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Excerpt Ageless Athletic Assassin: Page 62
SCHOOLS BULLY SHY ASIAN KIDS
1st generation Asian Americans like myself were raised by parents who sacrificed their lives in coming to America so their children can achieve the American Dream of a great career by demonstrating merit thru test scores and grades. In the land of opportunity, all children should be rewarded based on their merit not on their skin color or family’s net worth.
In 2019, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed plans to reserve 20% of the 4,000 total seats for admission to the city’s eight nationally-recognized high schools like Stuyvesant High School, the Bronx High School of Science, and Brooklyn Technical High School, for students from high poverty schools. Angered, Asian American parents of students at New York City’s elite public schools have filed a federal lawsuit against Mayor Bill de Blasio discriminating against Asian-American children. Yi Fang Chen, who moved to the U.S. from China with her parents in 1996, said in a statement “We all have the American dream of equal opportunity. I was able to achieve what my parents came to this country for. But by using race preference to determine student enrollment at these excellent schools, it's like the Mayor is taking someone else's dream away.” The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Asian-American parents, the Asian American Coalition for Education, and the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York Admission Test. President of the Stuyvesant alumni association Soo Kim furiously said “Correct me if I'm wrong, but they're saying these schools are too Asian. I don't understand how that's even legal.” New York City Councilman Peter Koo says “The test is the most unbiased way to get into a school. It doesn't require a resume. It doesn't even require connections. The Mayor's son just graduated from Brooklyn Tech and got into Yale. Now he wants to stop this and build a barrier to Asian-Americans -- especially our children. These schools are especially important for our understanding of meritocracy, because many see admissions to those universities as the ultimate demonstration of merit.”
America is regarded as one of the best countries in the World to obtain a college education. You don’t want to see schools cheat children for financial gains such as the 178 teachers and principals from 44 City of Atlanta Georgia public schools did on the State Exams in 2009 - the biggest school cheating scandal in U.S. History. If you are a parent of a low-performing student or are a low-performing student, you should be motivated to improve your intellectual capabilities based on your merit not thru cheating.
Bullying is a big concern for Asian Americans. A 2017 survey found that Asian American teenagers suffered far more bullying at school than any other demographic with 54% of Asian-American teenagers reporting being bullied compared with 31.3% of white teens and 38.4% of black teens. In New York City, a report released in 2017 by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and The Sikh Coalition revealed that half of all Asian American students have been the target of bias-bullying and harassment - mirroring national statistics. Depressed with the situation for Asian American children, New York magazine’s Wesley Yang says “that to be an Asian American means being not just good at math and playing the violin, but a mass of stifled, repressed, abused, conformist quasi-robots who simply do not matter socially or culturally.”
On December 3, 2009 at South Philadelphia High School in the “City of Brotherly Love,” a horrendous mass bullying attack occurred when 30 Asian students were attacked (13 sent to the hospital) by 70 black students. This tragic event led to President Barack Obama visiting the school to tell students “Life is precious and part of its beauty lies in its diversity. We shouldn't be embarrassed by the things that make us different. We should be proud of them.” Accompanying President Obama was U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who said “From any difficult situation, you hope it never happens again. You have to deal with the issues openly and honestly and you have to be sure the district emerges stronger.”
Before the massive attack, Asian students say black students routinely pelted them with food, punched, and kicked them in school hallways and bathrooms, and hurled racial slurs like “Hey, Chinese!’’ Vietnamese immigrant Duong Nghe Ly says “I thought America would be like the “Hannah Montana” TV episodes I had watched in Vietnam. What I found in Philadelphia was closer to “The Wire” so I kept my head down and tried to make my way through the broken system. I was often laughed at because of who I was. I went to school every day being scared, wondering when would be the next time I'd be attacked. My only goal is to study hard here so I can go to college and get a career to take care of my parents.” During Ly’s first week of school, he was robbed in the bathroom and his older brother was punched in the face. As to why black students acted violently, Ly says “Black students tell me they live in a violent environment with their parents having problems at home so they want to express their anger thru violence by attacking weak Asians.”
Tyreke Williams, a black student at the school, upsettingly says “They're just hating on other races. They don't have anything better to do with their lives.” Wali Smith, a black community specialist on anger management and conflict resolution, says “These black kids are scared cowards so will take advantage of weak Asian people. If blacks go to the bathroom and take Asian’s money and Asians don't report it, they'll just keep riding it until the wheels fall off.”
President of the Chinese American Student Association Wei Chen, who organized an eight-day boycott of the school with 50 students, said “We have suffered a lot to get to America. We just want a safe environment to learn. Getting assaulted hurt our bodies. It also hurt our hearts. I wish there is a place where racism doesn’t exist.’’ The boycott helped trigger national attention to the violence against Asian students at South Philly High School with a federal investigation launched following a formal civil rights complaint by the Asian American Legal Defense Fund and the Vietnamese embassy complaining to the U.S. Justice Department. Angered, Chief of the Justice Department’s civil rights division Thomas Perez said “We intend to use every tool in our law enforcement arsenal to stamp out harassment and bullying in the schools. School districts are accountable for creating policies, practices and a climate of inclusion. If a school district deliberately ignores instances of harassment, they do so at their own peril. If we don't address bullying in middle school and high school, then we will foster a culture of intolerant adults.”
Helen Gym, the first Asian-American Philadelphia City Council member, says “The focus of our federal complaint was never about problematic young people. It was truly the egregious conduct of school officials that warranted the federal intervention.” A couple weeks later at a local NAACP meeting Helen said “It should have ended with DuBois, with King, with Malcolm, Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, with Yuri Kochiyama...To the School District: one issue which is not debatable is that the safety of our children is paramount and that violence against any one of our young people – no matter the color of our skin or what language we speak – can not and will not be tolerated. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: ‘True peace is not the absence of tension but the presence of justice.’ As we move forward, know that we are committed to the cause of justice not for any one group but for all the students of South Philadelphia High School.”
After legal proceedings in 2010, Philadelphia's public school system accepted a consent decree aimed at curbing racial violence which subjects the school to state and federal oversight for 2.5 years. The school installed 126 security cameras, developed a plan for preventing bullying, conducted training to increase multicultural awareness, added more bilingual staffers, increased diversity training, and maintained records of harassment. A “50-50 club” took Asian and black students on group outings. The biggest addition was new principal Otis Hackney who said “As African-Americans, we can't forget our own struggle to the point that we become what we fought so hard against...There is no room for bullying at school. As principal, my No. 1 priority is to make sure my building is safe.”
With bullying a huge concern across the country, Florida became the first state to offer bullied students vouchers up to $6,800 a year for private school tuition called the “Hope Scholarship Program” in 2018. Bullied students also have the option of moving to a different public school. In a statement Florida Governor Rick Scott said “Every child in Florida should have the opportunity to get a great education at the school of their choice so they can achieve their dreams.” 50,000 students are bullied in Florida schools each year. The new voucher program, estimated to cost about $41 million, could provide as many as 5,800 students with vouchers.
SCHOOLS BULLY SHY ASIAN KIDS
1st generation Asian Americans like myself were raised by parents who sacrificed their lives in coming to America so their children can achieve the American Dream of a great career by demonstrating merit thru test scores and grades. In the land of opportunity, all children should be rewarded based on their merit not on their skin color or family’s net worth.
In 2019, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed plans to reserve 20% of the 4,000 total seats for admission to the city’s eight nationally-recognized high schools like Stuyvesant High School, the Bronx High School of Science, and Brooklyn Technical High School, for students from high poverty schools. Angered, Asian American parents of students at New York City’s elite public schools have filed a federal lawsuit against Mayor Bill de Blasio discriminating against Asian-American children. Yi Fang Chen, who moved to the U.S. from China with her parents in 1996, said in a statement “We all have the American dream of equal opportunity. I was able to achieve what my parents came to this country for. But by using race preference to determine student enrollment at these excellent schools, it's like the Mayor is taking someone else's dream away.” The plaintiffs in the lawsuit include Asian-American parents, the Asian American Coalition for Education, and the Chinese American Citizens Alliance of Greater New York Admission Test. President of the Stuyvesant alumni association Soo Kim furiously said “Correct me if I'm wrong, but they're saying these schools are too Asian. I don't understand how that's even legal.” New York City Councilman Peter Koo says “The test is the most unbiased way to get into a school. It doesn't require a resume. It doesn't even require connections. The Mayor's son just graduated from Brooklyn Tech and got into Yale. Now he wants to stop this and build a barrier to Asian-Americans -- especially our children. These schools are especially important for our understanding of meritocracy, because many see admissions to those universities as the ultimate demonstration of merit.”
America is regarded as one of the best countries in the World to obtain a college education. You don’t want to see schools cheat children for financial gains such as the 178 teachers and principals from 44 City of Atlanta Georgia public schools did on the State Exams in 2009 - the biggest school cheating scandal in U.S. History. If you are a parent of a low-performing student or are a low-performing student, you should be motivated to improve your intellectual capabilities based on your merit not thru cheating.
Bullying is a big concern for Asian Americans. A 2017 survey found that Asian American teenagers suffered far more bullying at school than any other demographic with 54% of Asian-American teenagers reporting being bullied compared with 31.3% of white teens and 38.4% of black teens. In New York City, a report released in 2017 by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and The Sikh Coalition revealed that half of all Asian American students have been the target of bias-bullying and harassment - mirroring national statistics. Depressed with the situation for Asian American children, New York magazine’s Wesley Yang says “that to be an Asian American means being not just good at math and playing the violin, but a mass of stifled, repressed, abused, conformist quasi-robots who simply do not matter socially or culturally.”
On December 3, 2009 at South Philadelphia High School in the “City of Brotherly Love,” a horrendous mass bullying attack occurred when 30 Asian students were attacked (13 sent to the hospital) by 70 black students. This tragic event led to President Barack Obama visiting the school to tell students “Life is precious and part of its beauty lies in its diversity. We shouldn't be embarrassed by the things that make us different. We should be proud of them.” Accompanying President Obama was U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan who said “From any difficult situation, you hope it never happens again. You have to deal with the issues openly and honestly and you have to be sure the district emerges stronger.”
Before the massive attack, Asian students say black students routinely pelted them with food, punched, and kicked them in school hallways and bathrooms, and hurled racial slurs like “Hey, Chinese!’’ Vietnamese immigrant Duong Nghe Ly says “I thought America would be like the “Hannah Montana” TV episodes I had watched in Vietnam. What I found in Philadelphia was closer to “The Wire” so I kept my head down and tried to make my way through the broken system. I was often laughed at because of who I was. I went to school every day being scared, wondering when would be the next time I'd be attacked. My only goal is to study hard here so I can go to college and get a career to take care of my parents.” During Ly’s first week of school, he was robbed in the bathroom and his older brother was punched in the face. As to why black students acted violently, Ly says “Black students tell me they live in a violent environment with their parents having problems at home so they want to express their anger thru violence by attacking weak Asians.”
Tyreke Williams, a black student at the school, upsettingly says “They're just hating on other races. They don't have anything better to do with their lives.” Wali Smith, a black community specialist on anger management and conflict resolution, says “These black kids are scared cowards so will take advantage of weak Asian people. If blacks go to the bathroom and take Asian’s money and Asians don't report it, they'll just keep riding it until the wheels fall off.”
President of the Chinese American Student Association Wei Chen, who organized an eight-day boycott of the school with 50 students, said “We have suffered a lot to get to America. We just want a safe environment to learn. Getting assaulted hurt our bodies. It also hurt our hearts. I wish there is a place where racism doesn’t exist.’’ The boycott helped trigger national attention to the violence against Asian students at South Philly High School with a federal investigation launched following a formal civil rights complaint by the Asian American Legal Defense Fund and the Vietnamese embassy complaining to the U.S. Justice Department. Angered, Chief of the Justice Department’s civil rights division Thomas Perez said “We intend to use every tool in our law enforcement arsenal to stamp out harassment and bullying in the schools. School districts are accountable for creating policies, practices and a climate of inclusion. If a school district deliberately ignores instances of harassment, they do so at their own peril. If we don't address bullying in middle school and high school, then we will foster a culture of intolerant adults.”
Helen Gym, the first Asian-American Philadelphia City Council member, says “The focus of our federal complaint was never about problematic young people. It was truly the egregious conduct of school officials that warranted the federal intervention.” A couple weeks later at a local NAACP meeting Helen said “It should have ended with DuBois, with King, with Malcolm, Rosa Parks, Cesar Chavez, with Yuri Kochiyama...To the School District: one issue which is not debatable is that the safety of our children is paramount and that violence against any one of our young people – no matter the color of our skin or what language we speak – can not and will not be tolerated. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said: ‘True peace is not the absence of tension but the presence of justice.’ As we move forward, know that we are committed to the cause of justice not for any one group but for all the students of South Philadelphia High School.”
After legal proceedings in 2010, Philadelphia's public school system accepted a consent decree aimed at curbing racial violence which subjects the school to state and federal oversight for 2.5 years. The school installed 126 security cameras, developed a plan for preventing bullying, conducted training to increase multicultural awareness, added more bilingual staffers, increased diversity training, and maintained records of harassment. A “50-50 club” took Asian and black students on group outings. The biggest addition was new principal Otis Hackney who said “As African-Americans, we can't forget our own struggle to the point that we become what we fought so hard against...There is no room for bullying at school. As principal, my No. 1 priority is to make sure my building is safe.”
With bullying a huge concern across the country, Florida became the first state to offer bullied students vouchers up to $6,800 a year for private school tuition called the “Hope Scholarship Program” in 2018. Bullied students also have the option of moving to a different public school. In a statement Florida Governor Rick Scott said “Every child in Florida should have the opportunity to get a great education at the school of their choice so they can achieve their dreams.” 50,000 students are bullied in Florida schools each year. The new voucher program, estimated to cost about $41 million, could provide as many as 5,800 students with vouchers.
