Dad snaps over 'ginger' attack

SOCIETY

Posted By IAN MCINROY

Posted 2 months ago

Knowing his daughter was brutally kicked because of the colour of her hair has an Orillia dad seeing red.

Although he is not a fan of the adult television cartoon series South Park, Dave Dawson is all too familiar with the series' derogatory references to 'gingers', or red-haired people.

In one episode, a character named Eric decides gingers are soulless and evil, and deserve to be kicked. Thus was born 'Kick a Ginger Day' -- which occurred this year on Nov. 20 -- and it's made its way from the television series to Simcoe County area schoolyards and hallways.

Dawson's daughter was hit so hard at an Orillia high school she had to leave school early, resulting in another girl being suspended. Ironically, it was also anti-bullying day.

Previous incidents were fairly harmless.

"She wasn't hurt the last time it happened. Most people who do it, do it for fun and in a lighthearted way," he said. "But this girl was stupid about it. She kicked her so hard she had a welt on her leg for a whole day."

He later learned the girl in question was suspended for three days after the kicking, although school officials would not comment on that specific incident. There were no criminal charges laid.

"The school said, 'We dealt with it as the code of conduct demanded we deal with it'," Dawson said, adding he doesn't know how widespread the issue is. "I don't think a child should be afraid of coming to school because of the colour of her hair. I'm really upset by it. I don't think it's right."

If school officials had tried to minimize the ginger hype -- perhaps a warning during the morning announcements not to take part in any bullying towards red-heads -- it might have helped, he said.

Barrie police Sgt. Peter Dewsnap said there was one incident of 'ginger kicking' at a city elementary school he was aware of.

He did not release the name of the school.

"There was more than one victim and more than one suspect involved. There were a couple of students and another group of students kicking them in the leg," Dewsnap said, adding the incident stemmed from the South Park Kick a Ginger episode.

"The students who were involved, the parents and the Barrie police school resource officer all met to express their feelings about how it should be dealt with," he said. "I believe there were some suspensions, but no criminal charges were laid."

The public and Catholic school boards said they both have strong rules forbidding such behaviour.

"We are certainly aware of some isolated incidents around Kick a Ginger Day which happened in some of our schools," said Diane Legg, spokesperson for the Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board.

"In situations where there were minor incidents, they were dealt with immediately by the principals. We don't have tolerance for these kinds of things," she said.

Debbie Clarke, of the Simcoe County District School Board, said her board focuses on promoting safe learning environments by emphasizing respect and responsible citizenship.

imcinroy@thebarrieexaminer.com