Alex Carson
Cassidy
Cassidy is a young girl from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and is a student at John Adams Elementary School. She lives with her father, James, and her two older sisters. Her mother, Jenn Slater, lived nearby in Duryea and has a total of seven children. Cassidy has a large loving family and should have been a happy little girl, but she wasn’t. Cassidy was bullied.
The Bullying Video
Cassie’s bullying was so severe that it left her scared, depressed, and feeling helpless. She kept the bullying and her feelings to herself for years. Finally, she decided to do something about it. She created a video that was set to music. Throughout the whole video, she is quiet. To convey her message, she used handwritten notes that she held up in front of the camera. The notes read, “My name is Cassidy. I am ten years old. I go to John Adams Elementary School. And I am in fourth grade. I started getting bullied in the first grade.
A Sad Story
As the video continues, Cassidy makes a heartbreaking confession. Her notes read, “One day during recess, a group of kids grabbed my purse off of a teacher and spat on it, and me. A group of kids always come up to me during recess, trying to fight me. They hit me, kicked me, pulled my hair, pushed me, stepped on me, and spat on me.
Lonely
Cassidy’s notes really tug at the heartstrings when she writes about the loneliness she felt. She wrote, “Kids don’t even want to go near me. Whenever I sit at a lunch table, the kids get up. The bullies threaten to kill me, and they tell me to kill myself. They spilled milk all over my jacket. They also call me names.
No Help
In the next part of the video, Cassidy writes about how she doesn’t get any help. She wrote, “There’s four of them and only one of me. The principal doesn’t do anything. I feel so alone; I feel like I have no one. It hurts.
Standing Up
At the end of the video, she stands up for other bullied kids. Her final note read, “This is my story…Stop bullying! Not just for me but for other kids too. Please share my story.” That was where the video ended.
A Viral Video
It wasn’t long before the video went viral. One person who saw the video was Cassidy’s father, James. He says that he was devastated when he saw the video and what his daughter had gone through. He says that he felt like a failure as a parent. Shortly after Cassidy posted the video, her Facebook account was closed. Cassidy’s mother, Jenn, believes that the Scranton School District reported it, and since you have to be 13 to have a Facebook account, hers was closed. Jenn wanted Cassidy’s message to get out there, so she posted it on her own account. Before Cassidy’s account was shut down, the video received 22,000 views. On Jenn’s account, it had over 350,000 views. It caught the attention of many people, and some of them are famous.
Hugh Jackman
One person who saw it was Hugh Jackman. He posted a clip of Cassidy’s video to his Facebook page. He added a message directly to her, which read, “Hi Cassidy, I’m Hugh. I want you to know you’re loved, smart, and special. You’re strong, funny, and beautiful both inside and out. Bullying is not okay. Please never stop asking for help. You will find it from places and people you never thought possible. I’m your friend.”
The New York Yankees
Cassidy’s video also caught the attention of the New York Yankees. They created a video for Cassidy, using the note cards as she did. In the messages, they told her that she’s not alone and that they care about her. They told her that her strength and courage inspired them to reach out to her. They let her know that she could sit with them at lunch any time. The also told her that they had to care about each other can stand up for each other. The Yankees video was just as touching as Cassidy’s.
The Outcome
Cassidy’s video caught the right attention, and she was given a new recess and lunch. She was offered to change classes, but she liked her teachers, so she refused. She was happy that she wasn’t with the bullies all day. Then she says that kids still pick on her, but it is much better now. She got to meet the Yankees, and her family created a Facebook page to help other victims of bullying. This Girl Was Bullied Every Day So She Reached Out – But Help Came From An Unexpected Place, and it changed her life forever.
