Tempest Smith...............an innocent life
I don't know how many of you already know this story, but I just came across it today while chatting to a friend online and I felt morally compelled to share it with you.
This excerpt was taken from the States News on November 14th. 2001
Lincoln Park - Pictures of Tempest Smith’s crooked smile and blue eyes are frozen in time - reminders of the ballerina, honor role student, flute player and daughter Denessa Smith called her “blessing.”
Denessa’s eyes fill up with tears when she remembers “My Family,” the song Tempest composed and the Sylvester slippers Tempest put on her feet to keep her warm when she fell asleep on the couch.
“It was a rule that if mom didn’t tuck you in, you tucked mom in,” Denessa said.
Denessa remembers the last “I love you” from Tempest, the night before the 12-year-old tied a scarf around her neck and hung herself from her bunk bed on February 20.
Tempest’s journal, found under her bed after her Feb. 20 suicide, shed light on the harassment she endured from classmates who teased her for her shy demeanor, gothic-style clothes and interest in the Wiccan religion.
“I’ll look at the pictures to remember her and I see a girl who exploded with creativity. She was the light on the candle,” Denessa said, “She had hopes and aspirations, but she felt so pushed in a tiny box that she felt she didn’t have any other way out but the rope she hung herself with.”
More than 100 of Tempest’s classmates from Lincoln Park Middle School showed up for her memorial service, and many expressed remorse in letters and cards in a booklet given to Denessa.
In a letter a classmate wrote, “I’m sorry if I had said mean things to you. I didn’t mean them. It was the easiest way to hide what was wrong with me.”
But Denessa said the apologies will not bring Tempest back.
Last July, Denessa filled a $10 million suit against the Lincoln Park School District, claiming that her daughter’s teachers were aware of the teasing but did nothing to stop it. She said she hopes the suit will cause schools to take action against hate crime.
Lincoln Park Middle School Principal Robert Redden would not comment on the case.
Denessa said the torment began in second grade and escalated in middle school, when Tempest recorded her harassment, memories and crushes in a journal given to her by her mother.
Tempest wrote in her last journal entry on Jan. 29, that classmates were surrounding her and singing Bible hymns, “Now people aren’t saying Jesus luvs U. They’re singing it.” In her poetry she asked “Will I ever have friends again?”
Denessa said Tempest’s interest in Wicca added to the persecution from classmates, which went uncorrected by school officials.
To think a life was taken just because of some people who were too petty to allow someone to have different religious views than them. I am sickened and outraged by this and really think it is high time that schools and the community start teaching tolerance in all senses. It disturbs me that the teachers allowed this to go on and escalate the way it did.
Now you all know why I hate being called human. We are nasty vile creatures at times.
This excerpt was taken from the States News on November 14th. 2001
Lincoln Park - Pictures of Tempest Smith’s crooked smile and blue eyes are frozen in time - reminders of the ballerina, honor role student, flute player and daughter Denessa Smith called her “blessing.”
Denessa’s eyes fill up with tears when she remembers “My Family,” the song Tempest composed and the Sylvester slippers Tempest put on her feet to keep her warm when she fell asleep on the couch.
“It was a rule that if mom didn’t tuck you in, you tucked mom in,” Denessa said.
Denessa remembers the last “I love you” from Tempest, the night before the 12-year-old tied a scarf around her neck and hung herself from her bunk bed on February 20.
Tempest’s journal, found under her bed after her Feb. 20 suicide, shed light on the harassment she endured from classmates who teased her for her shy demeanor, gothic-style clothes and interest in the Wiccan religion.
“I’ll look at the pictures to remember her and I see a girl who exploded with creativity. She was the light on the candle,” Denessa said, “She had hopes and aspirations, but she felt so pushed in a tiny box that she felt she didn’t have any other way out but the rope she hung herself with.”
More than 100 of Tempest’s classmates from Lincoln Park Middle School showed up for her memorial service, and many expressed remorse in letters and cards in a booklet given to Denessa.
In a letter a classmate wrote, “I’m sorry if I had said mean things to you. I didn’t mean them. It was the easiest way to hide what was wrong with me.”
But Denessa said the apologies will not bring Tempest back.
Last July, Denessa filled a $10 million suit against the Lincoln Park School District, claiming that her daughter’s teachers were aware of the teasing but did nothing to stop it. She said she hopes the suit will cause schools to take action against hate crime.
Lincoln Park Middle School Principal Robert Redden would not comment on the case.
Denessa said the torment began in second grade and escalated in middle school, when Tempest recorded her harassment, memories and crushes in a journal given to her by her mother.
Tempest wrote in her last journal entry on Jan. 29, that classmates were surrounding her and singing Bible hymns, “Now people aren’t saying Jesus luvs U. They’re singing it.” In her poetry she asked “Will I ever have friends again?”
Denessa said Tempest’s interest in Wicca added to the persecution from classmates, which went uncorrected by school officials.
To think a life was taken just because of some people who were too petty to allow someone to have different religious views than them. I am sickened and outraged by this and really think it is high time that schools and the community start teaching tolerance in all senses. It disturbs me that the teachers allowed this to go on and escalate the way it did.
Now you all know why I hate being called human. We are nasty vile creatures at times.
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