> Fighting back a bully isn’t always like what you see in movies… <
Every last thing you said in your post is true. (And see the end of my post #32).
And as I noted in an earlier post, I had a student in my class who had murdered someone, and was out on bail. A bully like that won’t be deterred by a punch in the nose.
It sickening, but sometimes a bullied kid just has to get out of that school. There is no better option. Heck, even Lee retreated after Gettysburg.
The bully I stood up to made my life a living hell for the rest of my time there. He and his friends would stalk me everywhere, looking for an opportunity to beat me senseless, forcing me to always watch my back and sneak down back alleys to avoid the main streets. One night, they came by my house and smashed almost every window on the first floor with cinder blocks and baseball bats. My parents had to pay the costs for that.
I ended up joining the Marines after high school in large part just to get away from that neighborhood and those kids.
Also, and here is the kicker, I was the one suspended from school for fighting. Never had a discipline issue in my entire school life up to that point. The administrators didn't care. Rules are rules, was their reply. The bully was considered the victim because I threw the first punch. And the bully was careful to get his revenge outside of school grounds.
Urban schools were and are hellholes. Likely even worse today than back when I went. Raising my children in a mostly white affluent suburb was probably the best thing I ever did for them.