An Alabama mother, Leigh Amber, spoke out after her son, who is on the autism spectrum, was pressured into a fight outside football by bullies.
The incident, which other students captured, ignited outrage among community members, raising concerns about bullying.
As per Amber, her son, whom she described as “mentally a 7-or 8-year-old in maturity, though tall for his age,” endured relentless bullying from older students.
She said her son tried to be playful, sometimes going too far in ways he doesn’t fully understand, which made him an easy target for peers.
But instead of receiving compassion, patience, and understanding, he was harassed and humiliated in front of others.
On the day of the incident, students orchestrated a fight after school but before football practice started. Witnesses recorded the fight, showing the boy being pressured to fight another student.
Leigh Amber has uploaded the video to her official Facebook handle.
As per Amber, her son did not want to fight and even cried afterward, telling her he “felt bad” about what happened.
In the video, another child can reportedly be heard saying her son didn’t want to fight, but the older boys pushed the situation.
Amber said she only learned about the incident after football practice when her son confided in her. Coaches told Amber they were unaware of the fight because it happened just before practice, when no adults were present.
However, she expressed her anger through her Facebook handle by posting the status,
The coaches said they had no clue it even happen because, it was rt before practice had started. My son is on a spectrum! He has an IEP team at school and he has therapists and counselors he talks to already with in a mental health program. I posted this because it has to stop, yes tray finally took up for himself but it shouldn’t of gotten this far.
Leigh Amber
Through the post, she also explained that her son, who has an Individualized Education Program (IEP) at school, already worked closely with therapists and counselors through a mental health program.
She called for accountability not just for the boy who fought her son, but for the older children who instigated the situation, pushed the fight to happen. She added,
the big kids pushed him back to my son. The fight shouldn’t of happen. The big boy pushing the other child has been bulling my son for years. My son was being picked on before these videos by the same kids that are in these videos. There were no adults around these children, the big kids in this video are the ones who set these fights up and i hope they are accountable for their actions as well.
Leigh Amber
Moreover, other social media users also raised their concerns regarding the incident. Kaylea Hughes from Constantine, Michigan, said,
I understand having your child stick up for themselves.. but this feels like you guys got them together to settle it..
Kaylea Hughes
Ranie Ramsey from Gautier, Mississippi, commented,
This is not ok and something to be done this y kid drop out and have a hard time it starts in school…this is not acceptable my son got bullied for 6 months and all who was involved got kick our same school… It made it worser for middle school he had to fight every day…This is so wrong!
Ranie Ramsey
Sean Austin from Chicago, Illinois, said,
I wonder how well the instigators can fight cause that’s unfortunate situation but usually how it goes the cowards always starts the fight for someone else to have to finish smh wtf the teachers at if they got time to be doing all of this lil asses suppose to be there to learn something other than just that shit
Sean Austin
