Fire Arlene Ackerman

I agree with Bunch. The Philly schools superintendent, Arlene Ackerman, has behaved horribly in her handling of the racially-motivated attacks on Asian students by black students at South Philadelphia High School.  Her response has been to belittle and marginalize the victims of the attacks and to deny that race played a role in them. Instead, she'd circled the wagons and brought forward mostly black students who were not involved in the incidents as the "real" face of South Philly High, implying that the victims who were beaten and threatened weren't.  This is at least a dereliction of her duty to protect all the children in the school system, bordering on actual malfeasance.

Arlene Ackerman needs to go.

Comments

[rick collins]

I understand that 10 students - 6 Black and 4 Asian - were suspended pending possible expulsion. Since none of the victims were suspended, one can assume that Black and Asian students assualted the Newcomer'immigrant students. If this is true,, then Supt. Ackerman may be more than a little correct re: neighborhood battles trumped racial conflicts in this instance. Black AND Asian students attacked newcomer/immigrant students who were also asian.

Finally, during the 1950's thru the early 1970's, Italo-American, Irich-Americans and African-Americans engaged in chronic/persistent racial/neighborhood violence at Southern (South Philly High School)& Bishop Neumann HS and in the community at large.. Those inciedents led to assualts, killings, mini-riots, street battles, etc. Things were so tense that the killing of an elderly Black resident by Italo-American youth ( the man was set on fire) was described by the local papers in non-racial designation for fear of a intercommunal violence. Police intervention was the sole means employed to control conflict.
Whites are now only 9% of Southern's student body (Italo-Americans are only 25% of the South Philly Population). The much smaller Catholic High School actually has a multi-racial/ethnic student body sans conflict.
I think that Dr. Ackerman deserves a chance togeter with the other key players to resolve the conflict at Southern.