A TRAGEDY

LEADING TO AN ANTI-BULLYING CAMPAIGN

(a Community Responders Pilot and a Peace Ship for a Nuclear-Free Future)

Hola, mis Amigos!!  Están sucediendo tantas cosas, que esta columna será sobre algunas de ellas.

La primera es la tragedia de Dariel Joel Rivera Reyes, quien se suicidó después de ser intimidado implacablemente por otros estudiantes. Dariel, a peaceful, loving 12-year-old bilingual student, tried to avoid altercations with a group of bullies in his school, who proceeded to harass him relentlessly – at school, on social media, and even at home (including stealing his bike).

New York State’s Dignity for All Students Act – The Dignity Act, or DASA – seeks to provide students with a safe and supportive environment free from discrimination, intimidation, taunting, harassment, and bullying.

Despite DASA and numerous incident reports, little was done. The then-principal was also the DASA officer (an obvious conflict of interest) and did not file the required reports. Resources and interventions were not provided. Eventually, Dariel could not take it anymore and killed himself.  The WNY Peace Center and other groups are working with the grieving grandparents and teachers to push for real change to prevent these situations from happening again. Please watch wnypeace.org for the next steps.  We also work in a coalition for a Community Responders Pilot Program in Erie County. We have had too many years of heartache, death, and tragedy when police respond to mental health/ social needs calls (e.g., India Cummings, Daniel Prude, Meech Davis, Pito Rivera, Willie Henley, etc.). We need a team of mental health, health (EMT), and peer responders to respond – independent of police – to low-level 911 calls. Such programs in other cities have been successful.

Erie County must have – and fund – a Community Responders Pilot Program NOW. Please help urge county leaders to allocate $500,000 for a community responders pilot program before 2023. Please visit linktr.ee/CommunityResponders4EC for an action toolkit, including contacting your elected representatives.

Please also go to wnypeace.org to take the WNY Peace Center’s survey regarding Erie County’s proposed plan for a huge new jail costing up to a quarter of a Billion dollars! Please express your opinion.

Lastly, como necessitamos una futura libre de armas nucleares, residuos nucleares, – en otra palabras, a NuclearFree Future!! Pronto, tendemos una oportunidad de aprender, trabajar, y inspirar a otros hacia lo mismo. La Regla De Oro esta llegando!!  The Golden Rule is a sailing ship that was used in the 1950s to try to stop nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands. Now it has been revived, is on a two-year “Great Loop” tour, and will arrive in Buffalo on 7/30.

We will hear from Veterans for Peace sailing the ship; Mark Colville, who did time for his brave protest of nuclear weapons (King Bay Plowshares); Shannon Shenandoah, a Seneca activist working for safe remediation of West Valley nuclear waste; and more. Events run from July 29- August 2nd, including music and the arts at Canalside.

Go to wnypeace.org and/or WNY Peace Center on Facebook.