What is Racist Bullying?
Many students, from elementary to high school, are aware of what bullying is because they see it every day! Bullying happens when someone hurts or scares another person on purpose and the person being bullied has a hard time defending himself or herself. Usually, bullying happens over and over. There are different types of bullying that exist but let’s examine racial bullying. Racial bullying is an offensive action against people because of their skin color, cultural background or ethnic origin. This type of bullying can include:
§ physical, verbal or emotional bullying
§ insulting or degrading comments, name calling, taunts or insults
§ offensive graffiti
§ refusal to work with or along with someone because they are from a different culture
Bullies pick on those they envy as well as those who don’t fit in. Since students of color in predominantly white schools stand out in the crowd, they make easy targets for bullies. Bullies don’t need an imagination to insult a classmate because of race. A racist bully may verbally single out a minority student’s hair texture, eye shape and other distinguishing features.
As specified in the California Department of Education, all students enrolled in public schools in California have the right to safe schools as found in California Education Code section 35294 et seq. This requires each school to develop and implement a safety plan as a part of its overall local education plan, and to review the plan annually and amend it if necessary.
In December 2009, there was a incident at a high school in South Philadelphia, PA. The neighborhood is a melting pot of African hair braiding salons, pizzerias fronted by Italian flags, and a growing number of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Indonesian restaurants. Inside the walls of the school is a cauldron of cultural discontent that erupted in violence, on and off campus. Approximately 50 Asian students were attacked primarily at the hands of African American student. After the attack, Asian students decided to boycott their classes for more than a week. The students indicated that they had endured relentless bullying by black students while school officials were ignoring their complaints. An Asian student told the school board in one of the hearings on violence that the Asians students just want a safe environment to learn and make new friends.
As a result of the attack, Philadelphia school officials suspended 10 students, installed new security cameras to watch the halls and increased police patrols. Despite the school’s efforts to provide a safe environment for their students, what about the issue of racial bullying. In the newspaper article, there was no mention of actions (i.e., meetings between students and families, class discussions) being taken to avoid this type of incident occurring in the future.
As outlined in Multicultural Education – A Caring Centered, Reflective Approach, listed below are some goals that need to be implemented at this school:
1. Students, teachers and parents come together to eliminate racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other types of social oppression in schools and society.
2. Students and teachers will develop cross-cultural communication strategies to build coalitions within the school and broader community.
Racial bullying does exist our schools today as evidenced by the high school in So. Philadelphia. In order to eliminate the bullying, it is the responsibility of the school board, school administrators, teachers, students, parents and community members to deal with the issue. Everyone must work together to create a caring, socially responsible, and mutual respect of each individual in our schools.
Many students, from elementary to high school, are aware of what bullying is because they see it every day! Bullying happens when someone hurts or scares another person on purpose and the person being bullied has a hard time defending himself or herself. Usually, bullying happens over and over. There are different types of bullying that exist but let’s examine racial bullying. Racial bullying is an offensive action against people because of their skin color, cultural background or ethnic origin. This type of bullying can include:
§ physical, verbal or emotional bullying
§ insulting or degrading comments, name calling, taunts or insults
§ offensive graffiti
§ refusal to work with or along with someone because they are from a different culture
Bullies pick on those they envy as well as those who don’t fit in. Since students of color in predominantly white schools stand out in the crowd, they make easy targets for bullies. Bullies don’t need an imagination to insult a classmate because of race. A racist bully may verbally single out a minority student’s hair texture, eye shape and other distinguishing features.
As specified in the California Department of Education, all students enrolled in public schools in California have the right to safe schools as found in California Education Code section 35294 et seq. This requires each school to develop and implement a safety plan as a part of its overall local education plan, and to review the plan annually and amend it if necessary.
In December 2009, there was a incident at a high school in South Philadelphia, PA. The neighborhood is a melting pot of African hair braiding salons, pizzerias fronted by Italian flags, and a growing number of Chinese, Vietnamese, and Indonesian restaurants. Inside the walls of the school is a cauldron of cultural discontent that erupted in violence, on and off campus. Approximately 50 Asian students were attacked primarily at the hands of African American student. After the attack, Asian students decided to boycott their classes for more than a week. The students indicated that they had endured relentless bullying by black students while school officials were ignoring their complaints. An Asian student told the school board in one of the hearings on violence that the Asians students just want a safe environment to learn and make new friends.
As a result of the attack, Philadelphia school officials suspended 10 students, installed new security cameras to watch the halls and increased police patrols. Despite the school’s efforts to provide a safe environment for their students, what about the issue of racial bullying. In the newspaper article, there was no mention of actions (i.e., meetings between students and families, class discussions) being taken to avoid this type of incident occurring in the future.
As outlined in Multicultural Education – A Caring Centered, Reflective Approach, listed below are some goals that need to be implemented at this school:
1. Students, teachers and parents come together to eliminate racism, sexism, classism, homophobia and other types of social oppression in schools and society.
2. Students and teachers will develop cross-cultural communication strategies to build coalitions within the school and broader community.
Racial bullying does exist our schools today as evidenced by the high school in So. Philadelphia. In order to eliminate the bullying, it is the responsibility of the school board, school administrators, teachers, students, parents and community members to deal with the issue. Everyone must work together to create a caring, socially responsible, and mutual respect of each individual in our schools.