Boy, 9, found hanged bullied for being white

BobbyPropane

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2283777/Boy-9-hanged-bullied-white.html

This is seriously shocking, something is really wrong with society when children this age are being forced to do this.

There needs to be more help and awareness for children and parents alike

Femme_Fatale

Horrific. Reported nine months ago though, not news.

BobbyPropane

Femme_Fatale wrote: »

Horrific. Reported nine months ago though, not news.

Just noticed weird I never heard of it, please close thread sorry.

Banjo String

Poor little tyke.

A kid that age couldn't truly contemplate suicide and the finality it brings with it.

R. I. P little man.

Frosty McSnowballs

Fcuking hell.

I'd be ripping the face off the principal then stalking the parents of the Asian kids....il say no more.

ancapailldorcha

There has to be more to it than what the Mail are saying. There's no way such a horrible rag would pass up a chance to spin something like this.

the groutch

BobbyPropane wrote: »

Just noticed weird I never heard of it.

you can be sure if it were a group of white kids bullying an Asian boy you'd have heard about it, very much double standards in the media.

BobbyPropane

the groutch wrote: »

you can be sure if it were a group of white kids bullying an Asian boy you'd have heard about it, very much double standards in the media.

Very true but the fact the child unfortunately took his own life is the tragedy here but also we should not ignore the fact that bullying and racism is not just a white children thing

brummytom

I grew up not far from that school, on the whole, Erdington's a very white place.

Obviously this story's from months ago - there was a lot of trouble afterwards with racist abuse towards Asian parents.

As terrible as this story, and racism in general, is; kids always pick on those who are 'different', it's what 9 year olds do. Be that skin colour, accent, ginger hair, what they wear. The ones who should be held accountable are the staff who allowed this to happen.

BobbyPropane

brummytom wrote: »

I grew up not far from that school, on the whole, Erdington's a very white place.

Obviously this story's from months ago - there was a lot of trouble afterwards with racist abuse towards Asian parents.

Kids always pick on each those who are different, it's what 9 year olds do. Be that skin colour, accent, ginger hair, what they wear. The ones who should be held accountable are the staff who allowed this to happen.

Possibly the parents are also to blame if they were told of the bullying

Joe10000

Daily mail story alert.

BobbyPropane

Joe10000 wrote: »

Daily mail story alert.

to be fair apart from the shocking headline at least they reported this story. It was barely reported by any other news source including the BBC

Jimoslimos

BobbyPropane wrote: »

to be fair apart from the shocking headline at least they reported this story. It was barely reported by any other news source including the BBC

Maybe because the BBC doesn't feel the need to report on wild and possible slanderous allegations, regardless of how tragic the loss to the parents. Did the result of any investigation determine whether bullying by Asian children was to blame?

BobbyPropane

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Maybe because the BBC doesn't feel the need to report on wild and possible slanderous allegations, regardless of how tragic the loss to the parents. Did the result of any investigation determine whether bullying by Asian children was to blame?

Second youngest child to ever commit suicide in Britain. Regardless of the reasoning this is clearly news worthy considering that even Skynews reported on the girl who tragically committed suicide in Limerick last month

Wattle

I find this response by the head teacher really shocking:

His mother claimed she went to see the head teacher of the school several times only to be told: ‘You didn’t have to come to this school, you chose to come here.’

BobbyPropane

Wattle wrote: »

I find this response by the head teacher really shocking:

I'd rather we didn't reignite this story can only see it turning it into a racism/anti-racism thread. Didn't realise it was so old, would like the thread closed if possible

Jimoslimos

Wattle wrote: »

I find this response by the head teacher really shocking:

That's what she claimed was the response. There is a difference.

MagicMarker

BobbyPropane wrote: »

I'd rather we didn't reignite this story can only see it turning it into a racism/anti-racism thread. Didn't realise it was so old, would like the thread closed if possible

Well then why did you post it? How old the story is is irrelevant.

Pug160

That's a very morbid thing for a 9 year old to do. If the other kids were bullying him because he was ''white'', they must have been influenced by their family, which is worrying. Kids that age usually just repeat what they have heard. Not that it matters, but ''Asian'' covers a lot of nationalities/ethnic groups. It's not exactly specific.

The_Kew_Tour

RIP big man.

I know story is old, but that brought a tear to eye.

9 years old. Freaking hell.

BobbyPropane

MagicMarker wrote: »

Well then why did you post it? How old the story is is irrelevant.

It was more shocking if new. I assume it's already been discussed

Wattle

Jimoslimos wrote: »

That's what she claimed was the response. There is a difference.

Well seeing as how his mum went to see the head teacher several times and nothing was apparently done I wouldn't completely dismiss it either.

wonderfullife

Worth noting 2 things here:

1. The inquest into his death was opened and adjourned 9 months ago (i.e. no verdict yet). The fact the boy was found hanged doesn't necessarily mean he killed himself (or meant to). Plenty of kids die in accidents by hanging every year. Or he may have wanted a cry-for-help with his mum seeing him attempt to do it.


2. The only version of events re: racism has come from the parents - neither the police nor coroner have backed that up.

All in all, whilst the poor little lad is now gone, all we're left with is a Daily Mail article claiming suicide and racism - and ironically the article itself is more likely to disseminate more racism.

Pug160

wonderfullife wrote: »

Worth noting 2 things here:

1. The inquest into his death was opened and adjourned 9 months ago (i.e. no verdict yet). The fact the boy was found hanged doesn't necessarily mean he killed himself (or meant to). Plenty of kids die in accidents by hanging every year. Or he may have wanted a cry-for-help with his mum seeing him attempt to do it.


2. The only version of events re: racism has come from the parents - neither the police nor coroner have backed that up.

All in all, whilst the poor little lad is now gone, all we're left with is a Daily Mail article claiming suicide and racism - and ironically the article itself is more likely to disseminate more racism.

I think it's highly unlikely that his parents would be making that up. They put their son into a school with a high percentage of minorities, so they obviously had no problem with that.

wonderfullife

Pug160 wrote: »

I think it's highly unlikely that his parents would be making that up. They put their son into a school with a high percentage of minorities, so they obviously had no problem with that.

I'm not suggesting for a minute they are making it up.

But grieving parents giving interviews to media shortly after the death of a child doesn't constitute a factual source. If the police and coroner come down on the side of suicide (and bullying being a factor), then ok. As i said,the child may not have meant to kill himself.

seanie_c

It's called positive discrimination.

Sir Humphrey Appleby

Bullying is always wrong, regardless of who is doing it.

Joe10000

BobbyPropane wrote: »

to be fair apart from the shocking headline at least they reported this story. It was barely reported by any other news source including the BBC

Well it's your thread so you would say that.

BobbyPropane

Joe10000 wrote: »

Well it's your thread so you would say that.

Ok.

seanie_c

Well, if it had been a colored kid, there'd be about 200 pages in this thread with people expressing their shock and sadness ... how something needs to be done to combat racism...etc

No doubt every newspaper / TV news network would be all over the story making white people feel guilty for the death.

But as you know, because the kid is white, it's not terribly important to the liberal, PC brigade.

Hate to say it but society is highly susceptible to doctrine.

biko

I saw a Norwegian documentary where a small boy was the only? white kid in school and couldn't go outside because the other kids would beat him.

Found it. Note that the title isn't from the program itself but added by the youtube uploader. The channel is NRK2, Norway's RTE.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1250NUdBJ8c

Sir Humphrey Appleby

biko wrote: »

I saw a Norwegian documentary where a small boy was the only? white kid in school and couldn't go outside because the other kids would beat him.

And that is both shocking and wrong.
Bullying is bullying and is wrong.
It should not be tolerated regardless of who the bullies or who the victims are.

Links234

seanie_c wrote: »

Well, if it had been a colored kid, there'd be about 200 pages in this thread with people expressing their shock and sadness ... how something needs to be done to combat racism...etc

No doubt every newspaper / TV news network would be all over the story making white people feel guilty for the death.

But as you know, because the kid is white, it's not terribly important to the liberal, PC brigade.

Hate to say it but society is highly susceptible to doctrine.

That is bull**** quite frankly, what a lot of the "liberal, PC brigade" would be after is more anti-bullying messures in schools to prevent exactly this kind of thing. On the other hand, quite a few people here scoff at the idea of clamping down on bullying, saying that kids need to toughen up and accuse the "liberal, PC brigade" of coddling kids, so it would seem those damned liberals are damned if they do and damned if they don't. But, and I can't stress this enough, every child is important and bullying of a child to the point of suicide is an incredibly horrendous tragedy.

If you think people aren't posting enough on this thread for your liking, I'd suspect being it's a Daily Mail article being linked and people are generally skeptical of what's printed in the tabloid because it's the Daily Mail, enough said. Also, it was only posted last night and threads don't just sprout overnight while everyone's in bed, I'm sure I'm not alone in only seeing this thread this morning.

jam_mac_jam

So, kids are horrible to anyone who is different. ? Very sad story.

biko

Sir Humphrey Appleby wrote: »

And that is both shocking and wrong.
Bullying is bullying and is wrong.
It should not be tolerated regardless of who the bullies or who the victims are.

Indeed, unfortunately this isn't always the case.

dodderangler

Links234 wrote: »

That is bull**** quite frankly,

It's not. He is spot on. If it had of been thread title of boy,9 found hanged bullied for being black, Asian or whatever there's be 3 times as many comments about racism and so on.
Poor kid is dead. Black or white the kids responsible should be seriously dealt with.
His poor family. Like 9 years old is extremely young to have them thoughts in his head.
It's a terrible tragedy.

waterlepe

This is sick! the head teacher should also be accounted for what happened. i have a 10 year old kid and definitely wouldn't want something like this to happen to him.

Sir Humphrey Appleby

biko wrote: »

Indeed, unfortunately this isn't always the case.

I agree Biko, and as one who is implacably opposed to racism, I believe it should be highlighted and condemned wherever and whenever it occurs.
Otherwise it is impossible to either have an honest debate on the subject or to effectively tackle and end the deplorable practice.

Davelarson

seanie_c wrote: »

Well, if it had been a colored kid, there'd be about 200 pages in this thread with people expressing their shock and sadness ... how something needs to be done to combat racism...etc

No doubt every newspaper / TV news network would be all over the story making white people feel guilty for the death.

But as you know, because the kid is white, it's not terribly important to the liberal, PC brigade.

Hate to say it but society is highly susceptible to doctrine.

Exactly. If there was any suggestion white bullies had driven a coluored person to suicide there would be national debate and much soul searching in Britain. On boards you can actually see people downplaying the racial motivations as the victim was white.

Links234

dodderangler wrote: »

It's not. He is spot on. If it had of been thread title of boy,9 found hanged bullied for being black, Asian or whatever there's be 3 times as many comments about racism and so on.
Poor kid is dead. Black or white the kids responsible should be seriously dealt with.
His poor family. Like 9 years old is extremely young to have them thoughts in his head.
It's a terrible tragedy.

Except he plainly is not spot on, because he mischaracterizes 'liberals'* about how a child's suicide is "Not terribly important" which I think is an absurd strawman. I mean seriously, do you really think a child's suicide is not terribly important to someone who's liberal? Because I don't think that's true at all, I think as someone who has been bullied in school as a child and had teachers act as if it was nothing and/or I was the problem, it hits me right in the heart that a child ANY child has been bullied to the point where they felt they had no other way out than to kill themselves.

Do you really think this is "not terribly important" to me?

*I get called liberal as an insult so often and told I'm so PC etc, you know

Sir Humphrey Appleby

Davelarson wrote: »

On boards you can actually see people downplaying the racial motivations as the victim was white.

Where?
Can you link to that please.

BobbyPropane

These "Liberals are obsessed with white guilt" arguments never work. No point having this discussion

old hippy

Davelarson wrote: »

Exactly. If there was any suggestion white bullies had driven a coluored person to suicide there would be national debate and much soul searching in Britain. On boards you can actually see people downplaying the racial motivations as the victim was white.

Which is an odd thing to say, as you've only been here 5 minutes. And also, a pretty bs statement of you to make because nobody plays down racism/bullying - regardless of who is doing it.

Btw, I'm going to call you out on this - "coloured person" is a rather archaic term and one we don't use in the UK much anymore.

Davelarson

old hippy wrote: »

Which is an odd thing to say, as you've only been here 5 minutes. And also, a pretty bs statement of you to make because nobody plays down racism/bullying - regardless of who is doing it.

Btw, I'm going to call you out on this - "coloured person" is a rather archaic term and one we don't use in the UK much anymore.

Ok enlightened one, what should I have used instead? And do you ever worry about the toll of perpetual outrage is taking on your health? Seriously, it can't be good for your blood pressure.

Sir Humphrey Appleby

Davelarson wrote: »

On boards you can actually see people downplaying the racial motivations as the victim was white.

Still waiting on an answer to this Dave.
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=87575239&postcount=41

seanie_c

Links234 wrote: »

That is bull**** quite frankly, blah blah blah.

I'll bet you're a big fan of affirmative action too, I mean..it is fashionable even if completely illogical for the most part.

Why have a sensible immigration policy for example? Clearly everyone entering the country are world class entrepreneurs just waiting to setup the next silicon valley . . . :pac:

Sir Humphrey Appleby

seanie_c wrote: »

I'll bet you're a big fan of affirmative action too, I mean..it is fashionable even if completely illogical for the most part.

Why have a sensible immigration policy for example? Clearly everyone entering the country are world class entrepreneurs just waiting to setup the next silicon valley . . . :pac:

Why derail the thread?
Thread is about a tragic young boys suicide not about immigration policies.
Sad to see a poster using a childs death to get a cheap dig in at another poster, very sad.

old hippy

Davelarson wrote: »

Ok enlightened one, what should I have used instead? And do you ever worry about the toll of perpetual outrage is taking on your health? Seriously, it can't be good for your blood pressure.

Don't you worry about my bp. It's doing just fine, I've tackled people like your good self for decades now

As for the word, "coloured" over here it's an archaic term used to describe people who don't happen to be white. Black people, brown people, Asian people, East Asian people, mixed race people and so on. Have you ever been to the UK, Dave? It's not perfect but we try to get there.

Now, who is downplaying abuse against white people, Dave? Can you link the posts please?

pickarooney

waterlepe wrote: »

This is sick! the head teacher should also be accounted for what happened. i have a 10 year old kid and definitely wouldn't want something like this to happen to him.

Did you really need to point that out?