Donald Trump's Election Causes Rise in Bullying

Feb. 06, 2017

Apparently Melania Trump doesn't really do irony. Late in the presidential campaign, she came to Berwyn and vowed to combat online bullying, a promise that seemingly does non extend to her tweeting husband, who is every bit menacing and powerful a cyberbully as they come. "Our civilisation has gotten too mean and as well violent," she said in front of a Main Line crowd. "It is never okay when a 12-twelvemonth-erstwhile daughter or boy is mocked, bullied or attacked. It is terrible when that happens on the playground and it is unacceptable when it's washed by someone with no name hiding on the Internet."

Bullying is by no ways a new trouble in schools, but the practice has taken on new meaning in the age of Trump. As a candidate for president and now the occupant of the White House, Trump has played the role of Neat-in-Primary.

And while children often view the president of the United States equally a positive function model, Trump is a bad influence on immature minds. He targets those who are different for violence and ridicule. He mocks people with disabilities, disparages women, scapegoats immigrants, Muslims and people of color. The president is scaring our children, as they fear other kids who expect upwards to him and seek to emulate his bullying ways.

Information technology's as if closet haters have been given permission by Trump to come out, which is what comedian Aziz Ansari was getting at during his recent Saturday Nighttime Live monologue: "There'south a new group," he said. "I'chiliad talking well-nigh this tiny slice of people that accept gotten way as well fired up about the Trump affair for the wrong reasons. I'm talking nigh these people that, as shortly every bit Trump won, they're like, 'Nosotros don't accept to pretend like we're not racist anymore! We don't take to pretend anymore! We can exist racist again! Whoo!' Whoa, whoa, whoa! No, no! If you're one of these people, please go dorsum to pretending."

Post-obit the election, the Southern Poverty Law Center conducted an online survey of 10,000 One thousand-12 teachers, counselors and administrators on the negative impact of the ballot. Educators reported a skyrocketing of targeting and harassment of students that began concluding spring, most frequently in majority white schools, including verbal harassment, slurs and derogatory language, and incidents involving Nazi salutes, swastikas and Confederate flags. "The behavior is directed confronting immigrants, Muslims, girls, LGBT students, kids with disabilities and anyone who was on the 'wrong' side of the election," reads the SPLC report, The Trump Effect: The Touch of The 2022 Presidential Election on Our Nation'due south Schools. "Information technology ranges from frightening displays of white power to remarks that are passed off every bit 'jokes.'" Ninety per centum of educators say their schools accept been negatively impacted for the long-term, while 80 percent said students are increasingly worried near the outcome of the election on themselves and their families.

And a national survey just released past the Human Rights Campaign institute that bullying—which has occurred more frequently since the onset of the 2022 presidential campaign—is on the rise since the election. The survey of 50,000 young people ages 13-eighteen is the largest study of its kind, and information technology tells a disturbing story. Lxx percent of teens said they witnessed bullying, hate messages or harassment during or since the ballot. Of those incidents, 70 percent were racially motivated, 63 percent were based on sexual orientation, 59 per centum were motivated past immigration status, and 55 percentage of incidents were related to gender.

Some schools take adopted a restorative justice approach to bullying, repairing damage and nurturing and repairing relationships, rather than merely assigning arraign and pushing students out. At W Philadelphia Loftier Schoolhouse, violent acts and serious incidents dropped 52 per centum in the first year.

The School Commune of Philadelphia maintains a bullying prevention page and a bullying policy .  The School Reform Commission says it prohibits bullying by students, and encourages students and parents to immediately report incidents. If the schoolhouse fails to accept activeness or the beliefs continues, people should report the incident to the district'southward hotline at 215-400-Condom. Discipline for students range from a alarm and parent or guardian notification for the first law-breaking to a suspension or transfer to some other classroom, schoolhouse building or motorcoach for a third offense.

Still, bullying remains a trouble in the Philadelphia schools that needs to be taken more than seriously.  For instance, Romeo Glover, a inferior at Tacony Charter High Schoolhouse who endured bullying and taunts faced expulsion for fighting back, and the schoolhouse blamed him for the abuse—for non reporting it timely.  And, last year, when sixteen-year erstwhile Mia DeJesus of Northeast High School was beaten unconscious by her classmates, who posted the incident on Facebook to humiliate her, the School Commune concluded it was non bullying but a neighborhood dispute. Mia decided to repost the video— which went viral—to make a powerful statement about bullying. Meanwhile, students at the Philadelphia Scientific discipline and Leadership Academy recently produced a film and became finalists in the Cyberbullying Pic Invitational , part of a national effort to raise awareness near cyberbullying.

What is bullying? The organization CRETE ( Conflict Resolution Education in Instructor Education ) defines bullying as having three components: Bullying is repeated equally opposed to a one-fourth dimension occurrence, it is intentional rather than a fault, and it is designed as a ability play so that a high-power player and a low-power player are involved. The power dynamics are important.

Lisagail Zeitlin, a Philadelphia-area educator who was trained by CRETE as a conflict resolution workshop coordinator and has been working in bullying prevention facilitation for educators for more than 10 years, says that bullying is nothing new.

"I can walk into a classroom and tell you who are the high-ability players and who are the low-ability players," says Zeitlin, who has been a classroom teacher for 25 years. She notes that who is bullied and how they are bullied has shifted. "In the bullying prevention world, LGBT kids and kids with identifiable disabilities grab the burden of bullying. And that's been our low-power thespian, but now nosotros have a new low-power player." She'due south talking about Muslims and Latino immigrants, who Trump has helped anoint as low-power players, making them eligible for bullying in a manner they had not previously been. "We take a president who is going out of his way to affirm that the brown kids in the school are the least powerful," says Zeitlin. "We have kindergarteners telling them they don't belong here."

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According to Zeitlin, for groups that practise non have an like shooting fish in a barrel life, affirmation from those in ability affords power, fifty-fifty if merely a drop of it. Having a blackness person in the White House was a source of ability for African-Americans, but as having the Supreme Courtroom acknowledging trans, gay and lesbian folks was empowering to the LGBTQ community, even as that group witnessed more bullying than direct folks long before the ballot. Conversely, having a peachy in office can disempower some groups.

"Trump's bullying beliefs makes him a hero to so many Americans," Zeitlin argues. "Equally adults, we want to brand nice with the boss even when the dominate is a wiggle considering nosotros want that aforementioned ability."

Matt Pillischer, Director of Racial Justice and Social Advocacy at YWCA Delaware , says that students in Delaware are fearful of existence attacked, yet schools are hesitant to say anything virtually the ballot, or admit there are any problems. "Kids are really good at picking up what's in the air, and I'm certain kids are picking up that fright and confusion of all the adults in their lives," Pillischer said. "And I'm sure schools are afraid to be partisan. It's a strange combination where there are anti-bullying messaging, but no programs dealing with a political leader inciting and encouraging bullying."

In Elkins Park and Montgomery County, Pillischer has organized the Local Emergency Action and Response Network (Larn) to support racial, ethnic and sexual minorities who are marginalized by the Trump victory, and respond to acts of hatred through protest and resource to help rebuild and repair the harm. He said he is developing a similar program for the Delaware schools, with a goal to "empower students to hold their own meetings, and organize a safety oasis for students who are fearful of beingness attacked."

A survey past the Human being Rights Entrada found that bullying is on the rising since the election. Lxx per centum of teens say they've witnessed bullying, hate messages or harassment since Nov eight. Of those, lxx percent were racially motivated, 63 per centum were based on sexual orientation, 59 percent were motivated by clearing condition, and 55 pct of incidents were related to gender.

Meanwhile, the SPLC report makes a number of recommendations for administrators to gainsay bullying, including reaching out to parents and staff, providing for the needs of traumatized students, reinforcing anti-bullying strategies, encouraging staff and students to speak upward, and preparing for a crisis.

Perhaps the near effective anti-bullying policy in the country is across the river in New Jersey.  The New Jersey Anti-Bullying Bill of Rights Act —signed into law by Gov. Chris Christie, who some have also called the "B" word—has measures to accost harassment, intimidation and bullying in schoolhouse settings.  Enacted afterward the suicide of Rutgers student Tyler Clementi, the police force requires schools to have rigorous bullying prevention and intervention programs that accost incidents on or off school grounds. However, the law is non properly funded .

In Philly, organizations are doing their part to accept on bullying. CAIR-Philadelphia holds workshops in the Philly schools to accost bullying, Islamophobia and cultural sensitivity. Through their No Place for Hate initiative, the Anti-Defamation League works with schools to reduce bullying, claiming intolerance and create inclusive environments. And the Robert Wood Johnson Scholars Programme at the University of Pennsylvania Schoolhouse of Medicine has worked with Bartram Loftier School and Tilden Centre School on anti-bullying best practices . Penn Medicine found that the success of anti-bullying programs depends not merely on prevention, just in managing bullying while addressing the needs of the victim. Bartram, for case, has a organisation of remediation for bullies and bullying victims, and through a relationship with healthcare organizations in Southwest Philadelphia, provides behavioral health supports for both groups.

As an alternative to zero tolerance discipline and other punitive measures, some schools have adopted a restorative justice approach that focuses on repairing impairment and nurturing and repairing relationships, rather than simply assigning blame and pushing students out. When West Philadelphia High School adopted such a policy, "trigger-happy acts and serious incidents" dropped 52 per centum in the first year, and an additional 40 percent in the first half of the second year. West Philly focused on developing social skills and building a positive community by establishing " circles ," a concept found in Native American culture that provides a space for victims and offenders to interact, but also involves community building and conclusion making. The utilize of circles in the classroom has allowed students to accost conflicts and bug they confront, deal with misunderstandings and their office in the classroom, and create a positive social culture.

Finally, Zeitlin notes that solutions to bullying cannot be single-pronged. Schools need the involvement of parents and the whole community in developing bullying-prevention policies.  When schools have strict anti-bullying policies, they cannot be absolved simply because they push the bullying off-campus. And reporting is key among young people who witness the bullying. "The kids solve the problem more than everyone else, and they need to exist taught to be 'upstanders' rather than bystanders," reports Zeitlin. This is what nosotros must do in the era of Trump, when the President of the Us is the biggest peachy on the block.

Header photo by Gage Skidmore, via Flickr.

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Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/donald-trump-bully-in-chief/

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