CHI -RAQ
Epidemic of bullying
By Josh Jones
Walther Lutheran High School
K
athleen Mulvey was bullied at Carl Sandburg High School. Kathleen was a standout basketball player, and her teammates did not like her. She was being highly recruited by colleges, until one of her teammates pushed her in practice, and she tore a tendon in her foot. She needed surgery and she then became depressed. Children and coaches in the school knew this was happening to Mulvey, and they ignored it. Although this problem did not occur in this city, this type of thing happens everyday in schools across the city, and across the nation, and there is so little being done to change it. People don’t do anything because nothing is enforced. Students don’t stop bullying because adults in the schools don’t force them to stop. It is saddening to think how many lives could have been saved if something were done; if there were rules or policies enforced. There are so many policies and options that haven’t been enforced. Teachers report to the higher authority, students face discipline, and the entire cycle
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begins all over again. The students don’t get the message because it’s not made strong enough. There are different types of bullying. There is cyber bullying, emotional bullying, and physical bullying. These things have a negative impact on people. People commit suicide, have trust issues, and so much other emotional distress. The fact that bullying is not stopped dead in its tracks despite the major epidemic happening in this country is ridiculous. The problem is spoken of all of the time in this country. Countless reports come in every day. Celebrities ranging from Justin Bieber to Lady Gaga have taken an anti–bullying stance. They have started anti-bullying campaigns. People who have major influences in our society are against bullying. Why is the epidemic not going away? The mayor starting an anti-bullying campaign would be very helpful. If the most powerful man in the city rose up against bullying, the problem could be solved. When people who have great influence try
to make a difference, it works. People try to follow the lead of important people. What better than to lead them in a positive direction? Something being done about bullying can have an impact on students’ school work. Students will be more willing to go to school if they don’t have to go with the fear of being bullied. Students will walk the hallways with less fear of violence. Students will be more comfortable. Being comfortable in a school environment really helps the students. This fact alone should cause more to be done. Anything that helps the students should be considered a good option. When bullying is seen, it should be required that it is reported to a higher authority. The higher authority should take the proper disciplinary action to make sure that the student will never do anything of this sort. It is important that things are done to stop bullying. If nothing is done, the problem will never be solved. Josh Jones is a senior who lives in Austin on the West Side.
By Raymond Roundtree
I
have been a citizen of the South Side of Chicago all of my life and quite frankly I am not that proud to admit that. Chicago is also known as Chi-Raq to my friends because it feels as if the streets are at war. I have had firsthand experience of the violence of the South Side. I have been jumped, been pushed to fight, and have been robbed. My mother attempted to be my shield and protect me from all the negative aspects of humanity, but soon I opened my eyes and began to see how cruel the world really is. At first glance I seem like an innocent, nerdy kid. But everyone has their own perception of who is innocent or not because to others they saw me as prey. I moved around a lot and it seemed like everywhere I went someone always tried to harm me. It seemed that in every case my skin color and my body build was brought up as a factor. But with all that I never let it affect me. I stayed strong, fought the battles that I was forced to fight and managed to stay happy. The fights that I actually won still ended with a loss because after I had my victory, the sore losers felt the need to jump on me. Eventually, even though it’s sad to say, I became immune to violence. In 8th grade I was jumped on by at least 15 people. It happened while I was walking home and saw two
Options Laboratory
guys. The two guys were with a girl that I knew from school. I waved at her and I guess the boys thought I was looking at them so they walked over to me and asked why was I looking at them. I remember saying something smart, they said something back and before I knew it one of them hit me. We fought until I was knocked out and some random bystander broke it up. The next time I saw the guys was once again on my way home but this time I was in an alley. I saw one of the guys in the alley. He approached me and wanted to fight. I fought him and had the upper hand. Until a crowd of people came out of thin air and beat me up, until I got away and transferred schools because the Board of Education felt as if my life was in danger. I soon moved on, not letting anything bring me down. That was actually my last fight. Surprisingly, I made it into senior year without a fight. I expected high school out of all places to be the most violent. Freshman year I entered and people thought I was way older than what I was so I guess they didn’t want to mess with something that they thought they couldn’t handle. But as am I’m writing this, I still haven’t found out why was I targeted in a series of separate cases of violence. So, I started to think of the psychology of the subject. I compiled a few questions to research.
My opinions were that violence is something learned from the media. But then I soon dismissed that because I listen to music, grew up playing violent games, and watch all types of violent television shows, and I’m not violent nor a bully. So my second hypothesis after a little more research was that violence was maybe genetic or a social thing. There are numerous articles relating violence to a mental disability but there isn’t enough information because it relates to the personality of the person, which is always unpredictable. Actually, I define personality as the way in which one person acts and it’s true that an act isn’t always actually true. The social theory of violence seems to relate more to how I experienced violence. Most of the cases were by the so–called cool person in the class trying to add to their reputation and bully somebody. An article that I read stated that 85 percent of kids say they were bullied because of the cool vs. un-cool argument. I tattooed heartless on my neck to show that violence will not affect me in the wrong way. All I know is that violence can be prevented. ChiRaq is a war that I hope will one day end in peace. Raymond Roundtree is a sophomore who lives on the South Side. 17