A week ago the governor of my state, Deval Patrick gave an extraordinary interview on a local drive time AM radio talk show. I blogged about it here at Daily Kos at the time.
Sometimes a pol makes news in a routine radio interview. But in this case, what he said became legend before it became news. That interview and all that has happened since, revealed the governor as a quiet hero who helped a 9 year old boy who had emailed the governor because he was being bullied at school.
Today's Boston Herald featured the governor's story in column that begins on the front page. There are excerpts below, but before we get there, let me reprise the context in which this happened.
I live in Western Massachusetts where bullying in the public schools has frequently been front page news. Last year, a boy who attended a Springfield charter school committed suicide. His mother, who had never held public office was later elected to the Springfield school committee. Recently a girl who attended public high school in South Hadley also committed suicide, as the Springfield Republican reported, "following weeks of bullying at school, online and through text messaging." And now there are worries about potential copycat suicides.
Then on February 12th (podcast available) Governor Patrick gave an interview on WHYN in Springfield -- resulting in one of those radio moments when you have to stop what you are doing just to listen. Political consultant Tony Cignoli was visiting a senior center when he and about 60 others heard the governor's quietly compelling story. Tony was inspired to send out an email about it, which I excerpted in my post. The story since traveled widely in MA cyberspace.
Today, the Herald highlighted columnist Hillary Chabot's account on the front page.
Gov. Deval Patrick is urging adults to take direct action in the Bay State’s heartbreaking war on bullying after he personally helped a "frail, slight young man" by issuing a warning by school intercom to those who would harass others at the elementary school.
"No bullying, because if I hear about it I’m coming back to deal with it myself," the governor told students.
"I don’t know whether it made a difference, but I wanted him to know I was thinking about him and I wanted the kid who was doing the bullying to know I was watching," he told the Herald. "It took a lot of guts for him to reach out," said Patrick. "For this young man it was a safety issue, you could tell it was affecting his experience across the board, he was so clearly distracted."
The child had nervously declined to meet with the governor in the principal’s office, but sat next to Patrick and introduced himself in the lunchroom. "I recognized his name," Patrick said. "I asked him if he had written me an e-mail, and he nodded, very nervously, and it was as if there was no one else in the room."
Patrick asked the boy if his bully was in the lunchroom. "He looked around very cautiously and he nodded his head. I asked him if he would point him out or if he wanted me to talk to him and he said, ‘No,’ " Patrick said. "The expression on his face was so compelling. He clearly wanted some help but he wasn’t sure how to get it," Patrick said.
The school superintendent said the governor’s intercom message prompted spontaneous discussions about bullying in classrooms afterwards. The victimized boy met with the principal to further address the issue as well.
Massachusetts is one of the few states that does not have an anti-bullying law on the books, a situation which will probably change this year, as legislators attempt to reconcile a dozen different bills that have been filed as the crisis has unfolded.
I think that whatever version of the bill finally passes, what many people will remember is the governor who did the right thing.