seeing the video of the game on the news, I was disturbed by the large number of CM students who were fist pumping and screaming anti-semitic chants. If YOU don't find something wrong with that then that's all on you. Projecting your sick and vile logic onto Newton North students who you say mock innocent child victims of rapist priests is repulsive. You need to do a little soul searching.

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Here is the Channel 7 news feed you found so vile

http://www.whdh.com/clip/12284559/catholic-memorial-bans-students-from-g...

Not as you described at all. Looks like a bunch of kids on both sides hopping up and down. The parent of the CM captain said it best. Please, seek professional help.

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Watch it again. The CM kids were pumping their fists and chanting while the NN kids looked stunned and a little sickened. Anti-semitism has no place in school -- I don't care if it's a religious school or not. Educate yourself about the history of the world... you just might learn something.

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It was a disturbing to see such a large group of local kids acting with unabashed bigotry. Bigotry like this is taught and these kids obviously learned it well.

and

I stated that after seeing the video of the game on the news, I was disturbed by the large number of CM students who were fist pumping and screaming anti-semitic chants.

The video shows some fist pumping, but there is no sound of anti-semitic chants nor bigotry. Reading your posts and the passion with which you brooked no counter argumnet made me think the video was heinous when in fact it is at best inconclusive.

The tactic of repeating something until you believe it and demand others accept your deceived view is laughable. No wonder you remain anon.

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Might have something to do with their reaction to their school winning the game, while the stunned looks probably reflect the sadness of the fandom of North due to their team's loss.

I don't want to deny that supporters of Newton North (and hopefully a sizable chunk of the rest of the spectators) were stunned by the horrible chant, but no one has claimed that any of it was caught by the media on tape, probably since it happened before the game, meaning the cameras, if there, weren't ready yet.

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It looks like that video was taken DURING the game. All the offensive chanting from both sides happened BEFORE the game. This video looks like the fans are reacting to and cheering what is going on in the game.

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I merely made it available for all to see how little credibility you have.

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In the light of what we heard about Mass. (and US in general) Catholic schools in recent years, Sausagefest is not "homophobic". It sounds to me as mocking the victims of pedophilia.

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that's exactly what they are doing. The sausage fest chant is often accompanied by "Father Nolan" (a pedophile that operated at BC high) and "spotlight".

However, I'm a rational human being so I don't think that all those NN kids think pedophilia is just fine, or they support it, or their parents are teaching them that mocking victims is okay, or that the school is teaching it, as many on this board are asserting about the CM kids. I just think they are stupid teenagers.

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Nobody has yet said the NN kids were yelling about Father Nolan or pedophile priests.

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Maybe not at this game but they have done it at other games this season. Maybe the shutting down if the CM kids so early in the game gave them pause or maybe they just ran out of time.

I know this is counter to the Catholic School = bad, private school = good theme that seems to predominant here but it is the reality. Kids are stupid all over.

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I realize there have been other instances of other schools doing this, but you have evidence that NN kids specifically yelled that? I ask because while there's a wider universe out there, this is really about a very specific incident involving two schools and it wouldn't be fair to blame NN kids for something other kids did.

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My evidence is that my kids have heard it. Unfortunately, catholic schools kids being taunted with chants about pedophilia is not considered newsworthy.

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I just don't think it's fair to tag kids at one school with it when there's no evidence they did it.

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Like I said yesterday, I did read a quote in I believe the Globe, where students did say they have been taunted by NN kids regarding sexual abuse by priests.

It's not new according to this student.

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The "teenagers will be teenagers" excuse just simply doesn't even begin to hold water.
In general, teenagers are old enough and smart enough to be able to get a feel for what's really an offensive insult.

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