And If He Even Was Gay - So What?
As it was a sunny cheery Saturday I had decided to hold off on anything depressing. But now that it’s cloudy and raining, let’s not.
I’m not a numbers man. But I am thinking numbers every time I hear that yet another kid has killed himself or has been killed as a result of gay bullying.
Yes, folks, step right up – another 11 year old committed suicide, just about two weeks ago.
Let’s not confuse this boy with the oft-discussed Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover from Massachussets – different kid, this one. Keep up and keep count. This latest suicide was in Atlanta. Like Carl, this boy was also 11, and he enjoyed dancing and drawing, according to his stepfather, who had helped raise the boy since he was two. Fun fact: his 10-year old sister found him hanging, screaming “Get him down, get him down”. This brought the stepfather to the boy’s bedroom and there was the sister holding the brother, trying to remove the pressure of the noose her brother had fashioned with a fabric belt.
His name was Jaheem, and he was bullied relentlessly. His family said they knew the boy was a target, but until his death, they didn’t know the scope. They used to ask – what’s wrong with you ? – but he wouldn’t say. His sister knew, but he didn’t want her saying anything so she didn’t.
“They called him gay,” the stepfather has explained to the press. The mother says she had complained to the school – isn’t this getting a little tedious, by the way? same story, rinse and repeat – obviously with no successful result.
So on April 16th Jaheem came home upset, his mother asked what was wrong. He said – as usual – nothing was, went to his room to calm down and that was the last time anyone ever saw him again. Jaheems best friend has now said he was tired of everyone calling him gay at school, tired to telling teachers and staff who never do anything about it. Killing himself was the only way out.
So there you go, that’s why I’m thinking about numbers these days. I’m adding in my head the number of dead kids all dead because of the negativity attached to the word gay even in North American in 2009, I’m subtracting the number of kids walking the earth, I’m multiplying and dividing and factoring and calculating to what degree this must all continue until it’s once and for all down to zero.
You can hear “A Word On …” live daily at 4:10 pm on The Shaun Proulx Show, 103.9 PROUD FM.
