Come together to protect our kids from threats of bullying: Steven M. Dettelbach

At first glance, Janis Mohat, Abdikadir Kateba and Diona Perry do not have much in common.

They come from different backgrounds, live in different cities, observe different faiths.

But the three do share a horrible bond. Their pride and joy -- their children -- were bull ied. Not just the schoolyard taunts that most of us dealt with in one form or another over the years, but persistent, cruel, sometimes violent bullying.

As parents around the country make sure homework is completed, prepare for the holi day break and go through the other annual rituals of another school year, the stories of Mohat, Kateba and Perry provide cautionary tales and a call to action for educators, law enforcement, community partners and any parent who fears that his or her own child might be either on the receiving or giving end of such treatment.

Perry's son, Brandon Young, was an honor student at the John Hay Campus in Cleveland when he was fatally shot in 2009 while walking near a park with his brother. Brandon was 17. His crime? Refusing to join the neighborhood street gang.

Kateba moved to Kentucky from Somalia in 2005. Earlier this year, teachers found his 8-year-old son, Mohamed Hussein, hanging unconscious in a restroom stall at school. Mohamed told his father he was pushed into the stall and hung by other students who frequently picked on him.

Mohat and her husband live in Mentor. Their 17-year-old son, Eric, shot himself in 2007 after being constantly pushed, shoved and called slurs like "queer" and "fag" by other students.

Studies show that between 15 percent and 25 percent of students report being bullied. More than half -- 56 percent -- of students surveyed say they have witnessed some form of bullying at schools. Even as overall violence at schools has gone down in recent years, incidents of bullying have increased.

And because of modern communications and technology, a bully can seem omnipresent. In the past, a kid could hide from the bully at recess, or the bullying typically stopped when the student got off the bus. But with the rise of smartphones, social media and texting, a cyberbully can taunt his victim around the clock.

In designing comprehensive anti-violence strategies, ramping up civil rights programs and conducting outreach with communities sometimes afraid to talk with law enforcement, United States attorneys have found themselves right in the middle of this problem. We know that we are not only in the business of punishing crime, but preventing crime in the first place.

Indeed, how can we not help educators fight bullying, if, as Attorney General Eric Holder admonished us last year: "Federal prosecutors should see themselves as community problem solvers, not case processors."

Violence begets violence, and violence at school is especially odious as it also prevents children from getting the education they need to live their dreams.

Fortunately, the Justice Department has been actively engaged in identifying the issues and working toward solutions.

Earlier this fall in Cleveland, my office convened a virtual town hall meeting on bullying at WVIZ Channel 25, a part of Ideastream, that brought together students from marginalized communities, as well as educators and community leaders, for a discussion of the symptoms of and solutions to bullying.

More than 150 students in the studio audience, as well as hundreds more students who watched it simulcast in more than 40 schools in Ohio and across the country during the school day, heard real-world advice and answers from their high school peers.

As we ended our hourlong simulcast, a long line of usually reserved students remained with unanswered concerns and questions. Although we stayed on, that episode is symptomatic of a larger concern that we must all work to address.

Those of us who spent any time in school -- which is to say, all of us -- realize that bullying may never be completely eliminated. But we can take steps to reduce its frequency and help create nurturing communities where students know they are not alone.

Those of us who are parents would do anything we could to ease the suffering of our children, whether it is physical or emotional. There is no higher calling than to help ease the suffering of our community's children and to work collectively to stamp out bullying.

Steven M. Dettelbach is the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

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