Showing posts with label Bullicide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bullicide. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Interesting Quote: Al Franken

“After all the tragedy that Anoka-Hennepin school district students have endured this year, I find unbelievable that anyone would suggest that bullying is not a problem. It’s clear that we need to do more to protect our students from bullying and harassment, and it’s time that we extend equal rights to LGBT students. No student should be subjected to discrimination and harassment in school, and we must tackle this problem at every level — local, state, and federal.”

Al on bullying.


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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Seth Walsh takes his life, due to Bullying in Middle School

13-year-old Seth Walsh died yesterday at the hospital. He was on life support for 9 days after he tried to hang himself from a tree at home.

The reason for this suicide is becoming too common... He was teased and bullied for being gay. And what hurts the most is the school (Jacobsen Middle School) didn't stop it or reach out to Seth, regardless of their anti-bullying program. Police investigators talked to many students, but they said there will be no charges for his death.

My heart goes out to his family and friends.

Here is a tribute to Seth

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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Asher Brown takes his own life because of Bullying


Asher Brown shot himself in the head last week. His parents believed it was from the consistent bullying he received from school.
Brown, his family said, was "bullied to death" — picked on for his small size, his religion and because he did not wear designer clothes and shoes. Kids also accused him of being gay, some of them performing mock gay acts on him in his physical education class, his mother and stepfather said.
The 13-year-old's parents said they had complained about the bullying to Hamilton Middle School officials during the past 18 months, but claimed their concerns fell on deaf ears.
David and Amy Truong said they made several visits to the school to complain about the harassment, and Amy Truong said she made numerous phone calls to the school that were never returned.

The school claims that there never been any reports from students or the Asher's parents. 
That statement infuriated the Truongs, who accused the school district of protecting the bullies and their parents.
"That's absolutely inaccurate — it's completely false," Amy Truong said. "I did not hallucinate phone calls to counselors and assistant principals. We have no reason to make this up. … It's like they're calling us liars."
David Truong said, "We want justice. The people here need to be held responsible and to be stopped. It did happen. There are witnesses everywhere."
On the day Asher killed himself, he left a note to his parents, saying he was gay. His family said they were fine with it.

This madness has got to stop.

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Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Another Bullied Teen takes his Life


Billy Lucas took his own life last Thursday, by hanging himself in his family's barn.

He did it because he was being bullied and harassed as school:
The 15-year-old never told anyone he was gay but students at Greensburg High School thought he was and so they picked on him.

"People would call him 'fag' and stuff like that, just make fun of him because he's different basically," said student Dillen Swango.

Students told Fox59 News it was common knowledge that children bullied Billy and from what they said, it was getting worse. Last Thursday, Billy's mother found him dead inside their barn. He had hung himself.

Students said on that same day, some students told Billy to kill himself.

"They said stuff like 'you're like a piece of crap' and 'you don't deserve to live.' Different things like that. Talked about how he was gay or whatever," said Swango.

Principal Phil Chapple doesn't deny that students are bullied in the high school, but he said he didn't know Billy was one of the victims.

"We were not aware of that situation," said Chapple.

It's clear though, on a memorial page created in Billy's honor that many people knew students bullied him. We found comments like "everyone made fun of him"

It's a wake up call to a serious problem the school can't ignore.

According to many students, past and present, bullying has been an issue Greensburg High School for years. Hopefully, this will make the faculty wake up and take notice.

My heart goes out to the family of Billy Lucas.

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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

No Evidence That Jaheem Herrera was Targeted for Bullying


This is so ridiculous to hear! I can't believe this crap!

You may remember my post on Jaheem Herrera, the young boy who killed himself because of bullying at his school. Well today, an internal DeKalb school district reviewed this incident and found no evidence that Jaheem was targeted for bullying.

His mother, Masika Bermudez, broke down crying 13 minutes into the press conference. Bermudez has insisted her son killed himself after being constantly bullied at Dunaire and that she had complained to school officials several times.

“My conclusion is there is no evidence of bullying at Dunaire,” said Moore, whom the school district brought in to oversee an internal review. “There is name-calling and teasing, but it is almost always done outside of any adult [being present]. There is a code of silence among the students.”

More than a dozen people showed up to hear the findings at the school district’s headquarters on North Decatur Road near Clarkston, and reaction was swift and harsh.

One man was forcibly removed from the building after he started shouting, “Shame!”

DeKalb County school police reported two arrests: former Atlanta City Councilman Derrick Boazman, and Abdullah Jihad, whose relationship to the family was not clear. The charges were not immediately disclosed.

A friend of Jaheem’s family, Monique McMiller, said four of her children attend Dunaire, including her son, whom she said was bullied in March 2008. McMiller said the principal was unresponsive and that the same kids then are causing problems now. McMiller said she was interviewed by Moore for the judge’s report, as was her son, who McMiller said broke down in tears during the session.

The judge’s conclusion “makes her [Moore] a liar,” McMiller said. “To come to a conclusion there’s no bullying, to drag that family underneath like that, is embarrassing.”

The day after Jaheem died, his mother wrote a note to his teacher, complaining about the constant bullying. Despite the note’s April 17 date, Bermudez insists her complaints started much earlier.

Jaheem’s teachers said they did not see or hear bullying or harassment directed at the child and that he appeared well-liked by classmates.


This is a mess! I can't believe that there was no evidence, nothing to support this tragic loss. I hope someone speaks up! This case can not go down like this.

Source

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

A 5th Grader kills himself because of Bullying


Again we are losing our children due to bullying and schools' lack of protection.

11-year-old Jaheem Herrera to commit suicide last Thursday.

On Thursday afternoon, after returning home from school, fifth-grader Jaheem quietly went into his room and hanged himself. His 10-year-old sister, Yerralis, also a fifth-grader, discovered Jaheem’s dead body.

“His sister was screaming, ‘Get him down, get him down,’” said Norman Keene, who helped raise Jaheem since the boy was two years old.

When Keene got to the room, he saw Yerralis holding her brother, trying to remove the pressure of the noose her brother had fashioned with a fabric belt.

Jaheem was bullied relentlessly, his family said. Keene said the family knew the boy was a target, but until his death they didn’t understand the scope.

“We’d ask him, ‘Jaheem, what’s wrong with you?’” Keene recalled. “He’d never tell us.”

He didn’t want his sister to tell, either. She witnessed much of the bullying, and many times rose to her brother’s defense, Keene said.

“They called him gay and a snitch,” his stepfather said. “All the time they’d call him this.”

In an interview with WSB-TV, Bermudez also said her son was being bullied at school. She said she had complained to the school.

She said she asked him about the bullying Thursday when he came home from school and he denied it. She sent him to his room to calm down. It was the last time she would see him alive.

Bermudez told WSB she talked to Jaheem’s best friend about the situation last week.

“He said, ‘Yes ma’am. He told me that he’s tired of everybody always messing with him in school. He is tired of telling the teachers and the staff, and they never do anything about the problems. So, the only way out is by killing himself,’” Bermudez told WSB.

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Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Carl J. Walker-Hoover was buried today...


Carl J. Walker-Hoover was buried today at his family's church. I can't help but to think about the reasons why we lost this child.

I'm outraged that his cries for help was ignored and he had nowhere to go. The school should be ashamed of their actions and parents of the bullies should take a hard look at their kids and themselves.

It brings back memories of my childhood and being teased for liking Wonder Woman and She-ra. I was very lucky to make it out...most of us were lucky.

I can rant about this all day, but I will stop here. I just hope that the message is clear. Our kids need our support and protection.
Hundred from the community show up for Carl Walker-Hoover funeral


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Sunday, April 12, 2009

Carl Walker-Hoover's Mother calls for state probe after his suicide


Carl Walker-Hoover committed suicide because he was teased and picked at school, now his mother, Sirdeaner L. Walker, wants a state probe into the New Leadership Charter School.

She believes that they did nothing to stop the bullying despite her many complaints to the school.

If this is the case, then the school needs to be grilled. I can't understand how a teacher can just sit there and let a kid be teased and bullied. A life was taken from us because of negligence. I hope this school takes a good hard look at the tragedy they could have prevented.

My heart goes out to the family of Carl Walker-Hoover.


Source

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Another loss due to Bullying

This is really crushing me right now...

Please read:

The mother of an 11-year-old sixth-grader who committed suicide by wrapping an extension cord around his neck and hanging himself says her son’s death could have been prevented -- he was a victim of school bullying, she says.

Sirdeaner L. Walker said she found her son Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover dead on the second floor of their Springfield, Mass., home. She said he had endured another day of teasing from his fellow classmates.

“I just want to help some other child,” she said. “I know there are other kids being picked on, and it's day in and day out."

Carl played football, basketball, and was a boy scout -- but that didn’t stop other kids from picking on him, his mom said. Students called him gay and made fun of him for the way he dressed.

Sirdeaner Walker said she began phoning his school repeatedly when Carl first told her about the bullying last September, but she says the school was unresponsive.

This madness has to end. I urge people to demand the Schools District Boards to make Bullying a high priority. How many more do we have to lose? When will schools send a stronger message?

Source

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Stop Bullicide


Eric Mohat, 17, loved the arts and was a bright student. However he was harassed daily at school and no one defended him. So when an asshole told him, publicly in class, to go home and shoot himself, he actually did.

We lost Eric due to bullying and teachers failing to do the simplest thing of stopping the constant teasing and picking.

Eric's parents are suing the school because of this:

Now his parents, William and Janis Mohat of Mentor, Ohio,
have filed a lawsuit in federal court, saying that their son endured name-calling, teasing, constant pushing and shoving and hitting in front of school officials who should have protected him.

The lawsuit -- filed March 27, alleges that the quiet but likable boy, who was involved in theater and music, was called "gay," "fag," "queer" and "homo" and often in front of his teachers. Most of the harassment took place in math class and the teacher -- an athletic coach -- was accused of failing to protect the boy.

"When you lose a child like this it destroys you in ways you can't even describe," Eric Mohat's father told ABCNews.com.

The parents aren't seeking any compensation; rather, they are asking that Mentor High School recognize their son's death as a "bullicide" and put in place what they believe is a badly needed anti-bullying program.

This has to stop in our schools. Please teachers, educate and protect our students!

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.