Bullying and Favoritism in Pocahontas
I am writing about the bullying issue at Pocahontas schools and favoritism in the town and school.
Mental health is a serious topic that is often overlooked or forgotten about. In Pocahontas, school and city officials think it is okay to brush off bullying and suicide due to bullying. There are certain people in this town that have a “special” last name and think they can get away with it. If someone that goes to Pocahontas has a “special” last name, the school officials decide to overlook every bad thing you do.
Part of one of the “special” families have bullied multiple people over a course of several years and absolutely nothing has been done about it. A member of another “special” family gets to make racist comments about other students and get away with it. A boy with a “special” last name was expelled for a semester because they made a shooting threat and still got to participate in basketball, even though they were expelled. The only way you have privileges in this town is with a special last name.
For example, a student named JF was caught with an impressive amount of drugs with intent to sell. If this was anyone else, they would have received a hefty prison sentence. That doesn’t happen when you have a special last name though. JF was told to go to rehab and that is it. He was let out for a weekend and when he came back, he didn’t pass his drug test. Normally if you don’t pass a drug test when you’re in the court system, you get sent straight to prison. That doesn’t happen if you’re JF who has privileges simply because of his last name. He was sent back to rehab and nothing was done about the fact that he did drugs the second he got out of rehab.
During homecoming spirit week, 2 girls with special last names dressed up as a pilgrim and native american for holiday day. This is extremely offensive to anyone who is Native American, especially considering the true, dark meaning of Thanksgiving. If you didn’t know, the pilgrims that came over on the Mayflower didn’t “make peace and become friends with the native americans who owned that land” instead they brought over deadly diseases that the Native Americans had not yet come in contact with. Since the Native Americans had not yet been exposed to these diseases their bodies were not ready to fight the disease. This caused it to easily spread and kill many Native Americans. They also took over the land and claimed it for themselves and decided that the Native Americans were their enemy, at least what was left of them. If this was someone without a special name would have been told to change because it was offensive. Instead, they got to continue throughout the day wearing a very offensive and culturally appropriating costume.
The city officials and police department also like to overlook bullying and suicide/attempted suicide due to bullying. In the state of Arkansas, cyber bullying and causing someone to commit suicide is illegal and you can get arrested if there is hard proof. When asked about the cyber bullying crisis, Mrs. Taftnee Cox, the Pocahontas Junior High School counselor, said, “In my opinion, cyber bullying is one of the main forms of bullying. This bullying happens mainly through social media apps such as Snapchat and Tiktok.” Coach Harlan Davis, the vice principal and Lady Redskin basketball coach, was also asked about the cyber bullying crisis and he said, “Before technology was as advanced as it is now, cyber bullying wasn’t a big problem, cyber bullying has gotten remarkably worse as technology has evolved.”
In 2019, a girl fell victim to bullying by someone she thought was her friend. The bully decided the best way to get into her head was to send her a message on Instagram, cyber bullying her and telling her that she was worthless, that she should kill herself, and many other horrible names. As a result, the girl resorted to suicide by overdose. Luckily, the girl survived her attempted suicide and got the help she needed. She came to the conclusion that the best way to deal with her bully was to take screenshots of the conversation and hand them into the police. Her and her parents went to the Pocahontas Police Department and had a meeting with one of the detectives. They handed him the screenshots and he said he would do everything in his power to get her the justice she deserved. They didn’t hear one more thing about it after they walked out of the doors. This girl continued to be bullied by the same exact girl and still nothing was done.
The girl who all of these horrible things happened to is still struggling with the hurt of their words. People may believe in the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” this saying is completely false when it comes to mental abuse from bullies, parents, and officials. Words can hurt so much more than actions. Sure, getting punched in the face or getting tripped hurt, but being told you are worthless, you shouldn’t be alive, and so on, is much more hurtful than getting physically hurt. Coach Harlan Davis was asked his opinion on the bullying at the school and he responded with, “It is difficult to tell which students are being bullied, and which students are just being called mean names every once in a while.” These hateful phrases that you get told stay with you for a very long time. It has been almost 3 years since this poor girl was subjected to these phrases and she is still struggling with her mental health and these sayings have stayed with her all of these years.
People tend to think that mental health is something that shouldn’t be addressed because I mean, how can you help someone mentally? It’s easy to help someone's physical pains because you can treat it with surgery and medicine. Mental diseases are a lot more difficult to deal with because you have to get someone to talk to you about their struggles since their problems aren’t something that can be physically seen. Mental disorders are a chemical imbalance in the brain. You have to treat them with medicine and therapy. Most of the time, it is very hard to find a medicine that helps someone on the first try, so people with mental disorders have to go through a trial and error process in order to find a medicine that will help them get better.
Democracy is defined as a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. Democracy is taking a vote on decisions instead of having one singular person decide everything. A democracy is supposed to be unbiased and fair, treating everyone, no matter your race, background, religion status, or sexuality, the same. If this town were a true democracy, certain people would not have privilege simply because of a name, that in any other place, would mean absolutely nothing.
Outside of this town and surrounding ones, the last names that are so special to this town and its schools, mean absolutely nothing. These kids are going to get a very rude awakening when they figure out that their last names mean absolutely nothing outside of this small town.
Our city “government” is corrupt and needs to be helped badly. The city officials are extremely biased and hypocritical. Recently, the city of Pocahontas decided to bring in a federal agent that will be working with the police department to control crime and catch criminals. I am hoping that with the help of this federal agent, the city of Pocahontas might get a little bit better and the hypocrisy will be limited.
The city of Pocahontas and Pocahontas school district need to do better. They need to address the problems, stop giving privilege to certain people because of their last names, and take responsibility for their actions.
Sources:
https://www.kait8.com/2020/08/09/four-arrested-randolph-county-drug-busts-sheriff-says/
