ANTI BULLYING DAY

Oldtown News
Vancouver, BC

ANTI BULLYING DAY

Today February 25 has been proclaimed anti-bullying day and local News Diva Christy Clark has spearheaded this concept in Vancouver. She has encouraged many to wear pink to mark this day.

Bullying can take on many forms and the end result is that it can traumatize victims for the remainder of their lives.

Clearly bullying must be stamped out.

In my area of the City, I often bear witness and hear the stories of my neighbors regarding how they are victimized by those in the lucrative DTES poverty industry.

There has even been a name created for these industry workers. The name is Povertarian.

While many working in the poverty industry are exceptional people, many others are not. For those who have over-inflated ego's or who are self-obsessed with their own self-importance, they have been known to be ruthless in their interactions with vulnerable and at times fragile people.

Calling a spade a space, they are known as bullies.

I have seen countless times where staff employed by these bullies become so afraid of losing their job that they cower away in silence, enduring the bullying tactics which are used to keep them in line.

I've seen tenants living in non profit housing being threatened with eviction by the housing providers merely for lodging a complaint of having bed-bugs or roach infestation in their accommodations.

I know of one prominent helper institution down in Oldtown which has their volunteers sign a confidentiality agreement that they will not disclose anything they might see or hear about the said organization which relies on donations for their livelihood. Why a dwelling place of God would demand that its volunteers sign confidentiality waivers makes you wonder exactly what could be that bad or happening in the confines of their walls that this must be shielded from the public?

Another case which I find eerily scary is how a troubled individual who was palliative was moved into someone's apartment who had recently deceased. The apartment wasn't even cleared of the deceased belongings before the next tenant was ushered in. Of course staff know if they dare say anything to their bosses, this would result in retaliation or immediate dismissal.

Many groups and their Managers (Executive Directors) keep volunteer Board members in line by threatening to expose their private life to the public if they cross the staff. One blatant example was a board member of a certain non profit group when questioning finances of the organization, the group went on a witch-hunt and on every lamppost in Oldtown, they placed a copy of an old newspaper advertisement that the board member had placed offering adult services.

The list of these egregious violations go on and on, however, I'm certain my readers get the drift of who these Bullies often are.

Today, I do my bit through this blog to highlight bullying in my neck of the woods in Oldtown and I ask my readers to do whatever you can to expose bullying in your own way and together let us continue to speak out about these heinous crimes.

Jamie Lee Hamilton
tricia_foxx@yahoo.com