26 Asian Students are Beaten Up at a Philly High School
How our reaction reflects our conditioning.
By Nick Wong
Posted in Editorial, Op-Ed, Volume 36 No. 24
Nick Wong is a graduate from the University of Washington and is now pursuing his dream of boxing around the world. Follow his journey at www.thewanderingpugilist.com.
DISCLAIMER: The IE does not endorse opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed in Editorial articles. The IE welcomes all opinions and comments, but reserves the right to remove posts that contain spam, vulgar or abusive language, personal attacks of any kind, or offensive terms that target specific ethnic or racial groups.
One of the beating victims, at Methodist Hospital. Photo credit: Philadelphia Daily News, Jason Melcher.
In the supposedly post-racial Obama era, most people would now find it unfathomable that a race-based attack in high school could happen, yet on Dec. 3 twenty-six Asian students, both international and US-born, were deliberately attacked by their peers at a South Philadelphia high school. Apparently, racial tension at this high school have been escalating. Violent incidents against APIs documented in recent months, but nothing of this magnitude. As an API student, I was enraged upon hearing the news. I wanted to shout from the hills that racism is alive and well today. It gave me evidential justification that this is still a prejudiced and white-dominated society. But then I found out the perpetrators were black.
For some reason my reaction shifted. I was still upset by the incident, but the reasons changed. To some people, the race of the attackers shouldn’t matter, but for me it does; it’s merely a matter of finding out why.
One of my friends, a Chinese American student who currently campaigns for workers’ rights, says he wouldn’t be as angry if the attackers were black students. Sure, it was still wrong, but according to him, it was a reflection of structural oppression from white society and another way to prevent people of color from working together. But another Cambodian friend who grew up in White Center and attended a multiracial high school, said for him it didn’t matter what color the perpetrators were; in fact, we would be racist in assuming that white people didn’t also have their own structural barriers that could spark this type of violent reaction.
My classmate Marsha, an exchange student from Indonesia, told me that for her the news isn’t too shocking because “the US portrays social class difference in high school, like the mean kids, the geeks and the popular kids,” but it was surprising that the offenders were other students of color. According to her, “black kids should understand their history and how it feels to be humiliated like that.” Many other API students felt surprised at that discovery as well.
“I just assume them to be white because of all the high school shootings,” says Linda Nguyen, a 19-year-old Seattle Central CC student. “I view it as minorities fighting against each other, as opposed to whites, who might think no minorities belong here because America is considered white.”
And that’s one of the biggest question marks on the whole issue. Why did these 10 black students suddenly attack 26 other students of color? In speaking with another friend, I realize that perhaps it’s also an issue of how Asians view and treat blacks. Some of my African American friends have expressed growing up in a “racial hierarchy”, where Asian students may act with attitude of arrogance around their black counterparts, and Marsha later told me that her initial impression of blacks upon entering the US were that they were “loud, obnoxious and rowdy”. When I asked her where she developed this opinion, she simply shrugged and said, “I get that impression from Hollywood I guess.”
So the issue goes far deeper than simply fighting in high school. It’s an issue of media, of what images get transmitted to our thinking, and how we act and think about race relations in this country. But the debate doesn’t stop here. This incident is merely a reminder that race still plays a vital factor in our everyday identity. In order to organize my own feelings, I ended up uncovering a much deeper underlying issue of US culture by speaking with APIs from different backgrounds, and with different opinions. What’s yours?
For more information on the incident, please visit: http://www.angryasianman.com/2009/12/26-asian-students-attacked-at-south.html
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i find it incredulous anyone is incredulous it was blacks or whatever.
of course there is racism and there always will be. you can’t legislate people’s hearts or minds. you can just create laws where most people abide by them.
despite that, people find ways to be racist in passive-aggressive and overt ways and get away with it by either slurs, being honest with like company, behind closed doors etc.
as for the impression of blacks, many african-americans ARE loud, obnoxious and rowdy and it’s not just from the media. many are ghettoish in behavior. you not need to turn on the tube to witness it.
that said, there are many who are racists. how they choose to reveal it or reveal it at all is another matter.
so many blind people in this world. they are very shallow to not realize all this about humans.
heheh. if people were really smart, they would realize the obvious.
blacks as in this incident may find asians an easier target. let’s face it, it’s still a white predominant nation where whites are on the top of the heirarchy.
it’s like the father who feels small in the world and feels better by beating up on his kids etc.
most african-americans see asians as third class citizens while they are second class and whites are first class. the excuse that some asians come across snotty is just that, an empty excuse because many people are snotty regardless of race. i rarely meet asians that are that snotty to nonasians in america simply because they are more well-mannered or well aware they are living in a country of different races and immigrants. i just don’t buy this excuse at all.
it’s just that people are instinctive and know what is more an easy or vulnerable target. slimy and cowardly but that’s what most people are llike.
I came across this post digging around the Internet for articles on bigotry. Nice piece. I am hesitant however to put the burden of social equity solely on Asian Americans and immigrants. It’s just not an issue of how Asians view blacks. It is also an issue of how blacks view Asians. No matter what there has to be dialogue. The school leadership was negligent in not addressing the issue head on and perhaps in fanning the flames with their own bias.
First impressions are tricky and often taken out of context. It’s necessary to gather a whole bunch of impressions on a broad range of days before making your mind up about someone.