Florida Teen Expelled and Arrested For Science Experiment

First time accepted submitter ruhri writes "A 16 year-old girl in Florida not only has been expelled from her high school but also is being charged as an adult with a felony after replicating the classic toilet-bowl cleaner and aluminum foil experiment. This has quite a number of scientists and science educators up in arms. The fact that she's African American and that the same assistant state attorney has decided not to charge a white teenager who accidentally killed his brother with a BB gun has some thinking whether this is a case of doing science while black."

Comments

Re:Florida

[Jawnn]

You're an idiot.

Spoken, no doubt, by an anonymous coward from Dixie who just can't come to grips with the extent that racism still pervades The South. No, the idiots are the officials who are making this chickenshit case and ruining a young woman's life.

Re:Playing the race card again

[Nyder]

If you look at any of the myriad statistics linked from the articles the system is incredibly, systematically racist.

Or African-Americans have a shared culture that glorifies violence and celebrates street crime/being a thug, causing them to commit more violent crimes. Most human beings of any color have difficulty resisting the influence of a poisonous culture. The silly, stupid, moronic War on Some Drugs is where nearly all of the arrests of non-violent people are coming from.

Because the DA was the same. Apparently that was a tragic accident but this is a serious felony.

This should go nowhere because there was no criminal intent. This student did not intend to damage anything or hurt anyone. Far as I know, nothing was damaged and no one was hurt. If we are going to have Prohibition against "unauthorized chemical reactions" just like we do against "altering your consciousness in unauthorized ways" then let's call it what it is.

First off, the African Americans are NOT the only culture that glorifies violence. We all do. We glorify Gangsters/Mafia, not much different then being a "thug" or in a gang. And calling them poisonous, seriously? You saying your a white supremest? Which is a white gang that likes violence. Hate is what is poisonous.

As for the second part, I'd think being the white supremest you seem to be, you'd be familiar with what really happens with the law. She will get all these big ass charges against here, and then given a plea bargin deal. Probably something on the lines of no time in jail, but she's a registered felon. Of course, being a felon is easy to do these days, but it can ruin her chances of getting into good schools, government jobs, or other things she might want to do in her life.