"Breaking A Bully's Grip"

"Bullying is a problem that transcends generations. The devastating effects have forced victims into isolation and pushed some to suicide. Every story of bullying gone too far sparks a firestorm of frustration and outrage. Parents, teachers, and society as a whole are blamed. Along with the accusations come demands for action. Despite calls for legislation, programs, or harsh punishment for bullying, there is no simple solution.

"Yet the situation is not hopeless. As the largest preparer of Illinois teachers, Illinois State University faculty, staff, and students are taking a stand against bullying through research, curricula, and programming."

So writes Steven Barcus, copy editor with Illinois State's University Marketing and Communications Department, in the recent article "Breaking A Bully's Grip." Barcus outlines the steps taken after ISU School of Communications Administrative Aide Patty Franz discovered the severity of the bullying problem faced by her granddaughter and others in her junior high.

"(My granddaughter) threw her backpack in the back seat, jumped in the car, rolled up the window, and told her grandma to drive," Franz recounted. "She said, ‘Get out of here right away, grandma. Some girls are going to beat me up.’

“I asked why. She said, ‘I don’t know. I guess they don’t like me.’”

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services defines bullying as “unwanted, aggressive behavior among school-aged children that involves a real or perceived power imbalance. The behavior is repeated, or has the potential to be repeated, over time.” Bullying has long been an unfortunate fixture in scholastic life, but social networking, increased media bombardment, and growing diversity in the classroom have added troubling, sometimes dangerous new dimensions to an age-old issue. Franz already had seen reports of children bullied to the point of mental breakdown, or in extreme cases, suicide. She decided to take action.

Four Communications grad students who had their own dealings with bullying volunteered to help Franz. One student was a mother of a child who had been bullied at the same school, one had a sister that bullied students at that junior high, one had been bullied, and another had a friend who had committed suicide as a result of bullying.

The group named itself Transformers and partnered with teachers and administrators at Parkside Junior High School to deliver lesson plans promoting positive social behavior. When word spread, the group of four students grew to 20.

Read Barcus' account of the progress the Transformers and their mentor, School of Communications Professor Cheri Simonds have fostered and learn more about the psychology and dynamics of bullying at http://stories.illinoisstate.edu/magazine/illinois-state/features/whats-required-break-bullys-grip/

 

Angelique: Arts and the Humanity

Angelique Racki

Breaking Chains & Advancing Increase/School of Arts

Bloomington-based BCAI School of Arts is positioning itself to be able to provide maximum cultural experience through the arts. We are undertaking an Indian Arts branch, Hispanic/Latino Arts branch, and expanding our Asian Arts and Urban Arts branches.

In this way, not only can each culture have an outlet, a platform, and a voice, but if we can cross-culturally train each individual, how much MORE understanding and how much LESS false judgment would there be?

Here at BCAI, our prime focus is not to teach art. It is to use the training itself and the atmosphere provided to increase wisdom, teamwork, accountability, responsibility, and most importantly, self-value. We are open to all races, ages, social statuses, and cultures. We do cater to those who may not otherwise be able to afford such a necessary outlet. 

One of our teens perhaps summarizes the personal value of the BCAI experience best: "BCAI's afterschool program helped me feel more 'me' and understand the people who get bullied."

BCAI is located at 510 East Washington Street. For information, call (309) 532-4272, or visit www.bcaidance.com/.

"Arlene": On Race and Retail

Call me "Arlene." I am a white woman with a son who is mixed race/black. He is a teenager at BHS - a good kid, thoughtful and smart.

One day, not long after the Trayvon Martin shooting, I took him to help me pick up some items from a business in Bloomington. I went inside to talk to the manager while my son parked the car. I was having a happy pleasant conversation with the manager, Michelle.  My son walked into the business, dressed in the usual high school hoodie, and walked up to us. 

Michelle immediately stiffened and said loudly, "What do you want?" 

There was a moment of silence, as my son and I looked at each other.

"Michelle," I said, "please meet my son. He is here to help me."

She recovered quickly and shook his hand. 

That moment will linger forever in my heart as I saw my beautiful, loving son judged by the color of his skin and the clothing he wore that day. It was not the first time, and it will not be the last.  He knows that, and so do I.  But for me as a mom, it was one of the most painful experiences, knowing that I can no longer protect him from the realities of our society.

Camille: Recongregate, Communicate, and Inoculate

By Camille Taylor

Educator/Not In Our Town Steering Committee

WJBC-AM Forum/Monday, November 17

Nineteen years ago a grassroots group of citizens in Bloomington-Normal began a movement called “Not In Our Town.” The movement began with goals to establish a community standard that rejects discriminatory words and deeds, to inoculate our community through education and dialogue against the social evils that follow complacency, and to be proactive against hate and intolerance by addressing injustice and inequity in our community. The inspiration for Not In Our Town came from Billings, Montana, where a rock was thrown into a little boy’s window that displayed a menorah. A PBS film about the incident was viewed in our community followed by adult/youth discussion panels. It was also used as a training tool by the Bloomington Police Department. Over the last 19 years, Not In Our Town has held marches, rallies, pledge card drives in local schools, stood against East Peoria’s white supremacist Matt Hale, who came to Bloomington to spread his messages of hate, and the Rev. Fred Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Church, who came to our town with hate filled anti-gay demonstrations. After a few years of less activity, Not In Our Town is relaunching new efforts. On December 9, the Not In Our Town campaign will be launched with a media event at the YWCA, community leaders, electronic billboards, signage on Connect Transit busses, pledge cards, and a fundraising campaign. The theme, “The Season4Reason,” sends the message that it’s time to fight bigotry and bullying and that there’s no room for this in our community. The vision is to have a safe and inclusive community. Our work will be ongoing. Most movements take at least 50 years to accomplish goals. When will this vision be achieved? When every person in our community, no matter their gender, race, religion, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, address, or whatever, feels safe and included.  We know our community is not a Ferguson, Missouri, but we don’t want to become one either. Sometimes it’s easy to wear blinders and not notice that some members of our community are less safe/ included than others. So, here’s my personal challenge. As we approach the holidays, observe how open we are as a community to all perspectives, different observances, those who are able, and those who are not in the mainstream. Let’s make it a Season4Reason and do our part to wipe out hate, bullying, and bigotry on every level. I’m Camille Taylor for the WJBC Forum.

A Season4Reason: A time to regroup

As Bloomington-Normal’s landmark Not In Our Town anti-racism campaign approaches its third decade with an expanded mission and a new grassroots focus, this seems the ideal time to call for a Season4Reason across the Twin Cities.

December is a time of multicultural celebration -- Christian traditions of Christmas, Hanukkah observances by the Jewish community, Bodhi Day commemorating the enlightenment of the original Buddha, and Kwanzaa, as celebrated by many African-Americans. In October, Hindus communitywide celebrated Diwali, the Indian fall festival of lights, and January marks the Muslim observance of the prophet Muhammad’s birth.

This is also a potential season of discontent. Individuals and families address serious and divisive holiday-related economic and domestic issues; late-semester academic pressures can escalate into bullying, addiction, crime, and cross-cultural conflict; and the differences between the haves and the have-nots often come crisply and raggedly into focus. Recent elections, U.S. and world events, and ongoing debate about immigration, domestic security, and community-police relations have generated conflict and alienation where commonality and appreciation should flourish. 

It’s a season when compassion, empathy, tolerance, and, indeed, reason must prevail among Twin Citians of all races, faith communities, cultures, and lifestyles. We want the same things – family security, individual opportunity, acceptance or at least respect from our peers, the American right to live and love as we choose. We want a safe, inclusive community where everyone has a place at the table, in society and the economy, in the classroom.

As Not In Our Town embarks on a new phase of education, enlightenment, and growth, we’re asking our friends, families, neighbors, classmates, and community leaders to embrace a new winter celebration – a celebration of each other. A season where old hatreds, smoldering resentments, and fear of the merely different fall away in the face of reason.