From the day Tyler was born,
I was probably
the proudest dad in the world.
Because he was the firstborn,
he was the first son.
He always had that laugh
about him that was just...
I don't know,
it was infectious.
It caught you.
Keep going! Keep going!
One more time. Let's go.
See, Papa, see?
See, I can do it.
Papa, see? I can do it.
As he grew older,
he kind of reverted and was a loner.
He couldn't stand large crowds,
he couldn't stand
the noise of it all.
Here, let's see the window.
I knew he would be victimized
at some point in time.
Tyler?
What is it, Dad?
I need a camcorder.
Tyler was never
the most athletic.
All right, y'all tell me
what y'all think about snow.
When he was in PE, he was always
the last one to be chose.
Nobody would be on his team
because they said he was a geek
and he's a fag,
and they didn't want to play with him.
And it took a toll on him
early in middle school
to where he... he cried.
And then he got to a point
to where he didn't cry anymore.
And that's when it became difficult
to truly understand
what he was going through.
Is this in position?
Kimberly, if you see this tape,
this is me, I'm talking in the camera.
But I just wanted to say that
I really love you very much.
If all the kids insult you
and all things like that,
forget about them.
The last couple days we had heard
that he had had his head
shoved into a wall locker.
Some kids had told him to go
hang himself, that he was worthless.
Hand me it.
And I think he got to the point
to where enough was enough.
- Tyler, what are you doing?
- Drawing.
- You doing your homework?
- Yes.
- You drawing Daddy a picture?
- Yes.
- Say hi to Daddy.
- Hi, Daddy.
I still think he's going
to come through that door.
And I know he's not.
Come here.
Well, come here.
Basketball.
If there is a heaven...
I know Tyler's there.
And all I can do is have the faith...
that I'll be able to see him again.
That's what I have to live for.
And I have to live
for my other two kids,
and I have to make their life...
as comfortable and as pleasant...
and as peaceful as I can.
Tyler Lee Long,
born April 25, 1992.
Died October 17, 2009. Age 17.
Her name is Noelle
I had a dream about her
She rings my bell
I got gym class
in half an hour
How she rocks
in Keds and tube socks
But she doesn't know who I am
And she doesn't
give a damn about me
'Cause I'm just
a teenage dirtbag, baby
Yeah, I'm just
a teenage dirtbag, baby
Listen to Iron Maiden, baby
with me
I've got two tickets
to Iron Maiden, baby
Come with me Friday
Don't say "maybe"
I'm just
a teenage dirtbag, baby
Like you
Yeah
Dirtbag
No, she doesn't know
What she's missing
- Papa?
- Yes, dear?
You have no cups that I can reach.
I have no cups?
- That I can reach.
- Why not?
Because they're
all the way back there.
Somebody, named "your mother"...
I feel good
when I'm in this house
and when I'm with my family.
- That's Papa's cup.
- Yeah, I know.
Maya, my sister, she is annoying,
but that's normal for a sister, so...
Then there's Ethan.
He's my six-year-old brother.
He got all A's in preschool
through kindergarten.
I'm proud of him for that.
Then there's Jada.
She talks a lot.
Then there's Logan,
my two-year-old brother,
and my mama and my dad.
And then there's me.
L-O-S-E-R.
What does that spell? "Alex."
Wow, sisters are annoying.
Your face is annoying.
People, call me "fish face."
I don't mind.
You got called "fish face," too?
I got called that
all the time in third grade.
- You did?
- Yeah.
Come here,
come here, come here.
What?
Body slam!
Your foot!
Isn't it tasty?
I feel kind of nervous
going back to school 'cause...
I like learning,
but I have trouble
with making friends.
What's up, Alex?
Don't piss me off and that won't happen.
OK.
I'll kick your ass.
- Don't do that.
- I'm not hitting you.
You hit me in the nose.
- Don't even think about watching.
- OK.
Or gonna throw you on the ground
and start kicking the crap out of you.
I'll break your Adam's apple,
which will kill you.
Hey! No, you didn't!
- What's up?
- S'up?
OK.
Yeah, I know
what you're saying.
Whoa, the fog must have
slowed everybody down.
Go. Go, go, go.
Get to class.
And away we go.
Listen up, everybody get your team
and line up over there against the wall.
It doesn't matter which order.
Whoa, buddy, what happened? Come here.
- We just got...
- What in the world happened?
I don't see any hole.
- He got hit pretty good.
- Did he?
I'll bet you guys
didn't like that, did you?
Get in there, let's go.
Get in there.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Let's go, let's go, move around.
Come on, Jason, move around.
Watch the ball!
Hey. Are you in trouble?
- Not really.
- OK.
He's always such
an unhappy-looking child.
I see you guys
laughing over there.
Now, Cody.
Cody, come here.
You don't have a book?
'cause you just snuck in?
We're on page 364.
Maggie, go ahead and read it, please.
Mrs. Pucilek, open a window.
Open a window.
Can I do that
without getting in trouble? OK.
Yes. Come here, sweetie.
Cody, can you tell me what's
happening at lunch table?
He calls me a faggot.
He does?
How does that make you feel?
It... It breaks my heart.
It breaks your heart. I see.
So what do you think we should do?
Tell me how to fix this.
Tell me how to fix this.
I don't know.
I don't have any magic.
Just, you know,
and it's a really awful feeling.
How many people in here have,
um, at least one friend?
OK. How many people in here
have two friends?
How many people in here have
more than two friends?
Almost everybody.
People think that I'm different,
I'm not normal.
Most kids don't
want to be around me.
I feel like I...
I belong somewhere else.
You can always count on
something happening
when you're walking down the hall
at school and in the classroom,
after school,
when I'm walking home,
when I'm walking through the parking
lot in the mornings, to school.
I wasn't welcomed at church.
I'm not welcomed
in a lot of people's homes.
I know these guys get called "gay"
just for hanging out with me.
Everybody thinks I'm a lesbian.
Everybody thought
we were lesbians
- right when we started hanging out.
- I'm straight.
- And she's straight.
- I'm straight.
Like I told you,
she's K-gay.
I'm not straight anymore.
We were walking back from lunch
and these guys,
there was probably like six older guys,
driving in their mom's minivan.
They were mostly jocks.
I was gonna find out
what their problem was,
so I kinda walked in the road,
and instead of slowing down
or stopping to talk to me,
they sped up
and I flew onto the windshield.
I couldn't have gotten hit by something
cool, like a Jeep or something.
I had to get hit by a minivan.
Tuttle. Country town.
- What did he say?
- Friday night games.
Football, football
Let's play football!
Defense!
Defense! Defense!
Bible Belt Oklahoma.
Any time someone comes around
that's the least bit different,
they make sure to put 'em down.
This is where I got the most crap.
Playing basketball.
I loved basketball.
But they just told me many times
they don't want to touch me.
It's pretty much on that court
was my worst year ever.
Every time I look at that board,
I know my name
should be up there.
I was told many times I could
have got a scholarship.
I was a cutter.
I've tried to commit suicide
three times.
Once Kelby came out
and the town learned about her,
it was overnight.
We've pretty much been
isolated here.
There are people that we spent...
years with, side by side,
coaching their children...
that will not even wave to us
anymore, won't look at us.
We were sitting in the car one day,
driving down the street
and I looked over at her,
and it was just me and her in the car,
and I said, "Kelby, are you gay?"
And she started crying and saying,
"Don't hate me.
Please don't stop loving me."
She never said yes,
but I could tell by her reaction
that she was
and she was scared to death.
I mean, she grew up in a family
that taught Sunday school
and raised her to believe that...
that was a sin.
And I think you feel that way
until you're in that situation,
and... and then it's personal.
They made it very clear
that I wasn't welcomed at the school.
When I opened my locker,
there was a note that said,
"Faggots aren't welcomed here."
And the teacher was calling roll
and said, "Boys,"
and then he said, "Girls"
and then paused and said, "Kelby."
And another teacher told me
how they burned fags,
and kept talking about it
with me in the classroom,
and everyone was laughing.
And they knew it was hurting me,
and they kept going.
And I offered her the out.
I said, "You know,
we can go somewhere bigger.
Somewhere where it's not
gonna be like a microscope
and you're not
gonna be an outcast,
and if you want to do that
I understand. We'll go."
And from the very first day,
she said, "No, if I leave, they win."
The school doesn't care.
We've had so many meetings
with the principal
and the superintendent.
And they all give you
the same plastic smile
and say, "Yes, I understand.
I'll do everything I can."
And nothing's ever done.
- I love you too.
- I'll see you here in a bit.
- OK.
- Bye. I'll see you.
This was Troy's room,
and this was Tyler's room.
And when David opened the door,
that was Tyler's bed.
And he saw the note
lying on the bed.
But, of course, you can't see
into the closet from here
because it's just a door.
So when David walked in
is when he saw the inside of the closet,
and there was Tyler.
And then, of course,
David yelled for me, and Troy got up.
So Troy... saw everything.
He saw everything.
So we had to switch them.
That's what we thought was best.
We put Troy
on that side of the house
and moved Teryn on this side
of the house and just repainted.
Because that was the only way
we could get through.
Because all we see
when we come in here still...
is the picture
of Tyler hanging there.
So we had to change everything,
and now this is headquarters.
Headquarters for the e-mails,
headquarters for...
our project of working
to keep Tyler's voice alive.
We took the shelf down.
We took the shelf down,
you can see.
Breathe, breathe, breathe.
Ready?
One, two, three, four, and five,
six, seven, eight.
Turn around,
and ball change, and turns.
Your turns have been
phenomenal today.
And drop over and roll. Up.
- Bye. Thanks.
- Bye.
When I found him
that morning...
we knew...
why Tyler did what he did.
There was no doubt in our minds.
When... you're in the shower
and your clothes are taken,
and you have no way
of getting out of the gym
other than walking out naked.
When you're standing
in the bathroom
and you're urinating,
and kids come up
and push you from behind
up against the stall
and against the wall
and you urinate on your pants.
When you're sitting in the classroom,
somebody comes by and grabs your books
and throws them on the floor
and tells you, "Pick them up, bitch."
Those are things that happened to Tyler.
Did he ever come home
with blood running down his face? No.
It was the mental abuse
and the not-so-physical abuse
that Tyler endured.
We can control what goes inside
those walls, inside the school.
And the atmosphere has to be set
completely by all the administration.
They all are part
of the school system,
and they're there
to protect the kids.
And if they don't,
then this is what happens.
He had a target on his back.
Everybody knew that.
Hold on, hold on.
Wait, wait here. Come by me.
Come on.
There's a car coming.
I don't want to go on...
Here, I just got
these new shoes so...
I got my own princess shoes!
- Yeah, water?
- Turn the water on.
- How'd it go?
- Good and...
nobody did anything
to me today, so...
That's good.
How was your day?
Are you in there?
- Yeah.
- Good to know.
I'm glad you didn't have
any problems today.
Next time I get
the whole story, OK?
He doesn't share a whole lot.
He was always pretty quiet.
He was born at 26-weeks gestation.
So that's pretty far from 40.
Um... and...
they came in and said that...
They said he wouldn't live 24 hours.
It's 13 years, so he made it.
My biggest goal for him
is I need him to learn to communicate.
You spend all your free time
with these little people.
It's crazy to think you
don't really know them
or what happens to them or...
It's scary.
- What?
- You feel that?
Hey, I texted you back.
They must be coming in.
Bringing them in, Vicky?
You all right, Cole?
Mrs. Lockwood,
I'm in the middle of this,
- and I'm sick and tired of it.
- No, no, no. You just go, OK?
Cole, stay right here.
Right here.
I'm gonna ask you guys
to shake hands. Can you do that?
- Yeah.
- Shake hands.
Cole!
- Cole!
- What?
You are not going anywhere.
He is offering his hand.
And let this drop.
You may go.
Cole, I expected more.
He criticizes me every single day.
- Then why are you around him?
- I don't. He comes to me.
I try to get away from him,
he follows me.
And he criticizes me,
calling me a "P-U-S-S-Y."
OK, honey, that's not right,
and he shouldn't do that.
- I don't even know why.
- You know what?
He was trying
to say he was sorry.
He already did,
and he didn't mean it
because it continued on.
You didn't mean it when you
stuck out your hand, either.
So that means you're
just like him, right?
- What you don't like in him, you...
- Except I don't hurt people.
By not shaking his hand,
you're just like him.
Like someone who
pushes you into walls,
threatens to break your arm,
threatens to stab you and kill you?
Shoot you with a gun?
He apologized.
Have you reported
all that sort of stuff?
- Yes.
- OK, then it's been taken care of.
And all of them said,
even the cops said...
told him to stay away from me,
- and he doesn't.
- OK.
All right. Can you try to get along?
I think you guys might be
really good friends at some time.
We were.
And then he started bullying me.
Two people to a seat, dumbass.
Get out of the damn seat!
There's two people already here.
They punch me in the jaw...
strangle me.
They knock things
out of my hand...
take things from me...
sit on me.
They... push me so far that...
that I... I want to become the bully.
This is her comfort zone,
to herself.
She was a basketball player.
These are her trophies, her awards.
Got her names on them
and everything.
She's an honor student.
Yeah, she is an honor student.
She said when she finished school,
she said she wanted to go to the,
Navy, I think that's what she said.
Because she didn't
want to see me work so hard,
and she wanted to help me out.
She said, "Mama, I'm sorry."
She said, "I didn't mean
to put you through this."
She said, "I got tired
of them messing with me,
picking at me, day by day."
She said, "Mama, I wasn't
trying to hurt nobody.
I just wanted to scare them."
It all started back
when school first began,
and there was a lot of kids on the bus
saying things about me.
I tried my best to tell an adult,
but it got worse.
It was about 8:30 to 8:45
when I got the call that morning.
I was shocked,
because I couldn't believe
that was my daughter.
And I asked the lady, I said,
"Are you sure you got my daughter?"
And she said, "Yeah."
I said, "Well, what is her name?"
She said, "Ja'Meya Jackson."
And it's like I just...
My heart just dropped.
'Cause I couldn't believe it.
I'm like, "She couldn't
have gotten my gun."
And she said, "She got your gun."
And I'm like,
"She didn't hurt anybody, did she?"
She said, "No,
she didn't hurt anybody."
It felt like everybody
just turned against me.
It was like nine of them,
nine or ten of them
calling me stupid and dumb,
and they started
throwing things at me.
And one of the guys
said something to me,
and he threatened me, talking
about what he was gonna do to me,
and he'll fight girls,
and everybody was laughing.
And I was telling him to be quiet,
and he kept talking,
and that's when I got up.
What?
Now come here, baby.
Come here, baby.
- Popped a gun on...
- What did you do?
- What are they doing?
- They're talking,
and I pulled a gun on them
showing up on my life now.
- Y'all talking?
- Sit down and leave her alone.
At the point to where
she takes the gun out,
that's 22 counts of kidnapping.
She has 22 counts
of attempted aggravated assault.
She's got 45 total
felony charges facing her.
Y'all quit talking to me!
Do not talk to me!
Calm down!
For me, there's nothing,
no amount of bullying or teasing
or picking on or whatever,
there's nothing unless
someone was actually
whipping on this girl every day,
unless someone was hitting
this young lady in the head
and being physically brutal to her,
there's nothing, to me,
that justifies
her taking the gun on that bus,
I don't care what it is.
I got it, I got it, I got it.
You've got it?
You have it?
The police, by the time
I had walked up off the bus,
he just grabbed my arms
and put the cuffs up on me...
and I walked to the car.
Even though things
came out as best
as they possibly could have,
if you added up all the years
that she could get,
it would be hundreds of years.
Yeah, that would devastate me.
I don't even know
if I could live behind it.
I really don't.
Our Father,
who art in Heaven...
we come to you right now gathered
with bowed down heads, Father God.
We ask you, right now, Father God,
in your dying son Jesus' name forever
to have mercy up on us.
I just never thought
I'd see this happening
to this family.
I hate that she was getting
bullied like that
and we couldn't do anything about it.
'Cause Ja'Meya don't mess with anybody.
It's going on in all schools,
it's happening to all kids,
and it's a problem
that needs to be stopped,
an end needs to be put to it now.
- That's right.
- Children hurt themselves
and hurt others all the time
because of bullying.
'Cause parents don't talk to their
children about not bullying.
- Right.
- Teachers don't do nothing
about kids bullying.
The board don't do nothing,
the principals don't do nothing,
nothing is done.
If I never
Sing another song
Down here on this earth
I'll be singing
With the angels in my home
In my new home
I'll be singing
I'll be singing
With the angels in my home
In my new home
Claps, screams and questions
crowded a Murray County
schoolroom this evening,
all revolving
around the recent death
of 17-year-old Tyler Long.
His parents say unpunished bullying
at the school
led him to take his own life.
There were numerous times
that I had to leave work
to go to the school
because of situations that
arose with Tyler being bullied.
Their attitude was, "We can't stop kids
from saying bad things.
We can't watch what every kid
does at every moment."
You don't want
to take care of the problem.
And if you did want to take care of it,
it would be took care of.
Bullying is a serious problem
in American schools.
- It would be...
- In this school.
- It would be unfair to say...
- Let's be honest, this school.
OK, it would be unfair to say
that we do not have
instances of bullying.
My baby was missing two
and three days of school a week
because there's
a gang of five boys
threatening to beat him up
at school every single day.
It was reported to everyone,
and nobody did nothing.
"Kids will be kids,
boys will be boys.
They're just cruel at this age."
And it was
a continuous fight with them.
The perception that the school
is a haven for bullies is just not true.
Do we have some bullying problems?
I'm sure we do.
All school systems do.
But is it a major overarching
concern in our high school?
No, it is not.
My name's Tina Long.
I'm Tyler's mother.
Um, I'm a nurse,
and I appreciate y'all being here.
I'm David Long.
I'm retired military
and work with the BoEU,
over on Fifth Avenue,
in extrusion
as a department manager.
And I, too, really
wanted to thank everybody
for coming out tonight
and being here.
We have invited either superintendent
or anyone from central office
or school board members
to participate.
So I want to, right up front,
if anyone's here
from Murray County schools,
we'd love to have you up here
to represent the school system.
OK, we did invite them.
I wish someone had come.
That's all you can do.
My name's Jeff Johnson,
and I run a business here,
I'm also a pastor at a local church.
Some of the church kids came to me
after Tyler had committed
this awful thing,
and they said that kids came
to school on the next school day
with ropes around their necks.
My question
to the school board would be,
why in God's name would some teacher,
some counselor,
somebody in enforcement
not do something?
Because that is very
derogatory to any kid.
That's like a slap in the face
to these parents.
And my question is, if bartenders are
responsible for a drunk
that goes out and kills
an innocent person,
how come the bullies
are not responsible
for the death
of this precious child?
This is an awfully complicated
and difficult issue.
I know there's a lot of anger
about the school system here.
But the school can't, by itself,
change a child's behavior
if they're going home
and not being reinforced at home
- to change their behavior.
- Good luck with that.
Most of these parents could really,
I hate to say it, could care less.
We've been there, done that.
You're not going to get them in there.
So then what do you do?
We've been
in this scenario, and...
you couldn't get
the parents involved.
So then what do you do?
And we went to the police.
Their hands are tied.
You go to the school,
um, "Kids will be kids."
Um, "Let these girls work it out."
Um, "Let your child work it out."
Well, it's not just in school.
They go on the Internet,
cell phones.
They can damage somebody's life,
like they did to your son.
Yes, I'm Howard Ensley.
I'm the sheriff here in Murray County.
We have school resource
officers in the school,
and they're there
to protect the students.
Mr. Ensley,
last year when two children
beat Tyler up,
your school resource officer
refused to file the charges.
I had to fight.
Here, what we get is,
"Nothing's wrong.
We didn't do anything.
Everything's fine."
But, bottom-line here is, when you send
your child to that school,
it doesn't matter
what parents that child has,
they should be
safe and protected. Period.
There's a young man
back there with his hand up.
Are you a student?
- Yes, I'm a student.
- OK, if you would.
Um, I was a very good
friend of Tyler Long's,
and whenever you'd
walk around that school,
you notice
that everybody gets bullied.
And then the teachers
just kind of shrug it off.
As in, "He done
something wrong to that kid,
that's why he got what he got.
And it's OK, it's just fine."
That's a load of daggom crap.
It's a big lie.
All right, DJ,
thank you very much.
I've been dealing with it for four
years, and I finally got tired of it.
So one day you'd
had enough. What'd you do?
I just went off on the kid
because I couldn't stand it anymore.
I couldn't take it.
It came to the point that, last year,
I stayed out of school purposely
to try to stay away from them.
I've been to my mom,
my grandparents and the principal,
all for the last three years,
and they haven't done
anything about it.
It's a shame that Tyler
had to do what he done
for people to notice what's going on
in the schools at Murray County.
It's a shame that he had to do
this for anybody to notice it.
We can make a difference.
We can make a difference for kids
that don't have to go four years
of torment and sadness
and not wanna go to school.
As I told the school board,
my voice is not gonna fall silent.
I will go to my grave
until a difference is made.
I know what Tyler was going through.
I know how he was
thinking about suicide.
They went around,
they were calling me a pussy,
shoving me into lockers,
saying, "Eff you."
And now, after I've
actually stood up for myself,
they just walk by me, like,
"There's another kid.
He's just another kid
here at our school."
It really came down to the point
that I had to go, myself,
and literally stand up for myself
for them to leave me alone.
Come here, buddy. Hi, buddy.
Calm down. It's OK.
Hey, it's OK. TJ. TJ.
Hey, TJ.
Well, I think this year we're
gonna get 25 inches of snow.
I have to shovel it, though.
That stinks.
Shut up.
You gonna dance for mom?
You want some faster music?
You had just
the cutest little face.
You had
the chubbiest little cheeks.
Look how cute you are.
What happened?
There was one song I'd play,
and he'd just bounce
to the beat, back and forth.
Alex, do you want to dance?
Here.
Dance.
Hey! All right, that's my head.
Come on.
All right.
All rise.
Yazoo County Youth Court
is now in session.
Judge Derek Parker presiding.
- It's over.
- Not yet.
- It is. What do you mean?
- I'm still here.
I'm saying the hard part
is over, sweetie.
- You're going home.
- In three months.
You don't know,
you keep saying three months.
You gonna speak three months,
and it's gonna be three.
You hear?
You gaining
some weight. Them thighs, girl.
I just wanna get bigger, plumper.
- What?
- I wanna get plump.
No, you don't.
You gonna look a hot mess.
You don't want
to get too big, Ja'Meya.
So the doctor said
you're doing good. OK?
You stop being all that,
'cause he said you were doing good.
He told me you were doing good.
Said, "She doing real good."
You wasn't thinking,
and you made a big mistake.
Don't cry.
- I want to go home, Ma.
- I know, baby.
You're going.
You're going, Ja'Meya.
You're going home.
Lt'll be all right.
I want you to work on
getting yourself together, OK?
So you can come home.
Might not be but a month or two.
- All right?
- OK.
I'm going to go see
where the doctor's at.
I'll see you in a bit.
As you're voting,
vote for the candidates
you can trust and rely on.
This is not a popularity contest.
If we work together
to show how great we can be
with our behavior and grades,
we can make East Middle
a better school.
Remember, a vote for Trevor
is the best vote ever.
Thank you.
Next, we have Chloe Albright.
Hey, guys,
my name is Chloe Albright.
I am here giving this speech
because I would like to be
East Middle's
next student body president.
Zip that up, zip that up.
It got ripped. It can't zip up.
- Alex?
- What?
Come here.
What happened this week
on the bus? Anything?
This high-schooler was strangling me,
but I think he was
just messing around.
He, calls me the b-word.
- And he says that I'm...
- That's not messing around.
- Well, he says I'm his b-word.
- That's not messing around.
But I think when he strangles me
he's messing around.
That's not messing around, either.
- OK.
- Who knows, next year
this high school kid,
instead of picking on you,
is gonna then pick on
your little sister.
And what are you gonna do about it?
'Cause you're her big brother.
You can't let this stuff go on.
'Cause then people just start
seeing you as a punching bag.
Nobody respects a punching bag.
Well, if Maya gets picked on,
I'll tell somebody about it.
- But if I get picked on...
- You should stop it now.
You're starting to make me
scared to go to middle school.
Why?
'Cause if you get picked on,
I'm gonna get picked on.
I already get picked on at school
'cause you're my brother.
Well,
that makes a lot of sense.
Why do you get picked on
'cause I'm your brother?
That makes no sense at all.
Kids don't like you at my school.
They think you're creepy.
Tonight, a tragic situation
has shaken a small Oklahoma
town to its core.
A Perkins boy,
just 11 years old,
believed to have been desperate
enough to take his own life.
The very guns
that Ty had learned to respect,
his family says,
he turned on himself.
At this time,
we're looking into all avenues
to try to figure out
why this tragedy occurred.
At this time,
there's no indication
that bullying was a factor.
But despite
what the superintendent says,
friends say Ty Field
was the victim of bullying.
There was this kid
that picks on him all the time.
He came up to him
and started being mean,
and I told him
that he needed to leave
because we didn't
want any problems.
When I saw him last,
he was really sad and crying.
You can do it.
I don't want to, either.
I'm right here
and you're in my arms.
- I know.
- We'll tuck him in one more time.
We'll put him to bed.
Tuck the baby in one more time.
Everybody turn
to face the casket.
Pass it to the person next to you.
I believe
most strongly in my heart
that when a child dies,
they go straight to be with God.
They go straight to his presence.
But what does that leave for us...
the ones who are left behind?
We're just a couple
of simple people.
You know, we're... We're nobodies.
I guarantee you if
some politician's kid did this
because he was getting picked on
in a public school,
you know, there'd be a law tomorrow.
There'd be changes made tomorrow.
You know? We're nobody.
But we love each other,
and we loved our son.
We'd go
and work on our clubhouse.
It's way back out in the woods,
and no one but me and Ty
knows where it is.
We would just entertain
ourselves for about five hours.
It would feel like 30 minutes.
Just hanging out,
having a good time.
Ty was just
the coolest kid I knew.
This, right here, is the main part
of it, right up here.
When we got bored we'd go down in there
and hunt for rabbits and stuff.
And then the secret part is way back
there that no one's allowed to see.
Bullying's not cool.
And I'll tell you,
in the second grade, I tried
to fit in with so many people
that I was probably
the biggest bully
in the whole school,
when I was in second grade.
But once I got into third...
In third, I started to realize
what a jerk I was being to kids
and what it could do.
And then in fourth
I really started realizing
that it's gonna hurt someone,
so I decided
to be cool with everyone.
Even when people would bully him
I'd, like, I'd get
so angry, and I could...
I think I could have hurt those kids
so bad that done something to him.
Like they'll push him down and say,
"Shut up, spaz. You're a spaz,"
or throw him into a locker
or shove him into one.
And I'd just, like, go to take off
after them and he'd be like,
"Trey, it's not worth it.
Be better than them.
It's all right." And then
he'd walk off with a smile.
And I don't know
how he could do it.
He was way stronger than I was.
If it was up to me, if I was
the king of the United States,
I'd make it to where
there was no popularity,
everyone was equal,
because that's how it should be.
A rabbit. Me and Ty would
have been after that so quick.
I wonder where it went.
I just got rain in my eye!
- I hate the rain.
- I love rain.
I like it, like...
You know what my philosophy is?
My philosophy about rain is?
You know how when people can't
hold it in anymore, they cry?
That's what...!
Yeah, and they like...
The world is taking so much in
that it can't hold anymore,
that's why it rains.
'Cause it's letting go.
Lightning bolt!
- Did you see it?
- No, rain got in my eye.
That is so awesome.
- I'm getting wet.
- Thunder is amazing.
Tyler, Summer,
Caitlin, Brooke...
If I didn't have them...
I wouldn't be here.
For sure, like 100 percent.
They are everything
that makes me get up
and walk in the doors
to school every morning.
I couldn't do it without them.
I've got my, what, four-foot-ten
girlfriend to protect me?
She saw flowers.
- Give me my shoes!
- No! That's Kelby's.
She's more important than you.
Jump and I'll catch you.
Would you catch me?
You know, I just
keep thinking that maybe
I'm the one that is in this town
that can make a change.
I don't want them to win,
and I don't want to back down,
and maybe all it takes
is for one person to stand up.
You're not just
standing up for you.
You're standing up
for all the kids
that go through this
every single day.
These are my special
little cherubs, right here,
that are getting on these buses.
These are the ones
that you pray every night
that they get home safely.
- Get your ass off my book bag.
- OK.
- Here.
- Move! Move!
I'll beat your ass.
What?
Why are you punching me?
I'll use my cell phone, bitch.
Little bitch.
- Come on!
- No, no, no.
- Bitch!
- Why you stabbing me with it?
- Gonna knock your fish lips off!
- Bitch!
- Give it to him hard.
- Bitch!
I would've never guessed
in a million years it was that bad.
Do you understand that, at some point,
you've gotten used to this?
And I'm not.
I'm not used to it
because I didn't know.
And I'm not about
to get used to it.
Does it make you feel good
when they punch you?
Or kick you? Or stab you?
Do these things
make you feel good?
Well, no. Well, I don't know.
I'm starting to think
I don't feel anything anymore.
I don't understand, Alex.
Friends are supposed
to make you feel good.
That's the point of having them.
It's someone else on the planet
you can connect with.
Your only connection to these kids
is that they like to pound on you.
If you... If you say
these people aren't my friends,
then what friends do I have?
I'd like to see Kim
or Paula or someone?
- Are you guys together?
- Yes.
OK.
How can I help you guys?
My voice is shaking.
I'm very upset.
I'm gonna be honest. I'm upset enough I
don't want him to ride the bus anymore.
- What bus is he on?
- Fifty-four.
- OK.
- It's absolutely not acceptable.
I mean, they're
stabbing him with pencils,
and choking him, and...
Buses are notoriously bad places
for lots of kids.
I... You know, I wish I could say
I could make it stop on that,
but I'm not gonna lie to you.
I can't. Um, but what we can do
is we can get him on another bus.
So if I put him on another bus
I have, what, little to no guarantee
that he'll be safe on that bus, either?
When I was on the bus,
when I was a kid,
if you got out
of your seat, they pulled over,
the whole world stopped until
everybody sat down and shut up.
How come they don't do anything now?
They just drive.
Like, there should be
more responsibility than that.
She's...
It's gotta be heard, at least,
and they're up, running up
and down the hall of the bus.
Now, I've ridden 54.
I've been on that route.
I've been on a couple of them.
They are just as good as gold.
I feel real bad
that this happened.
You send your kids to school
with the assumption
that if they're out of your care,
they're in someone else's
who is just as capable as you
of keeping them safe,
and I don't feel like that.
- He's not safe on that bus.
- I don't, either.
It's hard. It is hard.
And you know what?
This was my day on Thursday.
This is my granddaughter
and her new baby brother.
I'd be sitting there,
crying, just like you
if anything happened
to those two kids.
See my new baby?
We don't want anything
to happen to these babies.
Any of them.
This is totally wrong, totally wrong
that this situation would happen.
Absolutely. But...
It just seems to me,
if it's a few kids, then...
you take away the few kids.
You'll just have to trust me
that we'll take care
of that other child.
And I really am glad you came in.
Come on.
Goodbye, sweetie.
- Thanks again.
- Thank you.
- I'll talk to you later, OK?
- All right.
We're sorry about this,
but we will take care of it.
Wait for your mom.
What did she say
when we were leaving,
"We'll take care of it"? I'm pretty sure
that's what she said in the fall.
Yeah.
She politicianed us.
She'd not gonna do anything.
If something is not done
and the kids don't hear about it,
it will say, "This is fine."
What I'm doing is investigating
what happened to Alex the other day.
- Do you...
- Alex the red...
the red-haired one
or the blond-haired one?
Can you tell me
a little bit about it?
'Cause I don't know,
really, much about it.
I've seen people doing stuff to him,
but I don't know nothing about,
like, what's really been going on.
Have you ever seen
anything happen to him on the bus
that would be considered hurtful?
Not that I know of.
Teddy and other people, like,
call him "fish face" on the bus.
It's jokes and stuff,
and he even laughs about it.
- So, yeah.
- OK.
Hi, Jerry, come on in.
I understand that you
haven't been getting along
very well with Alex Hopkins.
Um, sometimes we have, like,
this kid from the high school
that picks on me and him.
He's kinda chubby.
Do you think that
the bus is very safe, Thomas?
No.
And have you ever hit him?
Yes, I have because
he's really made me mad.
You will not be teasing anybody,
or using bad words.
OK.
You tell me "OK,"
and I'll believe it when I see it.
You will be talking
to Officer Mattus,
and you probably won't be riding
that bus for the rest of the year
if you think that it's OK
for you to hit people.
"Go ahead, hit him,
attack him, do it."
And that's going
in your discipline file.
- OK.
- All right?
I'll be watching you.
What's one thing that you need
to start doing that you haven't done?
- Tell someone.
- Yes.
Do you trust us that we'll
do something when you tell us
that someone's bothering you?
Well, in sixth grade, you...
did nothing about,
Teddy sitting on my head.
- On the bus?
- Yeah, there's, like, a little knob.
Then, once you unlock that knob,
you can, like, lift up the seats.
And he lifted up the seat,
put my head in it, sat on my head.
How do you know
I didn't do anything?
I don't know, 'cause...
Alex, did he sit on
your head after you told me?
- He...
- I did talk to him.
And he didn't do that again, did he?
Come on, pop the trunk.
I'm home! Whoo!
I'm at home!
The house looks so better.
It looks so different.
Ooh!
Ooh-whee.
Mom, the house looks so pretty.
It looks so pretty.
- What?
- It's just like my first time here.
Why do you keep
turning the lights off?
My bad.
"Sometimes sweetness and love
is all you need.
Dear Mother, I want to thank you
for all you have given me:
love, trust, care, help, fun, life.
Happy Mother's Day.
This coupon is good
for one chore.
This coupon is good
for one breakfast in bed.
This coupon is good
for three days of fun."
Kinda sucks that it's Mother's Day.
I don't feel like
a very good mother today.
Come here. Come here.
Alex, he just can't fit in.
He tries.
He just comes across
so weird to people, you know?
What really
ticks me off is, like,
if they got to know him,
he'd probably be the most
devoted friend they ever had.
I'm sure we haven't made
things easier here?
If he came home and told us
this stuff, on a regular basis,
when it happened,
then we would've known.
I imagine
the only thing worse than...
him crying or breaking down
in front of those boys
when they're beating
the crap out of him
is having to come
home and tell you.
He wants to be you.
Never sees you cry.
Well, the next time he's around,
I'm gonna punch you hard
and you start crying.
Um, Mom? Can I ride
my roller skates?
- If you change your pants.
- OK.
If you fall, I don't
want you to rip your slacks.
May I have your attention,
please, for afternoon announcements.
This is the last day
of school for everyone.
And we want to wish you all
a safe, happy, fun summer,
and we can't wait
to see you in the fall.
Why do you always have
your hair like that? Like...
Like, my bangs are weird.
OK.
Hold on, let me get
your shirt still.
- Thank you.
- Hey, can I sign your shirt?
Sure.
Do we get our things today?
What is that?
- I don't know.
- Dumb, probably.
I don't believe in luck,
but I believe in hope.
Right there and right there.
There's the twins right there.
Rebecca...
I can't tell them apart!
There's Fatima, right there.
I asked her if I could
have a dollar at lunch
'cause I wanted to buy a switch,
but she said, "Maybe."
She has a cute nose.
Girls are like candy.
Sometimes you want,
like, a Hershey's bar,
sometimes you want
a Snickers bar.
You can't really tell
which one you want.
Sometimes you want,
like, a popsicle.
It's a complicated feeling.
One more week.
When you look back and you wonder
where the year has gone...
and what it would be like
if Tyler was here.
How would he be?
How much would he have changed?
You just don't know.
Yeah, you know, I went in thinking
it was gonna be a new year,
and people were used to me.
And I went into class, and the class was
already full and I sat down,
and everyone around me
moved seats.
Like every single person.
I was the only one
sitting in a little circle.
That was enough.
Maybe there's another place
I can go try to make a difference.
We've decided, as of this week,
that we've pulled her
out of school here.
I never knew what the saying,
"You don't know what
a person's been through
until you walk a mile
in their shoes."
I never really understood
the depth of that meaning
until I had a gay child.
It has made me completely reevaluate
who and what I am as a human being...
to see the ugliness
that has come out.
It took me a while to realize
that you can't change it all at once.
It's gonna take multiple people,
at separate stages
of people's lives,
talking and making a difference.
It's not just gonna take me.
It's a little one-room schoolhouse
that my grandmother
taught at a long time ago.
And my family's been
out in this area for over 100 years.
Our farm's
a Centennial Oklahoma Farm.
It's Progress.
This is home.
Ty's name is in the foundation
of the house we're living in.
He helped me build it.
He worked his butt off.
I can't go nowhere.
This is where worldwide
organization takes place,
for a guy that just got on the Internet
about six weeks ago.
It's a pretty amazing thing.
The idea came to me,
and I started this group,
Stand for the Silent,
in Ty's memory,
to take on bullying, and...
I threw the idea out there,
and it took off like wildfire.
The Internet's an amazing thing.
We... We reached out to parents
that have lost kids
in Illinois and Texas
and Alabama.
Parents of kids that are being
bullied all over the world.
As early as this morning,
we have received
messages and phone calls
of three more rallies
that we didn't know about.
They don't have power out there,
on the south lawn of the Capitol,
so we had to make our own.
- That's good.
- OK.
- Ready?
- Yeah.
At this time,
I'd like to release the balloons
in honor of kids that have
taken their lives from bullying
throughout the United States
and from other countries.
Ryan Halliton.
Montana Lance.
Brandon Swartwood.
Scott Wells.
Ty Smalley.
And the last one...
is my son, which is
very dear to me, is Tyler.
Be the difference.
Go out and find that one child
that new kid who just moved to town,
standing over there by himself.
Be his friend.
Smile.
Be willing to help him up
when he's pushed down.
Be willing to stand up for him.
If we all do it together,
we will change the world.
It starts right here, right now.
Let's get this done.
Whoo!
Thank you, guys.
I'd like to thank each and every
one of you for showing up tonight
to support these wonderful
young men and women
in their efforts to stop bullying.
I'd also like to say thank you
to all of those that
are holding vigils worldwide,
and they've worked their
tails off to make this happen.
They've done it out of love and
support and respect for others,
and love for not only
their own children,
they're doing it for you.
They're doing it for your kids.
They're doing it for each other.
These are my kids.
I care about every one of them
as if they were my own.
We all gotta continue
what we've started today.
I'm gonna kinda slide
into the background now...
Me and my wife,
we need some time to heal.
I will never, ever stop fighting
bullying wherever I find it.
I will fight bullying forever...
because my son
will be 11 years old forever.
Thank you.
I believe had more kids
stepped forward
when Tyler was being bullied,
and took a stand
alongside of Tyler,
Tyler would still be here today.
Everything starts with one
and builds up.
And if we can continue
to increase the numbers...
whether it be one by one,
two by two,
eventually we have an army,
to where we can defeat anything.
Follow me
To the shipwrecked shores
of a dark and strange country
I was born
A stranger thinking out loud
in a foreign tongue
I was out of place
I was looking all around
Just a'trying to find
a friendly face
But they're all gone
- Did you ever think
- Did you ever think?
- Did you ever think, think
- Did you ever think, think
A lot of people every day
who will surely drown
- Did you ever think
- Did you ever think
- Did you ever think, think
- Did you ever think, think
Who left me all alone
in this town?
And a busted heart
is a welcome friend
And when that heart leaves
what will you do then?
- And if I cry
- If I cry
Is that a sin?
And the wisdom is a whisper
And I'm trying to understand
Understand
What I say What I think
Where I sleep When I breathe
What I do with my hands
- Did you ever think
- Did you ever think
- Did you ever think, think
- Did you ever think, think
A lot of people every day
who will surely drown
- Did you ever think
- Did you ever think
- Did you ever think, think
- Did you ever think, think
Who left me all alone
in this town?
And a busted heart
is a welcome friend
And when that heart leaves
what will you do then?
- And if I cry
- If I cry
Is that a sin?
- Did you ever think
- Did you ever think
- Did you ever think, think
- Did you ever think, think
A lot of people every day
who will surely drown
- Did you ever think
- Did you ever think
- Did you ever think, think
- Did you ever think, think
Who left me all alone
in this town?
And a busted heart
is a welcome friend
And when that heart leaves
what will you do then?
- And if I cry
- If I cry
Is that a sin?
And I'm finally cracking