Karen Klein, an older bus monitor in Greece, New York, is shown in this ten minute video being verbally abused by a group of middle school students.
The footage is disturbing and upsetting. In response, a fundraising effort on indiegogo to give Klein a vacation has brought in over $134,000 and the numbers keep going higher every time I hit the refresh button.
But what do we learn from this incident?
Elders are abused. That’s why events like World Elder Abuse Awareness Day are so important. Elders are also vulnerable, and may have a more difficult time responding to and coping with abuse.
Reporting matters. Reporting abuse, and the entire constellation of harmful behaviors that fall under the umbrella of “bullying” is of critical importance. Without this video, what would have happened to Klein? More of the same. I firmly believe that every victim has the right to determine if, when, and how to report their experiences. But Klein’s case is not just about Klein – it’s actually about all of the children on the bus.
Verbal abuse has many victims. Klein is not the only victim. Every child on the bus who watches or knows what is happening is a victim too. Klein’s victimization sends a powerful message: kids rule the bus, and no one can help you if you are victimized too.
Adults must be more responsible with youth. This is difficult to say given how badly Klein was treated, but she had a greater responsibility to the children on the bus. I don’t believe for one minute that this was the first or only instance. Rather, what happens in the video appears to be a product of a bus culture that has developed over time. These children have clearly tested the boundaries before, and their earlier efforts must have been successful. Klein’s job is to be the bus monitor, to protect children. It was her responsibility to deal with just such behavior problems, and she failed to do so. If it was more than she could handle, she had a responsibility to the youth in her care to seek assistance from her employer. Her employer had a responsibility to have a better handle on what was going on as well.
Bystander intervention and compassion can still carry the day. The person who saw this video on Facebook and posted it to youtube is a hero — a digital bystander who took a social risk to do the right thing. This move could have cost him or her socially. What if it had backfired and the abusers had targeted the upstander next? The outpouring of sympathy online and funds on indiegogo also demonstrate that human beings are capable of goodness.
There is hope, after all.
Related articles:
- How The Internet Rallied To Help A Verbally Abused Bus Monitor [Buslopnik] (jalopnik.com)
- A Senior Flash Mob for World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (crimedime.com)
- Lady Gaga Gets it Right on Bullying Language (crimedime.com)
- Hollaback! Has an App to Encourage Bystander Intervention in Street Harassment (crimedime.com)
- Who Knows When Kids are Victimized? Schools Do (crimedime.com)
- Rethinking Children and Crime: Children’s Exposure to Violence (crimedime.com)
- From Bullying to Genocides: From Micro to Macro (crimedime.com)
IcedDante
June 21, 2012
“What if it had backfired and the abusers had targeted the upstander next?” Are you effin kidding me?
Debbie Jeffrey
June 21, 2012
I watched 10 seconds and refuse to watch any more. It is bullying. Why no-one knows how to deal with it, escapes me. Every employee deserves protection by the employer.
The bullies are children which means adults have time to reform their attitudes. A Bus Monitor protects the children from what? Paedophiles? There should be gratitude expressed by the employer, at least monthly, for the job that Bus Monitors do. Second, there should be support and praise from the bus driver, who is ultimately responsible for the safety of the bus. Third, there were children called Prefects when I was at school who were chosen by the Headmaster for their good sense and ability to relate to and manage others of their own age. Learning management skills used to start way before you reached the workplace.
It is about building a web of support so that both sets of employees, (children being taught and Monitors who are in charge of them) can be secure in their daily environment.
If you teach support at an early age it has more chance of staying with people in later life. Elder abuse may drop because of it. Just my two cents.
Valentine Logar
June 21, 2012
These children are terrors. Is it clear a child, one of their peers took the video? As proof they are horrifying out of control without moral boundary teens or to help? Which is it?
Ms. Klein unfortunately could only take their abuse, she was not able to do more than sit back and take it. What could she do? Mark their names and report their behavior, any other response would have seen her in deep trouble, her marked as the abuser. It is all too likely she needs this job, this small amount of income she receives.
One must wonder what happened to these children. Were they disciplined by the school or their parents? My guess, probably not.
Anonymous
June 21, 2012
HI. I’m an anonymous commenter from Pennsylvania , and I have a difficult time expressing myself without being abusive and using profanity. So a CrimdDime Editor stepped in to help. What I meant to say in my original comment was this:
“I disagree with you, CrimeCents. I think the kids were at fault and Klein was not.”
consciousquared
June 21, 2012
That was painful to watch.
CrimeCents
June 24, 2012
Agreed. Truly horrible, but also a fascinating window into things that really happen. I suspect there was far more than what we saw on other days, and it was just happenstance that this was captured and became viral.
consciousquared
June 24, 2012
That’s true.
Louise Behiel
June 21, 2012
I only watched a few seconds and then stopped – much too ugly and painful to watch anymore. Interesting that chidlren are now mimicking the adults with their behavior: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, translates into the big and strong get away with anything and the weak get taken advantage of. in life, money, politics and whatever. sighhhh when will we learn?
CrimeCents
June 24, 2012
It’s sad that our cultural values have shifted so much that elders are no longer considered powerful/venerable.
investigator25
June 22, 2012
The response from the parents when informed of the actions from their offspring is very telling regarding the upbringing of these little terrorists. Instead of banning them from taxpayer transportation for life and making them publicly apologize to the person who was there to keep them safe – the parents defend these senseless criminal acts of their children. So much for parental guidence.
sued51
June 23, 2012
I saw this on TV. It’s awful. Many children now abuse the system that is there to protect them. Parents are actually terrorized by these children. Nowadays a lot of parents are afraid to discipline their children because their kids are smart enough (and evil enough) to tell their parents if they do anything they will report them.
CrimeCents
June 24, 2012
You raise an interesting issue – and yes, I have seen cases where the children have been smart (and rotten) enough to manipulate their parents with such threats. How do you discipline that kind of child?
Arlene F. Britt
June 28, 2012
Hi CrimeCents…thanks for stopping by Armoured Up. This post caught my attention since I also blogged on it. I was saddened by the behavior of these kids and never considered what many have said about her inability to control their bullying behavior. I’ve chaperoned on field trips for many years and I’ve controlled the kids’ rowdy behavior but I’ve never been verbally attacked by the kids. Personally, I believe I’d be able to hang with them and would be able to back them up quick and in a hurry. Who knows what her personal experiences have been with bullying, so I don’t hold it against her that she was unable to stop ‘em. Shining the spotlight on her diminishes the fact that these kids were plain disrespectful and hateful! As far as how to discipline the kind of kid that would report a parent for disciplining them, I’m afraid the horse is out of that barn. Discipline doesn’t begin when the kids have found their voice or have begun puberty. Discipline begins at the first tantrum and does not always involve physical force. Oh I can go on and on on that topic. Anyway, happy Thursday:)
Arlene F. Britt
June 28, 2012
oops…I meant CrimeDime…I was close though:)
itsybitsysblog
June 28, 2012
Very disturbing. This is one of the many reasons I kept my kids out of school and home schooled them. This age group especially is brutal. The middle school kids are aching to lash out and get attention in any way shape or form. I watched as much as half, realizing that it was just going from bad to worse and she couldn’t do anything about it because it had gone too far. These kids get started with their insults and if no one says anything they get more and more daring and all to impress each other. I feel they may actually follow through with some of the things they said they would do to her at her home just to get some laughs. With out this video as proof of the extent of the lengths these particular kids will go to, just to get a rise out of each other, the bus monitor wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. I hope she pursues justice through the courts, because a vacation away from this job just isn’t going to cut it for her or them!
BroadBlogs
July 2, 2012
I find it interesting that the kids bullied her in order to feel powerful by bringing someone who was supposed to have power over them to tears. Yet they weren’t truly empowered. They ended up expelled, unable to participate in sports or ride a bus for a while.
Too many people use physical and emotional violence to make them feel empowered, but ultimately end up disempowered, as with gangs who feel empowered in the moments that they beat or kill someone, but become disempowered when the end up in jail or dead.