Sometimes it is difficult to stand up for what you believe because it runs against the beliefs of other people. Will Phillips, a 10-year old student at West Fork Elementary School in Arkansas, encountered this when he refused to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, specifically because he felt that one phrase, “liberty and justice for all,” did not truly apply to gays and lesbians. His choice did not go over well with his substitute teacher and eventually got him sent to the principal’s office; yet the whole incident was sparked by the boy exercising his constitutional right not to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
In spite of continued harassment by his peers for supporting gay rights, he is sticking to his beliefs. We applaud Will for having the bravery and tenacity to exercise his freedom of speech and stand up for what he believes. And we also applaud his supportive parents, who acknowledge that their son has opinions, has the right to express them, and that by doing so he can raise awareness and make a difference.
Business Week reporter Anne Newman writes: “Less than a week after President Obama’s Cairo speech urging peace and tolerance in the Middle East, Wednesday’s murder of a Holocaust Memorial Museum guard in Washington is a chilling reminder of how active organized hate groups are at home. While our YouTube-Facebook-Twitter-texting-connected kids have unprecedented tools for finding common ground among cultures that have been at odds for millennia, the rantings of suspected shooter, white supremacist, and anti-Semite James W. von Brunn show how easily the Internet can be used to sow hatred. So how do we protect our children from such vitriol?”
The HRSA also runs the Stop Bullying Now! Campaign Web site with one section created especially for adults and another section just for children. Here you’ll find valuable resources about bullying awareness, prevention and intervention.
Attacks against LGBT people are one of the more common forms of hate violence but, tragically, one of the least protected. Hate crimes as a whole declined one percent last year, according to the FBI, but LGBT hate crimes increased six percent.
Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover hanged himself on April 6th, after enduring months of threats, harassment and anti-gay slurs. He was only 11 years old.
Carl played football and basketball, and was active in the Boy Scouts. But none of that protected him from the bullying he faced when he started sixth grade. Since school began, his mother said that other kids at school were harassing him. Kids taunted him and said he acted like a girl and they made fun of the way he dressed. They called him gay. Carl did not identify as gay, but that just didn’t seem to matter to his tormentors.
So just before dinner, Carl wrapped an extension cord around his tiny neck and hanged himself. His mother had to cut him down. She said her son couldn’t stand another day of bullying in school.
On April 16th, just after school, Jaheem Herrera, a Georgia boy who had also endured relentless homophobic taunts at school, wrapped a fabric belt around his tiny neck and hanged himself as well. He too was only 11 years old. His 10-year-old sister found him.
In March, 2007, 17-year-old Eric Mohat shot himself in the head, after a long-term tormentor told him in class, “Why don’t you go home and shoot yourself; no one will miss you.” Eric liked theater, played the piano and wore bright clothing, and had long been subject to taunts of “gay,” “fag,” “queer” and “homo.” Teachers and school administrators, the Mohats’ lawsuit now asserts, did nothing.
To learn more about bullying and sexual identity, read Judith Warner’s blog post “Dude, You’ve Got Problems” (Domestic Disturbances,The New York Times)
There are several entities that failed these children, including their parents / guardians, the school administrators, the teachers, friends and parents that apparently let this abuse continue.
Breakdown in formal and informal support at schools is a pervasive problem that persists and continues in many schools and institutions. We need to get involved and do more to save more of our youth from relentless teasing and bullying. There are just a handful of local programs like Kidsbridge who teach diversity appreciation, conflict resolution and character education to elementary and middle school children. A committed nationwide effort is sorely needed.
Please ask yourself, your community and your educators — How can we prevent tragedies like this in the future, and what are we doing about it now?
Attractive people are “credited with being socially skilled,” Professor Fiske said, and maybe they are, because “if you’re beautiful or handsome, people laugh at your jokes and interact with you in such a way that it’s easy to be socially skilled.”
“If you’re unattractive, it’s harder to get all that stuff because people don’t seek you out,” she said.
———————————————————–
My friend, Joy C., a teacher in Pennsylvania, created a classroom/parent lesson comparing the two videos below. Joy calls this ” Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover “
The first link is of Susan Boyle from “Britain’s Got Talent”. (Click on name if video does not open below)
Joy says, “My students discussed and wrote utilizing a compare and contrast model –the verbal/nonverbal actions and words that were
given towards each contestant. My students loved it!”
Hats off to you, Joy! This was an excellent teachable moment!
Kidsbridge suggests that you discuss this comparison with your students or your family. We call this a good lesson in both stereotypes and media literacy.
