Freedom from Fear Awards: Fighting School Violence, Asian Immigrants Find Their Voice

Wei Chen describes himself as a “quiet, academic type” when he first came to America in 2006. Upon entering South Philadelphia High School, he barely spoke English and hoped to disappear under the radar while he adjusted to his new environment.

He was in for a rude awakening.

One month after starting school, two students punched Chen in the neck while he was reaching for something in his locker.

“I didn’t know what was happening,” Chen says. “I kept asking, ‘Why are they beating me up?’ I came here to find a new, better life and instead I get punched.”

Chen shared similar experiences with the three other Asian immigrant students who are recipients of this year’s Freedom From Fear Award, which honors their commitment to protect immigrants from abuse. The winners, Wei Chen, Bach Tong, Duong Nghe Le and Xu Lin, all became activists after experiencing or witnessing anti-Asian violence in the Philadelphia schools they attended.

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The four activists said the attacks were routine. They had food thrown at them during lunchtime, they were punched and kicked in the hallways and bathrooms and assaulted while walking back from school. When they reported the attacks to school authorities and police, they say the officials frequently turned a deaf ear to their complaints.

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In fact, the activists believe the root cause of the problem was the institutional acceptance of violence as a norm. The fact that African-American students were usually the perpetrators, they say, was more a byproduct of the environment: The student body at South Philadelphia High School is 70 percent African American and only 18 percent Asian.

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Tensions came to a boil on Dec. 3, 2009, when 26 Asian students were targeted in a series of attacks at the school by a group of mostly African-American students. Seven of the victims had to be rushed to the emergency room to treat their wounds. Although 10 students were suspended, the district and school came under fire for its handling of the situation, which was deemed negligent and irresponsible by the Asian activists.

The district said the Dec. 3 assaults were precipitated by an attack the previous day, in which two Asian students had beat up a disabled African-American student. Superintendent Arlene Ackerman described the attacked shortly after, at a Dec. 9 School Reform Commission hearing, like this: “What began as a unwarranted off campus attack on a disabled African American student, quickly escalated into a retaliatory multi-racial attack on primarily Chinese students at the school the following day.”

Chen, who had started a school group called the Chinese American Student Association, says the district was “ridiculous” in downplaying and justifying the violent events. He believed a more inclusive organization was needed for all Asian immigrants to demand a better solution. With Lin’s help, Chen began to call everyone he knew in the past two years to set up a meeting in Chinatown to discuss how to respond to the violence. They decided to boycott South Philadelphia High School, to show they were not satisfied with the false assurances of safety.

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The boycott lasted for eight days and drew more than 50 Asian student protesters. Eventually, a civil complaint was filed against the district, alleging it had shown “intentional disregard” towards its Asian students.

{snip} But in August 2010, the U.S. Justice Department found merit in the claims that Asian immigrant students were being abused at South Philadelphia High l. {snip}

Changes quickly followed. A new principal was appointed after the former principal, LaGreta Brown, resigned amid reports that her certification had expired. One hundred twenty-six new security cameras were installed on different floors of the school and extra staff and counselors were brought in to help ease school tensions. As part of the settlement agreement, the district and the school implemented an anti-harassment policy.

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Melanie Grimes, senior class president at South Philadelphia High, adds that she felt that the African-American students were unfairly portrayed as the villains in the media coverage of the violence occurring at the school. Grimes says she would escort some of her Asian friends to lunch back in 2009 to make sure they felt comfortable.

“This is not just a one-way street,” says Grimes, 19. “It’s just that no one [in our community] went out to the media and spoke to anyone.” Grimes points out that tensions have dramatically reduced now compared to 2009. She says it is frustrating that so many of the school’s accomplishments have been overshadowed by the media’s overplayed tensions between African-American and Asian students.

But the Asian activists believe there is still work to be done to overcome the inherent distrust between African-American and Asian groups. {snip}

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