FLORIDA — 20 percent of students ages 12 to 18 reported being bullied, according to the National Center for Education.
A Florida organization has set out to fight bullying with a new twist – using movies and music videos to boost kid's self-confidence.
The organization was dubbed Karma at first, but Sean Roberts, the organization's founder, got a suggestion from a friend.
"He said why said why don't you call it AMRAK. I said, what is AMRAK. He said it's karma spelled backward. I said, great; I'm going to run with that,” Roberts said.
Roberts uses actors who have experienced bullying themselves.
“Bringing individuals that have been through harsh things in their life and turn out to something positive, so I do that through the filmmaking, the music videos and empowering individuals and allowing them to use their talents to be better and do better,” he said.
The Jones family got involved with AMRAK. Yvette Jones, an actor for AMRAK, said she didn’t realize that her children were being bullied at first. She quickly realized the entertainment industry was bullying them.
"They have been bullied in the industry because they wanted to change them and change their ideas and the way that they create music, the way that they dance and how they appreciated life. And matter of fact, I even realize that as a mother, I can be a bully as well through words and my actions with my children,” Jones said.
Jones said AMRAK has helped her change for the better.
"A lot of campaigns will say, oh, stop doing this and don't do that, but it doesn't actually teach you how to change your life,” she said.
She said it takes practice.
"I have to constantly re-address and refocus myself and sometimes even apologize and say you know what I needed to do over. Okay, because I didn't like the way that sounded, you know, accident, I could have done better,” Jones said.
That is why Robert’s created AMRAK. He wants people to take a look in the mirror.
"We always looking at for others to make the change but it's going to take regular people to make that change and if you look at people that were successful or really big, they were regular people differences, they just made a decision to make things happen,” he said.
To help support AMRAK, click here.
