Comments on: Middle School Student Takes a Stand Against Bullying

By: Roxy Angulo(friends

Roxy Angulo(friends — Thu, 18 Nov 2010 00:54:45 +0000

Well I just met Marco today. He has been transfered to Howard Elementary. He’s been going to Howard for two days now. I simply don’t know why kids would do this to him. He’s a really nice guy. He explained to me and my friends today what had happened and i don’t think it was right, I felt sorry and wanted to make him welcomed to our school. Me and my friend Vanessa Munoz decided to say hello and wanted to get to now him. We told him we were all for it to stand up for someone who has been bullied. I don’t think saying sorry is enough. I know theirs expulsion and suspension, but nothing will make those kids change this situation is serious and i think everyone should do something about it. We’re all in it to help some one in need. I just hope for the best to Marco.

Sincierly,
Roxy Angulo.

By: Steve

Steve — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 16:15:35 +0000

The problem is that we keep calling this “bullying”…and in the national consciousness, bullying is almost cute, a right of passage. We have movies about bullying where the bully gets his comeuppance or learns a valuable lesson or [insert cliche here]. There are movies that include bullies: Stand by Me comes to mind as does Pay It Forward. Bullying is when one kid and his posse demands your (and every other nerd’s) lunch money. It’s wedgies and atomic wedgies. Well, maybe in 1956 and probably not even then…and it should be taken seriously.

But this isn’t bullying. What we see here is the same systematic anti-gay harassment that permeates our culture at all levels; it has simply seeped down to the Lord of the Flies worlds of grade, middle and high school.

By: customartist

customartist — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 15:36:04 +0000

Call your congressmen here:

800-828-0498 Congressional Switchboard

202-224-3121 Main Capitol Switchboard

Tell them to create and pass a “National Bias Intimidation Law”. This will allow, and require, the FBI to step in when local authorities do not act with due diligence.

This is the he most correct and accurate definition of the needed legislation. This includes Intimidation and Bullying which is not necessarily physical, nor specific to LGBT’s.

The operator can connect you to your congressmen if you do not know who they are.

By: Robert Ray

Robert Ray — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 22:05:04 +0000

Bullying is tolerated because it simply reflects the attitudes of the adults. The children do what the adults can’t, and the adults teach the kids that bullying is what they should do.

Expulsion is what should be done for bullying. The moment a child is treated in any manner that could be physically dangerous, like smashing their head on the pavement, expulsion should be mandatory and the parents should be FORCED to place their children in a private school without ANY financial aid.

By: justsearching

justsearching — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 18:54:06 +0000

The kids should have been kicked out. Their apologies mean nothing. And switching around a few classes might be a good short-term solution, but they had better do more than that. Maybe they should keep all the weird gay kids in one class to let the straight kids feel safe from the temptation of smashing a gay kid’s face in.

By: Timothy Kincaid

Timothy Kincaid — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 16:11:58 +0000

Okay, I gotta say: I LOVE this kid’s father. He’s taking his parenting job seriously.

By: Bernie

Bernie — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 05:22:28 +0000

What strength and courage!

By: BlackDog

BlackDog — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 04:40:14 +0000

The more I see of this, the more convinced I am that in a lot of schools bullying is de-facto tolerated and they only punish or remove the bullies to cover their own asses. When the hell are we as a society going to wake up and realize that all the American “rugged individualist” myths not to mention most of our other mythology that feeds into the fucked-upness of our society is just that, MYTHOLOGY. More to the point, it’s mythology that, at best, serves what the status quo was when *I* was a kid and at worst enables the most reactionary among us. Both the stereotypical “ignore them and they will go away” approach and the learning to fight back approach work for some people, but not for everybody! I was bullied because on the one hand I’m reasonably intelligent but on the other I had/have a learning disability, and the only reason it stopped was I learned how to fight back…AND the principal understood that an ass whupping is sometimes necessary AND I was defending myself.

I’ve heard of cases from two or three of my friends around here where the kid who was being bullied fought back, or someone fought back on their behalf and then THEY were punished while the bullies were allowed free reign!

In my experience, a lot of it boils down to classism and elitism, as well as fear and hate of that which is different…and I think bullying is tolerated by some because OF these screwed up aspects of American society.
In a lot of other countries, people would be going to prison over this bullshit already.

It’s not the 1950′s anymore, people need to wake up and realize that, before the rest of the world leaves us behind.

By: Jonathan Oz

Jonathan Oz — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 04:33:52 +0000

First, I applaud tMarco Melgoza for speaking out. It requires a rare level of courage to do so, especially in middle school.
I feel the “hang ‘em from the highest tree” attitude about bullies reflected in many of the responses to this story, however, is counter productive for kids in elementary, middle and to a certain extent even high school, and is part and parcel of the same value system that promotes and accepts bullying in the first place. Solutions to this problem need to reflect a deeper and more reflective understanding of the problem.

By: Rob San Diego

Rob San Diego — Sun, 17 Oct 2010 04:04:04 +0000

What a great inspiration. I am so amazed that this kid is taking matters into his own hand. Let’s hope that it’s a wake up call to all those parents who are picking up their kids. Of course I’m sure that most of those kids get it from their parents.