This is the world we’re giving you, kids. A world in which one or more people will video what’s happening instead of helping.
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The call can come at any time. Undoubtedly, it will come at the worst time, the lowest time. The beaten down time. It’s the story we all know because it’s the story of all of us whenever we do have to rise up.
This is a video of a bullying incident on a school bus in Somewhere, U.S.A. No adult intervenes. There is the bully standing on the bus seat beating on the heavyset boy sitting on the seat below her. She is beating on his head and face. Someone is holding up their phone to video the incident…
My heart breaks for every child on this bus, including the bully.
This is the world we’re giving you, kids. A world in which one or more people will video what’s happening instead of helping. A world where an adult bus driver declares she’s calling 911 but will not and maybe cannot get involved in a more direct way. A world of unabashed violence in our schools and school buses.
What is happening here?
One child is repeatedly saying in a mantra like tone, “Please stop. I want to go home. Please stop. Please stop. I want to go home.”
The boy being beaten attempts to protect, holding his arms up over his face, and he yells for the girl beating him mercilessly on his head and face to stop. His mouth gapes with the plea helplessly.
Suddenly, she starts to kick him, and the boy has space. In that space rises his fighting spirit. It’s palpable through the screen. It is in that moment that he turns around and faces her, faces the bully and fights back.
And then, as if they were in the octagon, positions change, he takes her back, and puts on a standing rear naked choke.
What is happening here?
Fending off her brother, falling backward across the top of the bus seat and kicking at him, this former upstart, this boy who is no longer a victim, can be seen trying to get a hook over his now very frightened opponent’s leg to better control her in his hold.
He’s either taken jiu-jitsu or really paid attention to the MMA he’s been watching or playing on his PS4.
But hold on. These aren’t professional fighters. These are kids. We just watched this boy being beaten by a girl he now has in his grasp in a serious choke hold. You can hear her struggling to breathe, panicking, but breathing. His hold is tight, but controlled. It’s scaring the shit out of her, but not killing her. It’s pretty unintelligible (if anyone can understand it, please share in the comments) what he’s asking her, but I’m assuming he’s asking if she’ll stop beating on him. She seems to agree.
And then he lets go.
And he asks, “Are you okay?”
Yes, he asks the girl who was beating him, “Are you okay?”
What is happening here?
With not an ounce of malice, this boy defends himself applying what he believes is the necessary level of violence to end the situation. And when it is over, it’s over. He lets go. And he remains the boy he may have always been, the one with the golden heart.
I wish I knew this boy. I hope that this incident becomes his call, his hero’s moment, and that he follows it to much personal success. I watched with despair as he sat and took this beating. But the headline implied the tables would turn, so I watched with hope as well.
You sat there too long, kid. You shouldn’t ever have to take it like that.
But the change in you is the change I’ve seen before. Felt before.
What was the next day like on that bus? What was it like in the hallways the next day at school?
Are you okay? Did anyone ask you that?
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Okay, I will be the BAD, bad gal and say what I am thinking: That boy should have gone a lot further and left his boot print on that girl’s face. That way, the next day when the bully looks in the mirror she will see that imprint and be reminded that she got was coming to her, and if there is a next time, she might get to join her fellow punks in a shallow grave. You ALWAYS leave your mark upon that kind.
Yes, I am vicious.
I’d rather she get a boot print from the proper authorities (Police,their parents etc) than one that’ll re-arrange her face. I’d say the same if it were a boy who did the assaulting.
But you know what, Jennifer, I stand by your opinion anyway. Some bullies need a swift kick in the rear end.
I guarantee she had some nice bruising and slight petechial hemorrhaging the next day that reminded her ass about the time she bullied a kid and he made her count sheep..
“Very disappointing that you would make such a generalization as to tell children that this is the way the world is…” How is it disappointing to point out a sad trend amongst bullying and bullying incidences? And sorry to burst your bubble, but the OP is right: This is the way the world is for bullying victims. You take away all the “No Tolerance Policy” advocacy, which is pretty much sugar-coating, and you’ll find that hardly anyone gives a damn about bullying victims. Especially if they’re boys, like this one, getting manhandled and assaulted by girls. “The world is balance,… Read more »
Eagle, ESPECIALLY when boys are bullied by girls! Or men bullies by women. I remember seeing an expose a while back https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRCS6GGhIRc
Very disappointing that you would make such a generalization as to tell children that this is the way the world is…
The world is balance, this is one aspect. I am deeply saddened by your approach to raise awareness.
This is what happens when girls are not held accountable for their anger and violent acts.She is lucky this boy did not have her apetitite for violence.That is important to note considering all of the hype about males being more violent than girls.
The boy shown in the video would not be ensuring the former bully was okay if he had been the original aggressor. In fact, at some point in the video they female bully tries to beat him enough to ensure he wont “Call the police again.” This indicates this is not the first time he has been victimized. Bullies don’t care to ensure their victims are okay. If they did, they wouldn’t attack in the first place.
I shared it. I have a son and I will never tell him not to defend himself against a physical attack. Some parents are proud of raising boys to “never hit a girl” – NOT ME. Sometimes it is the right to do.
I am glad this kid was kind enough to know when to stop. I was in a similar situation like this kid as I was the shy one in my school. Short story version, the person who picked on me did not step near me after one incident of bullying. As a kid who started lifting wieghts in high school to keep myself healthy (not fight) and was non-violent, I was pretty angry and tired of his behavior. He was injured during the fight which required hospitalization. He never really fully recovered from the leg injury. I still regret that… Read more »
The guy is very very lucky he did not get his ass kicked for defending himself.
is your argument, that the young man should have meekly accepted her feet and fists upon his body?
i just cant understand your thinking at all.
Jameseq … Good memory and you’re right. We’re a hands off facility And now that I’m thinking about what you said, you’re right in that the driver was more then likely the one telling dispatch to call 911. The but appeared not moving. Hands off is something I struggle with. I know it’s for our safety but I’ve been known to get between the combatants … my bad. It would be interesting to see the video from the bus.
Well that is one option.
I don’t have a argument other then to say he is lucky that standing up for himself did not get him in real danger.
I only hope I could be as cool and collected as this kid. I am just glad it did not end with him being mobbed. I very real threat if you hit a women.
Defending yourself when you are being attacked is not the same as randomly hitting someone.
She got exactly what she deserved for the way she was acting. The reason girls and women act like that is because they know men are socialized not to fight back.
Very true. I watched this video on youtube of the girl beating this guy and when he got pissed off to the point that he wanted and was ready to fight an adult called him over and then hit him right in the jaw knocking him down. He then shouted at the poor kid that you don’t fight girls. There are a few important differences here. For one after being attacked and hurt he was finally ready to fight… but not in self defense, he was angry and wanted to fight back. If you rewatch the video you can see… Read more »
I am concerned about what happened after the video ended. The bully in the video had accomplices, among them one person (her brother?) who himself was punching the victim because the victim had successfully restrained the bully.
Did the victim get to safely leave the bus? Or did the bully and her confederates retaliate even worse because he dared to stand up to her?
Okay, maybe because this has just been posted that there aren’t many responses. But I’m waiting for the outrage. A “girl” being a bully to a guy. We had countless responses to an article where a heavy women was being mocked on social media.I expect that there will be equal outrage about this bully girl, beating a heavy boy. So often we hear about “male” bullies, we see articles how the stereotypical guy puts down/berates/bullies the non-stereotypical males. And here we have a prime example of a female bully against a male. Did she see “him” as gay? What was… Read more »
i believe the bus driver was the female voice saying she had called 911 repeatedly. the bus driver probably has the same rules that you did, when you worked in the residential centre. which was not to break up a physical fight but instead call 911 (i remember you saying your staff had to stand aside and let security restore order) the original vid is on worldhiphop site. i went there, as i was interested in the reaction, would there be alot of whiteknightin of the female bully? thankfully most of the respondents, young men and young women, are supporting… Read more »
the girl got what was coming to her for being a bully. that choke hold and her gasping for breath made me chuckle, lets hope that gets her to flystraight from now on. very glad the boy defended himself against both of those bullies. without the record, it would be alot easier for the authorities to have ignored what happened to the boy, and instead punish him for choking her. (of course someone will say we didnt see what happened before the recording started). however i think it was a good thing that someone was filming, as it was incontrovertible… Read more »