Name: Ray
Date: Octobur October 17, 2014
Before.
Before it all started, I was happy. I was me, smiling, laughing.
Now.
Now it's different. Now I frown. Now I stay quiet. Now I stay away from people. I think they will hurt me. Now I make sure nobody can see me.
Now I make sure I am who I am.
I am Zero.
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This was a poem my friend wrote in 2nd grade. 28% of U.S. students in grades 6–12 experienced bullying. She's one of the 28%. I'm not proud, I feel like I could have made a difference. But this isn't about me. Sure, I did make a difference, but until I came, she was pushing through. Despite this, approximately 30% of young people admit to bullying others in surveys.
Just in surveys.
9% of students in grades 6–12 experienced cyberbullying. It may not seem like a lot, but out of 318.9 million Americans, that's 28,701,000 people. 70.6% of young people say they have seen bullying in their schools.3
70.4% of school staff have seen bullying. 60% witnessed bullying two or more times in the last month and 40% witness bullying once a week or more. That's a lot. In our school, there's 200 kids in 6th Grade. 100% of them see bullying, cause bullying, and 99.5% are bystanders.
And they all watch one person.
When bystanders intervene, bullying stops within 10 seconds 57% of the time. For the school, it took years. It could have stopped long ago, but nobody had the courage to step up to the queen of the school.
Ray Queen is one of the toughest people I know. She is an amazing artist, singer, and one of the only people in this school who has been bullied. Only about 20% to 30% of students who are bullied notify someone about the bullying. Nobody knew what was happening, minus the queen. Her younger 'sisters' had no clue, and neither did her guardian. She did it on her own.
All by herself.
