ADDENDUM as well as an apology:
This does not mean
HomerJS was wrong for pointing out this incident, but here is a fuller and what I hope is a more truthful explanation. And again, thank you to
esquared for coming to his defense.
But first, you need to know that I am retired news writer and senior news editor. I wrote news stories, features, columns and edited same for 26 years.
Few online news stories these days answer the basic questions of a hard news, or second day news story: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.
The reason why this story took off is because of shoddy and incomplete reporting, which you will find all over the Internet. This is due to either crap editors or non-existent editors and some clueless scribes posting their own B.S. to an organization's Website minus oversight.
Now, I think I know the reason why the boy's mother did not complain.
It turns out that the Black child is a fan of New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor, who sports a natural Black hairdo with White highlights. In some photos, Lindor's hair is completely bleached so that it looks light gold.
Apparently, the boy's teammates were trying to help him resemble his idol, Francisco Lindor.
The reason the issue of shoddy and incomplete reporting is so significant is highlighted by news coverage of the Florida teacher who resigned after photos of his Black icons were removed from a wall.
In initial stories, all we learned is that
(1) (1) teacher quit ...
(2) that he was a Special Ed teacher and White
(3) that he had been teaching for 15 years
(4) that the photos were deemed age inappropriate (which sent me on a determines search to learn how old his students are)
Each subsequent story added a detail that most did not know about:
So much for the Who (the teacher) What (controversy over removal of Black icon photos) When (before school started in (Where) Florida (Why) still inconclusive.
School administrators claim they are following Gov. DeSantis anti-CRT directives, while social media adherents are all over the place.
Still to be answered is How.
That controversy would have benefited from someone who would have forced the reporter to answer those questions in their story in the first place.
So, I apologize for adding to the feeding frenzy.