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Emmet
Fralick
April 8th, 2002 Halifax, (Pictou County) Nova Scotia, Canada
I did not know my son Emmet was being bullied until after his
suicide. I believe everyone has a purpose in life, and Emmett’s
purpose was to open our eyes to bullying. These words are from
Emmet Fralick’s Mother Lois who lost her 14 year old son to
suicide after being subjected to months of bullying.
A group of teenagers led by a 15 year old girl, made demands on Emmet on a daily basis.
Demands such as giving them $40 a day. The
Halifax teenager (formally from Pictou County) could not always
come up with the money, so he was put in a circle and forced to choose
which one of the bullies would get to punish him on that day. His
punishment would include being punched, kicked, burned with
cigarettes and even forced to eat dog feces. Before Emmet passed
away he had a broken nose, black eyes and a broken thumb
He would lie to his Mom and Dad about where and how he received
the bruises or hide them so they would not know he was being
bullied. He sold everything he owned his CD’s, stereo, bicycle, as
well as many items from his home, also being forced to turn to
shoplifting, he was caught twice, so he could sell the goods to
get the money to pay the bullies. Emmet’s friends knew what he was
facing everyday, they would help by giving their money to Emmet to
pay the bullies their demands, maybe they were too afraid to tell
in case they would be the next target for the bullies.
The bullying was all over for Emmett on April 8th, 2002 when he
committed suicide in the early morning hours, Mrs. Fralick is left
to tell Emmet’s story, and leave us with this powerful message
“Let’s not waste Emmet’s purpose by pretending that bullying isn’t
happening or it is not important, let’s come up with solutions to
the problem”. .
Travis
Sleeva
Canora,
Saskatchewan, Canada January, 2005
Travis Sleeva,16 , committed suicide by shooting himself, the
grade 11 student was bullied into ending his life by classmates
who didn’t like his country style, he liked country music, riding
horses. The boys bullying him & his friends were calling them
“Cowboys” Travis’s mom said the taunting hurt his self-esteem and
Travis became very insecure, he felt there was no other way to
stop the fighting according to the letter he left behind. The
bullying was mainly name-calling and it happened on a daily basis,
Mrs. Sleeva reported the bullying several times but was told it
was being investigated by the school but no one ever got back to
her, the school is reviewing Mrs. Sleeva concerns, but did confirm
a grade 9 student committed suicide at the same school in
December, 2004.
Dawn Marie
Wesley
Nov. 2000,
Mission, B.C., Canada
Dawn Marie Wesley, 14, hanged herself with her dog's leash in her
bedroom. She left a note naming three girls at her school she said
were "killing her" because of their bullying. "If I try to get
help it will get worse. They are always looking for a new person
to beat up and they are the toughest girls. If I ratted they would
get suspended and there would be no stopping them. I love you all
so much."
The girls named in the note were suspended from school.
Hamed Nastih
March 2000,
Surrey, B.C., Canada
Hamed Nastih, 14, leapt to his death from the Patullo Bridge. He
left a five-page note for his family describing in detail the
bullying and taunting that drove him to suicide. "Mom, I was
teased at school by my mates, my classmates, even my own friends
laughed at me. They always called me four eyes, big nose, and
geek." His mother said one of Hamed's last wishes was for people
to stop harassing each other and to realize that taunting is
hurtful. His friends felt powerless to stop the taunting he
endured. "Everyone gets bullied. But this went too far. We stood
up for him, but people couldn't get the hint that this went too
far, and this pushed him."
April 1999,
Tabor, Alta, Canada
A 14 year-old boy, who was an "at home" student. (He did
schoolwork at home because he feared school), walked into the main
hallway of the high school, shot and killed a 17-year-old student
and badly wounded another before surrendering his gun and meekly
submitting to arrest. Classmates said the 14-year-old was
"everybody's best punching bag." One student said "He'd sometimes
get body-checked into the lockers. They'd try to pick fights with
him and he'd just take it. They knew he wouldn't fight back." The
summer before the shooting, while on a scout outing, this "new kid
in town" was stuck on a rock outcropping, unable to climb up or
down. His fellow scouts laughed about his predicament and taunted
him instead of helping him out.
Reena Virk
Reena Virk, 14,
died after being attacked and beaten unconscious by seven girls
and one boy - all schoolmates. Reena's arm, neck, and back were
deliberately broken before she was dumped in the Gorge Inlet. Shy
but earnest, she had tried to fit in and desperately wanted to
belong to their group but was regularly and routinely mocked and
taunted by her killers about her brown skin and her weight.
Particularly startling was the fact that hundreds of students knew
about the cruel and relentless taunting and even of her death
before someone tipped off the police. On May 8, 1998, two of the
girls who lured Reena to the waterway where she was mobbed and
killed were sentenced to a year in custody and another year of
probation. The fourteen-year-old assailant said she was angry with
Reena because she believed she had been spreading rumors about
her. The sixteen-year-old assailant was mad at Reena because she
believed she had been involved with her boyfriend.
April 1997,
Nanaimo, B.C., Canada
A grade four student pulled a knife on another student who was
taunting him. According to his mother, the knife-wielding boy was
tormented by his peers for over a year. After the knife incident,
the boy and his family were required to take an anger management
course. The school took no immediate action with the children who
bullied him.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold
April 1999,
Littleton, Colorado
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold used assault weapons and homemade
bombs to lay siege to their high school. The two boys killed 12
classmates and a teacher, injured 18 other teenagers, and then
killed themselves.
Their friends said
the two boys were constantly ridiculed and taunted at school.
There was an unfounded accusation made by an anonymous classmate
that Eric and Dylan had brought marijuana to school, prompting a
search of their property.
There was another
incident, even more humiliating than the search. "People
surrounded them in the commons and squirted ketchup packets all
over them, laughing at them, calling them faggots. That happened
while teachers watched. They couldn't fight back. They wore the
ketchup all day and went home covered with it."
According to the
school's student body president: Eric and Dylan felt bullied and
alienated, and in their minds it was "payback time. |
