I have always spoken up and about how we as a society needs to stand up speak out against Bullying, Depression, and Suicide and For Mental Health Awareness as a whole. A quote I came up with when I was still in high school back in 2010 was “Bullying leads to Depression and Depression leads to Suicide”- Brittaney Peacock
As I reflect back on my own mental health journey over the course of my life the toll it took on my days in my youth and how close I came a few times to wanting to end it all because I wanted the hurt the pain the fear the rejection abandonment hatred racism verbal mental emotional and in ways physical/sexual abuse that had happened to me I knew I was stronger than going down that path but that is not to say I didn’t ever attempt suicide or thought of it but I fought for myself so that I can carry my life to life and speak up for others. Not everyone was able to that and is not the case for millions of youth and adults alike everyday.
As I reflect on September and Mental Health Awareness there is a young man’s story I have kept close to my heart all these years and it is coming up on the 14th year anniversary of his passing. It brings tears to my eyes even now because of how close to home it hit and was felt by our community and friends of mutual friends that knew him and his younger brother.
I was 16 years old 14 years ago in High School in my Journalism class reading the local news to write a daily article post about something we found interesting. Well that day I read the tragic heartbreaking story about a local Cypress, Texas boy named Asher Brown, 13 yrs old. He was a 6th grader at Hamilton Middle School in Cypress, Texas. He was severely bullied for multiple reasons. Here I will list them; Asher was bullied for his religious beliefs for being Buddhist, he was bullied for his size, height, being different than how others thought he should have looked, he was bullied for being gay (accused of being gay), not having the fashionable clothes or shows that were designer. Fellow students made mocking gay jokes about him.
The morning of September 23rd, 2010 Asher Brown woke up that morning with no one knowing how everything was going to change in the tragic way it unfolded. That morning Asher confessed to his Stepfather that he was gay, he went to school and afterwards came home found his stepfather’s gun hid himself in his bedroom closet and shot himself in the head. His mother came home to find his body cuddle up in the closet on the floor. Every parent’s worst nightmare. The news broke on September 27, 2010 which is the exact date I sat in class reading that news article on the Houston Chronicles website.
Asher Brown’s story touched me so personally for multiple of reasons. Firstly because I lived in Cypress, Texas so it was a tragic hit to my community, secondly Asher's parrent's confronted the school staff on multiple occasions in the school did nothing. They did nothing to protect Asher. They did nothing to discipline the other students. They did not care, thirdly my sister Ashley attended that same Middle School years long before Asher did but they walked the same halls just at different times in this life, fourthly I had a few classmate/friends that knew Asher and his younger brother because their younger siblings were friends with Asher, and firthly and finally he was bullied for a few of the same reasons I was bullied for when Ibtoo was in Middle School. So for me Asher's stoey hit me personally on multiple levels and stuck with me all these years.
I think of him often. He would be 27 years old this year if he was still with us today. But Asher's story is not the only one that moved me all those years ago. There was countless numbers of teen suicides back to back from August to November in 2010 alone, that is not including the countless others of 2010. And they were nearly all for one thing in common. Each of those young people were bullied for being gay or because they didn't fit in and in some cases were tormented sexually assaulted etc.
I bring to each of you today their names, photos, and stories so they know they are not forgotten, their deaths are not in vein, they mattered then, and they still matter today. I have attached also various articles that talks about each of these beautiful souls and their stories.
Phoebe Prince (15)
Lucas Walsh (15)
Billy Lucas (15)
Tyler Clementi (18)
Asher Brown (13)
Samantha Kelly (14)
Brandon Bitner (14)
And there is so many more. Please take time to listen to your children’s voices if they vocalize to you they are being bullied, and if the schools are not doing anything to resolve it then it is up to you as parents and guardians to do what is safe and best for your children to pull them from that school, look into home schooling, K-12 online school programs, alternate schools, etc. Do not leave your kids in these situations to have to fend for themselves and it then result in their deaths.
And please take time to read each of these articles, these kids stories, video tribute to them etc. If your children are friends with me on FB. I have way to many friends to modify my post of who can see it so please if your children are not old enough to be on Facebook do not let them be on Facebook or any social media.
Asher Brown’s Story - https://www.chron.com/life/mom-houston/article/Parents-Bullying-drove-Cy-Fair-8th-grader-to-1698827.php
https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/09/in-memory-of-septembers-children-asher-brown-one-year-later/
Tyler Clemmeti’s story - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/sep/30/tyler-clementi-gay-student-suicide
Phoebe Prince’s Story - https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Health/cyber-bullying-factor-suicide-massachusetts-teen-irish-immigrant/story?id=9660938
Ty Smalley’s Story - Family Blames Bullying for Son's Suicide
The Stories including Seth Walsh, Tyler Clementi, Billy Lucas, Asher Brown all died by Suicide in August-September 2010 - Suicides Put Light on Pressures of Gay Teenagers - The New York Times
A website paying tribute to many teen victims who lost their lives to suicide - https://www.ourfamilyworld.com/bullying-and-cyberbullying/bullying-consequences/victims-of-bullying-memorial/
Part 1 Tribute to Teens who died in 2010 to Suicide -https://youtu.be/7EH26_M-Luc?si=G-LCwEGazxB93Mon
A video tribute to all the teens who were part of the LGBTQ+ whom died by suicide from May-October 2010
https://youtu.be/sKxocYOeXgE?si=58dnD903yCT1UfnZ
A list of every person who died by suicide that was part of the LGBTQ+ community.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicides_of_LGBT_people
My blog post I shared back in 2011 -Bullying, Depressio & Suicide in the Bible
Stories of people who have taken their lives at the hand of Suicide - https://www.11alive.com/article/news/special-reports/a-different-cry/children-rising-suicide-death-rates-research-different-cry-series/85-46195650-294b-40a3-97e1-661bbe68a069
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