Schools across the Algoma District School Board will be showing their support against bullying for the sixth year in a row on Wednesday, Feb. 26th. Bullying has become a major problem in our schools, workplaces, homes and over the Internet.
The original event started out as a protest by David Shepherd and Travis Price of Berwick, Nova Scotia, who in 2007 bought and distributed 50 pink shirts after male ninth grade student Charles McNeill was bullied for wearing a pink shirt during the first day of school.
“David Shepherd, Travis Price and their teenage friends organized a high-school protest to wear pink in sympathy with a Grade 9 boy who was being bullied [for wearing a pink shirt]…[They] took a stand against bullying when they protested against the harassment of a new Grade 9 student by distributing pink T-shirts to all the boys in their school.
‘I learned that two people can come up with an idea, run with it, and it can do wonders,’ says Mr. Price, 17, who organized the pink protest. ‘Finally, someone stood up for a weaker kid.’ So Mr. Shepherd and some other headed off to a discount store and bought 50 pink tank tops.
They sent out message to schoolmates that night, and the next morning they hauled the shirts to school in a plastic bag. As they stood in the foyer handing out the shirts, the bullied boy walked in. His face spoke volumes. ‘It looked like a huge weight was lifted off his shoulders,’ Mr. Price recalled. The bullies were never heard from again.”
In support of this effort, we here at Sault Online encourage everyone to wear something pink to symbolize that we as a society will not tolerate bullying anywhere! Although originating right here in Canada, Anti-Bullying Day (a.k.a. Pink Shirt Day) is a day now celebrated on various dates across the World occuring on the last Wednesday of February or the second Thursday in September.
Other ways you can show your support include:
- Challenge your friends and co-workers to commit to a bully-free lifestyle and wear pink on Feb 26, 2014.
- Share Pink Shirt Day Public Service Announcements on your facebook wall or twitter account.
- Upload a picture of you, your school, your work, your friends on Twitter wearing pink on Feb 26th and tag it with #pinkshirtday and mention @pinkshirtday – or email to [email protected]
- Share and retweet messages from @pinkshirtday on Twitter and let them know what you’re doing to support Pink Shirt Day. Example tweet: On Feb 26 I’ll be wearing Pink. Make some noise against bullying! Support @pinkshirtday. #pinkshirtday
For more information on “Pink Shirt Day”, visit http://www.pinkshirtday.ca
