The family of a Brooklyn teenager is in the process of suing for $16 million for a brutal assault that left their child to undergo two surgeries in his right eye and little faith that he will be able to see out of it again. Kardin Ulysse, 14, is the victim of bullying.
Preston Deener, a fifteen year-old sophomore at Brunswick High School in Maryland, was attacked by his peers while preparing for an on-camera interview with a television station about his exposure to bullying. He has also been a victim of cyberbullying on Twitter.
A mother in Flagler County, Florida was arrested for fighting a teenage boy at his bus stop. She was protecting her child from a bully.
When one thinks of bullying their mind may flutter through images of kids being hung in a locker in the buzzing hallways of high school, a jock tripping the kid in glasses while running in gym class or the prom queen spilling punch on the girl with braces who is waiting on the wall to be asked for a dance. At the end of these scenes, the nerd always wins. Locker boy plots a harmless and quasi-successful revenge and a lesson is learned on both sides. The boy in glasses steals the jock’s girlfriend and the girl in braces comes back to the high school reunion as a foxy bombshell. The nerd has to win. Right?
Today bullying is on the rise and things aren’t exactly the same as portrayed in a John Hughes film. The use of force to intimidate others ends in physical, emotional and psychological damage, which may or may not be capable of healing.
According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, New York is placed second in ranking the states with the highest level of bullying. Thirty-seven percent of teenagers report being bullied at school.
The medium of bullying has changed since the wacky portrayal of bullying in 1980s films. Expansive access to the Internet provides a more isolated platform for bullying, known as cyberbullying. Bullying can now be through physical coercion, verbal abuse or via the internet.
Erin Gallagher, an Irish thirteen year-old, committed suicide after warning the bullies that she intended to only 24 hours before her body was found.
October is Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, when protestors march through the streets of New York in solidarity with the greater world to support it.
Information on how to get involved can be found here.
Body Dialect 