The school day finally ended. I was anxious to get home to eat all the delicious Chinese food my sister-in-law had just prepared for me. I went to the front of the school, as usual, to wait and play cards with my buddies.
As we were about to finish our second game, a group of students, both girls and guys, rushed toward the Art building. They were all running and I already knew that a dumb high school fight was about to start or had begun or had just ended.
As I turned my head to see what was happening, I saw students whipping out their cell phones, cameras, even mp3 players to record the horrific sight of a Mexican boy getting stomped on by five or six big buff Black boys.
When the Campus Assistant finally reached the scene, the guys had taken off running. No one was caught. The students dispersed and everything returned to normal. But after a couple of minutes, a few students were standing in front of the library, giggling and “ooing” and “ahhing” as they watched the clips they caught from the fight.
My sister-in-law arrived. She brought some food for my younger sister who has having a volleyball game potluck. So we drove across the campus to drop it off at the gym.
Again, I noticed a group of kids had gathered. I already knew something was up. We went into the gym, minded our business, and dropped off the food for my younger sister.
As we came out heading for the car, from the corner of my eye, I could see a few Mexican girls punching each other. And there it happened again! Another fight with another group of kids rushing to the scene.
[pullquote_right]They whipped out all their electronics, trying to capture the girls as they threw immense blows to one another’s faces while wrestling on the ground.[/pullquote_right]Once more, they whipped out all their electronics, trying to capture the girls as they threw immense blows to one another’s faces while wrestling on the ground. The Campus Assistant had a hard time getting through the crowd of guys who were blocking the way so the girls could continue fighting.
Finally, when the Campus Assistant managed to break through, one of the girls took off running and there he went too, chasing after her with all his might. She ran out of the gate, across the street, and she got away.
As she was running, I heard guys in the background cheering, “Run girl, run, don’t stop!!” Once again, everything calmed down as several students settled down to review what they caught on camera.
I wonder to myself, what’s wrong with this picture? Why are young people so excited over fights? During the two fights, I heard the student spectators laughing at the top of their lungs as if it had been a comedy show or something. I guess posting fights on YouTube is the new hip thing.
As I am writing this piece, I realize those students are probably posting up the fights they caught on their electronics. I feel annoyed and mad at the fact that so many young people couldn’t just be more mature and stop supporting violence.
In 2006, over 25 youth began participating in weekly after-school writing workshops where they congregated in the hallway of a two-story building in West Fresno and learned the essentials of creating media and telling their stories. The group evolved over the next five years and is now proudly recognized as The kNOw Youth Media.
Through our program, we create opportunities for our youth participants, who in turn create long-term positive change in their communities. Our approach weaves youth development and youth media innovation to produce our biannual youth publication, multimedia projects, and community forums.
The kNOw began as a project of New America Media, which was the country’s first and largest national collaboration and advocate of 2000 ethnic news organizations. In 2018 The kNOw became a project of Youth Leadership Institute.
