aThis just in! Storm Lake's Pilot Tribune recently published an article saying that Lori Phanachone was reinstated into the National Honor Society after having her membership revoked last Friday. Lori, a Laotian American high school senior at Storm Lake High School, was punished for refusing to take a state-wide English competency test simply because she marked on her registration forms that she spoke Laotian at home. For more info, see previous Blaaag posts by both Marilla and myself.

A civil rights agency representing a Laotian American Storm Lake High School honor student reports that the National Honor Society membership of Lori Phanachone was revoked at SLHS on Friday, then restored on Monday.
The district had given assurances that she would not be punished by removal from the program, Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund officials said early Monday, calling for immediate reinstatement of the student to the National Honor Society as well as removal of any disciplinary action from Phanachone's files and assurance in writing that she will not be further punished or excluded.

AALDEF DEMANDS JUSTICE FOR IOWA STUDENT DISCIPLINED FOR PROTESTING ENGLISH PROFICIENCY TESTING

Honor student deemed an English Language Learner for declaring Lao as her home language

New York, NY — The Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), which is representing Iowa honors student Lori Phanachone, has called for the removal of all references to disciplinary action from her school record after she refused to take an English Language Learner (ELL) test. Phanachone was mislabeled an English Language Learner (ELL) after naming Lao as her home language.

Khin Mai Aung, the AALDEF staff attorney representing the student, said: “Lori Phanachone is an honor student who has excelled in mainstream classes throughout her life, and happens to speak Lao as her home language. Storm Lake has improperly conflated my client’s knowledge of Lao with lack of fluency in English.”

The Storm Lake School District, which did not assess Ms. Phanachone’s English level when she enrolled two years ago, has since subjected her to a yearly test for ELLs. The 3.98 GPA senior did not receive English as a Second Language or other ELL services before moving to Storm Lake as a sophomore. Since matriculating in Storm Lake, Ms. Phanachone has excelled in advanced courses–all of which were taught in English. This year, she boycotted the yearly ELL test in protest. As a result, Ms. Phanachone was suspended for 3 days and threatened with the loss of National Honor Society membership, exclusion from school activities including the track team, prom and other extracurricular activities, as well as further disciplinary action.

Lori Phanachone said: “Storm Lake labeled me an English Language Learner when I enrolled without even bothering to test me. All I want is to continue my education without the school labeling me unfairly.”

Among other things, AALDEF demands that the Storm Lake School District:

• Remove all references to Lori Phanachone’s suspension and other disciplinary action from her school records;
• Assure in writing that it will not impose further disciplinary action on her;
• Clarify Storm Lake’s procedures for classifying students as ELL upon enrollment;
• Explain how and why Lori Phanachone was classified as an ELL under Storm Lake’s classification procedures; and
• Reclassify Lori Phanachone, and other affected students if appropriate under Iowa and federal law, as English proficient.

March 10, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Earlier this week, Dr. Jim Yong Kim was announced the 17th president of Dartmouth College by its Board of Trustees, making him the first Asian American individual to hold the presidency of an Ivy League institution. This momentous occasion is a cause for celebration in not only the circles of American higher education but in the Asian American community as well. Dr. Kim’s distinguished professional history in the non-profit health sector, his leadership in the World Heath Organization’s fight against HIV/AIDS, and his experience as a researcher and educator make him an ideal role model for young Asian Americans. The board of the New York City Asian American Student Conference (NYCAASC) would like to extend its sincerest congratulations to Dr. Kim.

It is unfortunate that an event that should invoke pride in America’s diversity was immediately greeted with ignorant and hateful commentary. Generic Good Morning Message (GGMM), the daily Dartmouth email update, was intrinsically tasteless, socially and culturally insensitive, and harmfully racist. Under the flimsy guise of satire, the author attempted to pass off statements that ridiculed immigrants by likening the accomplished humanitarian to a democracy-hating "Chinaman" and mocking his ethnic heritage through hate speech that has permeated our history. Particularly disturbing was the underlying assumption that all people of Asian ethnicity, regardless of their upbringing or accomplishments, should be viewed as outsiders and a threat to a fictional racially-homogeneous United States.

While we applaud GGMM’s timely apology and willingness to attend diversity training seminars, this incident is an indication of a deeper, more troubling issue. In recent years, there have been similar incidents across college campuses (such as the University of Colorado’s 2008 press article, “If it’s war the Asians want”, written by Max Karson) – and the problem is not being addressed. This disturbing trend becomes increasingly clear as Asian American attendance in higher education institutions continues to grow. The alarming reality is that while the immediate controversy is generally resolved by getting the offending party to apologize and/or attend educational workshops, racial stereotyping of Asian Americans is still often condoned without questioning. Most derogatory comments made about people of Asian descent are often considered to be relatively humorous and are not condemned as gravely racist— we must ask ourselves, why is this so?

We must spread awareness about issues in order to combat bigotry within our community. It is not enough to acknowledge that this is an issue, have it be swept under the rug, and watch it recur. NYCAASC calls on all individuals to take a more proactive stance by empowering themselves through education and by challenging assumptions so that these incidents will no longer persist.

Wow:

Lori Phanachone is a member of the National Honor Society, has a 3.9 grade point average and ranks seventh in the senior class of about 119 at Storm Lake High School.

But school officials have told her she is considered to be illiterate based on her refusal to satisfactorily complete the English Language Development Assessment, a test she says is demeaning and racist.

On Wednesday, Phanachone finished serving three days of in-school suspension for what school administrators say is insubordination. She faces another three days for continuing her silent protest with a second refusal to take the test. According to a written statement presented to her Wednesday, Phanachone said, she could be suspended again and then expelled for a fourth refusal.

"Mr. Ruleaux (assistant principal Beau Ruleaux) told me I was 'no Rosa Parks' -- that I should give up because I would not succeed in my protest," Phanachone said.

Here are brief summaries and reflections on last night, written per request by the vigil's primary organizer Saffiyah Madraswala and attendee Lizzie Shen.

Sixty-six years ago today, Bataan was surrendered by Filipino and American soldiers during World War II. Over 70,000 Filipino and American soldiers marched for 3 days, covering over 60 miles in their trek to prison camps. Along the way, over 10,000 soldiers died.

Last night, Liga Filipina and AAA PC hosted a vigil to commemorate the Bataan Death March. While a solemn occasion, it was also a night to revitalize ourselves as a community. With less than 20,000 of these Filipino veterans alive today, well into their 80s and 90s, dying at the rate of 7-8 a day, students must take up the struggle for full equity now.

In 1941, 200,000-250,000 Filipino soldiers were inducted into the US Armed Forces by military order of President Roosevelt. They fought courageously throughout WWII alongside American soldiers.

On February 18, 1946 the Rescission Act deemed these soldiers’ service inactive and stripped them of their veterans’ status. Of the approximately 66 US allied countries, only the Philippines was denied full US veterans’ status.

As Riya Ortiz, member of Ugnayan ng mga Anak ng Bayan (a Filipino/Filipino American youth organization based in NYC – http://ugnayan.blogspot.com/), stated at the vigil last night, the Filipino/Filipino American youth can only explain this injustice by calling it what it is: systemic racism. When the Philippines was attained by the United States (for $20 million dollars along with Cuba and Puerto Rico) at the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the United States set out to “civilize” the natives of the Philippines and did not grant the Philippines its independence until nearly 50 years later in 1946. During this time of direct imperial rule, the US actively fought against the Filipino people who were advocating for the freedom of their country. The Filipino-American War resulted in the death of nearly 20,000 soldiers and at least 250,000 civilians.

It is with this imperialist legacy that the US passed the Rescission Act. While progress has been made in restoring Filipino Veterans’ rights, we are still advocating for full equity. In Congress, S.1315 and H.R. 760 the “Filipino Veterans Equity Act,” must be passed in order to grant pension benefits to all remaining Filipino Veterans equal to those of American Veterans.

At the vigil last night, students and community organizers linked arms and observed a moment of silence in remembrance of the horrific loss of life of the Bataan Death March. Today, we continue the struggle to restore due respect to those brave Filipino soldiers by advocating for the equity they deserve. Ain’t no power like the power of the people ‘cause the power of the people don’t stop.

To send people to war is to bring them one step closer to death. Over 70,000 Filipino and American soldiers marched for 3 days, covering over 60 miles in their trek to prison camps. Along the way, over 10,000 soldiers died. Filipino soldiers fought for the US and their valor, strength and honor should be, and need to be recognized as such. And yet the US government chooses not to do so: the Filipino Veterans Equity Act has not been passed. Out of a total of 66 countries that fought on behalf of the US in World War II, only the Philippines has not been acknowledged. All of these things are evidence of systemic racism, and to deprive people of their rights is something we are so quick to condemn, but as Bataan shows, is still in existence today.

The men who fought did not die in vain. It is crucial as a community we step up, and unite by our concern. Hopefully, more events will be held on this campus to promote positive action. While many veterans have died, some 20,000 live on, and the onus is on us to try and help them. Perhaps the US government will wait until all the veterans are dead, and then ignore the violation of rights completely. This should not be something that only interests a particular group of people, or concerns those directly related. As Saffiyah said, these veterans are our grandfathers; they fought so we could live in a better world.

While the vigil was to commemorate, it was also to educate. The more people learn about the atrocities humans inflict upon each other, perhaps the greater consideration we will take for one another. After all, at the end of the day, we are human, and the harm we inflict upon each other is what will some day be read in our children's textbooks. Although like in the case of Bataan, perhaps not.