Eric Martin: Bullied and Beaten By Gang Of Students ... And Charged With Assault

A couple of things about yours truly: I know what it’s like to be bullied. I was bullied for being gay — or at least perceived as being gay — all through junior high and high school. I cannot remember a day going by that I wasn’t called “faggot” or “queer.” But luckily for me, if you could consider it luck, the bullying was mostly name-calling and, maybe, the occasional shove in the hallway’ I didn’t have to live with the threat of physical harm, just the still painful verbal taunts which make me shudder even today, decades later.

Another thing about me? I am not a violent person. I have never been in a physical fight in my life; the closest I ever came was one day when my sister was so irate—that girl had a temper—that she tried to slug me; I grabbed both her wrists and basically set her down on the kitchen floor. I don’t fight.

So, I cannot begin to imagine what Eric Martin went through, after years of being called “faggot” and “queer;” years of shoves and taunts and harassment, until, one day, he’d had enough and decided to fight back against those who bullied him.

He fought back against several, several, of his classmates called him names and then beat him into unconsciousness; Eric spent nearly two weeks in the hospital with a traumatic brain injury, multiple contusions and a broken arm.

And finally the school has decided to press charges … against Eric.

Yes, the kid who has been bullied and taunted and name-called since he was a child is being charged as a criminal because he finally stood up for himself.

When are we going to stop letting this happen? When are we, as a community of parents, of bullied students, of allies, going to demand that the schools do something? How many students have to die, have to be beaten, have to be arrested before it’s enough?

We go to school to learn, not berate and abuse those students who seem different; we go to school to study, not to gang up on someone who acts in a way we don’t understand, we don’t like.

The bullies are winning; LGBTQ youth are being harassed to death, unless they fight back, and then they are being charged as criminals.

There is a GoFundMe page set up to help Eric pay his legal bills; bills he’ll have to pay because he was the victim of gang violence and fought back — keep in mind not one of his attackers was hospitalized or hurt during the fight, but Eric himself was in the hospital for six weeks.

There is also a place to send Eric letters of support, to let him know that while his own school, his own teachers, principal and administrators stood by and did nothing for him, that we can stand by him, and support him, and let him know that he is not alone.

We are all Eric Martin.

sources:

NCRM

GoFundMe: Justice for Eric

ISBL: Two Cases of Bullying ... Two Ridiculous Outcomes

Letters for Eric
P.O.Box 993
Sandston, Va. 23150

Two Cases Of Bullying ... Two Ridiculous Outcomes

We’ve heard all the stories about students bullying other students; pushing, shoving, taunting, teasing, beatings; we’ve heard it all. And we’ve heard of teachers who bully students, or allow the bullying of one student by another to continue, but this is a new one … A teacher has been fired because she refused to let a bunch of viciously racist kids bully a black student. Pam Aister had been a teacher at Four Peaks Elementary School for 25 years has been fired because she refused to let a gang of racist kids bully a black student. That’s right; she stopped the bullies and lost her job in the process. It all began when Aister was at the school, as a group of students surrounded their “target,” and like any good teacher, like most of us think teachers should be, she stepped in to stop the abuse. “He was called the n-word, ‘monkey,’ and ‘coon' and [I said] if you’re picking on him, you’re picking on me. It’s not five against one, it’s five against two, and there will be no more taunting, teasing or racial names.” — Pam Aister That’s how it should be right? That’s what we expect of those who teach our children, right? Well, apparently not the parents of those racist punk kids at Four Peaks Elementary because they called to complain about Pam Aister getting their children in trouble; some say she even threatened their little darlings. The parents of these racist students claim that Aister had the nerve to tell the bullies to “shut up” — you know, stop with the racist names; that’s what they’re complaining about. In the end, Pam Aister was fired; the racist kids were not punished. A twenty-five year career ruined because some parents don't like teachers reprimanding their little racists.  It seems sickening, doesn’t it, but let me remind you that this happened in Arizona, not exactly known for its “live and let live” attitudes; this, after all, is the same state that once refused to recognize Martin Luther King Day and recently passed a law legalizing racial profiling. Arizona, where it’s sunny and hate-filled, I’m guessing. But is it what the people of Arizona really want? Do they want teachers fired for standing up for a bullied child? Do they want racist punks running roughshod in freaking elementary schools? Pam Aister should be back in the classroom as soon as possible, and those racist punks and their idiotic parents should all be making phone calls and driving around looking for another school because they clearly do not belong in a public school system. Maybe the KKK has an educational program for these punks and their racist parents.

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We’ve heard all the stories about students bullying other students; pushing, shoving, taunting, teasing, beatings; we’ve heard it all. And we’ve heard of teachers who bully students, or allow the bullying of one student by another to continue, but this is a new one …

A teacher has been fired because she refused to let a bunch of viciously racist kids bully a black student.

Pam Aister had been a teacher at Four Peaks Elementary School for 25 years has been fired because she refused to let a gang of racist kids bully a black student.

That’s right; she stopped the bullies and lost her job in the process.

It all began when Aister was at the school, as a group of students surrounded their “target,” and like any good teacher, like most of us think teachers should be, she stepped in to stop the abuse.

“He was called the n-word, ‘monkey,’ and ‘coon' and [I said] if you’re picking on him, you’re picking on me. It’s not five against one, it’s five against two, and there will be no more taunting, teasing or racial names.” — Pam Aister

That’s how it should be right? That’s what we expect of those who teach our children, right?

Well, apparently not the parents of those racist punk kids at Four Peaks Elementary because they called to complain about Pam Aister getting their children in trouble; some say she even threatened their little darlings. The parents of these racist students claim that Aister had the nerve to tell the bullies to “shut up” — you know, stop with the racist names; that’s what they’re complaining about.

In the end, Pam Aister was fired; the racist kids were not punished. A twenty-five year career ruined because some parents don't like teachers reprimanding their little racists. 

It seems sickening, doesn’t it, but let me remind you that this happened in Arizona, not exactly known for its “live and let live” attitudes; this, after all, is the same state that once refused to recognize Martin Luther King Day and recently passed a law legalizing racial profiling.

Arizona, where it’s sunny and hate-filled, I’m guessing.

But is it what the people of Arizona really want? Do they want teachers fired for standing up for a bullied child? Do they want racist punks running roughshod in freaking elementary schools?

Pam Aister should be back in the classroom as soon as possible, and those racist punks and their idiotic parents should all be making phone calls and driving around looking for another school because they clearly do not belong in a public school system.

Maybe the KKK has an educational program for these punks and their racist parents.

And then there's this .... Eric Martin, a fourteen-year old Virginia boy, has been beaten and bullied, called “gay” and a “faggot” too many times, and finally, one day, when at least four other students began to beat him again, he’d had enough and he fought back. And now he’s being charged with two counts of assault — he allegedly threw the first punch — and school officials are refusing to allow him back into school until he signs a statement saying he threatened the school, something he says he didn’t do, and something that the school cannot prove. After his beating at the hands of those four thugs, Eric was hospitalized for nine days due to a possible broken arm, a concussion, and because, after the beating he is on suicide watch. And all because some students think he’s gay and cannot handle that. Mary Martin, Eric’s mother, admits that he threw the first punch, but says he was a victim of bullying, of constantly being called one gay slur after anther until he’d had enough and fought back. "He's got bruises all down the spine of his back where he was just slammed on that table. … When I try to call the school, and I try to get answers they just blow me off. They don't want to talk to me." The school also sent an email to parents saying the incident is being dealt with according to their established policies and procedures which seems to be a zero tolerance policy, but if Eric has endured the name-calling and the taunts and the bullying, it’s not quite “zero tolerance” is it? I hope the school investigates, and I hope they see that this was a case of four students attacking one student, and just because he fought back — he did get one hit in on a boy — does that mean those other four boys get to beat him so badly he was hospitalized? Something is wrong when the victim is the one being punished … again.

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SIDENOTE:

Eric's family has started a campaign, Letters for Eric, to show him some support, and if you’d like to write to him, here’s how:

Letters for Eric

P.O.Box 993

Sandston, Va. 23150

And then there's this ....

Eric Martin, a fourteen-year old Virginia boy, has been beaten and bullied, called “gay” and a “faggot” too many times, and finally, one day, when at least four other students began to beat him again, he’d had enough and he fought back.

And now he’s being charged with two counts of assault — he allegedly threw the first punch — and school officials are refusing to allow him back into school until he signs a statement saying he threatened the school, something he says he didn’t do, and something that the school cannot prove.

After his beating at the hands of those four thugs, Eric was hospitalized for nine days due to a possible broken arm, a concussion, and because, after the beating he is on suicide watch.

And all because some students think he’s gay and cannot handle that.

Mary Martin, Eric’s mother, admits that he threw the first punch, but says he was a victim of bullying, of constantly being called one gay slur after anther until he’d had enough and fought back.

"He's got bruises all down the spine of his back where he was just slammed on that table. … When I try to call the school, and I try to get answers they just blow me off. They don't want to talk to me."

The school also sent an email to parents saying the incident is being dealt with according to their established policies and procedures which seems to be a zero tolerance policy, but if Eric has endured the name-calling and the taunts and the bullying, it’s not quite “zero tolerance” is it?

I hope the school investigates, and I hope they see that this was a case of four students attacking one student, and just because he fought back — he did get one hit in on a boy — does that mean those other four boys get to beat him so badly he was hospitalized?

Something is wrong when the victim is the one being punished … again.