Set Your Alarmist Clock

Several Bentonville [Ark.] High School students were suspended last week after being caught on camera in what school officials believe was a gang initiation, according to Bentonville Superintendent Gary Compton. Compton described the incidents as a possible ‘gang jump-in’ that took place Jan. 22 and 23 at the high school. ‘We believe it was a gang jump-in,’ Compton said. ‘It looks like one boy was being jumped-in to the gang. The ritual involves one boy being beaten by the others. That’s his rite of passage to enter the gang.’ … All the students involved — included the one beaten — were suspended from school, Compton said. Police Chief James Allen said there were no arrests in connection with the incidents. Allen said it is not being handled as a criminal matter. He would not speculate on the reasons behind the incidents.”

I have read the article from which the above was excerpted backwards and forwards, several times. The reporting is done well, taking down what various responsible parties have to say, and letting all that speak for itself. Yet I cannot see any gang tie-in, can you? For all the world it looks like a kid whom other kids did not like directly letting him know what they thought of him.

Did they jump him? Well yeah. That’s how they took him by surprise. Lions find it works on gazelles. Is that a “jump-in”? I never heard of the phrase until this article; it’s in Google.

Did they gang up on him? Well yeah. Outnumbering assures a victory. Is that gang-related? Only in the sense of an “arranged or coordinated set.” That’s a dictionary for you.

When the school has health day, authorities may have to dock the nurse if she explains infection: Gangrene must be gang-related. -30-