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Parents: Bullies drove 13-year-old to suicide

It seems like we hear about bullying and cyberbullying in schools a lot more these days, but one case is hitting close to home because it ended with the death of a 13-year-old boy.

Asher Brown's parents believe the eighth grader was bullied to death, and they claim his school and the Cypress-Fairbanks school district did nothing to stop it.

The 13-year-old's parents claim that the bullying went on for two years, ever since he got to the middle school. They claim that during that time, they had gone to complain to coaches, an assistant principal and anyone who would listen. They say nothing was ever done.

Now some other parents have come forward, seemingly supporting that claim.

"I told him I loved him and I hoped he had a good day," said Amy Truong, parent of Asher Brown. "He said, 'I love you too.' He seemed fine."

Just a few short painful days after their son, Asher Brown, took his own life, there are questions whether people at his school did enough to protect him.

"We never had any indication that those children were disciplined at all," said Amy.

She and her husband David Truong claim Asher was bullied to death, taunted by other students at Hamilton Junior High School. They say he was ridiculed over his appearance, his religion and his sexual orientation.

This is an important human rights issue. This Child was bullied because he was buddhist and gay.

Here's the link to the full story. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7695982

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Joseph P on September 30, 2010 at 1:34pm

Reality TV shows mostly, I think. They emulate the way that all of the assholes on MTV act. That and things like pro wrestling.

Permalink Reply by The Big Blue Frog on September 30, 2010 at 8:23am

I was a victim of bullying in elementary school, jr. high and high school, and it's sad to see that nothing has changed since I was in school. It doesn't surprise me, though. When I reported bullying, my teachers actually made things worse by teasing me and even participating in the bullying.

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on September 30, 2010 at 9:38am

I never reported my bullying.

Permalink Reply by The Big Blue Frog on September 30, 2010 at 9:47am

Were you the bully, or the bullied? ;-)

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on September 30, 2010 at 9:58am

Bullied.

Permalink Reply by The Big Blue Frog on September 30, 2010 at 10:11am

I was a sickly kid, and I got my growth spurt later than everyone else in my class. When I was in 6th grade, I was still the size of most 2nd or 3rd graders. It wasn't until high school that I actually started getting any height, but I was still a 98 pound weakling, always with my head in a book. That got me a lot of teasing, and a lot of bullying. Some of it even turned violent. I got thrown against lockers and walls, tripped and punched, etc. The one time I struck back, sticking a bully with a sharpened pencil in 7th grade, I got punished and the bully got sympathy.

Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on September 30, 2010 at 1:38pm

Mine never turned violent. I was made fun of because of my height but, unlike you, I am still a shrimp. They also called me "flat nose". In high school I even considered getting a nose job. It was then that I realized that I didn't care enough to have it done. It was in my junior year that I started having bouts of depression.

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on September 30, 2010 at 2:52pm

Heh, besides being a nerd and social outcast underscored by the social blindfold that is Asperger's, mine was being constantly compared to Beaker from the muppet show, for my lack of chin (Terri Garr; Vicki Lawrence). Am still horribly self conscious about it to this day.

On the other side though, Beaker was one of my favorite characters on the show, so I was a bit torn by the comparison.

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on September 30, 2010 at 12:39pm

When I reported bullying, my teachers actually made things worse by teasing me and even participating in the bullying.

Similar story here. First couple of teachers to turn an intentional blind eye to my being bullied, and at times actively participated, I learned real fast to keep my mouth shut and pretend to Mom and Dad that school was a wonderful place of rainbow happiness.

Permalink Reply by Grace Fitzpatrick on September 30, 2010 at 1:03pm

And this is why I homeschool my kids. I know they aren't the best socially. I've seen them bullied on the playground. I will not allow this to happen to my kids. I have known other parents who homeschooled their children to protect them from bullies. Those kids grew up to be very successful and well adjusted. I know not all bullied kids can be homeschooled, but I wish they could - especially this boy. I'll bet he had a lot more to offer humanity than his tormentors. Poor kid. :o(

Permalink Reply by Jo Jerome on September 30, 2010 at 2:50pm

So long as part of that homeschooling includes some training/defense mechanisms for the outside world of bullying. Because it sure as hell doesn't stop when all parties involved hit 18. I've known quite a few adults in the workplace that rival the worst of school bullies.

Permalink Reply by Beachbum on September 30, 2010 at 2:51pm

When will these people get past the religiously instilled idiocy and realize that homosexuality is just as natural as blue eyes? Will they ever learn this country was founded on freedom of and from religion because religious bigotry produces this very outcome in the general populous by feeding on the fear and ignorance of the citizenry? Don't they know that this very thing, this division, this ignorance fueled mob mentality, this mind bending, brainwashing, hate induced bigotry is exactly why Thomas Jefferson insisted on education for all the citizens of this democracy —so as to arm ourselves with the tools needed to keep ourselves free of such manipulation?

Bullying is reactionary violence from emotion and ignorance, but not only an individual's ignorance nor emotional instability. Preachers like; Fred Phelps, Tony Perkins et al., Republican agendas; namely competition and manipulation of labor, wages, etc., through population density, selfsame political agendas; used to scare old people with change, emotional manipulation of the ignorant with bigotry for political gain, fuels this misunderstanding, this hate, this social dysfunction, this murder.

In many species, when populations cross a threshold related to density, hormonal changes in specific individuals alter their sexual orientation. In many more species, there are genetic combinations that determine an individuals sexuality in concert with environmental determinants, none of which are an on-off switch but more analogous to a accelerator or a rheostat. Primates, along with a few other species, are under the influence of both and humans, in particular, have the further driver, that of familial persuasion because we think. Sexual orientation is not a choice by any stretch of the imagination. It could only be seen as a sin by those of limited imagination, or as an "affront to god(s)" by those of limited intellect.

When chickens notice a difference in a fellow chicken, they will peck and claw it to death because of that difference. Primates do something similar, they usually ostracize the subject. Only, no species I know of ostracise's the non-reproductive family members. In fact, a species that we are very closely related to, the Bonobo, uses bi-sexual stimulation ceremonially.

The only answer is: politically supported religious bigotry leads to this hate filled atmosphere. We have seen it throughout history and because of the ignorance of that history—spawned by the ambitious revisionist attacks of late, the bigoted religiously motivated denials of science, the castigation of intellectuals and their intellectual pursuits along with the just plain stupid (I define stupid as ignorance by choice) of "Jesus Land" America—it seems to be repeating itself.

Now the question is, will it be as painful a correction as was suffered by 20th century Europe when Germany went down this path, or will the bomb make it painless?