This is a link (KABC news story) to a disturbing incident that shows both racism at work and what's wrong with the police and quasi-police forces nationwide.
16-year-old student Pleajhia Mervin was eating birthday cake in the cafeteria at Palmdale (CA) Knight High School when she dropped a piece of cake on the floor. She attempted to clean it up, but when she didn't clean it up to a shaven-headed white security guard's satisfaction, Mr. Skinhead went into action.
When Mervin attempted to leave the cafeteria, Mr. Skinhead grabbed Mervin.
In Mervin's words:
"He put my arm behind my back and he started raising it until it hurt, so I told him, 'Stop, it hurts.' He had slammed me on the table and told me to hold still. He called me a 'nappy-head,' and that's when I just started crying," said Mervin.
Mervin's wrist was broken by Mr. Skinhead's action.
When another student recorded the incident with his cell phone camera, Mr. Skinhead attacked that student, as well as another student who was observing the incident.
Of course, Mr. Skinhead is on "paid administrative leave" (i.e., paid, but he doesn't have to work). Mervin has an expulsion hearing for "battering" Mr. Skinhead and hurting his feelings enough for him to use a racial epithet against her. Mervin's mother was arrested for "battering" the school principal, who has a lack of control of the school to not have immediately ejected Mr. Skinhead from the premises for assaulting two students.
But even this is small potatoes - people like Mr. Skinhead routinely join police forces across the country. And there isn't always someone around with a cell phone or video camera to capture the actions of abusive police.