skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Anti-Bullying Lesson for NY Schoolkids

play audio
Play

Monday, December 5, 2011   

NEW YORK - When Kerry Kennedy, daughter of the late Robert F. Kennedy, visits Beacon High School in New York City today, she'll bring with her a courageous victim of schoolroom brutality. The visit will introduce a new lesson on bullying that is being added to the education curriculum for New York state.

The victim, Jamie Nabozny, sued his Wisconsin high school for not protecting him from beatings by classmates who were angered by his homosexuality. Since the favorable settlement of his case, he has traveled the country speaking to teenagers about bullying. He has been honored by the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights and his story is now part of lessons taught around the world.

"It's a huge honor to be chosen for the Defender award, as well as to be used in a curriculum on bullying. This has become my life's passion. It's something that is obviously very personal to me."

The Speak Truth to Power curriculum, a project of the RFK Center and NYSUT, New York's largest teachers union, has been taught to hundreds of thousands of students in the U.S. and overseas.

Kennedy, a human rights activist, says the rarest form of courage - one most often faced by teenagers - is standing up to one's own friends, family or colleagues over oppression.

"They are constantly in situations where their classmates are saying things - saying racist jokes or sexist jokes - that they don't feel comfortable with, but if they stand up to them they might be ostracized. That's what's really so remarkable about this young man."

John Heffernan is with Speak Truth to Power, which uses the experiences of courageous defenders from around the world to educate students and others about human rights and urge them to take action. He says being named a Speak Truth to Power Defender puts Jamie Nabozny in some heady company, but he insists everyone has the tools and the capacity to become a human rights defender.

"You don't have to be a Vaclav Havel, you don't have to be an Ellie Weisel, you don't have to be a Desmond Tutu. You can be a Jamie Nabozny to create change in your own life or in your community."

Nabozny says progress has been made in building awareness of bullying in schools, yet suicides of tormented teenagers continue.

"I hear from kids every day on Facebook telling me about what they're going through, still. It's almost 20 years later, since I've been in school, and things have changed in some places but not a lot in others."

Jamie Nabozny's story is told in "Bullied," a documentary produced by the Southern Poverty Law Center. More information is available at http://blogs.nysut.org/sttp/.




get more stories like this via email

more stories
A report from the Tennessee HealthCare Campaign recommended the federal government needs to strengthen 340B drug pricing and other federal negotiation mechanisms to make needed medicines more readily available and less expensive for hospitals to purchase and administer. (Spotmatikphoto/AdobeStock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

A recent report examined how some rural Tennessee hospitals have managed to stay afloat despite financial challenges. The report includes interviews …


Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…


Nearly 13 million Americans receive health coverage through unique plans under both Medicare and Medicaid. They are known as Dual-Eligible Special Needs Plans. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Medicare and Medicaid are key sources of health coverage for many Americans and some people qualify for assistance under both programs. With lagging …

Social Issues

play sound

A mix of policy updates and staffing boosts has helped to put wage theft enforcement on the radar in Minnesota, and officials leading the efforts are …

More than six in 10 Americans favor keeping the abortion pill mifepristone available in the U.S. as a prescription drug, while over a third are opposed, according to a Gallup poll. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

New research shows more than six in 10 abortions in the U.S. last year were medically induced, and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto - D-NV - is …

Social Issues

play sound

Colorado is working to boost the state's agricultural communities by getting more fresh, nutritious foods into school cafeterias - and a new online …

Social Issues

play sound

Missouri lawmakers are concerned with protecting people from the potential risks of the increasing accessibility of AI-generated images and videos…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021