Asian students boycott Phila. school
Monday, December 7th, 2009
By: Susan Phillips
sphillips@whyy.org
At least 50 Asian students from South Philadelphia High School boycotted classes Monday to protest a rash of violence. The students say the school district ignores their pleas to address the racial tension between Asian and African American kids.
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South Philadelphia High School senior Duong Ly says some African American students just don't like Asian kids.
Ly says he was punched and pushed within a month of enrolling in the school two years ago. After several violent outbreaks last week, Ly says, school officials dismissed the incidents and downplayed racial tensions.
Ly: They say accident not racial. They say small problem, small problem, just a kid with a kid. This is racial.
Ly and other students met with school officials on Friday, but say one district official fell asleep.
The students have been meeting today to discuss the problem. They say the tensions have festered for more than a year and hope the boycott will spur the district to take action.
Regional Superintendent Michael Silverman says he does take the incidents seriously. The school brought counselors to help the students who did show up to class. More meetings are planned with the students and parents.
I want to thank the teacher who posted this and came forward later. The students have told us that the concerns have not been with every staff member but too often with a certain number of staff and with a blind eye by leadership – a culture that is playing out again in the wake of the latest assaults. Thank you for speaking out and up for all the children at South Philly.
I worked at South Philly HS in 06-07 I was the coordinator of a program that provided extra services to foreign born students. All of these alligations are true and have been for a long time. I last 8 months there and in that time I saw countless acts of violence to foreign born students (Asians specifically targeted) it IS racial in nature and when I was there I also tried to advocate for more safety measures but it along with everyone else's pleas…fell on deaf ears. I saw jaws broken, kids assaulted, small fires were put out but the real issue was never addressed. There were not even enough security… kids came into my room because they were terrified to eat in that horrible room of terror they call a cafeteria. I taught in developing countries and never in my life saw anything like SPHS. I am so happy to see that there has been coverage of this issue. It is a shame that these students, who are new Americans have to come to the only place in the city to learn English (this school has the only comprehensive ESL program in teh city) but live in daily terror of senselss violence.