Black Philadelphia Kid: “Yo, Dragon Ball!” Black Kids Bully Asian Kids at Philadelphia High School

Racial bullying roils a Philadelphia high school
Article: Detroit News

The blocks surrounding South Philadelphia High School are a melting pot of pizzerias fronted by Italian flags, African hair-braiding salons and a growing number of Chinese, Vietnamese and Indonesian restaurants.

Inside is a cauldron of cultural discontent that erupted in violence last month – off-campus and lunchroom attacks on about 50 Asian students, injuring 30, primarily at the hands of blacks. The Asian students, who boycotted classes for more than a week afterward, say they’ve endured relentless bullying by black students while school officials turned a blind eye to their complaints.

“We have suffered a lot to get to America and we didn’t come here to fight,” Wei Chen, president of the Chinese American Student Association, told the school board in one of several hearings on the violence. “We just want a safe environment to learn and make more friends. That’s my dream.”

Philadelphia school officials suspended 10 students, increased police patrols and installed dozens of new security cameras to watch the halls, where 70 percent of the students are black and 18 percent Asian. The Vietnamese embassy complained to the U.S. State Department about the attacks and numerous groups are investigating, including the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission.

The New York-based Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund joined the fray this week with a civil rights complaint to the U.S. Justice Department.

The Philadelphia school district acted with “deliberate indifference” toward the harassment and failed to prevent the Dec. 3 attacks, according to the complaint. It says Asian students’ pleas for help and protection were ignored by school employees.

Asian students say black students routinely pelt them with food, beat, punch and kick them in school hallways and bathrooms, and hurl racial epithets like “Hey, Chinese!” and “Yo, Dragon Ball!”

Community advocates repeatedly told school and district administrators of that bullying, according to the legal defense fund’s complaint, which was based on accounts and statements by unidentified students and teachers.

Black students say they all are unfairly being blamed for the actions of a few.

“They just want to look at everybody” for blame, said Ali Bailey, 15, a sophomore. “That’s not cool.”

Principal LaGreta Brown, the school’s fourth principal in five years, was cited for a discriminatory attitude, particularly for referring to the advocacy groups’ efforts as “the Asian agenda.” On the morning of the attacks, the complaint says, she escorted about 10 frightened Vietnamese students past a large group of youths on a sidewalk.

“If you are afraid, then I will walk with you,” the advocacy group says she told the students. But she soon walked away and returned to school, the complaint says, and the Vietnamese students were assaulted by 40 students, most of them black.

In response to this week’s legal filing, the school district said it had not discriminated against anyone and pointed to increased security efforts since the attacks.

“The claim of ‘intentional discrimination’ makes no sense,” a district statement said.

Brown did not immediately respond to a message requesting comment…

In this Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009 file photo, holding signs in front of their faces, Asian students stand during a school board meeting to express concerns about assaults at a city high school, in Philadelphia. The students are boycotting classes this week after about 30 were assaulted at South Philadelphia High School last week. They say the attacks were racially motivated and the district hasn't done enough to protect them.

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