HOUSTON – The happiness of the holidays has been destroyed for one Texas City family despite the fact that their 18-year-old daughter committed suicide in front of them. She said cyberbullying had made her life not worth living.
On this week’s "Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall," local organizations are on the front lines of trying to stop bullying of all kinds because of the great damage it can cause. “It’s very important for people to know that they have resources out there,” said Dena Marks, associate director of the Anti-Defamation League Southwest Region. “They have the Anti-Defamation League. They have Crime Stoppers of Houston and all sorts of resources online that they can look at that we can provide for them.”
The program offered by the ADL is a part of its World of Difference Institute. Crime Stoppers of Houston has its Safe Schools program, which focuses on diagnosing and solving the community problem of bullying and cyberbullying.
“We know that 50 percent of kids are the victims of bullying or Cyber bullying,” said Rania Mankarious, the executive director of Crime Stoppers of Houston. “We know that of those 50 percent, a majority will tell nobody. They’re not going to tell their parents. They’re not going to report it to social websites. They don’t want to tell school counselors. They’re afraid.”
ALSO
Hate seems to have a foothold of sorts in our communities. Luis Salinas, a sociology professor at the University of Houston said it is a troubling trend that can be seen on the national and local levels.
“It seems that within the last year, with civil discourse, the concept of tolerance, where we don’t even have to agree, basically we just tolerate each other’s presence, is not being respected as it used to be,” Salinas said.
We will have much more on the topic of hate in our society on this week’s Houston Newsmakers.
"Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall," airs every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. right after "Meet the Press" on KPRC Channel 2.
More Information:
· Dena Marks, Associate Director, Anti-Defamation League Southwest Region, 713-627-3490 www.adl.org/noplaceforhatehouston @ADLHouston, @ADL_National
· Rania Mankarious, Ph.D., Executive Director Crime Stoppers of Houston, 713-222-TIPS or 713-521-4600, www.crime-stoppers.org @CrimeStopHOU
· Luis Salinas, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, University of Houston, 713-743-3957, www.uh.edu/class/sociology/faculty lsalinas@uh.edu