Bullying drives American high school teen to kill herself

A high school girl in New York has committed suicide after being bullied at school. School bullying is so rampant in the U.S. that as many as 47 states have enacted anti-bullying laws.

According to the New York Daily News and other dailies in New York Tuesday, Amanda Diane Cummings, 15, a sophomore at New Dorp High School on Staten Island, jumped in front of a running bus on Dec. 27 last year. She was rushed to a hospital but died Monday.

Cummings had a 19-year-old boyfriend in the middle of last year, and both of them were bullied by her classmates, according to the girl`s relatives and friends.

Keith Cummings, the suicide victim`s uncle, said all about Amanda, including her shoes, hairdo and makeup, were the subject of bullying. Her tormenters stole her cellphone, shoes and jacket, he added.

The girl was severely bullied for a while before her suicide, but did not let others know about her suffering for fear of revenge, according to a police investigation.

Bullying-caused teen suicides are frequent in the U.S., occurring almost every month. In September last year, 14-year-old Jamey Rodemeyer killed himself after being bullied for years.

Since the Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights (PACER) Center designated October as National Bullying Prevention Month in 2006, related events have been held that month across the U.S.

In October last year, the CNN program “Bullying: It Stops Here” showed shocking survey results. CNN surveyed 700 students at the Wheatley School, a nationally ranked high school on Long Island, on bullying. Among them, 42 percent said they had bullied their classmates and 31 percent said they experienced being bullied. In addition, 77 percent said they did nothing when their friends were being bullied.

All U.S. states except South Dakota, Michigan and Montana have anti-bullying statutes on the books, with New Jersey introducing in October last year the toughest anti-bullying law in the country. Schools in the state must employ investigators to probe bullying allegations and are legally responsible for bullying incidents.

witness@donga.com