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In Reply to: RE: 10,000 Maniacs, "What's The Matter Here?" posted by Jim Doyle on September 30, 2023 at 10:53:21:
When I was a young lawyer, my father, who was an elementary school principal, phoned me. A young kid had bruises on his back. The teacher was freaked out. The kid was a Hmong (Cambodian First Peoples).
Not wanting to jump the gun, my father showed the kid to a Hmong cafeteria worker, who spoke to the kid in his native language.
The kitchen worker said that the kid said he was fine.
The kitchen worker then said that the kid must have had a cough, because when kids from a Chinese culture have a cough, the adults take a coin, preferably gold, and a hard-boiled egg (don't ask me why) and put them in a handkerchief, and then rub the kid's back really hard.
"Coin Dao" or "Cao Gio" is what it is called.
My father asked if he had to report the parents.
In the single most COURAGEOUS judgment call EVER of my budding legal career, I told my father to write a Memo to File that the kid presented with bruises, but that totally unrelated East Asian workers said that the kid said he as OK.
I also told my father to check the kid in general every week for a month, and he did.
I don't want to think about what might have been the outcome if provincial (monocultural) cops or social workers had gotten involved.
I was crapping in my pants; but that was the usual indication that I was doing the right thing.
Today, the Internet can provide the needed context. But 40 years ago, I was flying by the seat of my pants.
all my best,
john
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Follow Ups
- God Bless all the educators who did, and do, the right thing... and, a contra case - John Marks 15:14:39 10/01/23 (0)
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