Bullying in U.S. Schools

If you went to high school, you most likely fell into one of two categories: the bully or the victim. This isn’t true for everyone, but the majority of kids today are bullied, even in the smallest ways. Bullying can take on many forms, including physical and psychological. It can also have deadly consequences.

Tyler Clementi, 18, jumped to his death from the George Washington Bridge after discovering a video of him with another man was posted on the internet. Even though this sort of thing has been going on for years, people were still shocked at the aftermath. He’s only one of six boys who’ve committed suicide since July. The other boys- Seth Walsh, 13, Raymond Chase, 19, Asher Brown, 13, Billy Lucas, 15 and Justin Aaberg, 15 were also targets of homophobic remarks and actions.

Hope Witsell, 13, committed suicide after being bullied for sexting. She sent a revealing photo to her boyfriend, which somehow ended up in the hands of a girl who then passed the photo around. It circulated to six different schools. Hope took her life in September of ’09 because she, like many others, felt there was no way out.  

Many parents and school officials turn a blind eye or aren’t even informed of ongoing bullying, as was the case in 1999’s Columbine incident. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold orchestrated a massacre, killing a total of 15 people (including themselves), and wounding 24 others. Reports state that the boys were frequent victims of the popular crowd’s taunts and beatings, causing them to plan and carry out one of the worst high school shootings in history.

In honor of the six young men whose lives were cut short, people are being asked to wear purple- which represents spirit in the LGBT community- on October 20^th. Some may say our generation is the most open-minded, yet we’re nowhere near where we should be.

If you or someone you know is being bullied, don’t take matters into your own hands. Instead, get help from someone equipped to deal with the situation properly. If you’re a gay or lesbian teen in need, visit www.thetrevorproject.org, or call 866-488-7386 for support.