NYC Teen Tormented Because His Name Is 'Osama'

[krunchykrome]

The family of a Staten Island teen who says he was constantly harassed in school by his teachers because his name is "Osama" is suing the school system after they say school officials never did anything to prevent the harassment.

.......

His parents say they held countless meetings with school officials who apparently did nothing to stop the ostracism. Osama says the students at his school did not participate in the tormenting. In fact, he says they often sympathized with him over the treatment he was receiving from his teachers.

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"The students were more understanding than the teachers. The teachers are the ones who called him names -- bin Laden, terrorist. One of the teachers told him not to bother to come to class because no matter what he did he's not gonna pass,'" says Osama's mother, Suad Abuhasna.

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Sad to see that the students were more mature about this than the teachers.

 

[Jahee]

Originally posted by: krunchykrome

The family of a Staten Island teen who says he was constantly harassed in school by his teachers because his name is "Osama" is suing the school system after they say school officials never did anything to prevent the harassment.

.......

His parents say they held countless meetings with school officials who apparently did nothing to stop the ostracism. Osama says the students at his school did not participate in the tormenting. In fact, he says they often sympathized with him over the treatment he was receiving from his teachers.

....

"The students were more understanding than the teachers. The teachers are the ones who called him names -- bin Laden, terrorist. One of the teachers told him not to bother to come to class because no matter what he did he's not gonna pass,'" says Osama's mother, Suad Abuhasna.

Text

Sad to see that the students were more mature about this than the teachers.

Wow.. There are some real assholes in this world.

 

[amol]

Wow, WTF.

 

[slsmnaz]

Amazing everyone just takes the kid's side. Many false accusations get thrown at teachers every day and parents just believe it all. I guess guilty until proven innocent huh?

 

[CrackRabbit]

It is sad that crazy nutjobs ruin peoples names like that.
What is even worse is that people are stupid enough to be prejudiced against them even though the person may share a name with said nutjobs.
Some kid named Osama in NY != nutjob terrorist hiding in a cave in the middle east, use some common sense.

 

[JulesMaximus]

I have a tough time believing that a teacher told him "not to come to class because no matter what he did he's not going to pass." This sounds like B.S. to me.

 

[Jeeebus]

in all fairness to the teachers, his in-class taping of messages for Al Jazeera television was rather distracting to the lesson plans.

 

[JJChicken]

i might get flamed for this..but the kid might want to change his name. these type of a$$holes are all over the world, it ll save him a lot of trouble no?

 

[MiniDoom]

Originally posted by: CrackRabbit
It is sad that crazy nutjobs ruin peoples names like that.
What is even worse is that people are stupid enough to be prejudiced against them even though the person may share a name with said nutjobs.
Some kid named Osama in NY != nutjob terrorist hiding in a cave in the middle east, use some common sense.

I have a good friend named Osama who is a very successful well respected stock broker in NYC. As far as I know, people don?t grill him about his name.

 

[blue1friday2]

Originally posted by: Allen Iverson
i might get flamed for this..but the kid might want to change his name. these type of a$$holes are all over the world, it ll save him a lot of trouble no?

Yeah it might save him a lot of trouble but it totally sux. I know a guy named Jihad from Lebanon who changed his name to Jay when he moved to the States. And I understand why he did it but I think he should be able to keep his own name. It's just a name. The "Son of Sam" killer's name was David, but everybody named David shouldn't have to change their name.

 

[Aharami]

i cant believe stuff like that would happen in such a racially diverse area as Staten Island. Feel bad for the kid though. And if the teachers did say those things, the lawsuit is damn warranted!

 

[ric1287]

i highly doubt every teacher did this. he's full of crap

 

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: Jeeebus
in all fairness to the teachers, his in-class taping of messages for Al Jazeera television was rather distracting to the lesson plans.

Originally posted by: ric1287
i highly doubt every teacher did this. he's full of crap

I too am suspicious, but if the story checks out, they need to bring down the hammer on those fools

 

[paulxcook]

I don't believe that. It's possible some teachers gave him a hard time or were inappropriate, but come on. No one told him not to come to class because he wasn't going to pass.

The biggest BS part of this story is that the kids are so supportive. Kids are mean and are always looking for a way to ostracize people that are different. No way these accusations are legitimate.

 

[Pacemaker]

I could see students tormenting the kid and the school doing nothing, but the stuff they say teachers said just don't sound real. I remember being told by the school to report stuff that happens instead of fighting back, and then nothing would happen.

I once walked up to a teacher while getting repeatedly punched by someone and asked if they were going to do something about it. Well they did, we both got detention for a week because, "it takes two to fight" even though I did nothing to provoke it and didn't fight back. I remember my dad having a long conversation with the principal over that, but it accomplished nothing.

Schools really need to start fixing the rules so that students can actually trust that if they report something it will be addressed instead of being ignored.

I can't say that the things the school is accused of happened but from personal experience it wouldn't shock me that much if it was true.