This Is How It Gets Better
Many of you have no doubt seen the video of Casey Heynes as it's gone viral. If you haven't, you can watch here.
I'm posting from iPad today and I'm not able to upload the video directly.
For those of you haven't seen the video and/or linkphobic, the shorthand is that a bully and a couple of his friends decided to record the bully pestering and assaulting Heynes, a kid who's been bullied repeatedly. In the video you see the bully corner Casey and repeatedly punch him. Casey tries to walk away but the bully continues to assault him. Finally Casey has enough, the two tussle, Casey gets the upperhand, hoists the bully in the air and executes a spine buster (slamming him on the pavement) that would've made Arn Anderson proud.
SERIOUSLY GO WATCH THE VIDEO.
Unfortunately the bully along, the jerk recording the video, and Casey have been suspended. While the first two bastards got off easy in my opinion, the fact that Casey is facing any form of punishment has me seeing red.
Why? Because it's the worst form of victim blaming.
The bitch of it is that this has become the norm for many schools. When I was in high school, TN passed a no-tolerance policy in Nashville where anybody fighting would automatically be expelled. The problem is that many teachers don't do shit or look the other way and if you're defending yourself against a gang of fucking criminals, you're automatically expelled. Hell, there have been cases where kids didn't fight back and they still got suspended and/or expelled after getting their asses kicked. Because the school board and the other powers that be would rather fucking bitch out and pass a copout of a policy rather than actually tackle the problem and keep kids safe.
In the news stories, students said that the student had been the victim of bullying for ages and no one did anything and the first time he defends himself from a pack of animals, he gets suspended.
Like many people, I was on the receiving end of bullying as a kid. Whether it was Catholic school for being the only geeky black kid, or public school where a bunch of criminals thought I was too uppity and white, I learned very quickly that often (not always but often) the best way to deal with a bully is to take a stand and know how to throw a good right cross. If you're ever ganged, reach for a weapon and if you can't fight them all, go for the ringleader (the one usually running the most mouth) because 9 times out of the 10, they're the weakest one in the bunch. Fight your hardest, take as many out as possible with you.
If you can avoid a situation and walk away, by all means do so. But you have the God-given right to protect yourself by any means necessary.
But the real culprits here, more than the bullies are the cowards who run these schools and school boards. This policy is unacceptable. Because the Casey Heynes of the world should never be punished for defending themselves. If the schools were more proactive in addressing these problems at the core, we'd have fewer Casey Heynes in the world to begin with.
And to the bully, he actually is lucky he was able to limp away for another day. He's lucky the only thing he has to worry about is being the laughingstock of the better part of the planet seeing that his plans for efame backfired and his ass kicking was recorded for posterity. Because not all bullied kids are as kind and stable as Casey. Some of them get fed up and tend to bring a gun to school and handle things once and for all.
Something to think about the next time you feel like bullying an easy target.
Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad.