how many children and teens need to die before we take action to cut out bullying in schools?

[unusualmusic_lj_archive]

Children bullied, accused of being gay, commit suicide

Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover

SPRINGFIELD - Two days after the worst day of her life, when she found her 11-year-old son had committed suicide by hanging himself, Sirdeaner L. Walker said on Wednesday she wants the bullying to stop.
She found Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover hanging by an extension cord on the second floor of their 124 Northampton Ave. home Monday night after he had endured another day of taunting at New Leadership Charter School, where he was a sixth-grader, she said.
"I just want to help some other child. I know there are other kids being picked on, and it's day in and day out," said Walker, 43.MORE

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_yggdrasil/]

OMG, poor baby. What a smile.

People who say bullying is just kids being kids are full of it. Bullying made my life hell on earth and lead me to self-destructive behavior that didn't include suicide, so in that sense I was lucky.

[ijeomaa.livejournal.com]

This is just terrible. What is worse is that bullying doesn't have to happen at all. I went to a school where no one was bullied, kids just have to be taught to have respect for each other and themselves. That such a young life should be cut short... too sad for words.

[abydosangel.livejournal.com]

I have no words for how sad and senseless this is.

*smh*

[buria-q.livejournal.com]

man, that was right here. i straight up cried when i saw that.

[moondancerdrake.livejournal.com]

My son is ten, he faces bulling on near a daily basis on the bus and around where we live. It's a horrible helpless feeling when all you can do is hug him and make sure the school is aware of the trouble on the bus (since the bus driver doesn't seem to care) Most of the bulling is because my son doesn't act like a "typical boy".

The idea that a child not so unlike my son felt so powerless that they took their own life cuts my heart to the core. I work with the lgbt youth in my town, and they've all had such a hard time of things. I often fear for the ones who never know they have a place to come where they’ll be accepted. Losing one more child, theirs no words for the anger, or the desire to find more ways to help them. The bigotry parents teach their children is killing our kids. It has to stop.

[hari-mirchi.livejournal.com]

Oh God. My prayers for that child's family.

You know what prevented me from committing suicide in middle and high school? The Lord of the Flies. I found it reassuring that I wasn't the only child whose life was made miserable by other children, and even more reassuring that some grownup somewhere thought the problem was horrible and pointless too.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

This is really upsetting to read. Every time I see a story like this, I flash back to my own childhood and think, "that could have been me." I feel so awful for his mother.