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Kids get bullied everyday b: Keaton Jones reminds us not everything is what it seems

bullying December 13, 2017
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So as we all know, young Keaton Jones from Tennessee has received a CRAZY amount of attention for the right reasons these last few days, as he bravely cried out to his mother about how ruthless his bullies were.

Celebrities reached out to Keaton all over social media; some even offering insanely generous gestures like passes to the premiere of the new Avengers movie in LA next year or better yet – the go ahead from Snoop Dogg to kick it, to let him know he’s not alone.

Keaton Jones has called everyone to arms against bullying, and brought a ton of awareness to this issue, but with all that being said, one thing I know is he’d better start with his own mother. Kimberly Jones, as we’ve now seen her Facebook page, seems sorta like a bully to me too.

Mark Strassmann of CBS News actually asked Jones to comment on some of these… Ok let’s just go with ‘radical,’ photos, to which she replied,

“The only two photos — the only two photos on my entire planet that I am anywhere near a Confederate flag. It was ironic. It was funny.”

I personally don’t think there’s anything “funny” or “ironic” about those photos, especially in relation to her quite riveting thoughts on Facebook, publicly dismissing everyone opposing her. Not only that but TMZ has uncovered that Keaton’s father is a known white supremacist and is currently incarcerated.

When asked if any of this had to do with racist intent, Jones responded,

“No. No. Absolutely not. [I’ve said] I spent most of my life being bullied and judged because I wasn’t racist.”

Telling “butt hurt Americans” (AKA Black people, but hey, if that makes her think she’s not racist, sure) that if they aren’t bleeding, have no bones sticking out and breathing to “stop crying” about the nationwide turmoil the Confederacy caused seems a lot like bullying actually.

As for throwing up pictures with the flag because it’s “ironic” and “funny,” I thought supporters of the Confederacy argue that the flag is only a symbol of “pride,” not jokes or irony, and CERTAINLY not racism.

What people still don’t seem to understand is that just because the Black people protesting against images of the Confederacy aren’t physically picking cotton, that doesn’t mean we’re not emotionally and mentally affected by its causes.

Whole family lines exist because slave masters were raping their slaves, and some of today’s youth are a product of that.

Now that’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of or furthermore afraid to fight in support, so to dismiss anyone’s call of distress or simple protest for those reasons would be like someone dismissing Keaton’s on a smaller scale.

https://twitter.com/shadipetosky/status/940244717282869250

Of course he doesn’t deserve to be bullied – nobody does. But Petosky’s also right, we should be aware of what we’re putting all of our focus on. It seems like everyone’s focusing in on the actual person while some important points are being missed.

Instead of everyone in the U.S. jumping on the train bringing Keaton Jones to wonderland, why not use this momentum to shed light on the problem of bullying in general?

Bullying happens everywhere, especially within the Black community and a lot of it goes unnoticed.

The best way to combat it at this point, is to bring more awareness to the subject. No matter how it gets across, it needs to get across. That’s how the #MeToo movement started and peep how many offenders are now finally facing justice.

In this society, parents are telling their kids all sorts of complicated things regarding bullying that most can’t comprehend.

Furthermore, how is a kid supposed to understand exactly how to “be the bigger person,” when some adults don’t even really discuss the subject to hide the reality and others pretend like it doesn’t exist?

Parents can’t shy away from the topic in order to protect a child by just telling them to treat others how you want to be treated. How confused will they be when someone doesn’t treat them that way – and moreover, how unprepared?

The world’s a rough place, and if you’re not prepared for it, I think we can all say for a fact that it doesn’t necessarily get better. With every stage of life comes a new challenge; life hits hard at every point and the only thing we can do is hit harder.

I have a lot of respect for Keaton Jones for wanting his mom to record him talking about the things going on in his life to spread awareness, but also disappointed that his mother could be so openly hypocritical.

Based on her thoughts, I don’t have a clue what kind of advice she’d be giving him, but from the Kulture Hub Squad to you, the best advice anyone could give in order to make it through any obstacle that life has to throw at you is to stay true to yourself, no matter what.

Being yourself is your greatest weapon because life isn’t about acceptance or acting like you’re everyone else just to fit in – when you take that shot, how are you going to hit your goal if you can’t even see through your own eyes?

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