Growing up, most of us can recall running into a teacher or another authority figure who was so wrapped up in the rules that they seemed to forget our humanity.
Back then, I found that you could tell a good teacher of this type by how they reacted to someone’s angry outburst after their classmates had openly made fun of them.
Not all heroes wear capes
If they led the kid out of the room for a talk and then came back with a speech that made us feel ashamed, they knew what was important.
If they sent the bullied kid to the principal’s office for swearing, they were the type I’m talking about.
Unfortunately, it can be overwhelming when the authority figure is the bully
And one young North Carolina woman captured an incident like that on video.
What happened with Jenna
Before her run-in with the woman in the video, 19-year-old Jenna seemed to feel very welcome at Swansboro United Methodist Church in North Carolina.
As she wrote on Twitter, “I love singing in the contemporary band with my friends and being up onstage and praising God with other people.”
She happened to be wearing this outfit at the time
At some point, Jenna had taken a break to go to the bathroom, something most people expect to do in privacy.
She also wanted a moment alone to check her phone
Not for supposedly frivolous reasons, but she wanted to see if there were any updates about a family member who was in the hospital for a brain aneurysm.
A woman followed her into the bathroom
Unfortunately, it was during this vulnerable moment that the church’s lay delegate to the state’s conference of United Methodists decided to follow Jenna into the bathroom.
As Jenna tweeted, this woman had done so to lecture her about wearing jean shorts before saying, “Fat girls don’t wear shorts.”
Yes, “fat girls don’t wear shorts”
She then told Jenna that she wouldn’t be able to continue singing with those shorts on and continued to call her fat.
Jenna didn’t take the situation lightly
As the woman starts talking about a “chubby girl” who she feels is more appropriately dressed than Jenna, Jenna starts recording.
At which point, Jenna asks her “So you’re sitting here calling me fat?” to which the woman replies, “Oh, you don’t think you are?”
Jenna tried to stand up for herself
Jenna, with a voice suggesting that she’s crying, tells the woman that she loves who she is.
Jenna’s way of expressing this was apparently louder and involved more curse words than the woman would prefer.
The woman kept bothering her
So, despite Jenna giving her a clear, repeated message to get out of her face, the woman doesn’t leave and instead tells Jenna to stop swearing and lower her voice.
As Jenna tweeted, “Luckily, I started recording her so that my pastor can see the real side of her because she loves to be two faced and act all holy.”
Jenna keeps defending herself and affirms that she’s old enough to make her own decisions
At first, the woman points to her name tag because she thought Jenna literally couldn’t identify her, but settles on a vaguely threatening “Try it,” when she understands her meaning.
When the woman finally leaves, the video showed that there are a few people right outside
It’s not clear if they could hear the altercation, but Jenna is clearly upset as she tells them that the woman was just calling her fat. One man tells Jenna to return to the bathroom and we can hear the woman complaining more about Jenna’s language as the video ends.
The church’s lead pastor, G. Kevin Baker, released two statements about the incident
The first acknowledged that the woman had body-shamed Jenna and denounced the act, while the second stated that the woman involved had resigned from her position and community leadership roles following a meeting with church leaders.
Jennareleased a statement showing appreciation for everyone’s love and support
In this statement, she also urged people not to harass the woman in the video.
She said that while the words you’re about to see in the full video were very hurtful to her, she has since forgiven the woman.