Bullying is plantational authoritarianism. Someone posted on social media an adolescent male sobbing because of bullying incidents. Bullies are not those actually committing the conflicts, but those who have the authority to resolve the discords and don’t — or won’t — because of the camaraderie affiliation, causing continuing hostilities.

As a 64-year-old man, I would like to state that dealing with bullies isn’t any easier as a grown-up because, like in school, oppressors can be the same anointed loved ones in the workforce, too.

Bullying is a difficult issue to unshackle without having the courage to unveil the camouflage. My objective for sharing this is to shift to an out-of-the-box approach to prevent bullying.

I am a documented Virginia Indian tribal member whose great-grandparents were checked “colored” on their marriage license register. Despite my DNA analysis revealing different ethnicities, including black and Asian, I am still judged a Caucasian male, but I refer to myself as a diversified blend.

In 1965 when I was 12, my father attempted to kill my mother with a knife, and I saved her life. The situation caused a loss of not only family, extended family and friends, but a disruption of whatever normalcy there was in life at that time. I was conditioned that men don’t talk about that kind of pain. A lifetime struggle with depression, with intervals of therapy and occasions of anti-depressants did not profile this square peg to fit into the round holes of society. Despite zero-tolerance policies at many workplaces throughout my career, I found many of the same intimidating actions experienced by the adolescent on social media.

Borrowing dialogue from a TV drama’s character portraying an assault victim when asked their identity, they said: “I’m nobody. How about you? Are you nobody, too!?”

RICK KNIGHT

Henrico County