A Boy the Bullies Love to Beat Up, Repeatedly
By DAN BARRY
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.
All lank and bone, the boy stands at the corner with his younger sister, waiting for the yellow bus that takes them to their respective schools. He is Billy Wolfe, high school sophomore, struggling.
Moments earlier he left the sanctuary that is his home, passing those framed photographs of himself as a carefree child, back when he was 5. And now he is at the bus stop, wearing a baseball cap, vulnerable at 15.
A car the color of a school bus pulls up with a boy who tells his brother beside him that he’s going to beat up Billy Wolfe. While one records the assault with a cellphone camera, the other walks up to the oblivious Billy and punches him hard enough to leave a fist-size welt on his forehead.
The video shows Billy staggering, then dropping his book bag to fight back, lanky arms flailing. But the screams of his sister stop things cold.
The aggressor heads to school, to show friends the video of his Billy moment, while Billy heads home, again. It’s not yet 8 in the morning.
Bullying is everywhere, including here in Fayetteville, a city of 60,000 with one of the country’s better school systems. A decade ago a Fayetteville student was mercilessly harassed and beaten for being gay. After a complaint was filed with the Office of Civil Rights, the district adopted procedures to promote tolerance and respect — none of which seems to have been of much comfort to Billy Wolfe.
It remains unclear why Billy became a target at age 12; schoolyard anthropology can be so nuanced. Maybe because he was so tall, or wore glasses then, or has a learning disability that affects his reading comprehension. Or maybe some kids were just bored. Or angry.
Whatever the reason, addressing the bullying of Billy has become a second job for his parents: Curt, a senior data analyst, and Penney, the owner of an office-supply company. They have binders of school records and police reports, along with photos documenting the bruises and black eyes. They are well known to school officials, perhaps even too well known, but they make no apologies for being vigilant. They also reject any suggestion that they should move out of the district because of this.
The many incidents seem to blur together into one protracted assault. When Billy attaches a bully’s name to one beating, his mother corrects him. “That was Benny, sweetie,” she says. “That was in the eighth grade.”
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With All Due Respect
The Times and other MSM outlets rightly should be criticized for their white supremacist framing of things...but as we all know, they possess not the tools to see their way out of this forest of their choosing.
I think bullying is one of the most troubling aspects of our society. Bullying requires adult complicity and it signals to children they are not safe - and that they are not bound to RESPECT any rules in this society because this society has failed to meet it's FIRST OBLIGATION - the safety of children. The boys' parents might become a "victim" of his mounting rage for their unwillingness to protect or prepare him for his world. He can neither run, fight or finesse his way out of his condition. He is effectively trapped by rules, ritual and relations. This is not the end of this story by a long shot. The boys who beat him up and laugh about it may carry that wanton use of violence into their adult lives and wreak havoc wherever they go - Iraq, Iran, Somalia, Nigeria, Peoria...
While highly illustrative, it may not the best issue for making your larger point. I'm wondering if this isn't "beneath you." (Perhaps because you didn't comment.) If all is fair in love and war - then MPTU. Then again, I'm guessing and you might have had a larger (more P6-ian point in mind. I see clearly the juxtaposition with cases involving Black children and their consistent framing as adults. There is also the dehumanizing focus on the criminality of perpetrators vs. the humanity of the victim. The sanctity of childhood is tough to honor - especially with the illusion of adolescence.
"King and chief probably had a big beef; 'Cause of that now I grit my teeth." - Chuck D.
While highly illustrative,
Right now I have a slightly larger audience than is the norm around here...you have to take advantage of that as it happens.
It ain't always going to be perfect. But I'm still trying to add knowlege rather than compel a specific position.
When I read that story I
When I read that story I wondered why the boy's father hasn't made arrangements for his son to take boxing or martial arts lessons. I also wondered why his parents are not in the faces of the parents whose sons are bullying their son. I think his parents are being too, too passive.
Ok
I hear you P6.
PT - I couldn't agree more. I was shocked that the boy even had a father. He's some sort of analyst. He betta reckanyz that work ain't that important. As I advance in years, I am seeing the connectedness of us all. There is no telling where this time bomb will go off. It's in Arkansas right now, but all of those boys are nothing but a scholarship and a plane ticket away from my front door or yours.
"King and chief probably had a big beef; 'Cause of that now I grit my teeth." - Chuck D.
It would be a HUGE MISTAKE
It would be a HUGE MISTAKE for any of those boys or their parents to show up on my family's doorstep. If any of them attacked a child of mine, their families would have to put them in a self-imposed protection program. I come from a long line of men and women who don't play that shit. My paternal grandmother, for example, actually cut a guy in the neck who she had warned to stop harassing one of her daughters while she was coming home from school. She didn't tell my grandfather because she was afraid that he would shoot this fool. My aunt and her sisters never had any trouble from that clown again.
I think all of the talk
I think all of the talk about this Billy Wolfe "bullying" thing is stupid. Nobody knows the bullies' sides. They don't know why they "bullied" Billy Wolfe. I go to school with him and he's one of the biggest jerks I've ever met. If I weren't a girl I'd hit him myself, but it's wrong to hit a boy knowing they can't hit you back.
I didn't know that bullies
I didn't know that bullies have a side. Well, I guess as you live you learn. Never heard that one before. Bullies have a side to tell!