The Story
“David Shepherd, Travis Price and their teenage friends organized a high-school protest to wear pink in sympathy with a Grade 9 boy who was being bullied [for wearing a pink shirt]…[They] took a stand against bullying when they protested against the harassment of a new Grade 9 student by distributing pink T-shirts to all the boys in their school.
‘I learned that two people can come up with an idea, run with it, and it can do wonders,’ says Mr. Price, 17, who organized the pink protest. ‘Finally, someone stood up for a weaker kid.’
So Mr. Shepherd and some other headed off to a discount store and bought 50 pink tank tops. They sent out message to schoolmates that night, and the next morning they hauled the shirts to school in a plastic bag. As they stood in the foyer handing out the shirts, the bullied boy walked in. His face spoke volumes. ‘It looked like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders,’ Mr. Price recalled.
The bullies were never heard from again.”
— GLOBE & MAIL
‘I learned that two people can come up with an idea, run with it, and it can do wonders,’ says Mr. Price, 17, who organized the pink protest. ‘Finally, someone stood up for a weaker kid.’
So Mr. Shepherd and some other headed off to a discount store and bought 50 pink tank tops. They sent out message to schoolmates that night, and the next morning they hauled the shirts to school in a plastic bag. As they stood in the foyer handing out the shirts, the bullied boy walked in. His face spoke volumes. ‘It looked like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders,’ Mr. Price recalled.
The bullies were never heard from again.”
— GLOBE & MAIL
What is Bullying
Information courtesy of Red Cross Canada
Bullying is a form of aggression where there is a power imbalance; the person doing the bullying has power over the person being victimized. In additional to any physical trauma incurred, bullying can result in serious emotional problems, including anxiety, low self-esteem, or depression.
TYPES OF BULLYING
- Physical bullying: using physical force or aggression against another person (e.g., hitting)
- Verbal bullying: using words to verbally attack someone (e.g., name-calling)
- Social/relational bullying: trying to hurt someone through excluding them, spreading rumours or ignoring them (e.g., gossiping)
- Cyberbullying: using electronic media to threaten, embarrass, intimidate, or exclude someone, or to damage their reputation (e.g., sending threatening text messages).
BULLYING VS HARASSMENT
Bullying and harassment are similar, yet different:
- Harassment is similar to bullying because someone hurts another person through cruel, offensive and insulting behaviours.
- Harassment is different from bullying in that it is a form of discrimination.
WHAT IS DISCRIMINATION?
Discrimination is treating someone differently or poorly based on certain characteristics or differences. Bullying turns into harassment when the behaviour goes against Canada’s Human Rights Laws and focuses on treating people differently because of:
- Age
- Race (skin colour, facial features)
- Ethnicity (culture, where they live, how they live, how they dress)
- Religion (religious beliefs)
- Sex Sexual orientation (if they are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or heterosexual)
- Family status (if they are from a single parent family, adopted family, step family, foster family, non-biological gay or lesbian parent family)
- Marital status (if they are single, legally married, common-law spouse, widowed, or divorced)
- Physical and mental disability (if they have a mental illness, learning disability, use a wheelchair)
More Resources and Infos
Visit the Webiste pinkshirtday.ca to access more information about bullying. You can find resources to help and prevent bullying at home.
Keisja Cox - WITS |
Gregoire - Soleil |
|
|
Life Vest Inside - Kindness Boomerang
|
|