Tragic news: An 11-year-old boy, Carl Walker-Hoover in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA, hanged himself with an extension cord on April 6th, 2009. Ten days later, Jaheem Herrera, also 11, used a belt to the same end in his home outside Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
Even though he did not identify as gay, Carl had been the victim of anti-gay bullying at the New Leadership Charter School for more than six months. Other students called him gay and a 'fag' and made fun of his clothes.
However, the school blamed the incidents on "immaturity". According to his mother, Carl was too scared to reveal who the perpetrators were.
The DeKalb County schools, where Jaheem attended elementary school, reportedly have an anti-bullying program in place. But one classmate reported witnessing a bullying incident in the boys room that was so severe that Jaheem passed out.
According to Jaheem’s mother, she repeatedly complained to school officials about Jaheem’s harassment, but nothing was done.
"New Leadership Charter School", indeed. New leadership is badly needed to prevent this from ever happening again! Bullying - for whatever reason, with whatever excuse, at whatever age - is just never acceptable!
http://pastorbastard.blogspot.com/2009/04/young-victim-of-anti-gay-bullying.html
