Students Boycott South Philly High
Why is it that when crap like this happens, that non-Asians say, "Oh it's just kids fighting" or "It's not racial"? Asians are constantly being attacked in poor neighborhoods and on buses and when the Asian community brings it up as a legitimate safety concern, some pissant who lives in another neighborhood downplays it. Asians deserve dignity and deserve to be safe from violent racist fucktards.
Comments
That could be a function of apathy on the part of the general Asian populace. It doesn't seem as if there is enough unity of purpose.
I remember some years back I read an article in the Wash Post that infuriated me. The article was from a media/radio reporter for the Post who happened to hear that conservative radio commentator and all around asshole, Cliff Kincaid, actually called journalist Connie Chung a chink---ON THE AIR.
I called the AM radio station and talked to some nimrod to voice my anger and all. But I fully expected the OCA or some group to be calling for this guy's head. Instead, if i recall, the OCA head here in DC issued a very tepid statement along the lines of, "Well, we really didn't hear it so we want to hold judgement and wait for all the facts...blah blah blah."
A Washington Post reporter heard it. That's good enough for me. In the end, nothing happened to Kincaid. Maybe some bullshit denial or non-apology. Where was the outrage from the Asian community? Especially the Chinese community? Nowhere to be found, man. And that has made me wary of movements in the Asian community. Until we can be a 24/7 thorn in people's asses and cause a huge uproar and campaign of harrassment to make people's lives miserable, nothing will get done. They'll just wait us out.
I really hope something gets done in Philly cuz this is bullshit.
I hope these links work, articles on the Connie Chung incident.
http://tinyurl.com/yzcut7y
http://tinyurl.com/ylogwbp
Anyone who thinks that one race of kids beating up kids of another race, in a mob attack, is not racist is an idiot. I hope the hoodlums get jail time.
King
I don't think it's truly apathy. It's not that we don't care, it's that we don't want to care. I'm sure you've all seen an Asian say that taking action about a racial issue would just bring us more conflict. A lot of Asians seem to be fine with 2nd place to whites, with the other minorities below them, and fear being demoted. For them it is more about not losing rather than gaining.
Welcome Dan! That's very perceptive. It really is about the fear of losing as opposed to gaining that runs through the minds of a lot of Asians. Risk aversion, as they say. I see this in my parents, and unfortunately, a lot of their thinking seeps into my behavior at times. It takes a conscious effort on my part to take calculated risks.
Mojo, I took a look at those links. I vaguely remember the Connie Chink incident, and you're right, I don't remember anything coming out of that.
There's got to be a handbook on strategies that groups can employ to pressure companies and agencies into doing something. Letter writing and boycotts are one thing, but I'm curious if anybody's ever written a book on how to destroy company profits so that way they listen and take a group seriously.
Well, hell, why NOT be trouble makers when it comes to trying to seek justice? It just can't be, "oh, well, it doesn't affect me, so I won't get involved." I really don't get it. We've got this loudmouth shock jock here on DC radio and I heard him say some stuff about Asians that just made my blood boil.
Once again, it's me doing the phone calling and emailing with the program director. I contacted a few groups but they said, well, if you can get a copy of it....so basically, they need proof before getting behind you. Ok, I understand that. But even telling some members of my own family about it---good lord, even they were all talk. My sister said she would contact all of her friends, blah blah blah. So they fired off the emails and the program director replied saying he'd like to talk on the phone and get more feedback as part of his due diligence as a manager. Did any one of them call back and engage the station's program director? Nope. Not one. All talk.
I mean, there is no effective pressure on anyone who wants to speak shit about Asians. I just took a look at the OCA website and saw that they have made note of Bo Dietl's offensive talk about Katie Couric's "eyes pulled so far back, she's starting to look Chinese" comments.
Really? The OCA came out and said something? Funny, I didn't hear one word about it in the mainstream press. Might as well been a fart in the wind. As a result, nobody gets called out. No public hell raising. Nothing. But when African American advocacy and civil activist groups talk, the media seems to listen quite attentively and people get exposed for what they are. What are they doing that groups like OCA aren't doing (sorry, don't mean to pick on OCA, just the first example that came to mind...)
Action + Voice = Progress
Asians do a hell of a job performing via Action, but they are lack immensely in the assertive department as a community. AA need to be more vocal about stuff like this and not just let it pass us by. I say this from first hand experience. AA can try to ignore it but eventually you will get sick of it. You will become bitter, then angry but by then nobody gives a flying fuck about how you feel because you've put up with taking it up the ass for so long.
Its about time these Asian kids at South Philly High mobilized and started to speak their Voice. Handle that shit. Escalate it. Keep going up the chain of command until it hits Obama's desk damn it.
It's only when public servants and the bureaucracy are publicly humiliated and face scrutiny about their abdication of moral responsibility does anything happen.
The school system knows this has been a problem and they have not done much to alleviate this problem. I really hope the Asian community leaders in Philly hold these people's feet to the fire. Keep raising bloody hell. If nobody says anything, then they think their PR problem is solved and they can just sweep it under the carpet if they wait long enough.
The community leaders should be calling for the firings of the school administrators. do they need to be reminded about how some school shootings were the result of some kids being constantly bullied? THAT's what they should be worried about. I can't believe how short sighted the entire school system has been.
Superintendent refuses meeting with South Philly High students
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/79082707.html
:(
The biggest problem is the fact that mainstream media continues to neglect asian-american issues. The news about some guy asking blacks in walmart to leave makes national news but the incidences of blacks attacking asians haven't made it out of the asian-american blogosphere.
in all honesty, if I did not habitually read asian-american blogs, I wouldn't even know about the race riots in philly.
If it weren't for my personal experiences, I would've thought asian-americans NEVER experienced any racism of any kind, because it's never reported in the news. Heck, when the media talks about "race issues" it's always predominantly black vs white, or occasionally latinos.