As of September 1, 2011, ALL 1,875 retail establishments are prohibited from providing light-weight, single-use plastic carryout bags to customers at the point of sale. MORE

By Michael Aushenker
Special to The Lookout

September 27, 2011 -- The statistics are frightening:

• 77 per cent of all K-12 students have been bullied.
• 160,000 kids skip school out of fear of being bullied
• Physically and mentally challenged children are two to three times more likely to be bullied
• 58 per cent of kids don’t tell adults if they’re being bullied out of fear of escalation or not being liked by other kids

A frank discussion of bullying and its latest online incarnation packed a room inside the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Monica Friday afternoon at “Solving the Power of Cyber-Bullying.”

Lee Fox, founder of youth empowerment company KooDooZ, mediated the panel, which featured the real experts – a group of youths who know firsthand about the hurt and shame of being bullied:

Tyler Page, 14, who started the nonprofit Kids Helping Kids; Kylie Morgan, 16, whose anti-bullying song “Phoebe” received 76,000 hits when it first appeared on YouTube; and Faith, 12, Maya, 12, and David, 17, all of whom articulated their painful experiences.

Panelists (from left to right): David, Maya, Kylie Morgan, Faith, and Tyler Page. Photo courtesy of Lee Fox of KooDooZ.

The panelists were flanked by large TV monitors, on which questions streamed in via Twitter from other Boys and Girls Clubs across the country.

After an introduction by Aaron Young, CEO and president of Boys and Girls Club of Santa Monica, and with a technical assist by the Santa Monica Club’s Roy Shioda, the two-hour panel got underway.

“When I was in the 7th grade, I got bullied a lot,” Page said. “It got to the point where I had enough.”

After witnessing his bully get mugged, Page reached out with compassion. “I realized that I needed to befriend him…Today, he’s one of my good friends.”

That incident ultimately led to Page forming Kids Helping Kids, the Brentwood-based 501C3 which raises money and awareness to keep children from being trafficked in places such as Ghana.

“When I was abused by my real mother, I looked the other way,” said Maya ruefully, of her parent, who had suffered from mental illness.

“If you haven’t told anyone, then you need to,” Page said. “It’s so important.”

Fox criticized the stigma of social media’s negative associations. “There are stories of kids who have raised thousands of dollars [for charity] through social media,” she said, noting the positive phenomenon of Page’s nonprofit and Morgan’s “Phoebe” song, named after Phoebe Prince, a teen who killed herself in 2010 after being victimized.

However, Morgan acknowledged the flip side: “The more technology increases, the more it becomes a problem.”

Faith, who said she is pigeon-toed, said, “I walk a little funny.” The kids called her “Happy Feet” and “Mr. Popper’s Penguins.”

“It hurt,” she admitted, “and it’s not okay.”

Faith eventually came to terms with the underlying reasons why a bully bullies: “Bullying is hurtful words, hurtful actions by people who are angry inside and who lash out.”

David said that the media definitely puts undo pressure on teens. He lamented a commercial that chronicled the transformation of a model from her natural appearance to the distorted image on a billboard: “It’s not them anymore!”

“It’s okay to be different,” Morgan said. “I think normal is overrated.”

Fox asked Faith if she was concerned about the pressure to be perceived as cool to other kids.

“My friends, they love me for who I am,” Faith said. “I like who I am and I like who I want to be and I don’t care that they think.”

Children filled the audience for this youth panel, and the room also contained some concerned parents and teachers.

Among those who felt the importance of attending this forum in person was Principal Janie Gates of Olympic High School.

“Bullying occurs on all campuses,” Gates said, “and I think it’s good to always be sensitive and hyper-aware and to catch it before it grows into a big issue.”