School should be for learning.

I have gotten a lot of e-mails about the story I am going to blog about. Some folks have commented about it on this blog, and some bloggers have written posts wondering why I don't have the (rhymes with stalls) to blog about it.

What are they all talking about? I will tell you. Because I do have the (rhymes with stalls) to blog about it.

It seems that recently at predominantly African American South Philadelphia High, a number of Asian student have come under attack and have been the victims of gang style "beatdowns". Now some of those Asian students are boycotting school until Philly's finest and the school district can guarantee their safety.

My first thought when I heard this story was that the media had it wrong. I am somewhat familiar with the dynamics of South Philly's Asian population, and I didn't think that it would be a stretch to say that it all could have been gang related on both sides. Or, that this was just kids retaliating for something that had happened before. But knowing that I was going to blog about it I asked around, and from what I have been hearing my initial take on the incident was wrong.

There is no excuse for the behavior of these Negroes. They need a serious intervention. You do not attack another person because of their race. You just don't.

They messed with your family member, they are from another high school, they live in another part of town and you are at war with them over turf...whatever. But race? Not cool young bucks, not cool. And Philly School District can we stop with the bull s&*^ that this is not racially motivated? Come on now, pretending that there is no problem won't make it go away. It was racially motivated, and if every one of those black kids doing the attacking were honest that is what they would tell you.

'"We are outraged," said Xu Lin of the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corp., who works with immigrant students. "The parents are very, very concerned."'

I don't blame you Xu Lin, I would be "outraged" as well.

"School officials say this week's clashes were an aberration that belie strenuous efforts to improve race relations and cultural awareness. "What gets lost in all of this is the fact that the school, the community and the students have worked hard over the past two years to foster that kind of positive learning environment," said James Golden, the school district's chief safety executive. "Despite what happened this week, that positive learning environment prevails."

Mr. Golden WTF are you talking about? A "positive learning environment"? No sir, that's not a positive "learning environment". It would be a "positive learning environment" if you were training for a heavy weight championship fight. It's not a "positive learning environment" if you want to learn in school. Damn! And people wonder why inner city schools are so f&*^d up. (I am trying to cut down on my cursing so hang with me.)

So where does this come from? First, let me say that black folks are not alone when it comes to this type of antagonistic behavior towards other racial groups. But lately, in the age of Obama, black folks have come under heightened scrutiny for their actions. It's why this is a national news story. We represent the same group that the president of these divided states comes from, so our group is under much more scrutiny now. See what those blacks did, they are just as racist as everyone else. Now that they are in power [snicker snicker snicker] there is no telling what they will do. This is a favorite tactic of some conservatives because they can use it to deflect from their own racism.

But I digress. Back to my question: Where does it come from? Home? Ignorance passed down from generation to generation? Peer pressure? Maybe. A sick form of jealousy? These kids come from neighborhoods where the only people they see with businesses are Asians. Is there some hidden resentment for that? Or is it just a lack of exposure to other cultures? These kids have barely left the confines of their own neighborhoods -and they are in high school now. Forget China, these kids have never been to Chinatown and it's in their own damn city.

I would suspect that the behavior of these students (and I use that word loosely) can be traced to a little of all of the above. Whatever it is it's wrong, and it needs to be checked. The school board has suspended ten students. Let's hope that if there is a real racial problem at Southern High, these suspensions will be just the tip of the iceberg.

"Using Lin as a translator, ninth-grader Chaofei Zheng said Friday that he wants to get an education, make friends and improve his English. He said there are nice students at the school and that he doesn't understand the reason for the attacks."

Chaofei, neither do I.