How To Fend Off Bullies? Bikers Escort Bullied Indiana Student To School

In a heartening gesture, a sixth-grade student in Indiana who endured bullying in his school for two years was escorted to school on Tuesday by 50 bikers from the United Motorcycle Enthusiasts, a group that hosts charity rides.

As Phil Mick headed for his first day in middle school, he was afraid he would be bullied again. However, the bikers accompanying him gave him a confidence boost.

Most schools in the United States have strict anti-bullying programs in place. But students who engage in verbal abuse, physical violence, cyberstalking or other forms of harassment find ways to bully other students without being noticed.

Phil was one such victim of bullying, and the constant harassment he faced at school even prompted him to contemplate suicide. He was often harassed for being overweight. When he could not confide his ordeal in anyone, Phil did not want to go to school anymore. “People would kick me and call me names,” he said, NBC affiliate KXAN reported. “I really don’t tell people.”

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Although Phil kept mum about the bullying he faced everyday at DeKalb Middle School, his mother Tammy Mick finally figured out her son's ordeal when she discovered bruises on his body. “I was fire engine red mad,” Tammy said. “He let them hit him, punch him, everything. He’s not the type to tell somebody.”

Tammy got in touch with Brent Warfield, the director of the United Motorcycle Enthusiasts, for help. Warfield has been working on anti-bullying campaigns for a long time. Warfield had also been a student of DeKalb Middle School.

A group of 50 bikers met Phil and his parents for breakfast before escorting the sixth grader to school. It was also Phil’s first ride on a bike. Before departing, the bikers said a prayer for him to have a good school year. After that day, “Phil comes home every day smiling and he did not do that last year,” Tammy said.

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Warfield posted pictures of Phil’s special day on Facebook, writing: “The Motorcycle Community has come together to help stand up against bullying and show our support for those that are getting bullied.”

Other motorcyclists and “non-riders” also came together to help out Phil by offering to buy school supplies for him, stated Warfield.

This is not the first instance that a group of bikers showed up in support of a student who has been bullied. A fourth grade student Xander Rose, who studied in Harbourside Elementary, in Cape Breton, Canada was made fun of for being overweight and wearing a leather jacket to school. Hundreds of bikers showed up at the school of the 10-year-old student — who wants to grow up to become a biker — in order to support him in June.

“I'm hoping he knows from now on, if somebody bullies him, he's got somebody to go to. He can look on the corner of any street, he's going to find a leather vest,” Mike Basso, one of the bikers said, CTV reported. “He's now one of our brothers.”

In another instance, 16 bikers drove into Salisbury High School in Allentown, Pennsylvania, to support a 16-year-old student, Sean Maehrer, who suffered from Down syndrome in September 2016. The teenager was bullied in the past and his family had posted concerns about him being unable to stand up to the bullies.

Later, the entourage appeared with Sean on the Rachael Ray Show, Inside Edition reported. When asked: “I have to ask you this, my brother... Sean, how cool is this? Like, is it the best feeling ever to walk in with an entourage of motorcycles?” a smiling Sean replied: “Yes.”

In a study published by the journal PLOS ONE in June, it was found overweight students are more likely to get bullied at schools.

"What we consistently see across time is this no reciprocation of friendships, so overweight kids not having their friendships reciprocated, especially by non-overweight kids. So, that's something, in a number of studies over time and across countries, that we've seen," Kayla de la Haye, a behavioral scientist and assistant professor at the University of Southern California, and lead author of one of the studies on bullying, said.

According to a report published by the Huffington Post, it is not enough for the school teachers to simply devise punishments for bullies. They should rather teach kids about ways they can “STANd up” to bullying in general.

Students who are victims of bullying should be encouraged to show strength (not physical, but inner confidence), confide their problems in an adult (also because bullies rarely pick on kids who are not isolated), use assertive phrases when faced with a bully, and act with urgency instead of ignoring repeated bouts of harassment, hoping the problem will dissipate if ignored.

In addition to the “STANd up” program, Esther B. Hess, a developmental psychologist and executive director of Center for the Developing Mind, a multidisciplinary treatment facility in west Los Angeles, advised parents who have kids with special needs to make their children attend self-defense classes. Moreover, such kids should be encouraged to spend most of their school hours in company of peers who can stand up on their behalf.

Parents should also learn not to question their children when they come to them for help regarding any sort of discomfort they face at school. Instead of holding the child responsible for any trouble that he/she might be going through and directing question like “what did you do to bring it on?” the children should be encouraged to talk in detail about everything that is going on.