Strengthening the AAPI Community Through
New Bullying Prevention Efforts
Posted by Kiran Ahuja on November 18, 2014 at 09:30 AM
EST
Hines Ward, retired NFL wide receiver and
former member of the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders, shares his story on bullying.
More
than one-quarter of students between the ages of 12 and 18 reported being
bullied at school during the 2010-11 school year — nearly 7 million students.
Some Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) students face bullying and
harassment based on their immigration status, such as Micronesian students
whose families have recently immigrated to the continent and Hawaii. Others are
bullied for the way they look, such as turbaned Sikh youth, or for their
English language skills.
Students
who are bullied don’t feel safe, and students who don’t feel safe can’t learn.
Students involved in bullying are more likely to have challenges in school, to
abuse drugs and alcohol, and to have physical and mental health issues. Being
bullied endangers students’ academic achievement and ultimately their college
and career readiness. And in some areas, bullying of AAPI students is rampant.
For example, one 2014 study found that over two-thirds
of turbaned Sikh youth in Fresno, California reported experiencing bullying and
harassment. And another recent study found that half of
the 163 Asian American New York City public school students reported
experiencing some kind of bias-based harassment in a 2012 survey, compared with
only 27 percent in 2009.
When
children are singled out because of a shared characteristic — such as race,
sexual orientation, or religion — or a perceived shared characteristic, the
issue not only affects that individual but the entire community. Policymakers
believe that AAPI students who are bullied face unique challenges, including
religious, cultural, and language barriers. In addition, there has been a spike
of racial hostility following theSeptember 11 attacks against children
perceived to be Muslim. The classroom should be the safest place for youth, but
for some AAPI students, it can be a very dangerous environment.
Unfortunately, this issue of AAPI harassment
is nothing new. In 1982, Vincent Chin became a household name in
AAPI homes when he was attacked and killed because he was mistakenly perceived
to be Japanese. To facilitate a conversation on this issue, in 2011, under the
leadership of Amardeep Singh, former member of the President’s Advisory
Commission on AAPIs, the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific
Islanders (WHIAAPI) hosted a Bullying Prevention Summit in New York City.
However, more work needs to be done. Earlier this month, on the fifth
anniversary of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention
Act, the White House announced several efforts to address hate
crimes, including a new Interagency Initiative on Hate Crimes. As a part of
these efforts, WHIAAPI, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of
Education, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
is launching the AAPI Bullying Prevention Task Force to proactively address
bullying in the AAPI community. In the wake of increasing concerns about the
high rates of bullying among Sikh youth and incidents such as the attacks on as
many as 30 Asian American students at South Philadelphia High School in
December 2009, the AAPI Task Force will help ensure that the AAPI community is
aware of federal resources and remedies available to them.
The AAPI Task Force brings together federal experts in civil rights, language
access, education, community relations, public health, mental health, and data
to find creative solutions to help the AAPI community. These experts will
coordinate the efforts of their federal agencies to work closely together with
stakeholders to better understand the impediments to seeking relief and
support, analyze data regarding the prevalence of bullying in the AAPI
community, improve outreach, develop training and toolkits for schools,
students, and parents, and explore and recommend policies to address the AAPI
community’s growing concerns about bullying of AAPI youth.
Building
upon previous efforts and working closely with federal representatives and
community leaders, I look forward to seeing the AAPI Bullying Prevention Task
Force make much needed progress on this very important issue in the AAPI
community and furthering our commitment to improving the quality of life of
AAPIs.
Join the conversation on AAPI bullying
prevention on Twitter using hashtag #AAPIstrong.
Kiran Ahuja is Executive Director of the White
House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
