It was a sunny, summer Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh, and kids and teens could have been doing any number of things.
But in Beltzhoover, kids and teens decided to take a stand.
A stand against bullying.
They came up with rap songs against bullying, ate the grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, and walked away from the June 24 affair with an even stronger sense of direction.
“This is a success, because these kids aren’t running the street, they’re doing something positive,” said Rodney Cuspard, a liaison for the Beltzhoover Neighborhood Council.
Mz. Nik, the executive chair of the Youth for the Beltzhoover Neighborhood Council, told the New Pittsburgh Courier that “some of my girls in my group were being bullied and picked on in school, and one likes to fight a lot. They wanted to speak out against bullying but they didn’t know how. So, I prayed and asked God what he would have me to do, and this is what he put in my spirit.”
Minka Mitchell said her daughter was bullied, and “I called Pittsburgh Public Schools, and we had to write a grievance out for my daughter to tell the Board of Education what was going on. She was being threatened and bullied, and at the same time there was a lot of stress inside the house,” Mitchell said. “But at the same time my daughter made honor roll for the four quarters of the school year.”
About Post Author
