UPDATE: A GoFundMe account has been created to help the family and help stop bullying:
This is Ashawnty Davis. Just three weeks ago, she was full of life. Unfortunately, she is no longer with us. She is a victim of bullycide. She took her own life by hanging in her closet. No one had a clue she was dreading going to school the next day. Ashwanty had her first and last fight at Sunrise Elememtary school where she was taunted, and bullied. No one was around to ensure that the children on the playground were safe. The fight was recorded, and then added to social media (the site musicly) which added to insult. This ten year old could not handle. Ashawnty has 6 other brother and sisters, and a mother and father who miss her daily. This family will need assitance for the services. Please do what you can to help this family. Pray and talk with your children. Ashawnty was a child who did not care for violence, in her memory stop the bullying today! God bless you all!
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Original report below:
It’s unfathomable to think a child – especially a happy child – as young as 10 years old would ever try and take their own life. But with the advent of social media, tragic stories like what happened to sweet Ashawnty Davis are becoming all too commonplace.
Ashawnty was, according to her parents,”a child of joy and she brought joy to everyone.” That all changed back in October, when a group of students began bullying her. The fifth-grader at Sunrise Elementary in Aurora, Colorado, became a shell of her former self once she was targeted. The confrontations escalated to the point of a physical fight, in which Ashawnty felt the need to defend herself.
In a truly despicable video, classmates – and what appears to be an older student or possibly even an adult – enter the frame, clearly allowing the fight to take place, and possibly even encouraging it. There are several popular sites that feature fights, and everyone around seems more interested in a viral video rather than the actual humans in peril directly in front of them.
Video of the fight was later posted on an app called Musical.ly, according to her father, Anthony. Her mother, Latoshia Harris, said Ashawnty was “devastated” when she discovered the video was uploaded online, and in just a few short days, Ashawnty went into the closet and attempted to hang herself. After two weeks on life support at Children’s Hospital in Colorado, she passed away.
They’re referring to her death as a “Bullycide,” which describes someone who has taken their own life as a result of intense bullying. Her parents are now on a mission to do what they can to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone else. Here’s what they said to local news outlet KDVR:
“We have to stop it and we have to stop it within our kids,” her dad said.
“I want other parents to know that it’s happening. That was my baby and I love my baby and I just want mothers to listen.”
Watch the report below – and be warned, they do show a portion of the bullying video and it is difficult to watch:
Pray for this family as they grieve the loss of their child, and that their efforts from here forward help save kids before they make a similar choice.