Lincoln Park - Pictures of Tempest Smith’s crooked smile and blue eyes are frozen in time - reminders of the ballerina, honor role student, flute player and daughter Denessa Smith called her “blessing.”
Denessa’s eyes fill up with tears when she remembers “My Family,” the song Tempest composed and the Sylvester slippers Tempest put on her feet to keep her warm when she fell asleep on the couch.
“It was a rule that if mom didn’t tuck you in, you tucked mom in,” Denessa said.
Denessa remembers the last “I love you” from Tempest, the night before the 12-year-old tied a scarf around her neck and hung herself from her bunk bed on February 20.
Tempest’s journal, found under her bed after her Feb. 20 suicide, shed light on the harassment she endured from classmates who teased her for her shy demeanor, gothic-style clothes and interest in the Wiccan religion.
“I’ll look at the pictures to remember her and I see a girl who exploded with creativity. She was the light on the candle,” Denessa said, “She had hopes and aspirations, but she felt so pushed in a tiny box that she felt she didn’t have any other way out but the rope she hung herself with.”
More than 100 of Tempest’s classmates from Lincoln Park Middle School showed up for her memorial service, and many expressed remorse in letters and cards in a booklet given to Denessa.
In a letter a classmate wrote, “I’m sorry if I had said mean things to you. I didn’t mean them. It was the easiest way to hide what was wrong with me.”
But Denessa said the apologies will not bring Tempest back.
Last July, Denessa filled a $10 million suit against the Lincoln Park School District, claiming that her daughter’s teachers were aware of the teasing but did nothing to stop it. She said she hopes the suit will cause schools to take action against hate crime.
Lincoln Park Middle School Principal Robert Redden would not comment on the case.
Denessa said the torment began in second grade and escalated in middle school, when Tempest recorded her harassment, memories and crushes in a journal given to her by her mother.
Tempest wrote in her last journal entry on Jan. 29, that classmates were surrounding her and singing Bible hymns, “Now people aren’t saying Jesus luvs U. They’re singing it.” In her poetry she asked “Will I ever have friends again?”
Denessa said Tempest’s interest in Wicca added to the persecution from classmates, which went uncorrected by school officials.
Wicca
Tempest wore a pentacle, a Wiccan symbol representing the north, south, east, west and the sanctity of spirit, and read books about the Wiccan faith - a modern religion, based upon ancient practices, that teaches respect for the earth and honors a god and goddess. Wicca, a nature-oriented, polytheistic faith, stresses individual enlightenment and celebrates the four natural elements - earth, wind, fire and water. Wiccans abide by the Wiccan Rede, “An it harm none, do what you will.”
Wiccans celebrate the changing of seasons, which represent the goddess’s journey from maidenhood to matron. The religion isn’t based on a linear aspect but rather the endless cycles of nature.
Although witchcraft has been practiced for centuries, Wicca is a product of the late 20th century. Gerald Gardner, a British civil servant and plantation manager in Southeast Asia for most of his established modern Wiccan principles - the celebration of Sabbats holidays and Esbats (moon holidays).
He was largely self-educated, but was an active contributor to studies of archeology, folklore and magic. According to legend, Gardner found a coven in New Forest England by chance in 1939.
In the 1970s, an eclectic form of Wicca developed that was less structured than the traditional Wiccan practices. Many eclectic Wiccans are solitary practitioners who practice their beliefs and formulate rituals in their own way.
The various forms of Wicca have several hundred thousand practicing members worldwide.
Lansing resident Jason Mankey said Wicca provides “a great framework to define your spirituality. It does speak to us and gives us tools to find ourselves.”
Robert McKinley, an MSU religious studies professor, said Wicca breaks away from mainline religions.
“People want to get away from church rituals and are interested in a back-to-nature religion,” McKinley said, “Part of it is experimental trying and testing different things, breaking away from authoritarian and dogmatic practices.”
But while the religion is growing, people continue to believe in myths such as that Wiccans run naked through the woods.
Much of the hostility toward Wiccans is the myth that Wicca is a form of Satanism, history of art sophomore Steven Sarten said.
“People think we worship Satan and sacrifice babies,” he said.
The stereotype prevents some Wiccans from identifying themselves publicly, in fear of discrimination from their peers, schools, workplace and unfair treatment by the courts in child-custody cases.
Tempest’s Story
Since Tempest’s death, Denessa wears her pentacle and a silver capsule engraved with her daughter’s birth date to commemorate her life.
Cat figures and stuffed animals her daughter collected, the flowers from her funeral and pictures of Tempest’s achievements sit frozen in time.
Denessa said Tempest’s possessions and correspondence with others keep her strong.
Her office is flooded with hundreds of e-mails, cards and letters she has collected in scrapbooks.
“I have been given so much support, strength and courage,” Denessa said. “People want me to stand up for the other children.”
Denessa said she hopes people learn through Tempest that kids should not to be bullied for being different.
“Tempest stood for what she believed in and she wanted to create her own path and they beat her down,” she said.
Denessa said she intervened with the staff but the torment continued. In elementary school, Tempest played the flute to second graders to avoid being harassed during recess. Denessa said the teasing progressed to physical assaults and verbal abuses including calling Tempest “Satan’s whore” and “Wiccan slut.”
Since Tempest’s death, the sound of the flute and playful arguments between siblings are only memories. Denessa said it’s hard to be in the house that was once full of life.
In June, Denessa moved her son, John, to California to avoid harassment during the trial.
“He now has the ability to live as a child and not live in his sister’s shadows and walk through the halls she once did.”
The Broom Closet
Wiccans such as Tempest face social ramifications from family, friends, schools and workplaces for sharing their faith. Some call the process of disclosing their faith as coming “out of the broom closet.”
Sarah Kate Van Auker, an MSU anthropology junior, said she was 13 when she discovered Wicca.
“I believed it before I found it,” she said.
Van Auker said she didn’t know how to tell her parents or classmates after rumors circulated she was a witch.
“Classmates would whisper ‘she’s a witch’ or stuff pamphlets about Christianity in my locker,” she said.
Van Auker’s mother, a Lutheran who wished to remain unidentified, said she was surprised by her daughter’s decision but is supportive.
“I wasn’t alarmed or upset, but I was concerned of the general public’s lack of knowledge,” she said, “It could be misconstrued as devil worshipping.”
Midland resident Teresa Marshall, a member of a traditional Gardnerian coven had similar experiences when she began to study witches in the early 1980s.
Marshall said it was difficult to tell her stepfather, a Lutheran pastor, about her beliefs.
“My parents were hoping it was an adolescent phase. It took years of showing I was committed,” she said “But they still see it as unwittingly worshipping Satan.”
Court Cases
Wicca is recognized by the United States government as a religion.
The First Amendment guarantees religious freedom, but it can’t eliminate some people’s ignorance and fear of minority religions, said Edward Ortiz, former spokesperson for the Witches Anti-Discrimination League.
In 1999, Lincoln Park High School adopted a policy banning symbols and groups deemed violent and disruptive. Included in the ban were black nail polish, dog collars and “death-style makeup.” The school barred groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, pagans, Satanists and vampires.
Crystal Seifferly, an honor role senior, was asked to remove her pentacle, which she wished to wear for her graduation. Seifferly, represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan, sued the Lincoln Park school district for infringing upon her First Amendment rights.
Ortiz, Seifferly’s former neighbor, said the policy singled out the Wiccan faith.
“They banned pagans,” Ortiz said, “It’s like saying ‘Muslims can’t come here.’”
On March 2, 1999 Seifferly won her fight to overturn the Lincoln Park High School policy banning the wearing of the five-pointed star that is the symbol of her pagan faith. The school reversed the policy and agreed to pay her legal costs. School officials would not comment on the case.
Michael J. Steinberg, a lawyer for Seifferly’s case, said under the First Amendment students attending public schools should be free to share their faith with others.
“Students have First Amendment rights to express themselves by wearing a cross, Star of David or a pentacle,” said Steinberg, the legal director of the ACLU of Michigan, “A policy cannot interfere with one’s rights.”
Ortiz said the case created a media storm. “She never intended to be a symbol for pagan teens,” Ortiz said. “She just wanted to wear her pentacle.”
Similarly, Tempest never meant to become a symbol for bullied teens and Wiccans struggling for religious tolerance, Denessa said.
Denessa said she hopes her lawsuit will show schools that they need to teach acceptance and foster safe learning environments.
“I hope through knowledge, awareness and education that there will never be another story like Tempest’s.”
Kristina Hughes can be reached at hughesk7@msu.edu.
