My bullied son's last day on Earth (CNN)

[Roon]

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Eleven-year-old Jaheem Herrera woke up on April 16 acting strangely. He wasn't hungry and he didn't want to go to school.

He came home much happier than when he left in the morning, smiling as he handed his mother, Masika Bermudez, a glowing report card full of A's and B's. She gave him a high-five and he went upstairs to his room as she prepared dinner.

A little later, when his younger sister called him to come down to eat, Jaheem didn't answer.

So mother and daughter climbed the stairs to Jaheem's room and opened the door.

Jaheem was hanging by his belt in the closet.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/23/bullying.suicide/index.html

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. saddest story have read today

and am currently protecting a teen from in class high school bullying...

In my mind, I call the bullies "FuckWits."



...and have talked about bullying this girl...

Am currently collecting backpacks at beginning of class so NO ONE has the opportunity to physically throw broken pencils, it has stopped the daily Par. 7 attacks completely...for now.



and still the administration won't help me.



Bullying is real.
Happens every day, many times a day.


:cry:

[FedUpWithIt All]

2. Damn, damn, damn.

:cry:

[Jamastiene]

3. Homophobic bullying can be dangerous to heterosexuals too.

That's something I keep thinking about. I don't think a lot of people stop and think about it. Of course, bullying is bad by itself, but when you add the homophobic element to it, it's twice as bad.

RIP Jaheem :(

[RoyGBiv]

4. This paragraph really bothers me ...

Well, the whole thing bothers me. This was pretty much pisses me off.

"Allegations of such severe bullying surprises experts familiar with the school district. It's anti-bullying program was considered exemplary and includes programs to raise awareness and a specially trained liaison. Students are even asked to sign a no-bullying pledge. But other parents told CNN they have complained about bullying as well."

I am shocked -- shocked I tell you -- to hear of bullying in school. The students signed a pledge!

It reminds me of those anti-bullying wristbands handed out in England. To "raise awareness" and form a coalition against bullying at school, students got wristbands identifying themselves as anti-bullying. This was lovely, for the bullies, who now had a multitude of very clear targets, and to everyone's shock and horror, bullying increased. Can you imagine? I just don't understand what went wrong ...

So many of these programs, or whatever we want to call them, are nothing more than an effort by adults to hide the unsavory facts of the world from their *own* eyes, to pretend to do something, and go on about their life in the firm assurance they've done all they can do. Meanwhile they utterly fail to address the real issues behind bullying -- abuse, extreme poverty, overly competitive environments, homophobia, etc. -- because that's just too uncomfortable for them. And, some of those adults actually agree, deep in their black hearts, for the reasons behind the bullying in the first place (see "homophobia") but just don't want to admit it.

Sickens me.

I suspect that mother and those siblings will never get the help they need to deal with this, and they'll never get over it.

[jeff30997]

6. Well at least they now have an expert that

will make sure that it will never happen again:

"Eliza Byard,executive director of the Gay,Lesbian and Straight Education Network,says to be effective,awareness programs need to include education about the harm that can be done by teasing someone about sexuality or perceived sexuality."

I'm sure that the bullies will change drastically after that improvement and

their anti-bullying program will be considered even more exemplary.

Problem solved. :sarcasm:


IMHO that's the parents who need awareness programs because where do you think

that those kids learn those homophobic,racist and other violent behaviors in the

first place?

[Duer 157099]

5. Gah. I heard about this yesterday on the radio.

And then today I saw another absolutely horrifying thread here about this "game" that teens and tweens are into where they end up accidentally hanging themselves.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30385561/

[Initech]

7. I was a victim of bullying. Shit like that fucking sucks.

Seriously if I won the lottery I'd start some sort of charity dedicated to fighting crap like this. I hate reading stories like this.

[ThomCat]

8. It really bothers me that school administrators look away

and think they are doing their job by "protecting the school's reputation." They should be working their asses off to protect kids from bullies. That should be a priority, case by case, personally. They should be paying attention and getting involved.

This shouldn't be allowed to happen. If it does, the school failed. :cry:

[NewJeffCT]

9. how tragic, only 11 years old

I feel so bad for the family.

[Deja Q]

10. The number of decades in which bullying is tolerated and accepted, and shoving kids through despite

obvious inabilities to read, write, or do basic maths... their reputations must be through the floor. I sure as hell wouldn't want to support them with tax funds until these cesspools are sorted out. :(


The First Lady is right; our public school systems need reform... BADLY.

[Sultana]

11. What the fuck is wrong with this country?

:-(

RIP Jaheem