Racial tensions and violence have been escalating at South Philadelphia High School, and peaked a little over a month ago when 30 Asian students were the target of a violent attack. But one group of diverse students have resisted the divisive racial tensions by breakdancing.
Nicholas White, Trung Tran and David Seng, students at South Philadelphia High and Bok Tech have been breaking for the past year and a half. They dance after school in a program run by SEAMAAC, the Southeast Asian Mutual Assistance Associations Coalition. Breaking has brought these young men together in ways they never expected. Nicholas White, an African-American student at South Philadelphia High School now counts Trun Tran, an Asian student at South Philly High, as one of his best friends.
“I call him my brother now, and the fact of the matter is that you can tell we don’t look alike.” The two of them are also ambassadors for their school—Trung Tran is the vice president of the Asian society—and have spoken out against the recent violence and negligence of school authorities.
“It’s like breakdancing is bringing one group of people together, it’s not even about your color or where you came from, it’s all the way you break and how well you break together.”
We live in a weird, media-driven age in which even junior-high school students will spin you, stay relentlessly on-message and repeat meaningless slogans until your head swims in a haze of doublespeak. And they do it quite well.
The Philadelphia Public School Notebook reports: "A series of nine speakers at Wednesday's School Reform Commission came to the defense of Superintendent Arlene Ackerman, praising her Imagine 2014 agenda, while members of a group of parents raised signs saying, 'We support our superintendent,' and 'Dr. Ackerman's way or no way!' The speakers directly and indirectly alluded to the fact that the superintendent has come under criticism recently, particularly for her handling of the recent violence at South Philadelphia High School. One elected official, State Rep. Tony Payton, was also there to back up Ackerman and Imagine 2014. 'I am in full support of what you're trying to do and I'll continue to be a voice in support of additional resources for the District, he said in his testimony."
Asian students from South Philly High marched to school district headquarters Wednesday to protest recent violence at their school. PW's Joel Mathis was there to capture the scene.
Community organizers say 30 or more Asian students were attacked Thursday at South Philadelphia High School. In September, PW's George Miller wrote this cover story about how Asian students are regularly targeted in Philadelphia schools.
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1. Krystal Narcise said... on Jan 23, 2010 at 09:06AM
“I'm glad to see that you guys are enjoying what you have found for you to become a better person. Not only are you improving your self-confidence but I believe you inspire younger students to follow their dreams and encourage them to take a stand and challenge themselves to do better things than being on the street.”
2. Anonymous said... on Jan 23, 2010 at 04:39PM
“It's young men and women like this who inspire me to return to teaching in Philly. Excellent job! I hope that they continue to inspire others to turn around negativity in the city.”
3. Anonymous said... on Feb 2, 2010 at 12:28PM
“Ah how nice. Gangbangers one day and friends the next. Oh, and of course it's due to the "negligence" of school authorities and not because our hyphenated brothers act like animals. I'm glad it worked out this time, but add this as another reason to not live in Philadelphia. I prefer my children to get a good education free from violence.”
4. Anonymous said... on Feb 22, 2010 at 09:09AM
“well anonymous 3 seeing that your afraid of philly your lack of repect or knowledge just shows that you live in a life of fear which is pretty sad really why don't you and your family go live under a hole.”
5. Anonymous said... on May 2, 2010 at 10:01PM
“Call me an idealist because I still have some in me. This is a great story. If only this could happen more. This is an example of how arts and culture can bring people together no matter what so they can become close on a deeper level.”
6. Anonymous said... on May 16, 2010 at 07:39PM
“Anonymous 5 your a brilliant idealist!”