Beyond Pink Shirt Day

- Christina Henderson

Just a short refresher, Pink Shirt Day began in 2007. It was the creation of two high school students in Nova Scotia as a reaction to a new student in their school being bullied for wearing pink. These two students found the courage to act. They had no idea it would become a national day to stand up against bullying.

In the 17 years that I have been an educator (one more year than Pink Shirt Day has been around), I have organized and participated in many Pink Shirt Days. Schools across the country organize and participate in Pink Shirt Day annually. That’s fantastic!

I am a strong advocate for raising awareness about bullying in schools and collaborating to find solutions.

Pink Shirt Day has provided the opportunity to do that one day a year. So, what happens beyond Pink Shirt Day? How do we move from awareness to proactive action? How do we collaboratively find solutions for both the bullied and the bully?

It is long past good enough to tell a student to ignore the person that is inflicting verbal or physical harm on them. It is long past good enough to tell a student to just walk away. Finally, it is long past good enough for the bully to be accepted as just a bad kid.