It may be a new school year for most, but one teacher didn’t clean up his room and redecorate for new students. Instead he spent his summer sitting in a storage closet waiting for answers.
William Aitken is a teacher at South Philadelphia High School who recognized that students were coordinating an attack on Asian students by using cell phones. When he confronted Principal LeGreta Brown in October, telling her she had to reinforce the no cell phone policy all Brown did was publicly criticize his teaching skills.
Aitken tried to tell Brown about the persisting problems that were arising, but she did nothing to help, and even, according to Aitken, added to the problem. In a Philadelphia Inquirer interview he said when Brown was introducing herself to her staff she said she had “a desire to break up this Asian dynasty.” Brown continually gave Aitken’s poor performance reviews and made constant claims that he was harassing her. Now Aitken is filing a lawsuit claiming administrators retaliated against him for alerting everyone that the Asian students were in trouble.
After a long school year Brown resigned. The day following her resignation two school police officers approached Aitken in his classroom and escorted him away. On June 8 he was called to a meeting and was told of his alleged crime: threatening a school police officer. After the meeting Aitken was sent back to the storage closet, where he currently remains, collecting his $75,000 salary.
Students who were attacked in the Dec 3 mob regret that Aitken has been sent into holding.
“We have not been able to talk to him. We want to ask him for help.” said South Philadelphia High School student Hao Truong.
Truong, along with his friends Duong Ly and Bach Tong, were attacked on Dec 3.
Since the attack these three boys have since started a coalition to end racial differences at South Philadelphia High School. The Asian Students Association of Philadelphia has been created to teach students how to accept racial differences and help them better understand each other.
“Everyone is welcome to join us. This is a chance for students to learn about each other,” said a co-creator of the coalition, Bach Tong.
Although Tong has since transferred schools since the Dec 3 attack, he remains in contact with friends and the administration, even holding meetings with new principal Otis Hackney.
In his interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer Aitken said: “I want to go back to South Philadelphia High School. Most of the people there are good people.” There will be plenty of new and old faces in the halls of South Philadelphia High School this school year, but it’s obvious one teacher will remain to be unseen.
Racial and ethnic discrimination cases that happened in high school in South Philadelphia and also any place in this world we all need to get attention and to think about how to solve the problem cara a good and wise tanpa need to harm any party. Education on respect for differences of race, ethnicity, religion, and others need to continually be developed and disseminated to the awareness of respect for the differences in each community develops increased so that violations of human rights can become more at less if possible eliminated altogether
Racial and discrimination is wrong. It starts at home.. And I think that’s where half the problem is with todays children.