Since Carl Walker-Hoover's death, his mother has become an advocate calling attention to bullying and to the deadly toll it takes on young people. She testified in support of anti-bullying legislation that passed in Massachusetts that mandates each school district have a policy to recognize and deal with bullying. Carl’s death, and the suicide of bullying victim Phoebe Prince, 15, of South Hadley, helped galvanize passage of the legislation.
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama talk with parents Sirdeaner Walker and Kirk Smalley in the Blue Room of the White House before the start of the Conference on Bullying Prevention, March 10, 2011. Smalley, of Oklahoma, is the father of a 11-year-old boy, Ty, who killed himself in May 2010 after continued bullying.(Official White House Photo by Pete Souza) SPRINGFIELD – When Sirdeaner L. Walker had a moment alone with President Barack Obama Thursday in the White House, she used the time to tell the president about her son, Carl Walker-Hoover.
Like any proud parent, Walker even showed the president the class picture of Carl dressed up in a dark suit.
“I told him the story of how on the night of the election, I let him stay up past his bedtime and how when the president was elected, Carl was so happy,” she said about her meeting during the first White House Conference on Bullying Prevention.
She told the president how she held him up as a role model for Carl, telling her 11-year-old son that the new president also came from a single-parent household and how she said “Carl, you can be anything you want to be.”
“The president looked at the photo and said ‘he’s a fine looking young man,’” Walker recalled.
Unspoken between the two was the tragedy that Carl will not have a chance to grow up.
After being tormented by bullies at school, he hanged himself in April 2009 at their family home in Springfield.
Since then, his mother has become an advocate calling attention to bullying and to the deadly toll it takes on young people. She testified in support of anti-bullying legislation that passed in Massachusetts that mandates each school district have a policy to recognize and deal with bullying. Carl’s death, and the suicide of bullying victim Phoebe Prince, 15, of South Hadley, helped galvanize passage of the legislation.
Family hand out photo - Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover was an 11-year-old sixth-grader at New Leadership Charter School in Springfield, when he hanged himself on April 6, 2009, after what his mother has said was persistent bullying at school.
In a telephone interview, Walker said the conference experience was emotional, uplifting and in many ways, overwhelming and awesome.
During the conference, President Obama spoke to the audience about how he was continually teased for being the new kid in school with big ears and the funny name.
Walker said that hearing that touched her because she knows the president understands what she is fighting.
“He has the experience of being bullied,” she said. “To me it means he knows how it feels.”
Since Carl’s death, Walker has been an advocate for the federal Safe Schools Improvement Act, legislation that would require schools receiving federal funds adopt anti-bullying policies and codes of conduct that specifically prohibit bullying or harassment on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, disability, sexual orientation.
The bill would also create uniform policies for dealing with bullying and require states to report data to the Department of Education.
Her efforts have brought national attention to the issue as she was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey and Ellen Degeneres.
Walker said she hopes the bill will eventually become law, even in the highly partisan political atmosphere of Washington. Stopping bullies from terrorizing children is a subject that Republicans and Democrats alike can understand, she said.
“Everyone understands it is a real issue,” she said.
Walker said when it was her turn to speak at the conference, she noted the diversity of the audience and how all children, regardless of background, race, ethnicity, or income, can be the target of bullies.
Speaking on behalf of other parents who lost children because of bullying, she said, “You could be in our shoes if we don’t do something about this.”