Photo: Ian Fairclough / Valley Bureau
When 12th grader David Shepherd and Travis Price saw another student bullied for wearing a pink shirt, they decided that enough is enough and got a bunch of students to come to school wearing pink!
The Grade 9 student arrived for the first day of school last Wednesday and was set upon by a group of six to 10 older students who mocked him, called him a homosexual for wearing pink and threatened to beat him up.
The next day, Grade 12 students David Shepherd and Travis Price decided something had to be done about bullying. "It’s my last year. I’ve stood around too long and I wanted to do something," said David.
They used the Internet to encourage people to wear pink and bought 75 pink tank tops for male students to wear. They handed out the shirts in the lobby before class last Friday — even the bullied student had one. [...]
They also brought a pink basketball to school as well as pink material for headbands and arm bands. David and Travis figure about half the school’s 830 students wore pink. [...]
"The bullies got angry," said Travis. "One guy was throwing chairs (in the cafeteria). We’re glad we got the response we wanted."
David said one of the bullies angrily asked him whether he knew pink on a male was a symbol of homosexuality. He told the bully that didn’t matter to him and shouldn’t to anyone.
I simply stated my opinion. This "feel-good" story does nothing to address the underlying problem.
The bullies in this story threw chairs around a cafeteria. Doesn't sound like they've changed to me. Just sounds like they're madder.
You told me to "fkawf". Are you trying to bully me into agreeing with you?
Why can't you call a good story a good story and fkawf with with the pessimism?
My "naive" comment was posted before yours was there (probably because yours was awaiting review). Don't look to me for solutions, jodie. Find your own.
People who bully others will do so for any excuse. You need to find out why they're doing it, and stop it, not just exacerbate a situation.
This just looks like people patting themselves on the back for a job well done, even though the bullies are still there, getting madder.
Hopefully these kids will continue to back up their show of support, and not leave their pink-shirt poster child out to dry next week. Otherwise, they've put an even bigger target on his back.
Oh, and - I love my dead, gay son!!