In December 2009, 30 students at a high school in South Philadelphia, mostly recent Asian immigrants, were beaten up at school by their peers. Several had to be hospitalized. The federal government later alleged that school administrators had known for months that there were growing tensions between the school's Asian-American and black students, but had been "deliberately indifferent" to the problem.
News of the attack, and of a subsequent lawsuit filed with the Justice Department, made national headlines. But now WHYY's Kevin McCorry reports that under a new principal and federal guidelines, the school seems to be turning things around.
Of course, we come across a lot of stories about race-based conflict here at Code Switch, but it's far rarer to hear what happened after the spotlight faded and national attention moved on. This is a great example of local reporting that stuck around and captured the struggle to put the pieces back together. It's fascinating to see the different ways the school's administrators have tried to mend relationships between Asian-American students and their peers...
[For more of this story, written by Kat Chow, go to http://www.npr.org/blogs/codes...school-tries-to-heal]
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