Meet Jaheem Herrera, an 11 year old 5th grader at Dunaire Elementary School in DeKalb County, Georgia. On April 16th 2009, Jaheen hung himself with a belt in his closet.
From the story: "He came home much happier than when he left in the morning, smiling as he handed his mother, Masika Bermudez, a glowing report card full of A's and B's."
"He used to say Mom they keep telling me this ... this gay word, this gay, gay, gay. I'm tired of hearing it, they're telling me the same thing over and over," she told CNN, as she wiped away tears from her face.
"He was a nice little boy," Bermudez said through her tears. "He loved to dance. He loved to have fun. He loved to make friends. And all he made [at school] were enemies."
See the sad story here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/23/bullying.suicide/
From a comment on A Day in the Strife (Roger):
ReplyDeletehttp://blow.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/24/two-little-boys/
He was SO beautiful--beyond words. When I look at him I am reminded of me that age. I also have brown skin, am gay, and felt completely isolated in school from beginning to end and suffered much hate because I looked different from the mostly white students population, and would also get called names about the possibility I was gay. I KNOW that horrrible dread of school and feeling there is no escape and no use telling grownups cause many seem victims also. I SHUDDER thinking of those times and what kids like Jaheem and others are going through, and can only find the ultimate escape as the only option. What a VERY VERY UGLY culture we live in when a child that age and that beautiful kills himself!!!
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