(No One Wins In Bullying ) Bullying, harassment and violence has understandably created a need for clarification on what bullying is and a priority to stop it. The personal accounts of bullying and cyberbullying, hospital records, police reports, investigations by the State Attorney’s Office and videos taken of violence inflicted by teens in our communities appears to be growing, this begs for a clear understanding on what is happening to school age children in the atmosphere of learning, where children are supposed to feel safe and protected in schools.
Media images are showing growing violence is happening in our communities to the levels of violation of civic and human rights violations to children and teens. Hundreds of Youtube videos are showing increasing numbers of youth in violent confrontations that are leading to hospitalization of bullied victims. Recent events where young women are so traumatized from months of bullying they seek to commit suicide to escape the mental and emotional torture of being bullied.
Bullying has grown to the level of violence that has become a violation of Human Rights, the rights for safety, the rights for 
protection, the rights for liberty and equality, questions asked: What is bullying and what are proactive measures to stop it. Taken from http://www.stopbullying.gov/ – Bullying is unwanted, aggressive behavior among school aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time. Bullying includes actions such as making threats, spreading rumors, attacking someone physically or verbally, and excluding someone from a group on purpose.
Parents must read with their children the Student Code of Conduct in their school district to understand how to be proactive against bullying or react to it through school administration or law enforcement. The violence borders on human rights violations and atrocities associated with wars because bullying creates a delayed stress syndrome that even war vets experience. These actions concerning Human Rights originated from the atrocities and brutality of beatings that are physical and emotional damage from taunting and verbal attacks. It is seen that bullying is as serious an action as war when young people have attempted suicide or even murder as the results of unwanted actions of others.
War is called an act of “extreme violence” and terror by Gen H. Norman Schwarzkopf, February 1991 Gulf War. The extreme acts of violence committed from bullying are on levels of terror and even terrorism.
The best defense against Bullying, Cyberbullying, Harassment, and even threats of physical violence is to create an atmosphere where children can communicate with adults. Too many children feel unprotected and unsafe not just in schools but in their communities. The dynamics of social engagement, interaction and relationship building has changed over the years. One issue is that communities are segmented, divided by economics, religious practices and other circumstances.
Bullying has received noticeable attention in recent years through the unfortunate deaths of bright, talented, and intelligent young people of all cultures. These young people were full of life, that spark of life extinguished by the actions of others through continuous, unrelenting, intentional, and demoralizing acts of bullying. Teens are attempting to commit suicide, contemplating taking their lives not because of rational conscious decisions, but because of the relentless acts of hate, jealousy, and even self hate of those who have unresolved issues themselves.
The National Threat Assessment Center found that the attackers in more than two thirds of 37 mass school shootings felt “persecuted, bullied, threatened, attacked, or injured by others,” and that revenge was an underlying motive (American Medical Association 2004).
The Department of Education (1999); American children eight to 15 years of age rate bullying as a greater problem than racism or pressure to have sex or use alcohol and other drugs. A Violation of Human Rights: Stated by President Obama at a Whitehouse Bullying Prevention conference in 2011, “We cannot turn a blind eye to bullying any longer. Children are taking their lives or taking the lives of others.” When a young person is harassed to the point where they feel the only escape is to commit suicide that is an indication that the systems in place are not working.
Adults that are educators, administrators, health providers, community leaders and even those in the mental health fields have a humanistic and humane responsibility to make sure all children are safe and protected before another act of violence happens in our schools and in our communities.
Resources:
Stop Bullying Gov
http://stopbullying.gov
Mental Health in the African American Community Inc.,
(MHAAC) a national 501c3 non-profit agency that provide
mental and behavioral health education, awareness, support
and referral services for ALL families.
https://www.facebook.com/Mhaacjax
Staff Writer; William D. Jackson
Find out more about this talented writer over at; OCS For Education.
