CJ Pearson, the teenage political activist turned journalist who falsely claimed that President Obama blocked him on Twitter, is in the spotlight again. This time for a harder reason: his school wants to expel him.
On Monday night, Pearson, 13, filmed a YouTube video in his darkened bedroom that has already amassed 44,000 views on Facebook and YouTube. His voice cracked at times, filled with emotion. He begged viewers to help him. His school is on the brink of expelling him for allegedly bullying two girls in his grade at Columbia Middle School near Augusta, Ga. Pearson is disgusted by the accusation and says it’s the girls who have been bullying him and many others in his grade for months.
“Hey guys, CJ Pearson here,” he began in his video. “Today I’ve got something to tell y’all. The past few weeks I’ve been kind of missing in action and a lot of you have asked where I’ve been and I think you deserve to know at this point. Since two weeks ago I’ve been fighting a very long battle with my school. …I was suspended from school pending a disciplinary hearing and now they’re recommending expulsion because they accused me of bullying. Two girls that have become the Mean Girls had, for weeks, taunted me, making fun of me, degrading me, disparaging, ripping me apart with their words day in and day out and I was tired of it. I had tried so hard every single day to write a statement. Teachers would dismiss it. They called it tattling or say it’s immature for me to do that. You know, I’ve been in politics for a long time and I’ve developed a thick skin because of it. …I need your help. This system is rigged and unfair. …Guys, I need you.”
Pearson has acquired legal counsel. A hearing to determine his scholastic fate at this school is scheduled for Wednesday. An alternative to expulsion is suspending him for the rest of the year with the option of attending an alternative school. His school, however, is recommending expulsion. He says he has the full support of his mother.
The situation escalated a few weeks ago when he and another male student approached the girls and began yelling at them about their behavior in what amounted to a six-minute confrontation. Pearson says the girls have ridiculed him for everything from a wiggling eye condition (he’s supposed to have surgery) to having a wet stain on his pants, alluding to him ejaculating in his pants.
“We were sick of tired of it,” Pearson told The Mirror in a phone conversation Tuesday, explaining that the abuse happened daily. “We were made to feel we were less than them. They get a high off of being horrible. ”
He says he approached teachers who were not helpful. “One was nonchalant about it,” he said. “They dismissed it as middle school drama and tattling.”
During the confrontation, Pearson and his friend (who received in-school suspension only) told the girls, “‘Hey you have no room to talk about anyone. People are not going to like you because you have the audacity to talk trash people to their face.’ It was just utter frustration. It was a long time coming. Yeah, I raised my voice. We were angry. We definitely raised our voices.”
His friend told one of the women that she was fat. They told the other that she had cheated on her boyfriend.
He said the girls told school officials that the interaction “made them feel like they were horrible, bad people and it hurt their feelings.”
Pearson is no stranger to the spotlight. (Full disclosure: His writing has appeared in the op-ed section of The Daily Caller.) You may have seen his mug on FNC’s “Fox & Friends” and “Hannity,” TheBlazeTV and One America News.
He is all over the place politically. He was previously national chairman of Teens For Ted, a group that supports Ted Cruz. He has also backed Bernie Sanders. But for now, he says, Cruz can’t claim the nomination without using dirty tricks. But he also can’t support Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Much like ex-Politico President Jim VandeHei, he’s hoping a third-party candidate emerges.
“I think Cruz and Kasich should get out,” he said. “I still support Bernie. I think Trump has won the will of the people. I think Bernie should be the nominee for the Democratic party. I look forward to working with either guy.”
Pearson has a lively life on social media. “People have said that they wish my life had been traded for Trayvon,” he said. Or, “‘I hope your family gets killed.’ I’ve had so many people come at me with the most ridiculous of things, so if it happens at school it rolls off my back. I’m not complaining – it’s the life I chose.”
Asked about his stunt saying Obama blocked him on Twitter, he told The Mirror, “It was a very juvenile mistake. I cared more about the followers and less about my purpose in politics and media. I’ve apologized for it.”
Pearson turns 14 at the end of the July.
This is not his first brush with school officials. “I’ve had many fights with this school district in the past,” he said, referring to an incident that concluded in the school not renewing his 6th grade teacher’s contract. Alarmingly, the teacher told another class that Pearson’s life was not worth saving in a fire.
“We’ve always butted heads…maybe he never really liked me,” he said. “It’s whatever. I’m the type of kid…I don’t let teachers run over me. A lot of kids are scared to stand up to their teachers.”
Pearson is hoping the hearing goes his way and he can finish up school and go on to Evans High School. But if he’s expelled, he plans to attend private school or be home schooled. He intends to appeal a negative ruling for as long as it takes for him to win.
Sounding like a budding politician, he said, “This is a case that’s bigger than me.”
Asked why his bedroom was so dark when he filmed his YouTube video, he replied, “Hey, I gotta be a mystery.”