[UPDATE: Read our later story “Oxford Apologizes to Cunningham” to get even more info about what happened.]
Did State Rep. Jane Cunningham (R-Chesterfield) really turn tail on two teens who came to Jefferson City to support anti-bullying legislation?
The office of Jeanette Mott Oxford (D-St. Louis) put out a press release Thursday claiming Cunningham refused to meet with students Desiree Bain and Austyn Langston of Jackson County because “she found their appearance very difficult to look at.”
Oxford, who did meet with the students, said they had multiple facial piercings and one had “vividly colored hair.”
“Other than that they looked like regular teenagers to me,” Oxford said.
The incident happened March 26. Langston and Bain were at the State Capitol in support of the Missouri Safe Schools legislation (House Bill 1751). The bill contains training provisions for teachers and school administrators to better recognize and stop school bullying. The bill also addresses harassment of homosexual and transgender students.
The bill is presently being held up by Rep. Cunningham who is the Elementary and Secondary Education Committee chairperson.
PubDef.net has tried to contact Cunningham’s office for her side in this incident, but so far all attempts have been unsuccessful.
According to a press release for Oxford’s office, after refusing to meet with Langston and Bain, Rep. Cunningham told another group of students that:
(L)ooking at these two young women was making her ill and that she didn’t understand why they hated themselves.
Oxford would later meet with those same students and recalled how upset they were.
We all have different polices about who can see us in our offices, but anytime students make it to the capitol I try to talk to students … I try to treat them with hospitality whether they are dressed ‘properly’ or not.
The students involved went to the office of Sara Lampe (D-Springfield). She wasn’t in so her assistant got me. The kids were quite upset and I wanted them to see an elected official who’s going to receive them warmly.
Oxford said Cunningham may tell the story one way, but others find it another. She thinks Cunningham should set aside her prejudices and work with her fellow representatives to fight bullying.
I am not in anyway impugning some kind of lack of compassion or ill motivation on Rep. Cunningham’s part. She and lots of other will meaning people don’t understand the dynamics of hateful speech.
The state passed a law saying ‘no bullying.’ That’s not good enough. Unless there’s some training for teachers and principals on when and how to spot bullying, schools are not doing a good job with it. I sat down with a student who’s since dropped out of school because of the bullying she was receiving.
