Bully Page #4

That's like a slap in the face

to these parents.

And my question is, if bartenders are

responsible for a drunk

that goes out and kills

an innocent person,

how come the bullies

are not responsible

for the death

of this precious child?

This is an awfully complicated

and difficult issue.

I know there's a lot of anger

about the school system here.

But the school can't, by itself,

change a child's behavior

if they're going home

and not being reinforced at home

- to change their behavior.

- Good luck with that.

Most of these parents could really,

I hate to say it, could care less.

We've been there, done that.

You're not going to get them in there.

So then what do you do?

We've been

in this scenario, and...

you couldn't get

the parents involved.

So then what do you do?

And we went to the police.

Their hands are tied.

You go to the school,

um, "Kids will be kids."

Um, "Let these girls work it out."

Um, "Let your child work it out."

Well, it's not just in school.

They go on the Internet,

cell phones.

They can damage somebody's life,

like they did to your son.

Yes, I'm Howard Ensley.

I'm the sheriff here in Murray County.

We have school resource

officers in the school,

and they're there

to protect the students.

Mr. Ensley,

last year when two children

beat Tyler up,

your school resource officer

refused to file the charges.

I had to fight.

Here, what we get is,

"Nothing's wrong.

We didn't do anything.

Everything's fine."

But, bottom-line here is, when you send

your child to that school,

it doesn't matter

what parents that child has,

they should be

safe and protected. Period.

There's a young man

back there with his hand up.

Are you a student?

- Yes, I'm a student.

- OK, if you would.

Um, I was a very good

friend of Tyler Long's,

and whenever you'd

walk around that school,

you notice

that everybody gets bullied.

And then the teachers

just kind of shrug it off.

As in, "He done

something wrong to that kid,

that's why he got what he got.

And it's OK, it's just fine."

That's a load of daggom crap.

It's a big lie.

All right, DJ,

thank you very much.

I've been dealing with it for four

years, and I finally got tired of it.

So one day you'd

had enough. What'd you do?

I just went off on the kid

because I couldn't stand it anymore.

I couldn't take it.

It came to the point that, last year,

I stayed out of school purposely

to try to stay away from them.

I've been to my mom,

my grandparents and the principal,

all for the last three years,

and they haven't done

anything about it.

It's a shame that Tyler

had to do what he done

for people to notice what's going on

in the schools at Murray County.

It's a shame that he had to do

this for anybody to notice it.

We can make a difference.

We can make a difference for kids

that don't have to go four years

of torment and sadness

and not wanna go to school.

As I told the school board,

my voice is not gonna fall silent.

I will go to my grave

until a difference is made.

I know what Tyler was going through.

I know how he was

thinking about suicide.

They went around,

they were calling me a p*ssy,

shoving me into lockers,

saying, "Eff you."

And now, after I've

actually stood up for myself,

they just walk by me, like,

"There's another kid.

He's just another kid

here at our school."

It really came down to the point

that I had to go, myself,

and literally stand up for myself

for them to leave me alone.

Come here, buddy. Hi, buddy.

Calm down. It's OK.

Hey, it's OK. TJ. TJ.

Hey, TJ.

Well, I think this year we're

gonna get 25 inches of snow.

I have to shovel it, though.

That stinks.

Shut up.

You gonna dance for mom?

You want some faster music?

You had just

the cutest little face.

You had

the chubbiest little cheeks.

Look how cute you are.

What happened?

There was one song I'd play,

and he'd just bounce

to the beat, back and forth.

Alex, do you want to dance?

Here.

Dance.

Hey! All right, that's my head.

Come on.

All right.

All rise.

Yazoo County Youth Court

is now in session.

Judge Derek Parker presiding.

- It's over.

- Not yet.

- It is. What do you mean?

- I'm still here.

I'm saying the hard part

is over, sweetie.

- You're going home.

- In three months.

You don't know,

you keep saying three months.

You gonna speak three months,

and it's gonna be three.

You hear?

You gaining

some weight. Them thighs, girl.

I just wanna get bigger, plumper.

- What?

- I wanna get plump.

No, you don't.

You gonna look a hot mess.

You don't want

to get too big, Ja'Meya.

So the doctor said

you're doing good. OK?

You stop being all that,

'cause he said you were doing good.

He told me you were doing good.

Said, "She doing real good."

You wasn't thinking,

and you made a big mistake.

Don't cry.

- I want to go home, Ma.

- I know, baby.

You're going.

You're going, Ja'Meya.

You're going home.

Lt'll be all right.

I want you to work on

getting yourself together, OK?

So you can come home.

Might not be but a month or two.

- All right?

- OK.

I'm going to go see

where the doctor's at.

I'll see you in a bit.

As you're voting,

vote for the candidates

you can trust and rely on.

This is not a popularity contest.

If we work together

to show how great we can be

with our behavior and grades,

we can make East Middle

a better school.

Remember, a vote for Trevor

is the best vote ever.

Thank you.

Next, we have Chloe Albright.

Hey, guys,

my name is Chloe Albright.

I am here giving this speech

because I would like to be

East Middle's

next student body president.

Zip that up, zip that up.

It got ripped. It can't zip up.

- Alex?

- What?

Come here.

What happened this week

on the bus? Anything?

This high-schooler was strangling me,

but I think he was

just messing around.

He, calls me the b-word.

- And he says that I'm...

- That's not messing around.

- Well, he says I'm his b-word.

- That's not messing around.

But I think when he strangles me

he's messing around.

That's not messing around, either.

- OK.

- Who knows, next year

this high school kid,

instead of picking on you,

is gonna then pick on

your little sister.

And what are you gonna do about it?

'Cause you're her big brother.

You can't let this stuff go on.

'Cause then people just start

seeing you as a punching bag.

Nobody respects a punching bag.

Well, if Maya gets picked on,

I'll tell somebody about it.

- But if I get picked on...

- You should stop it now.

You're starting to make me

scared to go to middle school.

Why?

'Cause if you get picked on,

I'm gonna get picked on.

I already get picked on at school

'cause you're my brother.

Well,

that makes a lot of sense.

Why do you get picked on

'cause I'm your brother?

That makes no sense at all.

Kids don't like you at my school.

They think you're creepy.

Tonight, a tragic situation

has shaken a small Oklahoma

town to its core.

A Perkins boy,

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