PRSS high school is having an anti-bullying day tomorrow and we are encouraging everyone to wear red or pink to show your support in the community.
I was asked to post a message on Hacking the main frame to spread the word.
I don’t know if everyone is aware but last Thursday a Facebook group was encouraging students across Canada to pick on kids with red hair, by kicking them, based on a South Park episode from a few years ago. Several students across the province were kicked and harassed as a result of this. Some have even ended up in the hospital.
After finding out about this teachers and students talked about what could be done to stop these types of behaviour.
As a result the students in our school have decided to protest this type of behaviour by standing in solidarity against bullying of any sort by wearing red or pink. Their hope is that by standing together against bullying in any shape or form that this type of behaviour will stop.
So if you want to join in please wear red or pink in your support of stopping bullying everywhere.
ps. . You can find out more about it these incidents by doing a google search on “kick a ginger day” or by looking at cbc.ca website under news for bc.
I know this is very serious and all, and I do not condone the behaviour. I’m glad something’s being done about it.
I heard the CBC interview with the PRSS teacher, and she mentioned that though she was a redhead herself, she hadn’t been kicked. However, she was very upset that her younger brother, who is also a redhead, was kicked in the Kootenays.
Personally, I would be upset if someone kicked me in the Kootenays. Sounds painful.
I agree completely - both about the seriousness of the issue and happy that something is being done about it - it’s amazing how far a little awareness can go.
[evil sarcasm] As a goofy aside though, I find it humourous that after the “Kick A Ginger” event the decision was made to wear red to support anti-bullying. [/evil sarcasm]
Can’t wear red. That’s reserved for “supporting the troops” every fucking Friday for so fucking long all the red washed out.
And I don’t understand the whole Kick a Ginger BS. Every redhead I knew would rip your nuts off and feed them to you if you even looked at them cross-eyed.
LOL…and once they have their sac in their mouth, we kick the shit right outta them. You wanna see what a bad temper looks like try kicking a “ginger” and see how it goes for you.
I understand what the kids are trying to do, And I think it is great. However I feel a lot misguided. Bullying has been happening and continues to happen every day in our schools. These kids see it every day, if not experience it. But do they feel the same way, do they rally for their classmates? no, they let it slide, and do little to nothing. But put itin the news and they are all over it.
That wasn’t the idea I got from AnnaA’s post. Seems like the school was hosting a formal protest of sorts–not a solution to the problem, but a strong display of opposition to the people who took part in the “Kick a Ginger” festivities.
Congratulations to the students, and staff, that participated in todays rally, one person can’t change everything, we as a whole, however can make an impact.
This is a very interesting situation. The cynical side of me says that the only time people get behind something like this is when it gets in the news and becomes a social trend, for lack of a better term. All of a sudden, everyone’s jumping on the anti-bullying bandwagon because it’s cool to protest and all their friends are doing it.
But once the day is over and the protest is forgotten, a lot of them will go back to the same ignorant, apathetic, close your eyes and pretend it’s not happening bullshit attitude as usual. They’ll see another kid getting picked on and they won’t care because they’re not part of any specifically targeted group–they’re just another geek, douche bag, or freak that nobody likes or cares about.
And then optimism takes over and I think it’s great that people are trying to raise awareness about such things and to do something about it. And maybe it will prompt some people to change their attitudes, even if it’s only a small number. After all, change like this is always incremental. Nevertheless, I think it’s important not to go popping the champagne corks just yet. There’s still a lot more work to be done.
And I do think the campaign was a good idea. I was even thinking of approaching the board of education here where I teach and trying to get permission for the kids over here to add something to their uniforms to show their opposition to bullying. Maybe something pink they can tie on for February 27th. After all, bullying is not just limited to North American schools–Japanese schools have been wrestling with this problem for decades. But now that there’s more pressure from the public and the media (finally), maybe the time is ripe for something like this.
I cannot believe all the “adults” here who are so cynical about this, or who are minimizing it. Go into facebook and search the term “ginger”. Try and count how many anti-ginger groups there are. It’s insane. It’s horrible.
