- Roshonda N. Blackmon, Author
- Billy Wolf & The Kids of Heavenly Hills Elementary
When I was in school, I was bullied all the time – whether it was regarding my hairstyle, my dark skin, my quietness, the way I talked or how I dressed (in which I wore dresses all the time) I always felt like the target for something – I hated it – when I would be sitting all by myself, not bothering anybody and just happen to look up and see a couple of girls or guys looking back at me – laughing and pointing because of the way I was eating my food or the constant stares I would get when I would walk by a group of girls and they would look me up and down and laugh because maybe I didn’t have on the latest shoes or clothes.
It was a period in which if I had a wand; I would’ve made it all go away. But I didn’t have a wand, so, therefore, I had to face it – ALONE!
When I got into the 9th grade; study hall was a place in which I dreaded to go. There was this guy in there who found a way to pick on me all the time and not only did he do it, but he acclaimed the attention of everyone else around him and they did it too. There would be such nonsense as, “Hey, Hey Girl” and when I would ignore him, he would call me the B word. When I would look over, he would say “Hey, this boy said he like you and then I had to suffer with the guy saying “I don’t like that ugly girl” and everyone would laugh and it would go on and on and on and on…the hour and a half couldn’t come fast enough, but for some reason it seemed to drag along as if it were enjoying me getting taunted too.
I had no friends and I dare not tell my mom what was going on, she had other things she had to deal with such as taking care of me and my two siblings alone. There were many dealings I’ve had with bullying, such as getting ganged up by a group of girls after school, to getting slapped by a boy so hard; until I never thought I would be able to see straight again; it wasn’t like I did anything to cause this – the cause of this was me doing nothing at all, just minding my own business – these things and many others like it was so detrimental, I literally wanted to take my life and almost did (something I never shared with anyone). I say all of this to say, bullying is not only mean but it’s an issue that if not dealt with, can leave you helpless in thinking that you’re alone and no one cares for you or about you. “Man, I wish I was pretty” I would always tell myself because everyone around me told that I wasn’t – this stigma followed me until I got into my early 30’s (to this day, I still sometimes have trouble actually looking at myself in a mirror).
My purpose for writing “Billy Wolf and the Kids of Heavenly Hills Elementary” is to tell the story of the many bullies we have walking around today – but, we can’t face them alone. We need more than one person to stand up, we need a nation. People that will not only sit back, laugh, post to social media and watch while others are being humiliated and degraded but people whose had enough and are willing to take a stand and help those being bullied; we need people who want to see CHANGE!
We’ve lost too many young people and adults as well to this growing epidemic – I was almost one of them. I didn’t realize how important my voice was until I began to use it – you have a voice; use it to regain your power even if you have to go the news – make your voice heard!! Let’s take care of each other, people can’t help the way they were raised or maybe what they were taught – let’s treat everyone as an equal; let’s stand up and make our voice heard; especially to the ones who have not yet found their inner voice, to speak out.
Let’s Take A Stand Against Bullying – Let’s SPEAK UP!!
Together We Can Do This!!
Author, Motivational Speaker & Creator of A Blog, A Magazine. It’s Justsuminspiration & SpeakUp 2018
SPEAK UP In 2018 