My Response to Social Awareness - Racial Bullying and Ideas for My Picture Book

My Social Awareness topic is Racial Bullying. I was going to do something else, but I have a really good story idea for this.

            I knew going into this that it was going to be a pretty hardcore, serious topic. But a lot of this stuff was really shocking. Like the statistics and facts in this article. Here’s an excerpt from the article:

Racist bullying in schools can include ill-considered remarks that weren’t intended to be hurtful, but represent a pervasive negative attitude, as well as deliberate acts of bullying that specifically target a student because of his skin color or ethnicity. Children who experience racist bullying are at the same risks of other victims of bullying, including

·         Loss of self-esteem

·         Difficulty concentrating in school

·         Higher risk of depression

·         Disruption of schooling

·         Fear of going to school

·         Feeling unsafe in school

·         Dropping out of school to escape the bullying

·         Not continuing to higher learning

·         Higher risk of suicide

Racist bullying can include any or all of the following characteristics:

·         Physical assault

·         Derogatory name calling, insults and racist jokes

·         Racist graffiti

·         Wearing racist badges

·         Carrying or distributing racist materials

·         Verbal and non-verbal abuse and threats

·         Incitement of others to behave in a racist manner

·         Racist comments in the course of discussion in lessons

·         Attempts to recruit for racial organizations and groups

·         Ridicule of an individual for cultural differences

·         Refusal to co-operate with other people because of their color, ethnicity or language

·         Written derogatory remarks

·         Accessing racist material on the Internet.¹

            Crazy, right?

            The idea that kids would even do this cannot even resonate in my mind. It’s just so stupid. What would possess you to even do that- to even think of doing that?! What kind of sick, twisted thoughts go through your mind? What else do you do, kick babies for enjoyment? Idiots.

            Alright, topic change. My picture book is going to be awesome. My idea is this:

            There is a town of green blobs. They all like each other. Everyone is friends. Then a new family moves in. They’re red blobs. None of the other blobs like them. People start telling them to go away. The young red blob goes to the local school. He is teased and picked on. But one green blob doesn’t have a problem with him. He befriends the red blob, and they become best friends. But everybody else still doesn’t like the red blobs. The red blob gets tired of it. He wants to be accepted like his best friend. He demands that they try to do the things that he does, together.

            And then I don’t know what I want to do after that. But I think it’s pretty good. :)