Yates’ “true crime” narrative captures Sherokee Harriman’s tragic suicide and story, but fails to talk about mental illness.
Judith A. Yates
Nonfiction | 328 Pages | 5.5” x 8.5” | Reviewed: Digital ARC
978–1947290457 | First Edition | $11.99
WildBlue Press | Denver | BUY HERE
On September 5th, 2015, 14-year-old Sherokee Harriman walked into a park near her house where other kids were hanging out and stabbed herself in the stomach with a knife from her kitchen. Her suicide rocked her community of La Vergne, Tennessee. Friends and family scrambled to find a reason for the horrific act. To them, and to many others, the answer turned out to be tragically simple. Bullying.
Bullied to Death?: A Story of Bullying, Social Media, and the Suicide of Sherokee Harriman by Judith A. Yates tries to form a coherent story about how school bullying contributed to Sherokee’s suicide. Especially in these times, the topic of bullying is a major one. Almost daily it seems the news is filled with another story of a school shooting. In the aftermath, everyone looks for reasons why these tragedies happen. The consensus for most people is that bullying plays a major part in these incidents. Yates uses Harriman’s suicide to highlight the repercussions this problem is causing.
Unfortunately, Yates misses the mark when it comes to painting Sherokee as a sympathetic victim.
“That baby has had problems since she came into this world.”
This is a phrase that is repeated about Sherokee throughout the book, coming from sources ranging from her mother to family friends. When they say it, they’re talking about the great deal of trauma this girl suffered early in her life. Abused at a young age, Sherokee showed signs of mental trouble and instability early on. Her behaviors manifested in the form of severe aggression and manipulation, leading to hospitalization and medication. She clearly suffered from a severe mental illness, and, as with most conditions, treating it can be difficult.
Her illness caused her to lash out in unexpected ways. Her doctors and family members are quick to say this was because she wasn’t mature enough to understand what was really happening to her. That may be the case, but if she wasn’t mature enough to understand her actions, neither were the other kids who became the targets of her “explosions.” Many times, the Harriman family mentions the constant bullying that Sherokee had to endure, but very little is mentioned about the instigating aggression that may have caused others to act that way toward her. No one wants to victim-blame someone with mental illness, but as a teacher myself, I’ve seen it play out: it’s natural for immature kids to react harshly to harsh outbursts, so the tragedy becomes a cycle. Unfortunately, this was not touched on enough, leaving some of the story untold.
“Sometimes, Sherokee would tell staff that she thought this Oak Plains business was just a bully, making her do things she did not want to do and talk about things that she did not want to talk about.”
This is a common behavior to see, not only in Sherokee, but in many others, as well. Bullying has become a catch-all word for having to do anything someone doesn’t want to do. It can become a cry for attention, one that Sherokee became very adept at using. When she was being bullied because she didn’t want to do something, whether cleaning her room or going to school, she had the perfect excuse to explode into tantrums. A dangerous pattern begins to form in many of her behaviors. It seems that because she felt she was being bullied, she felt justified in her treatment of others. This justification progressed from feelings of her outbursts not being her fault because others made her do them, to wanting to cause others pain for their perceived actions against her. She wanted to make those who slighted her “hurt forever,” which she tried to accomplish by killing herself in front of them.
The suicide of Sherokee Harrimann was, by all accounts, a needless tragedy. The sad reality is that she is not the only young person who felt that suicide was her only way out from the pain of bullying. Lessons could be learned from these encounters, but Sherokee’s story should be treated as one of mental illness, not simply as a story of bullying and its consequences. While bullying played a part, it was clearly not the only part, and when we don’t talk about mental illness, we’re leaving out half of the conversation.
Overall, Yates does a good job of capturing Sherokee’s story but just doesn’t quite make the point she seems to have set out to make.
