A Change of Guard

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Thursday 17 December 2009

Philadelphia school bullying part of larger problem

By RHONDA B. GRAHAM
December 17, 2009

The Asian students in Philadelphia who boycotted classes, demanding that the city's school district protect them from harassment and beatings, took a page right out of the Civil Rights 101 manual.

The rampant chasings and beatings earlier this month were reminiscent of what happened throughout the '50s and '60s, when school desegregation hit the South and other parts of the country.

Then, blacks were the target. This time, it was mostly blacks doing the targeting.

African-American students were blamed for initiating four of five attacks that day. A fifth fight was between Cambodian and Vietnamese students.

The school suspended 10 students -- six African-Americans and four Asians -- with the intent to transfer them to disciplinary schools.

Unlike in the early days of the civil rights movement, a spokesman for the targeted victims did not talk about bridging cultural misunderstandings, as one Asian-American community leader immediately suggested. That was an appeal to quell the anger, the charges of racism by victims and counter charges. Given the history of the last 40 years, an early Kumbaya moment was doomed.

That's because the civil rights laws guaranteeing equal access to public accommodations and education have proved the effective hammer for redressing these kinds of race-laced complaints. In fact, the Asian students, parents and community are channeling Martin Luther King, who first relied on federal intervention -- in this case, an investigation into reports of a widespread problem beyond that one South Philly high school -- while making nice with his adversaries.

Should the U.S. Justice Department intervene, the school district may end up paying a fine and submitting to a federal plan to redress the grievances.

But that won't solve a deeper underlying problem that plagues every school district. Bullying -- the unchecked menacing of students perceived as easy targets, regardless of race and ethnicity, but based on whom they do and do not hangout with -- is as serious.

This is way beyond the typical ostracism of secondary-school environments, where cliques rule. Their harm is somewhat limited by virtue of the fact that they are insular; only a few get admitted to the inner circle at lunch, after-school athletics and social events.

Some might argue that to some extent, cliques are good for building the emotional dexterity of immature children. But too often, the cruelty that eminates from bullying groupthink cliques is more gang-like in nature. Nonmembers are not just weirdoes -- they are enemies whose lives are to be made miserable on and off school grounds. Being excluded is no longer good enough; physical harm is critical. And this is the environment that led an Asian student to cover her face at a news conference with a sign asking the pivotal question: "It is not a question of who hit whom, but who let it happen."

To be fair, the response has been light-years away from the silence and compliance 40 years ago by police and community leaders to the brick-throwing, water-hosing and growling dogs that welcomed black students in the early struggles for racial equality in America.

Teachers, the principal and the superintendent called the students. "So I think that they feel safe," a district spokesman said as some of the victims returned Tuesday "Their fellow students have said, 'We miss you. We want you back. And we will help.' "

Among the new police officers being hired is Sgt. Robert Samuels, an African-American who speaks fluent Cantonese, after having lived in Hong Kong for seven years.

That's more futile Kumbaya-ism until adults look at this month's attack and other school-based bullying and make the same connection as Nancy Nguyen of Boatpeople SOS.

"This is something that affects everybody. It's not if you're this color or that color; it affects everybody ... and we just want it to stop."

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