Falcons defensive end Chauncey Davis was usually the biggest kid in his class when he was growing up in Auburndale, Fla.
If he was a little short on lunch money, that was never a problem. He’d take somebody else’s. He admits he was a bully. But he changed.
Those childhood experiences – being bullied and getting bullied – help to explain why the death of Jaheem Herrera’s struck a chord with Davis. Herrea’s mother believes bullying at school led to her son’s suicide. The story tore at Davis’ heart.
So Davis spent a major part of his offseason addressing the topic of bullying at local area youth summer programs. It has become his No. 1 passion.
I was bigger than most of the kids growing up, so instead of asking or working for what I wanted, I just tried to take it.
Just by doing that, as I look back on it now, that was really stupid. I could have easily gone to my mom and asked for money or worked small jobs to earn the money. Instead of doing that, I bullied somebody to take what I could get.
Then years later I became the one getting bullied. The other kids didn’t take my money, but they were always picking on me. So I’ve been on both ends, and I know how it feels to bully somebody and to get bullied as well.
Recently, it seemed like every time that I was watching the news that somebody was getting bullied. It’s everywhere. There’s a lot of computer bullying — talking bad about each other on the internet. If you remember, down in Lakeland, near where I’m from, there were a bunch of girls who jumped on a girl at her house. They had it on YouTube, and that was a big thing.
It’s not just boys. This country’s need to stop the bullying applies for the girls as well. It’s the same exact thing.
Then you had the [DeKalb] kid, Jaheem Herrera, who ended up killing himself. I think that one really got me going. So I began going out and speak to these kids and let them know that there is help out there.
Herrera’s death just brought everything to the light about bullying. People have been able to see how bad it is. For the ones doing the bullying, there needs to be some serious consequences for their actions.
Herrera ended his life, and that was very tragic.
I just want to help out — tell kids there are people they can talk to. They have hotlines for this.
We also need to realize that some schools have problems. When you have a lot of kids, it’s hard to monitor everything. The schools must know that it’s big deal, and they must punish those who are bullying. It also has to start at home, with the parents talking to their kids and knowing what’s going on.
I’m just trying to do my part.
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