[/floatl]NZHerald: Schoolboy avoids death after assaultA 14-year-old suffered a potentially fatal blood clot in his brain after he was attacked by school bullies in what appears to be a racially motivated attack. The teen, Japanese-born Ryotaro Wright, needed emergency brain surgery in Waikato Hospital after the attack at Forest View High School in Tokoroa this week. Doctors say he was close to death. Four students have been suspended and police are investigating. Ryotaro's father Llewellyn said yesterday his son had been racially abused by four students over the past few weeks, including being called "whale muncher". "I think they just think Asians are physically smaller than average Kiwis so it makes them easy targets. He's the type of boy who doesn't react normally, he sort of brushes things off"...School principal Richard Crawford told the Waikato Times the incident was "totally unacceptable". He said the school's anti-bullying programmes had clearly failed on this occasion. Wright wants his son's attackers charged, and the main protagonist expelled....more...
This story has been picked up on Japanese sites where it has sparked a lively debate about whaling and racism among other topics.
