When Words can kill
Another tormented grade schooler, another little kid who thinks there’s only one way out. An 11-year-old boy from Massachusetts, US, killed himself after he was repeatedly bullied by classmates who bombarded him with anti-gay taunts for “acting gay” and being feminine. "I am determined for the rest of my life to advocate on behalf of students who are voiceless and silent.” his mother said, "I have been homeless, but Carl and I made it through. I was a victim of domestic violence and we made it through. The one thing we couldn’t get through was public school." This is at least the fourth suicide of a middle-school aged child linked to bullying this year.
about 11 months ago
This is really sad. This is what happens when you call your peers a fag, and they really are a fag they take it very personal. RIP.
about 11 months ago
Suing school officials? Fuck you.
about 11 months ago
SAD! Had the boy been called by a racial term, suspensions or even expulsions would have taken place, but he was ONLY sexually harassed and called gay, so it was ignored.
The administrative cover “We have an anti discrimination policy….” is a total crock of crap in almost every school in America. Student cruelty combined with faculty indifference is repeated thousands of times a day in a country where children are given the message it’s wrong but ok too. Churches, and many non-religious people as well, still teach their children that being gay is a choice. That ignorance is deadly and pervasive.
Suing the school won’t bring her son back, but it might cause those trusted with children to actually take their jobs a little more seriously.
about 11 months ago
I can’t remember hearing her saying she wants to sue them, I thought that was the mother of another boy. I might be wrong ‘tho.
about 11 months ago
she didn’t say that, and it would be cold comfort even if she did and won.
about 11 months ago
Bless the news media for paying mind to the suicide of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, the 11-year-old who hung himself from an extension cord after students endlessly bullied him in school for acting feminine, though he never identified as gay. Of course, that doesn’t keep kids from calling anyone a "faggot." Not only are outlets like ABC News recognizing the terror gay (or gay-suspected) youth must endure, but they are using a BLACK BOY as the newspeg. Normally, heartwrenching tales of woe are the territory of white girls. This is significant. Even family member Anderson Cooper dedicated a segment to Walker-Hoover, pointing out racial harassment would never be tolerated in a school, but sexual identity harassment is. And it’s about time the mainstream media gave it some thought. School bullying leading to kids killing themselves is not a new phenomenon — but at the very least, attention to the issue is beginning. – QUEERTY.com
about 11 months ago
Calling a child gay in class results in the teacher saying “Shhhh!”
Calling a child a nigger, a beaner, a chink, etc. in class results in expulsion.
What is the fucking difference? NOTHING.
Stories like this make me so angrysadfrustratedupsethurt.
about 11 months ago
To me bullying is like rape in that its all about power over another person…from a very perverted perspective. The schools should treat bullying like the social crime that it is. Plus the schools should be obligated to provide a safe environment for all students.
about 11 months ago
Close the fucking schools. Nothing good goes on in them.
Have boys apprentice under men who take a fancy to them. Of course, all the fucking laws would have to be changed for that too.
Oh shit! It’s likely that it’s just simpler to let the kids off themselves. Yes, it is, and it keeps the status quo contented.
I am sure that this kind of situation will only get worse as time goes on. We are such good social engineers. Oh yes we are!
about 11 months ago
they went straight from the kids who killed themselves to a fucking dog, stupid US media
about 11 months ago
ahhh carl -_-
props to his mom. i wish i could hug her.
about 11 months ago
What a tragic tale. And what a tragic waste of a life. I thought his mother held up well – I would be alternately crying and furious at the school for letting it happen. It doesn’t help that church leaders (of all people!) and politicians are still allowed to stand up and say that being gay is wrong – no wonder high-school children repeat it.
Neither does it matter whether a kid is gay or not – being called a fag (and worse) every day of your life isn’t exactly going to give you a positive mental attitude no matter what your sexuality.
Suing the school won’t, of course, bring anyone back (and, I realise that it wasn’t Carl’s mum who said she might), but it seems to be the only way of changing things in the US where the dollar is king. The school authorities have known for years about this sort of abuse and have paid lip-service (at best) to the problem. If the only way to make them see the depth of the problem is to hit them in the wallet, then so be it.
Anti-discrimination is the in the first article of the Dutch constitution – gay marriage has been legal for years here in the Netherlands – but bullying still occurs. The difference is that something can actually be done here as laws have been broken just as much as if the kid were called a n*gger.
God rest Carl’s soul and give comfort to his family.
Alastair (Amsterdam)
about 11 months ago
Psh, that’s so gay. What is this world coming to?
about 11 months ago
Perhaps a poor time for humour, olshan?
Alastair
about 11 months ago
Bullying is bullying whether you’re gay or fat or poor or whatever. The school is required to take care of kids in their care and ultimately they failed, sadly not an isolated case.
about 11 months ago
Josh – I love your site and the interesting discussions that result from your provocative posts.
I’m wondering now just what is involved in “comment moderation” since, in the past, my comments here have appeared almost immediately [within a few minutes] even though it’s way past midnight where you are.
If you can’t let my comment on this video go through, because you have some unknown loyalty to Steevo, then say so.
Otherwise, publish my comment. [I have saved it and may re-comment any number of blogs.]
about 11 months ago
@aleks
Yes, indeed, I have to sleep, go to college etc. sometimes too ;p Re. your comment: I have no problem with your comments in general but milkboys is not the place for a fight with another blog, ok?
about 11 months ago
poor boy, sorry for this but anderson cooper is fking hot!
about 11 months ago
the ticker by my name is going to say im french but im American. and it is sad and true that this is how the American education is. im23 and wheni was in school every day was torture. and i mean torture. from the 4 grade everyday was more painful than the last. its a shame that a boy had to die for the media to touch this subject. i remember my mom calling the school about me getting beaten up or picked on and there repose was always the same. boys will be boys. and boys are just a little more ruff when they play. hopefully things will change and soon. i don’t want to have my kids go through this
about 11 months ago
@ Dan: I am curious about bullying as a tragic “american education” thing. Is this not a phenomenon in European and other school systems too?
For those who grew up in non-american places how has your experience in school been? Does bullying take on a different form? what are the “policies” like?
about 11 months ago
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/divided/
This is an incredibly orchestrated Lesson in discrimination that was a direct reaction to Dr. King Jr.’s assassination.
The teacher concludes that discrimination cannot be talked away. She leads a class of third graders through a controlled experiential lesson in discrimination (blue eyes and brown eyes).
Watch for yourself, it left me speechless.