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They are showing the Nick Berg Video to Children
Is this what you want here in America
My Friends we must pray for the families
We must pray for America. Without a
major move of God This will happen here
This is a drawing of the actual murder |
Who will stand with me and pray for these kids who saw the Nick Berg video. Only God know the damage that has been done.
Posted on Wed, May. 26, 2004
Video of beheading shown to students
By LEE HILL KAVANAUGH The Kansas City Star
“He told them, ‘Are you sure? This is vivid.' ”
Olathe South High School Principal Phil Clark, reading from a report about the incident
Like other parents across the country, Barry Hansel is angry because children have been allowed to watch the uncensored video of Nicholas Berg's killing — in school.
“I'm livid,” said Hansel, who didn't find out until Saturday that his daughter, a junior at Olathe South High School, watched the gruesome video in class two weeks ago. Hansel said an Olathe South official told him Monday that the school had investigated the matter.
A substitute teacher, at the urging of students in one class, showed them the Internet video of the killing in Iraq. Hansel said the administrator told him the substitute made a poor decision and would not be teaching in Olathe again.
But the administrators' words did little to ease Hansel's anger.
“I worry about how this might affect her in the future,” he said. “They didn't do anything to alert the parents about this.”
The Nick Berg video has caused controversy in other schools nationwide. Teachers in Nebraska, California, Arkansas, Alabama, Pennsylvania, Texas, Ohio and North Carolina have been suspended, fired or reprimanded for showing the video to their classes. In addition, two Port-land, Ore., radio talk-show hosts were fired last week after playing the audio portion of the video on the air, then joking about it.
News accounts of the other incidents reported that administrators at those schools had sent memos home to parents or called the parents to explain and apologize.
But that didn't happen in Olathe, and Hansel called the school Monday to complain. He was told that four other parents also had called.
Principal Phil Clark told The Kansas City Star on Tuesday that the classroom viewing occurred two weeks ago in a class of 15 juniors. Clark would not release the teacher's name because it was a personnel issue, nor would he comment on what was done to the teacher.
“A couple of students had relatives in Iraq, and it was in that context of the discussion of world events that the subject of Nick Berg video came up,” Clark said, reading from a report about the incident that an assistant principal had filed.
Clark said the class asked the substitute whether he could find the terrorist video on the Internet. The teacher did. The class then begged him to let them see it for themselves, the teacher said in the report.
In the Nick Berg video, Berg, 26, is seated on the ground with his arms tied behind him. Five hooded gunmen who identify themselves as Islamic militants stand behind him. After speaking Arabic for several minutes, a man in the middle draws a knife and decapitates Berg. As the knife is drawn to Berg's neck there is a scream. After cutting off Berg's head, the men held it up to the camera.
The Nick Berg video is one of the most widely watched items on the Internet since its recent posting, according to Web sources that monitor Internet requests.
Clark said the teacher warned the students about the effects of watching a human being murdered.
“He told them, ‘Are you sure? This is vivid,' ” Clark said, reading from the report. “The teacher later said he wished he would have consulted with another teacher first.”
The teacher “moved the monitor out of view of the class,” and allowed any student who wanted to watch it to do so. Most students watched it, said Clark. A few opted out, including “one student who was excused from the classroom out of earshot of the video.”
“It was a poor situation,” Clark said. But “steps were taken” to ensure this wouldn't happen again.
And that would be a good idea, said Andrea Jett, clinical and program director of Solace House, a center that specializes in helping grieving children.
There is some trust violation there, she said, because parents don't expect their children — even 16-year-olds — to be subjected to viewing that kind of violence in school.
“Watching someone murdered like that — a beheading — they could experience some post-traumatic symptoms later such as nightmares or flashbacks to the classroom where the video was watched,” she said. …“but the aftereffects of this will largely be determined by the adults around them.”
Most adults would be horrified and angry at the video, which is “a very natural response,” she said, “but the situation can be exacerbated by that” reaction.
As parents talk with their children about this or any other horrific news event, they should try to have a calm presence in front of their children and answer their questions as honestly as they can.
Parents should also try to encourage their children “to express their reactions to what they've seen and to help them process it,” she said. “Children need the presence of caring, compassionate adults around them because they don't have the repertoire that adults have.
“Even as adults we don't have the ability to understand such horrific events…
“It's really scary for these children.”
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