Students rally to end the R-word

The R-word “retard” hurts,  Georgia students told  friends and families this month. On May 3, Georgia schools held rallies and programs for the second annual day of awareness to Spread the Word to End the Word, asking friends to pledge to not use the r-word, retard. Students challenged each other and raised communities awareness  of the dehumanizing effects of the word “retard.” Today, you can pledge not to use the R-word, too.

In Gwinnett County:
Mill Creek High School students collected pledges during the week of May 3rd and so many people signed the schools’ pledge banner, that they needed to had six more feet of paper to accommodate more signatures.  Club  Best Buddies, who organized the campaign want their classmates to understand the effect that their peers with intellectual disabilities had on them, said teacher Jennifer Rolfes.

In Brantley County:
Students at Brantley Elementary and Middle School rolled into the schools’ computer labs during the week of May 3rd and pledged online to not use the R-word. The word was so well spread among the school system and county, that residents stopped by the school to make their pledges, too. So many people pledged to not use the R-word, that specially made T-shirts and stickets, designed by a local coordinator, ran out.