The school bullying towards young people who come to the United States and are not accepted within the student community has increased with the use of social networks, causing the effects of school bullying to put their lives at risk due to not receiving the necessary attention.
Schools have a legal and social obligation to protect students and guard against acts of bullying that can turn into hate, said Becky Monroe, deputy director of strategic initiatives and external affairs at the California Department of Civil Rights. during a press conference held by Ethnic Media Services.
The specialist commented that there are young people who are facing a situation of gender identity, which is why bullying becomes stronger, for example: an Afro-descendant young person who is also gay could face harassment, discrimination and bullying in an exaggerated way.
“When there is tension and an increase in acts of hate in the community, this is reflected in schools and among students as well,” Monroe said.
Dashka Slater, a journalist from the New York Times, said that many young people and children fall into acts of hate without realizing it, “sometimes they have not really explored who they are and what they see, so they let themselves be influenced by their peers or supposed friends to get into 'trendy' topics.”
An estimated 3 in 4 American youth ages 15 to 25 have experienced racist content online, and half of that content focuses on race.
Also, 1 in 4 young students aged 12 to 18 have seen racist symbols or displays at their school, while 1.3 million students were victims of bullying during the 2018-2019 school year.
The situation at school becomes dangerous with children and young people who start with a bad joke and then move on to an act of discrimination and hatred because they are not aware of the harm they are causing, he explained.
“We need to be aware that children are being radicalised by the content that exists online, and as they consume more content, they are not able to realise how it changes them,” Dashka said.
Connie Alexander-Boaitey, president of the Santa Barbara NAACP, commented on some cases of hate speech that schools are experiencing, which originate precisely in the breakdown of communities that, far from taking care of each other, hurt each other.
“We have community leaders, different leaders, and we need to meet between communities to reach agreements, but this has not happened yet. What stops them is the culture of saving, thinking that it is not necessary and that it is never that big a deal,” said Connie Alexander in response to the problems experienced in schools.
Mina Fenor, founder and executive director of AAPI Youth Rising, an organization that fights for the rights of Asian Americans, explained that they seek to promote inclusive education, unify voices that are against acts of hate and support young people who suffer from bullying.
“There is a lot of hate on social media because young people feel protected by not knowing the exact identity, but these same acts of hate on social media can affect young people in schools,” Mina stressed, explaining that she has experienced harassment in her academic life.
Anahí Santos, Youth Welfare Coordinator for One Community Action, is originally from Oaxaca, Mexico. She shared her story and how she has suffered bullying from the American community but also from Latinos for being called “Oaxaquita,” a nickname that refers to the state she is from, a word that seems to be painful and mocking when it should be seen as a sign of pride for belonging to this culture.
Santos explained that, in schools, bullying is marked by skin color, so that if you are Latino but your skin color is light, you will not have to face bullying. However, being dark-skinned regardless of origin, the situation will be complicated. Faced with this fact, his association fights for a free education, without fear of being hurt or judged for their color, language and origin.
“In the long term, bullying leads to violence, the use of weapons, drug abuse and pushes young people to end up in jail. All of this pushes young people down a bad path,” said Santos, expressing concern for her classmates and family members who have experienced bullying.
For experts, bullying has not been given the necessary importance, however, bullying has led to regrettable situations that seem harmless at first, but end up hurting young people and their families, so attention must be paid to eliminate these acts, prevent and act in time when a case of bullying occurs.
This publication was supported in whole or part by funding provided by the State of California, ayou administeredred by the CaliFornia State Library.
You may be interested in: California health officials urge flu and COVID vaccinations
