One in four children has been subjected to bullying, according to statistics cited by Sharon Schlegel in her Saturday Times of Trenton column, “Fighting the blight of bullying.” She quotes the founder of the State Coalition for Bullying and Awareness, Stuart Green, and the author of several books on bullying, Catherine dePino For more on this subject, tonight is the premiere of the national Not in Our Town’s latest documentary, Class Actions, which tells of students and communities standing together to stop hate and bullying. It airs on WHYY at 10:30 p.m.
The film tells three stories: University of Mississippi students peacefully confront old divisions and the Ku Klux Klan by turning their backs on hate (photo above); hundreds gather on the Indiana University campus to light menorah candles after anti-Semitic attacks on campus; and a massive circle of southern California high school students break the silence about bullying at school with a loud and united chant, “Not In Our Town.”
Students in Antelope Valley, California, supported by school leaders, organized a anti-bullying campaign that brought together their city and four school districts serving 50,000 students. Learn what you can do to stop bullying and create a safer school.
Start by putting April 10 on your calendar. On that evening Not in Our Town Princeton is co-hosting an anti-bullying event at the Princeton Public Library, “The Bystanders Dilemma.” As Schlegel says, bullying at any age “has maimed lives for too long. It can be stopped if we face the issue head-on.”