THE “R” WORD

 

Business Week writes about Hate Crimes: Teaching Tolerance Begins at Home

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?”

Also, sad to say, Business Week cites this statistic: “…New Jersey is no stranger to bigotry: In 2008, it ranked first in the nation in reports of anti-Semitic incidents, according to the Anti-Defamation League. “

See the full Business Week article here

 

ANONYMOUS BULLYING HOTLINE ESTABLISHED IN FLORIDA SCHOOL DISTRICT

While this is a great idea, it does not take the place of teaching tolerance and character development in school and in the home.  See article here

 

A RECENT PRESENTATION ABOUT KIDSBRIDGE

Kidsbridge Tolerance Museum

View more OpenOffice presentations from LynneAzarchi.

 

Top Six Ways to Kill Piper: YouTube Video Cyber-Bullying by Adolescents

Here’s a report on a recent public cyberbullying incident perpetrated by two adolescent girls.  We need to work harder to educate our youth about the consequences of cyberbullying.

 

Cyberbullying: Tools and Tips for Prevention and Intervention

Educators and parents must provide a clear message to children that cyberbullying is bullying.  Many children have not had guidance on this.  To explore this further please take a look at this excellent webcast run on April 22nd by the Health Resources and Services Administration.

What Adults Can Do To

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.

 

Pass the Matthew Shepard Act – The Petition Site

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.

Here is your opportunity to help get legislation passed to stop this violence:   Pass the Matthew Shepard Act – The Petition Site.

 

DEATH BY BULLYING

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?

 

A NEW TWIST ON SUSAN BOYLE OF IDOL TV FAME

YES, LOOKS DO MATTER !!!

So reports The New York Times, interviewing psychologists and Professor Fiske relating to Susan Boyle of ‘Britain’s Got Talent” TV fame.

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)

Susan Boyle:  Britain Resident
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxPZh4AnWyk

• The second link is of Bianca Ryan, the winner from “America’s Got Talent” 2006.(Click on name if video does not open below)

Bianca Ryan:  Philadelphia Resident
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JD2B4oKhco

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.

 

Mission

Kidsbridge is teaching kids and teens to: respect themselves, respect adults and one another. We are educating teens about Darfur and genocide. We are inspiring inner-city kids to aspire to college. We are extolling the importance and rewards of community service. We are empowering kids to not only reject drugs and gangs, but to commit themselves to the alternatives that will give them a chance for a better education and a successful life.