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March 29, 2006
Political correctness meets cowardice
Remember the questions I asked Monday?
These students are across the street from the courthouse. They periodically run with their flags to the other corners. I am told by reliable sources that the police could cite them for truancy. Hmmm, does anyone see any cops? Did you know that the Ventura school district should lose money for each student ditching?
Just asking.
As it turns out, the local fish wrap was able to provide an answer to at least one of my questions.
Apparently, the Ventura Police Department did have officers on the scene. What -- if anything -- could they have done? What does the California Education Code say about students who leave campus?
48264. The attendance supervisor or his or her designee, a peace officer, a school administrator or his or her designee, or a probation officer may arrest or assume temporary custody, during school hours, of any minor subject to compulsory full-time education or to compulsory continuation education found away from his or her home and who is absent from school without valid excuse within the county, city, or city and county, or school district.
So, were the police officers issuing citations to the truant teens?
Well, referring once again to the litterbox liner:
Ventura Police officers John Fournell, left, and Mark Knackstedt tell Buena High School students to be careful of traffic as they protested immigration issues at the County Government Center
Rather than enforcing the law, it sure sounds like the Ventura Police Department was aiding and abetting the breaking of said law.
I don't for a minute think these two cops decided on their own to ignore what was going on; that's a policy decision, and those get made by the bureaucrats. But it does raise questions.
In Ventura County, truants are routinely cited for not being in class. If they're cited three times in a year, they end up in a process that may involve the district attorney's office. Parents end up being fined, possibly put on probation if their kids don't go to school.
Or is that something that only happens to truants who aren't foreign nationals? Or ignorant American students rallying on behalf of a vocal group of illegal aliens? Does the enforcement of the law become conditional, imposed only when the truant is not part of a group claiming "victim" status?
I suspect it's only a matter of time until some parent files a law suit claiming an Equal Protection violation of the U.S. Constitution, as a result of race-based prosecution -- or is that non-prosecution? -- which of course will be settled, with the taxpayers stuck with the bill.
As for the "students," so-called because I don't really think they give a damn about their educations, they've failed to learn the most important lesson of civil disobedience: If a perceived wrong is bad enough to justify breaking the law in order to highlight the injustice, the protesters must also be prepared to suffer the consequences of their acts. If they're not willing to do so, they're simply spoiled poseurs.
Posted by Mike Lief at March 29, 2006 12:56 AM
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