Don’t let boy’s plea get lost in media frenzy

It is disappointing that the bullying has only gotten worse for 11-year-old Keaton Jones after he made a video about being bullied.

The Tennessee boy’s powerful message is being lost: “People who are different shouldn’t be made fun of because they are different” and “Bullying is not OK.”

Young Jones, who attends Horace Maynard Middle School near Knoxville, asked his mother to film a video for him after she picked him up from school. He directed his message at bullies. A group of five students had targeted him for abuse, dumping milk on him and putting ham down his pants.

“Why do you find joy in taking innocent people and finding a way to be mean to them? It’s not OK,” he said, breaking into sobs.

... But then, people began digging into the family’s social media accounts and uncovered photos of Keaton and other family members posing with the Confederate flag — more than two years ago — and quickly jumped to the conclusion that the family is racist and that Keaton brought the abuse upon himself by using a racial slur.

... Keaton has not returned to school and has now received death threats. The bullied youth has been handed another round of emotional abuse.

Social media can be savage. What should not be lost in the bile and hatred is the angst and message of a young boy who issued a plea for the world to be more tolerant.

Read the full editorial from the Toledo Blade at bit. ly/2jbYZ7V