13-Year-Old Rosalie Avila Commits Suicide After Two Years of Bullying
The story of Rosalie Avila didn’t go viral the way it did for Keaton Jones
Photo: Unsplash/@eduardotdp
The story of Rosalie Avila didn’t go viral the way it did for Keaton Jones. However, bullying has many faces, and they’re certainly not all white. Rosalie, a 13-year-old student from Yucaipa, Ca, committed suicide on Nov. 28 after enduring bullying for two years. But we didn’t hear about her tragic and untimely death the way we did with Keaton’s viral video of his bullying, and many on social media speculated as to why.
Rosalie, a young Latina and bright student, told her parents that she was sorry for taking her own life. “Sorry, Mom and Dad. I love you… Sorry, Mom, you’re gonna find me like this,” her note said, according to CBS.
“It breaks my heart to see my daughter fall apart when she comes home,” her father Robert Ellis said, according to CBS. “She used to love going to school. Now she can’t wait for the weekend.”
Rosalie was declared brain dead, days after she hung herself but her parents decided to take her off life supports so her organs could be donated to possibly save another.
As we reflect on the seriousness and brutality of bullying, let's remember Rosalie Avila, a 13-year old who committed suicide last week after excessive bullying.pic.twitter.com/1QUhJ4F2NB
— Simran Jeet Singh (@simran) December 12, 2017
We reflect on the short life of Rosalie, like so many other children who experience bullying every single day. And while bullying isn’t a topic that has ever gone away, it came to light once again after Keaton’s heartbreaking tearful video in which he asked “why do people do this, it’s not right.”
Days after Keaton’s video went viral, his family (mainly his mother) received major backlash after a photo surfaced of her kids with the confederate flag. Of the picture, Keaton’s mother, Kimberly, said that she meant that picture to be “ironic and funny and extreme. … ,” she said on “Good Morning America.” “I am genuinely, truly sorry. If I could take it back, I would.”
Rosalie’s father said his daughter’s life won’t be just another story you read online, saying “My daughter’s death has to mean something,” he said.
