By Louis Chan, AsAmNews National Correspondent
District officials are condemning the racist harassment of students at a predominantly Asian American high school in Garden Grove, CA.
The students are accused by the school district of videotaping themselves perpetrating the harassment. Several videos made their way onto social media and caught the attention of the Garden Grove Unified School District in Orange County.
A change.org petition demanding the expulsion of the students at Bolsa Grande High School has generated 15,000 signatures as of this morning.
The video can be seen here in this Facebook post. According to the change.org petition, it shows students shouting “coronavirus” at Asian students. Another video shows a student throwing a Vietnamese hat to the ground which the petition states was given to her by a Vietnamese student. In a third video, an Asian student wearing a facemask is seen being slapped.
“The behaviors shown in the video are unacceptable and will not be tolerated by Bolsa Grande or GGUSD,” the district said in a statement. “Disruptive and bias/hate speech and actions have no place in our schools.”
The district says police are being consulted and it is working with the OC Human Relations and the Orange County Human Relations Commission to take a firm stand.
Bolsa Grande High School is 55 percent Asian American, 38 percent Hispanic and 5 percent White. 30 percent of the student population is Vietnamese American.
The Change.org petition reads:
These students present a poor representation of the otherwise progressive, multi-racial and harmonious learning environment at Bolsa Grande High School and the Garden Grove Unified School District, and therefore, it would be shame if they were to continue to allow such students to tarnish the high reputation of the school. The Asian community of the Bolsa Grande High School and the Garden Grove Unified School District, calls on the school to uphold it’s promise to provide a safe and supported environment for the students to study in.
The district is urging anyone with additional evidence about this case to contact the district through Facebook messaging.
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