Lititz, a small town in Lancaster County not far from where I grew up, is going through its own version of Jena’s racial tension. Basically, a group of Warwick High School students sporting confederate flags on their trucks taunted, and yelled racial slurs at, three minority students. Warwick officials have declined to say how the offending students were punished, but word is they were suspended. One of the minority students’ father, pictured, wants them expelled.

While I don’t think you can blame the father for wanting the expulsions, I think that would be the wrong route for Warwick to take. If the end goal is mutual understanding, which it should be, then separation is counter productive. Having the offenders gone probably won’t make the minority students feel much safer. They will only have to face other kids who may have been thinking what the offenders said. Expulsion also wouldn’t give the rebel flag bunch an alternative way to look at their diversifying life, which is exactly what they need.

In Jena, the authorities turned in the opposite direction they needed to, in order to actually deal with the tension. Instead of forcing the two parties to sit down and deal with the misconception and fear, they only confirmed that both parties need to be afraid. The black students were at first stuck with attempted murder for a schoolyard fight, which is certainly reason to be afraid. And by so doing, the authorities confirmed for the white students that the black students were dangerous.

In Warwick, the officials need to take Jena as a lesson. Sit the kids down. Get them to listen. And get them to talk. If Warwick goes the way Jena went, then they will assure only that everyone involved will remain angry and afraid for a long time.