South Philly High Students Speak Out, Target Ed Staff

At a hearing at school district headquarters yesterday, Asian students testified to a long history of violence against them at South Philadelphia High School and the indifference of school personnel.

Two hundred students and adults marched to district headquarters holding signs like "It's Not a Question of Who Beat Whom, but WHO LET IT HAPPEN" and "Grown-ups Let Us Down" to protests the beatings on dozens of Asian students last week, Dec. 3rd. A dozen students testified. Some had limited English-speaking abilities and utilized community translators.

Duy Ngoc Truong, a South Philadelphia female student who was beaten last week, told the commission that school security officers forced Asian students to follow them into a lunchroom where they were attacked.

 Another Vietnamese student, Duong Thang Ly said the school's security officers "are the big problem," saying they looked the other way when a group of African American students interrupted a lunch line and heckled a group of Asian students. They ignored groups of students as they roamed during class time, Ly said.

Yan Zheng, another student, said that when the assaults happened in the lunch room that day, "the lunch lady did not do anything to stop them, and went around cheering happily and said, 'Stopping fights is not my job.' "

Students translated by community representatives were even more damning. Ellen Somekawa of Asian Americans United said that a Vietnamese student testified " 'As soon as we open our mouths and speak, they treat us like we're animals,'" School staff members made remarks like "'Where are you from?' 'Hey, Chinese.' 'Yo Dragon Ball.' 'Are you Bruce Lee?' 'Speak English!'"

Xu Lin, community organizer for the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation said immigrant students aren't given appropriate language assistance when they report incidents. "Many incidents went neglected." Lin said South Philadelphia's new principal, LaGreta Brown, had been unresponsive to the Asian community. Ms. Brown has had no comment. Tensions were further exacerbated when the head of security nodded off during meetings with school officials last week and Ms. Brown used her cell phone.

 Though Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman has promised a task force and a conflict resolution program, she characterized the attacks as retaliatory for an attack on an disabled African-American student after and outside of school. Community leaders disputed this picture. Somekawa noted that almost a week later, some students involved have still not been interviewed.

However, there were some positive signs.

A number of Asian students pointed out that they have African-American friends who have helped them with their English and have been nice to them. At one point, a multiracial contingent of South Philadelphia High students asked the Asian students to come back to school. Senior Duong-Thang Ly thanked the students and said, "We hope to return to school soon, but we want to the school to be safe for all of us."

Truong said that "Most of the students at South Philadelphia High School - Asian, African American, Latino and white - are just like us. They are trying to get an education in a school where they do not feel safe or respected."

Officials have announced that an outside investigator would conduct fact-finding beginning next week. The U.S. Department of Justice program will also become involved. The commission Chair Robert Archie Jr., who listened to more than three hours of sometimes painful testimony eventually apologized after hearing many saying no official school spokesmen had done so. He said that the SRC and district "want to say we're sorry for the injuries that you sustained as a result of the incidents which took place in South Philadelphia."

Many of the students have boycotted classes and vow to maintain the boycott all week.

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Statement by Wei Chen, president, South Philadelphia High School Chinese-American Student Association

It is our opinion that South Philadelphia High School is still not a safe place for us. Because we are Asian immigrants, we are targeted. We have been working with the school a long time, but still the school has failed to provide a concrete plan to address our safety inside and outside the building.

We remain very upset with some staff members who are unresponsive to our concerns. We have been saying repeatedly that the security team has problems, but the School District still has not responded to our concerns. One staff person even slept through our meeting last Friday.

Because of that we will not return to South Philadelphia High School this week. Instead, we are going to meet in our community to figure out some real solutions of our own. Dozens of students have already committed to meeting during school hours. We ask the police and school district to recognize what we're doing and respect our ability to travel between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.