It would be interesting to see what our current cover woman, Washington, D.C.’s no-nonsense education reformer Michelle Rhee, would have to say about the recent racially-motivated attack against Asian students at South Philadelphia High School.
Last Thursday, about 30 Asian American students were attacked by a group of students who reportedly were mostly African American, prompting dozens of Asian students at the school to boycott class for several days. Seven of the victims required treatment at a hospital.
Yesterday, several Asian students testified before the School Reform Commission, and noted that the attack was just one of many incidents on the school campus where they have been harassed or assaulted because of their race.
Although School Superintendent Arlene Ackerman condemend the violence, she also said the incident was in retaliation for an attack Dec. 2 of an African American disabled student by two Asian American students off-campus. Helen Gym, a board member of Asian Americans United, disputed that theory, saying by linking the separate incidents that involved different sets of youth, “the district seems to imply that there’s an undercurrent of justification for what happened on Thursday,” according to a report in the Philadelphia Daily News. Asian American community activists have also criticized the district for its slow response to the incident.
A total of 10 students have been suspended, and police and school district investigations are ongoing, according to the Daily News. The district has also formed a 50-member Task Force For Racial And Cultural Harmony that will examine the roots causes of the incident. Extra city and school police have been added to the school, the Daily News report said.
Duyngoc Truong, one of the students who was beaten last week, made a profound point that it’s not just Asian students who are suffering. “Most of the students at South Philadelphia High School—Asian, African American, Latino and white—are just like us,” he told the Daily News. “They are trying to get an education in a school where they do not feel safe or respected.”
Please see our January 2010 issue for a more in-depth story on this incident.
