ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - In August of last year, St. Louis teen Spirit Butler died by suicide after enduring bullying and cyberbullying. Her father, James A. Dickerson, founded Spirit's Joy Foundation in honor of his daughter.
Dickerson said Spirit was a beautiful, vibrant and happy little girl who was still very much a little girl.
"She loves funny shows and she loved family time, and she was a daddy's girl," Dickerson said. "Of my children, she is the one that never got tired of me."
Dickerson described Spirit as being the star of their family, but a bit socially awkward among her peers. The school Spirit attended was a new school for her at the time. Dickerson said the year started with school being online, but then they moved people back to be in-person.
"Now she's in a whole new school with these kids and she ran into a different world," Dickerson said. "You know, where the kids were making fun of each other."
Dickerson said that middle school can be a difficult time for students and teachers because of the way kids begin to criticize each other.
"She started being made fun of, and she would tell us about it. Then it turned into physical bullying," Dickerson said. "By the time she got in the eighth grade, some kids started humiliating her and recording it on their phones. They would do it right in the classroom too."
Dickerson described one instance where a video had been posted on social media of Spirit being physically beat up and getting water poured on her. He said this impacted Spirit's behavior.
"That summer, she was very different. Closed in and not wanting to play with trampolines or any of the things that she normally would be doing," Dickerson said.
Following this, Dickerson said she was adamant about not wanting to go to her eighth grade graduation, and asking a lot of questions about high school.
"I was working real hard to find her a new school to go to because she was concerned about going to the same school district as the kids she was in middle school with and she wanted to be with fresh new kids," Dickerson said. "Then she got concerned that maybe the other kids saw [her] videos on the internet, and it just started working on her real bad."
Following the horrible death of his daughter, Dickerson said there was a wider issue at hand that needed to be addressed.
"There's a different type of bullying taking place that's causing us to deal with teen suicides," Dickerson said. "We live in a hyper-bully culture."
According to the American Psychological Association, more than 20% of teens have seriously considered suicide, and the most alarming trend being a sharp rise in suicide among Black youth ages 10 to 24.
Dickerson said we have to deal with this issue from the homefront, and parents are the ones that hold the power.
"We're the ones that put politicians in office, we're the ones that put school board officials in office," Dickerson said. "Everyone has to come together and realize that Spirit is not just my daughter. Spirit is your daughter. And your daughter and your son are mine too."
Dickerson said he created Spirit's Joy Foundation as a response to the horrible bullying his daughter had to endure, in hopes no other kids will have to experience intense bullying.
"I call it Spirit's Joy Foundation because the world took her joy away, and I want to spend the rest of my life giving it back to kids," Dickerson said.
Spirit's Joy is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to ending bullying, cyberbullying and teen suicide. Their work is driven by the belief that every child deserves to grow up safe, feeling supported and living a joyful life.
