Another tragic death due to bullying. A 14-year-old took his own life this week because he told his friends he was gay.
I cannot even think about what this young man went through in order to make him kill himself. What kind of friends would tease and even send death threats to a person’s cell phone and then top it off with a Facebook hate group. Is more than heartbreaking, it is against the law!
14-year-old Kenneth Weishuhn Jr. began to be teased and bullied by classmates at South O’Brien High School after he came out earlier this year.
“He thought he had friends, he soon found out just how cruel teens can be they turned on him,” sister Kayla Weishuhn, a sophomore, is quoted as saying. “A lot of people, they either joined in or they were too scared to say anything.”
Wow! We cannot wear hoodies for a Trayvon Martin one week and use words to murder a peer the next week.
I think social media has to do more when we see someone online attacking a minor. We should step in and report it.
We should not laugh or repost hate, when it could end up killing someone.
We have to do more. The anti-gay teasing reportedly also continued online, where classmates created a hate group against gays and added Kenneth’s friends as members, and got even worse when the freshman started receiving death threats from students on his phone.
The most overwhelming form of bullying is done through ridicule, insult and rumors, rather than physical aggression, according to the report. Words are so powerful. They can either speak life or death in a person’s life.
Parents and educators face huge challenges in stopping LGBT bullying, particularly at schools where there are fewer resources and support groups such as gay-straight alliances.
Unfortunately, the communities a lot of us have been raised in thinks that words are just words and people are going to pick on you, so just take it.
Bullying should not be a part of growing up until adults teach us as early as pre-K that name calling and teasing hurts and is wrong; we will see more teen suicides like this one.
“Bullying is a crime, and should be treated like one.” ALL schools – should have comprehensive anti-bullying rules in place.
I will pray for the other students in this community that might not feel safe enough to be themselves.
