Taunting Taken Too Far

Two 11-year-old boys—one in Georgia, the other in Massachusetts—have hanged themselves after being bullied at school. Although the boys did not know each other, they had much in common: Both were black and were mocked mercilessly for being “gay.” Michael Arceneaux, writing for The Root, says the dual tragedies highlight how the African-American community remains frustratingly unaccepting of homosexuals, despite the fact that the two boys’ sexuality was unknown. Arceneaux, who is openly gay, says he can sympathize with the boys’ daily struggles at school, where anyone singled out as different can become a constant target. He writes that he would have told “that despite how bad things might feel for them now, tolerance is on their side, and that...for their generation, things will be much better than mine.”