Kid with cancer bullied for police uniform gets his teen bullies to apologize
His mature reaction got the teens rethinking their actions.
When a kid in a police uniform was bullied, his response became a teaching moment.
Bullying is never okay, but it's arguable that some bullying situations are more egregious than others. So it's no wonder that when people saw a video of a group of teens making fun of a kid with terminal cancer for wearing a police officer uniform, the reaction was swift disapproval. However, the kid himself responded with a maturity that had his bullies apologizing to him for their behavior.
Twelve-year-old Devarjaye (DJ) Daniel (@devarjaye) is an honorary police officer with hundreds of agencies around the country and wears his uniform proudly. In a video that went viral, a group of teen girls were shown mocking him at a gas station for the way he was dressed. The footage captures the group demeaning Daniel while making mocking expressions, laughing, and making vile comments. They danced around him while he holds his face in his hands, which both DJ and his father called "disturbing," and even yelled "Arrest us!" with complete disrespect.
- YouTube www.youtube.com
DJ’s dad, Theodis, was talking to someone at the station when he saw what was going on. He stepped in to intervene, but the father and son chose a more educational response than an aggressive one.
Theodis recalled choosing not to act impulsively. "We are used to all the frantic behavior, so it wasn’t anything we aren’t accustomed to," he told the Houston Chronicle." Every time they see him in his uniform, he gets a lot of laughs; some of them may ridicule him and make jokes about him. A lot of times, he doesn’t want me to intervene; he'd rather just do it himself,” the dad noted.
DJ, too, chose a more mindful approach, not letting the bullying hurt his feelings. “Really and truly, I'm like a 40-year-old and I don't have feelings like that," he told Fox 26. In the video, he made no impulsive moves, choosing to remain calm and silent.
Instead, DJ responded by letting the teenagers learn his story. He became a cop to teach people to stand up for themselves and he did just that. DJ and his dad patiently explained to the girls DJ's cancer diagnosis and his 13 surgeries that have caused his scars. By the time they left the gas station, the girls were treating DJ with respect and even calling him "Officer DJ."
Theodis told the Houston Chronicle that he received a call from an unknown number after the video went viral and Houston community activist Candice Matthews shared DJ's story on social media. The caller said they were involved in the video and wanted to apologize for their part in it.
It just goes to show how far a little kindness and education can go. Since the bullying incident, DJ has been honored by even more police precincts. He was invited to be an honorary member of the Secret Service by the president at a joint session of Congress and has been sworn in as an honorary member of other federal law enforcement agencies as well. While some have chosen to bully DJ and his father for political reasons, they father-son duo have continued to focus on DJ's interest in police work and his ongoing cancer treatment.
As this young cancer warrior demonstrates, not letting bullies get to you and focusing on educating them instead of getting back at them can sometimes make a positive difference for everyone involved.
This article originally appeared last year.