The Today Show recently featured an interview with Sharon Velasquez, one of the teenagers charged with harassing Phoebe Prince, the 15-year-old who committed suicide last January (see below).
According to prosecutors, Velazquez and five other teens bullied Prince, who had recently moved to the U.S. fromIreland,at school, in text messages, on Facebook and Twitter; threatening her and calling her “Irish whore,” “Irish slut” and other choice names. The day she died, a group of teens followed Prince in a car as she walked home from school. They threw things at her and told her she should kill herself. Prince went home and did just that, hanging herself in her bedroom.
Velazquez, now 18, is the first of the teens involvedto speakout publically. In the interview, Velazquez explained that she never would have called Prince names if shed known that Prince had problems; in fact, she claims, she would have tried to help her.She denied that, as was charged at the trial, she treated Prince so viciously that the girl was afraid to walk down school hallways by herself.
SharonVelazquez seems sorrier for herself than for Prince and her family, despite the fact that she received a minimal punishment — she was put on probation and had to fulfill community service hours, and her record will be wiped clean since she was a minor at the time of the harassment.Shewept as she explained that the incident made it impossible for her to continue modeling (presumably because of her notoriety)and claimed that she herself has been bulliedsince Princes death.
I watched the interview because Iwanted to learn more about what makes people bully. I was probably expecting too much, but I hoped that Velazquezs experience would give her some insights into herself and her actions.
ButVelazquez doesnt seem to have learnedanythingfrom her experience. She implies that it would have been acceptable to terrorize Prince if the girl had had no problems, as if the suicide had more to do with Princes supposed mental instability than the bullying. She also justifiesthe bullying because she was acting out of loyalty to a friend (Prince had dated that friends boyfriend). “Im not a mean person,” she told the Today Show audience tearfully, as her mother, who denied many of theaccusations against her daughter(“Thats not the daughter I raised,”) looked on.
Velazquez may not be a mean person — most bullies would likely deny that they are— but that isnt the point. The point is that there is no justification for bullying, no matter the circumstances. As long as people make excuses for themselves or others, e.g. “She provoked me,” “I didnt really mean it,” “Cant he take a joke?” “Its just kids being kids,” bullying will continue to blight peoples lives. Its too late for Phoebe Prince but its not too late for Sharon Velazquez to learn from her mistakes.
After the trial, Massachusetts attorney David E. Sullivan said, “The era of turning a blind eye to bullying and harassment is over.” We may be getting closer to that day, but were clearly not there yet.
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