School Attack Sparked by South Park Cartoon?
牛魔王
Sheriffs: Red-haired boy targeted in SoCal attack.
http://www.myfoxla.com/dpp/news/local/south-park-ginger-calabasas-school-attacks-20091121
Calabasas - As many as four redheaded students at a Calabasas middle
school were assaulted by classmates as part of "kick a ginger day," an
Internet spoof apparently inspired by an episode of the "South Park"
cartoon, a sheriff's lieutenant said on Monday.
The attacks occurred Friday at A.E. Wright Middle School, 4029 Las
Virgenes Road, said sheriff's Lt. Scott Chew of the Malibu-Lost Hills
Station.
The first reported victim was a 12-year-old boy in the seventh grade,
Chew said. Three other students also may have been attacked, Chew
said.
As many as 14 students at A.E. Wright Middle School kicked and hit the
12-year-old, who has red hair and freckles, twice on Friday, said
sheriff's Lt. Richard Erickson of the Malibu-Lost Hills station.
The attacks were brief and the student was not seriously injured,
Erickson said. All of the attackers appeared to be other seventh or
eighth graders at the school, he added.
Authorities were looking into whether the incident might be related to
"kick a ginger day," which began last Nov. 20 when some young people
circulated messages on the Internet urging people to beat up redheads
on that day.
Similar Internet messages were spread on Facebook and other Internet
sites this year, Erickson said.
The term "ginger" comes from a "South Park" episode first aired in
2005 that satirized racial intolerance, but did not use the term "kick
a ginger day."
Erickson said investigators were looking into whether the attacks were
related to scores of messages on Facebook calling for another
"National Kick a Ginger Day" this Nov. 20. But he stressed that
investigators were not sure Friday's attacks were sparked by the
Internet messages.
Anyone with any information about the attack was asked to call the
Malibu-Lost Hills sheriff's station at (818) 878-5536.