Anti-Bullying Campaign of Baltimore Ravens’ Ray Rice

Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice is busy getting ready for the start of the NFL season, but he took time out to write a post on Facebook where he spoke out against bullying.  Earlier this week, a student at a Baltimore High School who had been bullied has been charged with shooting another student; the victim was shot at random and was not anyone who had bullied the alleged shooter.

In his statement, Rice asked how bullying could reach this level and urged kids to treat each other with “simple human decency and kindness”.  “What if this kid had a friend to talk to?” he asked, urging kids to sit and talk with those who sat alone at the lunch table or were new in school.

This isn’t the first time Rice has spoken out about bullying.  Back in May, Rice hosted a forum on teen bullying following the Easter Sunday suicide of a 15 year old girl who had been bullied on social media, including suggestions that she commit suicide.  Rice was shocked that bullying had become a factor in suicides among young people and organized the forum to raise awareness and urge the school systems to recognize the problem and take action.  After years of tragedies like shootings and suicides, some school districts still need to be dragged screaming and kicking into the reality and severity of the problem of bullying, probably because they would be forced to take action if they admitted the problem existed.

Kudos to Ray Rice for helping raise awareness of this serious issue.