The Advocate talks to Sirdeaner Walker, the mother of Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, the 11-year-old student who killed himself last week following relentless bullying at school:
"On April 6,Sirdeaner Walker came home, walked up the stairs to the
second floor of her home, and saw her son suspended from a
support beam in the stairwell, swaying slightly in the
air, an extension cord wrapped around his neck,
according to police. He apologized in a suicide
note, told his mother that he loved her, and left his
video games to his brother.
Walker said her
son had been the victim of bullying since the beginning
of the school year, and that she had been calling the school
since September, complaining that her son was
mercilessly teased. He played football, baseball, and
was a boy scout, but a group of classmates called him
gay and teased him about the way he dressed. They ridiculed
him for going to church with his mother and for
volunteering locally.
"It's not just a
gay issue," Walker said. "It's bigger. He was
11 years old, and he wasn't aware of his sexuality. These
homophobic people attach derogatory terms to a child
who's 11 years old, who goes to church, school,
and the library, and he becomes confused. He thinks,
Maybe I'm like this. Maybe I'm not. What do I
do?"
Walker is demanding action from the school. At this point it's what she has left.
School Yard Bully [the advocate]
