By Lou Copelan
Almost the entire of West Wendover High School student body attended the special viewing of the movie Bully Wednesday in Elko.
Bully is a 2011 film documentary directed by Lee Hirsch, depicting bullying in several U.S. schools in Georgia, Iowa, Texas, Mississippi, and Oklahoma.
The movie begins with the parents of Tyler Long, a 17 year old high school student, who committed suicide after a life of being bullied. They organize a meeting at their town hall about bullying and the measures that should be taken against the act. They blame the school district for not taking bullying seriously, and that the death of Tyler Long was consequence of the schools poor governing of students. Bully then continues with the back-to-back story of three different bullied kids, Alex, Kelby, Ja’ Meya, and parents whose kids have committed suicide as a result of harassment, Kirk and Laura Smalley, and David and Tina Yong.
Alex is a 12 year old sweet natured kid who is a victim of bullying, primarily on the bus. Bully shows how he has been poked, hit, and even strangled by his fellow classmates, while assuring his parents that it is “no big deal.”
Kelby is a 16 year old girl who have turned out lesbian. While she has accepting friend, she has been picked on by not only her peers, but also her teachers. She says that on the first day of school, when they were all picking seat, she sat down, and everyone near her got up and pick a seat far from her. Even with all of this mistreatment, Kelby does not want to move, as she would be, “letting them win,” which her parents accept.
Ja’Meya is a 14 year old Mississippi girl who after years of harassment on the hour-long bus ride home, stole her mother’s pistol a brought on the bus, “not intending to shoot, but just to scare them.” She faced three months incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility until all charges were dropped.
Following the death of their 11 year old son, Ty Smalley, the Smalleys take measures to prevent other children from suffering their child’s fate. At the start to the new school year, the Smalleys launches an anti-bullying organization, Stand for the Silent. Stand for the Silent is a organization that is meant to inform children about the dangers of bullying and how to stand up for themselves.
David and Tina Long are the parents of Tyler Long, who hanged himself after years of bullying from classmates. David and Tina Long mourn for the loss of their son and they demand accountability from his school who miserably failed to protect as the Longs have tried.
After watching the film, West Wendover teachers Patricia Eklund and Jennifer Miera lead a discussion about bullying and how students can prevent it by being a friend to someone who has been picked on and not to pick on anybody, no matter how much “you are messing around.”