OCTOBER 15--With the plague of school bullying and harassment now the subject of a growing national conversation, the rapper Eminem--who just went on “60 Minutes” and defended his use of homosexual slurs--has his own story about how “it gets better.”

As an elementary school student in metropolitan Detroit, young Marshall Mathers (pictured at left) was the target of bullying so severe that his mother actually sued the local school board for failing to sufficiently protect her child.

In her 1982 Circuit Court complaint, a copy of which you can find here, Deborah Mathers alleged that her nine-year-old child endured repeated assaults while enrolled at Dort Elementary School. Her son, she reported, was beaten so severely that he suffered a cerebral concussion, post-traumatic headaches, intermittent loss of vision and hearing, and other injuries to his head, face, back, and neck. In a related filing, Mathers detailed one attack that occurred as her boy played "King of the Hill" with other children.

The lawsuit, which sought in excess of $10,000 in damages, was eventually dismissed on the grounds of governmental immunity.

While Eminem spoke to “60 Minutes” about getting bullied in school, he was not questioned about whether his lyrics (and frequent use of the word “faggot”) might create a negative impression of gays for some listeners. Or even help spawn or inspire bullies. (5 pages)