Posted on 09/08/2022 4:32:55 PM PDT by Morgana
he young boy who took his own life as he started school in North Carolina on Tuesday has been identified, as his heartbroken mother revealed he had been bullied for years and urged her fellow parents to teach their children to be kind.
Austin Pendergrass, 13, took his own life in a bathroom at Wendell Middle School on Tuesday on his first day of eighth-grade.
He was found dead by two students, prompting school officials to send everyone home, claiming there was a 'medical crisis.'
Pendergrass' family has now confirmed he died of suicide after years of bullying.
'The signs were there, but the bullying it was so bad,' his grieving mother, Jessica Pendergrass told WNCN, revealing he had been bullied since he was in sixth-grade.
'It was so bad last year with kids just taunting him, hurting him,' family friend Jalia Harris said in a video taken at a vigil Wednesday night.
He was able to enjoy the summer, his mom told WRAL, but as soon as he went back to school on Tuesday, the bullying started again.
'It's sad for us,' Harris said in the video, 'but this should be an eye-opener for everyone.'
'Just teach your kids to be kind, because kids can be so cruel,' Jessica Pendergrass added.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
You’re right.
Vouchers will help the students who want to learn, also help the parents of disruptive students who might need help with their kids, and help kids who want to be in a more comfortable setting.
Freedom to choose will help switch toxic incentives too.
School bullies, like prison rapists, are embedded in the system. They serve the overarching purpose of pounding in the lesson — you are not your own. You have no control over your life.
Too much negativity in songs, movies in society in general. These kids want to be tough, bad but one day their bully will come along or they’ll get a case of conscience and it will eat them up as to the kind of person they are or were.
Unfortunately not in the current woke school culture. The victim who defends themselves ends up with the full weight of the school and law enforcement on them. Just like the person who has to defend themselves in the middle of riot, the bullied student who has to defend themselves ends up getting prosecuted.
And that act of enabling bullies, criminals, and rioters is at the heart of contemporary liberal policy and politics.
Yes, my dad taught me well. It was the same everytime, as I was a very short kid, but I would fight EVERYONE who so much as slighted me. They didn’t get busted up by me, but they just got tired of me.
Neither they, nor their parents, have ever entered a church or synagogue, much less had an encounter with the living Christ.
It matters.
“I had some problems with bullying in grade school. The school handled it quickly.
Now the schools protect the bully and suspend the kid that finely kicks the bully’s ass.”
Even when I was a kid the schools always protected the bullies and not the victim. This school shootings we are hearing about? I heard about one in the 8th grade but it did not make national news. I heard about it from one of my teachers.
Would seem a boy was being bullied and he told the VP of his school and the VP laughed at him. The next day he came to school with a shotgun and killed both the VP and the bully.
if anyone remembers that story from before about 1983 let me know.
another valid point- It wasn't bullies who caused the boy to kill himself, what if mom had blamed heavy metal? Face it, the kid had other issues his parents didn't recognize or ignored.
Did he even have a father in the house?
My heart aches for this mom. It could easily have been my child taking their life.
Sometimes kids are different through no fault of their own. It does not give anyone the right to torture them. The little heathens that tortured this child will probably not lose a moment of sleep over it.
My children always knew I had their back, would do everything in my power to protect them, and they could tell me anything. They also knew that if they were evil to someone else, they would answer to me.
Teach your kid to fight!
After I beat the crap out of a would-be bully, he left me alone!
That is the ONLY way to cure a bully!
Beat the crap out of him/her!
Worked for me. 90 seconds and it was over. It established a reputation and I was never bullied again.
Precisely!
“Suicide is anger directed inward, it’s a childish thing to do, “
Yes and at 13 he was a child.
Of course he did not have a father in this day and age. However even a smart mom would have taken her child out of this sewer that is the public schools. This mom? I just don’t get it she sent her kid back after 2 years of this?
“Today? There was bullying in the ‘50s and ‘60s, too. Back then, kids sucked it up and grew up to be tough adults.”
Bull shit. yes they were bulling kids in the 80’s too but during all those times they never too it to the internet.
It’s way different now. Now they do it for likes and clicks. Now they video it and share it will millions of their “Friends” online. It’s way worse now.
And now we realize the likely root of the problem and why Mama bear is treading on eggshells.
While there was a history…one day?
That seems like there was more at issue there.
No comment from the dad?....hm?
If your kids are being bullied, why not find out the root cause of it?
Schools are terrified of all parents because of the wide use of lawsuits. People in the administration usually have little backbone.
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