26 Asian Students Attacked at Philly High School

published by ANBM on Sun, 12/06/2009 - 14:22

To the people who thought racism was a thing of the past and no longer exists in the 21st century.... you are dead wrong. Some of us probably live in the nicer places in the country with some good multicultural friends but the people in the next town/city may not be so friendly.

To all my other dearest Asian Brothers, Sisters, Families, Civil Rights Advocacy groups, Asian Activists in western countries. We know racism is very much alive and it comes in all shapes and forms in mainstream society.

While we continue to experience it's reoccurring unpleasantness and Deja Vu's, I am all convinced we are still living as second class citizens and are still sunjected to different forms of racial oppression.

Ancient Taoist once believed the driving universal life principles are found in Yin and Yang, nature will seek neutrality and find balance between interchangeable opposing forces. Though my analogy might sound a little ancient in the philosophical works but you would eventually understand my point in our society at present.

Take this case of Asian student attacks, ideally we could see this the demand and need for advocacy as essential to step up and push for racial equality in modern day society.

The Asian political identity itself needs to communicated and addressed to further political solidarity amongst the Asian community. We need to help and strengthen the next generation of Asian youths who will face these problematic race issues that we had failed to resolve in our time.

Ethnic minorities are still oppressed in the social, political, economical context of mainstream society.
Our right of ethnicity, culture and beliefs are constantly being challenged.

I am absolutely appalled at the ways in which we are still being treated in a western country. It seems that we are not taken seriously enough whenever a civil issue arises where our lives are threatened by hate crimes. Why is it that these issues are immediately downplayed or invalidated.

Throughout history Asians have contributed positively to western societies and we have come a long way since the early Asian diaspora. But we have to acknowledge the fact that there is always going to be 'white racism' and White supremacists groups still asserting their 'hate mongering' influence on people.

Ignorance has only given way to racist mobs who set have out to hurt more ethnic people while the rest nation watches and down play the all but seriousness of race problems plaguing our society.

It should be known that if we accept this kind of attitude, it eventually becomes the tolerated standard.

When I come across articles with racist mobs fuelled by xenophobic emotional rampages that result in physical violence towards racially targeted victims it angers me.

NBC News reports - 26 Asian Students Attacked at Philly High School

Dozens of Asian students were attacked and beaten in the hallways of South Philadelphia High School by a gang of other students Thursday.
Members of the South Philly Asian community say this is not uncommon, reports the Daily News.
A counselor at the Chinatown Development Corporation says 26 Asian students, many of whom are recent immigrants, were attacked in the school that has a violent history. Seven of the victims were treated at Methodist Hospital for scrapes and bruises.
District officials say 10 students were suspended as a result of the assaults, but the high school’s principal declined to comment on the incidents. School officials told NBC Philadelphia that the 10 suspended students will be transferred to an alternative school and their names will be given to police for possible criminal prosecution.
Though district officials told NBC Philadelphia they do not believe the attacks were racially motivated, Xu Lin, of the Chinatown Development Corporation, who works with victimized students, told the Daily News that Asian teens at South Philadelphia High School live in fear every day .
"It's very, very scary," Lin told the Daily News, saying that he repeatedly was beaten up when he attended South Philly High. "You go to school and you don't know when you'll be attacked."
The school, which is 18 percent Asian, has been designated “persistently dangerous” by the state in the past three years, though one district official says assaults at the school are down 50 percent from last year.
"We didn't come from China to fight," Wei Chen, who founded the Chinese-American Student Association after last year's attacks, told the Daily News.
Many of the students who were assaulted opted to stay home from school Friday.
(Source: NBC News)

Society remains ignorant. There are reasons why Asian Americans are against media and Hollywood for producing movies like "Red Dawn".

Another Article from Philly Daily News: Asian students under attack at S. Phila. High

By DAFNEY TALES
Philadelphia Daily News
talesd@phillynews.com 215-854-5084
Zhihua Tian traveled thousands of miles from his native China earlier this year to profit from the treasures of the American education system.
Unfortunately, he landed at South Philadelphia High School, where the number of violent incidents often overshadow student achievements.
Tian, 19, of South Philly, and five other students who are recent immigrants are staying home today because they were among 26 Asian students who were attacked by a gang of other students throughout the day yesterday, said Xu Lin, of the Chinatown Development Corporation, who works with victimized students.
District officials said that 10 students have been suspended. No arrests were reported, but students who were outside the school yesterday said they had seen students being led out of the building in handcuffs.
Several incidents of violence against Asian immigrants were reported at the school last year.
Lin said there was a pervasive atmosphere of fear among Asian students.
"It's very, very scary," he said, noting that he repeatedly was beaten up when he attended South Philly High. "You go to school and you don't know when you'll be attacked."
The ordeal began Wednesday, Lin said, when a Vietnamese student was jumped by 14 students across the street from the school.
Yesterday, the attackers were roaming the halls "searching for victims class by class during school," he said.
About 12:30 p.m., Tian and two friends were heading to the cafeteria when someone ran up and hit him in the head from behind, Tian said through Lin, who translated.
"I tried to escape," Tian, a freshman, said. "I ran and they chased me and beat me on the nose."
His friend Shan Chen, 18, also a freshman, was pushed to the ground, punched and kicked, Chen said.
Seven of the victims, including Tian, were treated at Methodist Hospital for scrapes and bruises.
Violent incidents against Asian students often go unreported because the victims often have a language barrier or choose to suffer in silence rather than risk retaliation, said Tram Nguyen, a community organizer with Victim Services in South Philly.
But students at the school, which is 18 percent Asian and has been designated by the state as "persistently dangerous" the last three years, have tried to stop the violence against them.
"We didn't come from China to fight," said Wei Chen (no relation to Shan Chen), who founded the Chinese-American Student Association after last year's attacks.
The group has petitioned the district for more police patrols, security cameras and other measures, he said.
The school's principal, LaGreta Brown, declined to comment, but Michael Silverman, who oversees the city's 32 neighborhood schools, said that assaults in the school are down by 50 percent.
"We've been working with the Asian community since last year to make sure that South Philly High is an inviting place," he said.
But Xiu Ling Lu, whose ninth-grade son, Li Hua Shi, 15, escaped yesterday's pummeling, said she still worries that her son may become an indiscriminate target.
"They just beat every Chinese people. They don't care," she said. "This time he's lucky. What about next time?"