A lot of attention has focused on the teens who allegedly made a noose and placed it around the neck of a 14-year-old African-American student in Largo last month.
School officials who reported the hate crime and Largo police who pursued the perpetrators and arrested them have all been praised for the seriousness with which they approached the incident.
But probably not enough attention has been paid to Dionte Hall, the 14-year-old victim, and that's why Largo Mayor Bob Jackson's decision to honor him at next week's Largo City Commission meeting is important.
Dionte showed more maturity than anyone could expect of a 14-year-old. When confronted by a group of teens bragging about being racist and taunting him with a noose, Dionte just ignored them. He kept walking from Largo High to the Wendy's next to the campus and sat down to eat with friends before basketball practice. When a young man full of false bravado ran into the restaurant and dropped the noose around Dionte's neck, then ran out shouting a racial slur, Dionte showed class and courage.
"I thought about hitting him," Dionte said afterward. "Then I thought about doing the right thing."
He quietly removed the noose, went on with his meal, then reported the incident to his coach, who notified police, who arrested three youths on a variety of charges. Meanwhile, Dionte found balm for his pain in the resulting outpouring of love and support from his schoolmates and others in the community, and in writing a letter to President Bush about the incident and his feelings about it.
Mayor Jackson, a retired school principal who frequently appears at school events in his mayoral role, decided that the city should do something to honor Dionte. "Because of his behavior, he defused what could have been a serious situation," Jackson said. "We should give credit to young people who do that."
So at the City Commission meeting next Tuesday evening, Dionte will receive the congratulations of Jackson and the other members of the City Commission. People watching on television will see the serious young man receive a commendation for his behavior.
Meanwhile, the accused perpetrators wait to see what the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney's Office will do to them.
