THIS BOY YOU'RE LOOKING AT IS A 15 YEAR OLD NAMED JAVITS FRIMPONG

@elsrich

150.7K followers · usually 56.6K views a post

Views

8.9M

Likes

2.0M

Comments

30.4K

114.7K

SoundTikTok sound · original sound - elsrich

Why it worked

The video succeeds by leveraging raw, unfiltered emotional vulnerability and a strong moral stance on a tragic news event, which creates a powerful sense of shared humanity and outrage.

Summary

The creator discusses the tragic murder of a 15-year-old immigrant student named Javits Frimpong who was bullied in school. She expresses deep personal empathy, shares her own experience with bullying, and criticizes a reporter for asking the grieving father insensitive questions.

Structure

1Introduction of the victim and the tragedy
2Personal connection and shared experience with bullying
3Reflection on the father's struggle and the mother's grief
4Criticism of the insensitive reporter
5Excerpts from the father's interview

On-screen text

THIS BOY YOU'RE LOOKING AT IS A 15 YEAR OLD NAMED JAVITS FRIMPONG AND BEAR WITH ME, THIS IS MY 10TH TIME TRYING TO MAKE THIS VIDEO. HE'S A 15 YEAR OLD IMMIGRANT WHO JUST CAME FROM GHANA LAST YEAR. HIS DAD SAID TWO DAYS AGO, MADE ONE YEAR SINCE HE'D BEEN HERE. AND HE WAS BEING BULLIED IN SCHOOL. HE WENT TO SCHOOL, HE DIDN'T MAKE IT THERE. THE KIDS WHO WERE BULLYING HIM WERE SUSPENDED. AND ON THE WAY TO SCHOOL, YOU JUST TRACK HIM DOWN AND YOU TAKE HIS LIFE. I'M ABLE TO REPORT ON THINGS AND BE OBJECTIVE AND SHOW ALMOST ZERO TO NO EMOTION AND JUST. BUT I CAN'T CAUSE THIS KID IS ME. HE'S FROM MY COUNTRY. HE'S ALMOST THE SAME AGE I WAS WHEN I CAME HERE. I WAS BULLIED IN SCHOOL. MY MOM SENT ME BACK HOME BECAUSE SHE'S LIKE YOU CANNOT SURVIVE THIS. FOR MY ACCENT, FOR THE FOOD I WOULD BRING TO SCHOOL, FOR RAISING MY HAND IN CLASS AND TALKING BECAUSE THE KIDS IN MY MIDDLE SCHOOL, FOR EXAMPLE, NOT LIKE THE TEACHER, SO THEY WOULD ALL HAVE A PACK LIKE, OH, WE NOT TALKING IN THIS TEACHER'S CLASS. BUT I CAN'T PULL THAT OFF. MY MOM WOULD WHOOP MY ASS WHEN I GO HOME SO I HAVE TO TALK IN CLASS. FOR HIM TO LOSE HIS LIFE WHEN HE WAS LIVING IN GHANA, A COUNTRY WHERE BULLYING IS NOT EVEN A THING. LIKE PEOPLE, YEAH, PEOPLE HAZE YOU AND STUFF, BUT BULLYING IS NOT A THING. KIDS DON'T TAKE OTHER KIDS LIVES. THIS WAS PROBABLY SUCH A FOREIGN CONCEPT TO HIM. LIKE, YOU'RE BULLYING ME? WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN? THE MOST HEARTBREAKING PART IS PEOPLE HAVE NO IDEA WHAT THAT DAD HAD TO GO THROUGH. HOW MUCH HE HAD TO WORK TO EVEN BRING HIM HERE. HIS MOM IS STILL IN GHANA. I DON'T KNOW IF HE HAS SIBLINGS, BUT HE'S THE ONLY ONE THAT'S HERE RIGHT NOW. THE DAD SAID HE'S QUIET. HE STAYS TO HIMSELF, HE STAYS ON HIS PHONE. AND THERE IS SURVEILLANCE FOOTAGE OF SOME KIDS, YOU KNOW, RUNNING IN A NEIGHBOURHOOD AFTER THE SHOTS WERE FIRED. THEY NEED TO BE FOUND. THEY NEED TO PAY FOR WHAT THEY DID. HIS MOM CANNOT NOT BELIEVE HER SON IS GONE. LIKE I JUST SENT MY SON TO AMERICA FOR BETTER OPPORTUNITIES, TO GET A BETTER EDUCATION. TO WHAT? AND HE'S DEAD. THIS SHIT IS NOT OKAY. NOT OKAY FOR ANYBODY TO LOSE THEIR LIFE. IT'S NOT OKAY FOR ANY CHILD TO LOSE THEIR LIFE. IT'S ESPECIALLY NOT OKAY TO BULLY SOMEBODY BECAUSE THEY'RE DIFFERENT OR THEY COME FROM A DIFFERENT PLACE OR. AND TO THE FUCK ASS REPORTER THAT DECIDED TO ASK THIS DAD IN THE MIDDLE OF AN INTERVIEW WHERE THIS MAN IS, HOW ARE YOU FEELING? EXCUSE ME? HOW ARE YOU FEELING? UM. IT'S NOT EASY, MA'AM. IT'S NOT EASY. YOU'RE SO. I'M HERE WITH HIM. HE'S HE HE JUST HOW ARE YOU FEELING? YOU ASKED HIM HOW HE'S FEELING? SO IF YOU SEE A, I SHOULD SAY WHAT SHOULD I? AAH! THIS MORNING, I WAKE HIM UP. HE CAME AND OPEN THE DOOR FOR ME AND I LEFT. DID YOU SAY ANYTHING TO HIM? GOODBYE. OR I LOVE YOU? ANYTHING. YEAH, BUT I DON'T. YOU WON'T KNOW. NO, HE'S NOT GOING TO KNOW. HIS WIFE, THE BOY'S MOTHER, IS STILL IN GHANA. SHE COULDN'T TALK. SHE'S CRYING. SHE SAID UNLESS SHE SEE THE BODY, SHE DON'T BELIEVE IT.

Original caption

Justice for Javits. Bullying is never ok! Taking a life is just heinous!! #javitsfrimpong #bronx #nyc #highschool #xyzbca

More from @elsrich

More breakout videos from this creator.

Transcript

This boy you're looking at is a 15-year-old named Javits Frimpong, and bear with me, this is my 10th time trying to make this video. He's a 15-year-old immigrant who just came from Ghana last year. His dad said two days ago made one year since he'd been here, and he was being bullied in school. He went to school, he didn't make it there. The kids who were bullying him were suspended. And on the way to school, you just track him down and you take his life. I'm able to report on things and be objective and show almost zero to no emotion and just, but I can't, cause this kid is me. He's from my country. He's almost the same age I was when I came here. I was bullied in school. My mom sent me back home because she's like, you cannot survive this. For my accent, for the food I would bring to school, for raising my hand in class and talking because the kids in my middle school, for example, not like the teacher, so they would all have a pact like, oh, we not talking in this teacher's class. But I can't pull that off. My mom would whoop my ass when I go home, so I have to talk in class. For him to lose his life when he was living in Ghana, a country where bullying is not even a thing. Like people, yeah, people haze you and stuff, but bullying is not a thing. Kids don't take other kids' lives. This was probably such a foreign concept to him. Like, you're bullying me? What does that even mean? The most heartbreaking part is people have no idea what that dad had to go through, how much he had to work to even bring him here. His mom is still in Ghana. I don't know if he has siblings, but he's the only one that's here right now. The dad said he's quiet. He stays to himself, he stays on his phone. And there is surveillance footage of some kids, you know, running in a neighbourhood after the shots were fired. They need to be found. They need to pay for what they did. His mom cannot not believe her son is gone. Like, I just sent my son to America for better opportunities, to get a better education. To what? And he's dead. This shit is not okay. Not okay for anybody to lose their life. It's not okay for any child to lose their life. It's especially not okay to bully somebody because they're different or they come from a different place or. And to the fuck ass reporter that decided to ask this dad in the middle of an interview where this man is, how are you feeling? Excuse me? How are you feeling? Um, it's not easy, ma'am. It's not easy. You're so. I'm here with him. He's he he just. How are you feeling? You asked him how he's feeling? So if you see a, I should say what should I? Aah! This morning, I wake him up. He came and open the door for me and I left. Did you say anything to him? Goodbye. Or I love you? Anything. Yeah, but I don't. You won't know. No, he's not going to know. His wife, the boy's mother, is still in Ghana. She couldn't talk. She's crying. She said unless she see the body, she don't believe it.