The “snapshot” study of more than 160 Asian American public school students by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and Sikh Coalition was released Thursday.
By Erica Pearson
NEW YORK – Bronx teen Pawanpreet Singh wears a turban in keeping with his Sikh faith — and has been tormented about it at school.
At one point, kids called him names nearly every day.
“Thing on your head,” “Osama” and “terrorist” were the most common, he said.
It got better for Pawanpreet after he moved to a new high school — but the problem is widespread.
A new survey of Asian American students in city middle and high schools found that half have been bullied about their race or religion at school.
“I’m pretty sure that number could be higher,” said Pawanpreet, 16. “I feel like people are worried about being called a snitch or being bullied further.”
The “snapshot” study of more than 160 Asian American public school students by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund and Sikh Coalition was released Thursday.
The group’s findings track with national research, including a 2007 National Center for Education Statistics report which found 11% of Asian American students said they had been called race-related hate words, compared to 3% of white kids, 7% of Black pupils and 6% of Hispanic children.
Five years ago, Mayor Bloomberg announced a new regulation creating specific policies and protocols for dealing with bias-based bullying.
The changes, like “Respect for All” posters in school hallways, have helped, advocates say, but too many Asian American kids are still being harassed.
Just 40% of bullied kids surveyed by AALDEF and the Sikh Coalition said the school informed their parents, as is required.
This is a big issue since many Asian American kids don’t talk to their parents about it, said Amardeep Singh, co-founder of the Sikh Coalition.
“We have this great framework and not enough resources behind it,” said Singh.
“There are key parts of the regulation that aren’t being implemented at all.”
At first, Pawanpreet didn’t tell anyone about what was happening to him, even when the bullying got especially bad during middle school.
Pawanpreet thinks the number of bullied teens is even higher because so many are afraid to report it.
“I just kept it in, I didn’t really tell anyone,” he said. “The name calling would be a daily thing.”
Now a junior at DeWitt Clinton High School, he belongs to a Sikh youth group that supports other bullied kids.
“Sometimes you just need to talk to somebody and let out your feelings and vent,” he said.
“We believe in the model that violence is never the answer. What we suggest to do is tell your parents and tell your teachers, and if they aren’t responsive you can always contact us.”
New York City Department of Education spokesperson Marge Feinberg said the department takes bullying “very seriously.”
“Under this administration, schools for the first time have regulations and procedures for reporting and tracking bias-based incidents,” she said.
Advocates said the city should release information on the number and type of incidents that are reported every year — and train a greater number of school employees about the issue.
They also urged schools to work to educate kids and staff before incidents happen.
“Part of the role of the school is to teach students, early on, that that’s not acceptable,” said Khin Mai Aung of AALDEF.
Courtesy New York Daily News
