History has an awful habit of repeating itself.
In 1992, Los Angeles riots became a galvanizing event for race relations in the United States. And after a group of Los Angeles Police officers allegedly beat Rodney King and were subsequently acquitted, the city erupted into a storm of interracial violence between blacks and Asians in South-Central Los Angeles. Some say the area has never fully recovered from the riots.
Last week, a group of black students from South Philadelphia High School reportedly assaulted 26 of their Asian peers. Many view this situation as an escalation from similar beatings which gained media attention in October. Since then, Asian and Asian-American organizations — such as Asian Americans United, Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation and the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund — have been up in arms about this issue.
On Dec. 2, a black student was beaten by Asian students outside South Philadelphia High, an institution located in perhaps the most diverse enclave of the city. The next day, Asian students were beaten by a group of black students. District officials said 10 students were suspended and an undisclosed number arrested. According to students at a School Reform Commission meeting on Dec. 9, some students believe the second beatings were in retaliation to the first.
At the School Reform Commission meeting, Superintendent Michael Silverman reaffirmed that they “do not believe the attacks were racially motivated,” and the district is doing everything it can to ensure “South Philly High is a safe, inviting environment.”
However, members of the Asian-American community are dissatisfied with these responses. At the meeting, the victims of the attacks, sympathetic friends and family and advocacy groups voiced their concerns to an auditorium packed with supporters.
As one could imagine, many of the speakers — including students with black eyes, tearful parents and angry brothers and sisters — were extremely emotional as they addressed the panel of district leaders. In a particularly powerful moment, one mother vocalized her disappointment with the school’s failure to even notify families of victims taken to the hospital. Some revealed that school faculty and staff had actually witnessed much of the violence occur, but have not yet stepped forward for fear of retaliation from the aggressors, many of whom may be gang members.
Cecilia Chen, a representative from AALDEF, expanded the discussion to indict all Philadelphia schools and the district in general. “South Philly High is just one example of attacks on Asian students are going on throughout the district,” she said at the meeting. Much of the rhetoric that followed only further intensified the fact that members of the community blame the school district just as much, if not more, than the perpetrators.
While the Asian-American side of this issue has been rapidly heating up, it is important to point out that last Wednesday’s commission also highlighted the lack of public dialogue from the black community. Whether this silence is the result of media bias, or the speed at which Asian Americans have reacted to the issue is unclear. However, it is hard to believe blacks are simply not talking.
As it stands, we are still crucially missing the the black community’s voice in this unfortunate racial tragedy, and as a result, we still do not have a full grasp on the bigger picture.
Moreover, what about the gangs, the Black-on-Black crime or the Asian-on-Asian crime that has proliferated that region for years? Inter-racial violence may be the most newsworthy, but it certainly is not the only kind going on South Philly.
So what now? Asian students are boycotting schools, black students are behind bars, teachers cower in fear, community members are rallying in Chinatown and everyone has painted a fairly large target on the school district.
Before someone gets killed, let us hope that a city built on brotherly love remembers the damage that riots have caused in the past.
Justin Ching is a College junior and the vice chairman of the Asian Pacific Student Coalition. His e-mail address is jching@sas.upenn.edu.
