It’s hard to imagine that a story that first comes to public light exposing a day-long series of attacks against dozens of Asian immigrant kids can get any worse with time. But indeed, somehow the story about anti-Asian violence at South Philadelphia High School keeps getting more and more outrageous as a relentless pattern of school and District misrepresentation becomes more apparent.

In riveting testimony earlier this week at the School Reform Commission, the grandmother of one of the Asian student victims wept as she described the calculated efforts of school personnel who had scapegoated and unjustly forced out her grandson following a brutal assault upon him December 2.

Her grandson was harassed in school then severely beaten outside of school the day before the December 3 attacks at South Philadelphia High School. The school never investigated the incident yet somehow punished the student, arguing first that the student had attacked a “disabled” African American student thereby triggering the December 3 violence. When that story unraveled he was then cast as a gang member by school officials as part of their new narrative that December 3 was located in gang violence and a broader pandemic of violence throughout the city.

He was one of the students suspended then transferred out of South Philly High as part of the story that December 3 was a “multiracial assault” “reminiscent of street gang conflict.” It was a story that made it to highest levels of the School District and referenced by Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and an official District investigation.

Who therefore evades scrutiny? Anyone at the school or District despite the fact that community advocates had documented for more than a year a dozen meetings about on-going anti-Asian violence at Southern and pleas that went unheeded by school and District officials.

As Isaiah Thompson points out here in this week’s cover story at the City Paper:

Though never mentioned by name, this student, who speaks little English, became part of a convenient narrative for a District that wanted to paint these events as being less about the long-standing victimization of a targeted ethnic minority than the result of a feud gone haywire. After all, with the latter explanation, school officials couldn't be blamed for ignoring the powder keg that was about to blow.

In the process, a young boy became the central focus of a relentless campaign by the District who first painted him as a troublemaker then a gang member in order to fit their narrative. Not only did the District fail in its due process (failures in communication, lack of translation) they also accused him of participating in an attack the previous year – even though he was living in another state.

It’s belated gratification to note that District officials are today announcing steps to clear the boy's name. It took a family that wouldn’t accept the abuse, a hard hitting cover in the City Paper, weeks of front page stories at the Inquirer and other media coverage to make happen what three months of meetings could not.

But it’s an indication to what lengths the school and District have gone in order to avoid assumption of responsibility for the violence at South Philadelphia High. Since Dec. 3, the District and school have engaged in a deliberate pattern of behavior to misrepresent what's been happening at South Philadelphia High School and who's been responsible. It’s why Asian community advocates have not been able to “move forward” as Superintendent Arlene Ackerman has declared we ought to.

Consider the testimony of the numerous youth and advocates who testified yesterday about why the District’s actions post-December 3 have been as just as shocking and shameful as what happened on that day.

• Failing to acknowledge that the attacks reflected anti-Asian, anti-immigrant violence: "The students who were attacked on December 3 were targeted because of the color of their skin, the shape of their eyes, and the accents in their voices. Period. . . Rather than rush to the scene and decry racial violence, express concern for the victims, and commit to combatting bias, the District response has been to distort and minimize - dismiss, deny, and obscure the scale and nature of these attacks." - Ellen Somekawa, Asian Americans United

• Not listening to students: Tram Nguyen of Victim Witness Services of South Philadelphia said one of the key elements to crisis response is to provide "ventilation and validation" to victims, but testified that there were "repeated obstacles put in place to make it almost impossible for the students to share their stories. When they were allowed to talk they were also told how much their story was hurting other students at the school."

• Failing to act against staff who behaved inappropriately: Student after student detailed failures of school staff from security personnel who ordered students out of the building, to a principal who escorted students into a dangerous situation to a school nurse who didn't want to call an ambulance. Student Dong Chen said: "We can identify those who ordered us to leave" but students weren't asked about the failures of adults.

You can read more student perspectives here.

While the violence at South Philly made the headlines on Dec. 3, the real story has been in the appalling way the District has handled the situation since. Unfolding before us is how localized violence becomes institutionalized: the silence of the District around racial and ethnic hate, the retaliation against specific students, and the denial of student voices.

When the District remains silent about racism and racially motivated violence, then it is telling us to do the same by default. To move on. To bury the voices of the hurt, the fearful, the silenced, the victimized. The line between the message of “move on” and “get over it” to “get used to it” has become indiscernible.

LaGreta Brown made her first public appearance before the SRC since the violence at South Philadelphia HS, joining ten other individuals to denounce, er, a cartoon.

The cartoon by Tony Auth showed a woman inside the principal’s office at her desk with her head down, phone off the hook, and a shattered window next to her.

Brown said it was an unfair characterization. "I'm rarely at my desk during the day," she said. "Most days, I'm located in the halls and in the classrooms. How dare anyone portray me as sleeping . . .

"I'm not tired. I'm not clueless. I'm not knocked out," she continued. "I come to serve and I'm not going anywhere."

Meanwhile, the SRC continued with the extreme literal interpretation and disregarded the entreaties of its Superintendent Arlene Ackerman who had appealed publicly to "let it go" around South Philadelphia High School. Chairman Robert Archie said the SRC - which has made no public statement on the violence at South Philadelphia High School in the past three months - said it would confer about whether to issue its own condemnation of, er, a cartoon - supposedly on the basis that Ms. Brown was actually awake and cognizant throughout the chaos of the school day.

Once again, Ms. Brown escorted about 20 "student ambassadors" from the school to accompany her. None of the Asian immigrant students who had boycotted the school were invited.

On Sunday, Monica Yant Kinney wrote a shocking story about the locals who make Bucks County's Parx Casino so "profitable." According to Parx, most of their clients live within a 20 mile radius of Street Road and come 3-4 times a week, losing $25-$30 a trip.

Today we get to meet one of Parx's regulars: a former construction worker who was sidelined due to injury but now has found his new profession as a casino player.

Anderson lives five minutes from the Bensalem slots box, which raked in $400 million in profit last year in a recession. Proximity, plus free valet parking, has turned the unemployed cement mason into a casino operator's dream.

Anderson, 31, pops in for 90 minutes here, three hours there. He plays to relax and to kill time when his kids are in school. He plays late at night when he can't sleep or at dawn while his wife dozes.

Anderson views playing the slots as a profession, a flextime job he can do in sweats while smoking.

"I treat it like a business," he tells me after we meet at the casino. "If this is what I have to do to make money, this is what I have to do."

Problem is that Anderson doesn't realize Steve Wynn's favorite quote: The only way to beat the house is to be the house.

1. Today’s front page Inquirer story on the chaos at South Philly High School on Dec. 3: The chaos and trauma that gripped South Philly High is front and center - as is the leadership of SPHS principal LaGreta Brown. From before 9 a.m. and continuing throughout the school day, Brown knew of multiple attacks on Asian immigrant students and a school in crisis and largely failed to act.

   What the story missed: The day after the violence on Dec. 3rd, the Principal sent home a letter to parents that began: "As you may have heard in the news, an incident occurred at dismissal, outside of South Philadelphia High School on Thursday, December 3, 2009." The letter not only brings into question the principal's judgement that day but in the days following when Brown engaged in questionable conduct as public scrutiny increased. LaGreta Brown may have entered a challenging situation at SPHS when she arrived, but her lack of leadership, action and subsequent acceptance of responsibility has resulted in a challenging school becoming a dangerous and fractious place for all students there - Asian immigrant students in particular - and a national embarassment for the School District.

2. Where’s the apology?: The claim that Asian students attacked a disabled African American child was an explosive allegation first uttered by Supt. Arlene Ackerman in her first remarks on the S. Philly incident almost a week after the attacks:
   

   "What began as an unwarranted off-campus attack on a disabled African American student, quickly escalated into a retaliatory multi-racial attack on primarily Chinese students at the school the following day." (School Reform Commission hearing, Dec. 9, 2009)

   This allegation generated confusion, heightened racial tension, and fueled suspicion citywide. And it was completely unsubstantiated, according to a recent District investigation. In fact, the report raised the likelihood that there’s a totally different version of events than the one Dr. Ackerman put out – that it was in fact Asian immigrant kids who were beaten. It would seem imperative to call for a response from the superintendent who uttered the accusation in the first place. Thus far, Dr.Ackerman has taken a convenient "case closed, move forward" approach. It’s convenient because it doesn’t accept her role in fanning the flames and heightening confusion and suspicion through hearsay and rumor rather than encouraging a thorough inquiry into what led up to the attacks.

   The high road would be to apologize. Instead, there is a deafening silence.

3. Predatory gambling and the call to revoke Foxwoods license: Today Buzz Bissinger joined the call to revoke Foxwoods’ license. The problem is that while fed-up with the mess, the author, like others, simply says rebid the license at another location to foist the miserable process and even more miserable outcome on other neighborhoods – missing the point that it’s the larger city that suffers.

   Just read Monica Yant Kinney’s column today on the gambling at Parx casino:

   Inside the smoke-filled slots box, much of what casino bosses took for granted has changed. Gone are the days of wooing "whales" and dissing grannies in fanny packs. Parx president Dave Jonas says his revenue comes almost exclusively from local low rollers.

   "We underestimated significantly how many trips our customers were going to make," Jonas said at last month's Pennsylvania Gaming Congress in Valley Forge.

   "When I was in Atlantic City, to have 12 to 15 trips out of customers, they were VIPs," Jonas said. At Parx, "it's not uncommon for us to have 150 to 200 trips."

   Moderator Michael Pollock, a well-regarded casino analyst, paused to digest the statistic.

   "You said 150 to 200 times a year," he repeated. "That's three to four times a week, essentially."

   "Yes," Jonas confirmed, most of his players fit that profile. In fact, because Parx players tend to live within 20 miles of Street Road, many go even more frequently.

   "We have customers," Jonas boasted, "who give us $25, $30 five times a week."

   Is there any question that localized gambling is anything less than predatory? The message around Foxwoods is not to revoke the license so we can surround Philadelphia with yet another of these bottom feeding industries. The message is to revoke the license period and rethink gambling in this city and the Commonwealth. Anything less is just playing power politics rather than protecting the real needs of communities and people throughout our region.

4. Steve Wynn: There’s no doubt that the Foxwoods fiasco continues on its downhill slide with Steve Wynn angling to gain his way in. As anti-Philadelphia as he is, Wynn is correct on this end – with predatory gambling we have struck a pact with the "dark side" so to speak – a dark side that’s on full display below (thanks to Roxbury News). And as long as city leaders keep that pact, they’ll reap what they sow.
   

   Steve Wynn Reveals Shocking Ignorance from Ron Stanford on Vimeo.

And not to be a complete sourpuss, I have to say it’s pretty darn cool that Vincent Chin – whose murder politicized a generation of Asian American activists around anti-Asian violence – made the front page of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Yesterday I joined Coalition of Essential Services in attending the Mayor’s budget address. Quick thoughts (and not in any way speaking for CES who I hope posts here):

On the upside, Mayor Nutter acknowledged the work of many Philadelphians, including Coalition of Essential Services, saying that for those fighting to preserve core services for the most vulnerable of Philadelphians, “we heard you then and we hear you now.”

“We can’t cut our way out of this deficit . . . it is a path we must avoid.”

He said that the budget largely preserved core services, restored pools and re-emphasized that not a single library, rec center or health clinic would close. He talked about hunger and the “pain” of everyday Philadelphians struggling. He highlighted the work of his administration, and I was particularly impressed with L&I’s work on reducing response time. And I was impressed that he apologized for past mistakes:

“I ask for your forgiveness for my mistakes. I am trying hard each and everyday . . . “

On the downside:

• The Mayor promised not only that he wouldn’t cut services, but that he wouldn’t raise taxes so . . . I guess that gets us what we largely got in this budget, keeping things mostly the same for the wealthiest and the poorest and squeaking in on a few taxes.

• The trash tax: regressive and a missed opportunity. Basically it’s $300 or $200 per household depending on your income with some possibility for other unclear arrangements. We’ll get a notice in the mail for a separate bill (rather than have it worked into say a property tax), we have 60 days to pay and then interest will accrue? Rrrright. Second, it’s a missed opportunity because it doesn’t even have a message about curtailing trash consumption. A pay–as-you-go program – which I am familiar with – at least would distinguish between a frat house that holds weekly keg parties from a single senior on a fixed income (read more at Its Our Money)

• No mention of education at all other than a brief reference at the beginning that we have an education system where too many fall through the cracks. He spoke about literacy (but mostly adult literacy) and truancy. Maybe in a state-run system this is where we are, but the Mayor in the past has always made sure that public schools were front and center for everyone. It’s a shame to see education and our public schools fall off the radar even in a budget address (or from my viewpoint, especially in a budget address).

In the end, I was underwhelmed rather than angered or fired up. Partly because I think the Mayor started off with aspirations, with acknowledgement about the role and need of good government for people in the worst of economic times. He had a much more human and compassionate projection than we’ve seen in a long time. And he has said repeatedly that we are in the worst of economic crises.

So, given all of that . . . this is it? Soda and trash taxes and everything else largely the same hanging on by the skin of our teeth? I mean why not a latte tax? Seems all rather arbitrary and tip-toeing to not offend entrenched interests.

What sort of leadership message is here? In Ken Burns’ awesome National Parks documentary, the historian reminds us that in the midst of the Great Depression, the U.S. invested in parks and in the process created one of the most important national treasures and remade and expanded on our notion of democracy. He reminded us that looking back on crisis can be a recognition of opportunity and investment, not in the usual exploitive way as Naomi Klein has documented in the Shock Doctrine, but in the best of ways from "our better angels" as Mayor Nutter said.

I am grateful that the Mayor acknowledges the importance of core services and largely avoided cuts, but without a stronger message on cleaning up city government, tackling tax abatements and the property tax mess, and addressing a share the pain message with our largest businesses, we're just tiding ourselves over while a whole lot of stuff is devolving through passive inaction.

OK, are people seriously saying this man will save Foxwoods or confirm its smarmimess and ludicrousness? or are those two the same thing these days?

The man who once said: "Las Vegas is sort of like how God would do it if he had money" is trying to ooze his way into Philadelphia charming us natives with lines like:

• "It's not going to be a hotel. It’s going to be the cutest casino that you’ve ever seen."

It’s hard to look at the findings of the District’s independent investigation into the December 3rd violence at South Philadelphia High School without significant shock and outrage. (Read the full report at the Notebook). After all, this was an incident in which more than two dozen Asian immigrant students were assaulted throughout the day in multiple attacks which sent 13 youth to the hospital at a school with a documented history of violence in general and against Asian immigrant students in particular.

Yet nearly three months after the December 3rd violence, we have a report that – while providing some insight – mostly sets us right back where we were before: with glaring discrepancies between accounts of student victims and witnesses and findings which appear to absolve the District of any responsibility. The investigation was based on interviews with only a fraction of student victims and witnesses and contained vague innuendos that served to distract from the main question: could the school/District have done anything differently to avoid or minimize the assaults?

A Frightening Analysis
The report confirms widespread violence on Dec. 3rd that began first thing in the morning and was well known to school officials.

Before 9 a.m. a student was attacked in a classroom (p. 6: previous testimony indicated that more than a dozen students had rushed into a classroom as part of an attack on an Asian student where, among other things, they threw a desk on top of him). By mid-morning there was a "surge" of 30-40 students whose "probable . . . intent was not benevolent" (p. 11) into a hallway while school staff frantically moved Asian students into classrooms. Security footage documented a "wave of 60-70 students" (p. 12) in the lunchroom hallway "surging forward" toward an attack on a small group of Asian students (p. 13). School police detained three to five students who had dragged an Asian girl down the stairwell by her hair (p. 15). After school, more than a dozen Asian students, most of whom required medical attention, were attacked by 20-40 students with more than 100 onlookers surrounding them (p. 23).

And yet, at no point does the report question the actions of school officials.

There’s a lot happening over at the School District that every council member -and state legislator - ought to know. So if you haven't already, pick up the latest issue of the Public School Notebook for more information:

1. First up, Renaissance Schools – yet another list of failing schools (this time there are 26 schools:14 identified Renaissance schools, 12 “alert” schools), yet another set of promises to parents and children skeptical about the District’s insistence that this time it will be different. Consider the families at Douglass Elementary which has had 7 principals in 7 years, or Dunbar Elementary which, if chosen a Renaissance school, will be on its third manager in 8 years. Or Stetson, which along with Dunbar, was the first wave of promised change through privatization. Stetson too is listed as a potential Renaissance school.

   What’s the problem with Renaissance? My main concern has been that the District is stuck on seeing transformation via management and contracts, rather than defining what substantive changes are going to happen in the life of a child. I’d like to know whether Renaissance schools are going to reduce class size, offer more literary specialists, provide home-school liaisons, improve school food and provide a full library and build science labs? Are they going to revamp discipline, provide real professional development, analyze and publish studies on their improvement, and invest in their teaching force rather than threaten them into compliance? A number of Renaissance Schools have significant English Language Learner populations. Are they going to provide a model bilingual program, diversify their hiring, create a multicultural curricula that engages students? Are they diversifying their curricula overall? Or is it really just a change of names at the top of the masthead, a “trust us, we’ll get some good folks in there with a track record” which is basically what parents have heard for a decade now.

   The Notebook has done an excellent job compiling a full summary of information on Renaissance. In addition, look for the latest issue of the Notebook which focuses exclusively on understanding school turnaround. Renaissance School meetings are happening all around the city. We need city and state leaders present to hear the frustration parents and communities are feeling and to bring more accountability to the District.

2. School Choice: Research for Action has a new study out on the expansion of choice options in the district, which has cost the district hundreds of millions of dollars over the past decade – it’s been the District’s single most decisive change – yet has led to limited choice options for the majority of students seeking a way out of their neighborhood high schools.
   

   70 percent of District eighth graders participated in the application process to begin ninth grade in fall 2007. However when the dust settled, only 45% were enrolled at any District school to which they applied. In other words there are not enough “seats” in schools of choice for the number of students trying to choose. This means that in most cases high schools are selecting students rather than students choosing schools, robbing students and families of the agency that school choice is supposed to provide.

   That’s a pretty serious indictment that needs careful review and consideration. Since 2002, the District has nearly tripled the number of high school options, and through charters has created the second largest school district in the state. The investment of resources and personnel has been tremendous. Yet for high school, more than 50% of kids seeking out of their neighborhood school can’t find another seat. It’s also worth noting that as the investment has spread to create options, disinvestment in our neighborhood schools remains a problem. In Imagine 2014 it was hard to determine how much investment there was for the average comprehensive high school. There were counselors to be sure, which was a helpful boost, but how significantly was life going to be different for the average high school kid at say, Gratz or Bartram?

   RFA’s report issues a strong call for investment in neighborhood high schools as well as provides recommendations for improving the high school selection process. Worth the short 8-page read.

Last week, Patrick Murphy was one of ten Democrats in Congress to sign onto an anti-immigrant resolution which, among other things, states:

". . . any immigration reform proposal adopted by Congress should not legalize, grant amnesty for, or confer any other legal status condoning the otherwise unlawful entry or presence in the United
States of any individual."

I’ve admired Congressman Murphy’s fight for quality health care reform, his stand on the hopefully soon-to-be-defunct “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy and a general can-do attitude of a younger member of Congress. On his website, he even lists immigration as a constituent service, which I initially thought was encouraging and an indication that the issue was an important one for him.

In 2006, Patrick Murphy ran on a platform that notably opposed legalization, so some might argue that the guy is the type that sticks to his guns. On the other hand, things have changed since 2006 when anti-immigrant rhetoric was reaching its peak. I had hoped he wouldn't be the kind of guy Stephen Colbert described as believing "the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday."

Polls show a significant majority of Americans support immigration reform that includes some form of legalization. Political candidates who seek to run on primarily anti-immigrant rhetoric largely fail to win office.

I cannot fathom why anyone who’s young, progressive and looking for a bright political future – especially because he represents Philadelphia and Bucks and Montgomery counties – thinks it’s advantageous to sign onto a resolution that’s not only dopey (invoking "peace, prosperity, liberty and national security") but backwards socially and politically.

For one thing, if the Congressman opposes legalization, what exactly is his solution for the millions of immigrants who are here and the tens of thousands of immigrants in and around the Philadelphia area? mass deportation? indefinite detention? A notice that says: Please go away?

Why grow a conscience now?

"I signed this [table games] bill despite the misgivings I have about it," Rendell said soon afterward at a news conference in his Capitol office. "I have serious misgivings about 'sin' taxes as a way to go. There is no sense of celebration."

Among other thing, it should be noted that the Governor was willing to:

• Take more than a million dollars in campaign contributions from gambling interests over the years, not to mention a little slots win he forgot to report

• Hold up the state budget for more than 100 days to resolve gambling revenue;

• Hold hostage state universities for months longer, tying their state money to passage of table games;

• Forego a tax on the billion dollar natural gas industry even though it could bring in the same amount of revenue as table games; and

• Threatened to lay-off 1,000 state employees in the days leading up to the bill's passage.

Doesn't exactly sound like a man wracked by guilt does it?

Don't be sorry, Mr. Governor. It's not like you were alone in the effort. It took a Supreme Court decision last spring to overturn political gambling contributions. It took the sneaky and possibly illicit lobbying activities of the Pennsylvania Casino Association (headed by the father-daughter team of a former Supreme Court Justice) to ply the legislature. It took millions of dollars in campaign contributions from personal friends and donors.

And look what that bought. As Paul Boni noted in his excellent op-ed last week, the new table games legislation now allows:

• Slots on credit, because no one should stop gambling just because they ran out of money!

• Classifies casino employees as “essential workers.” Because no one should value a casino less just because daycares, libraries, parks and rec centers close!

• Virtually free table games licenses and taxes them at a rate lower than the working poor (16% the first year, 14% from year 2 on out)!

• Permits members of the Gaming Control Board to be casino employees because who better can regulate the very industry that pays them!

After all, Mr. Governor, think about how much you pinned the state budget on gambling – it’s the second highest revenue generator. Second only to education funding, gambling in PA is your legacy and, if certain lawmakers continue to attack the education formula, it could be your lasting legacy.

Don't back down now. Embrace the PA you created.

Whatta year it’s been at YPP. From libraries to casinos, Seth Williams’ victory to Arlen Specter’s fight for political survival, from the tanking economy to School District chaos to the downward spiral of the Nutter administration – there was no shortage of things to write about and no shortage of work where YPP’s writer/activists were seeking change.

The year opened with hope and promise, from Ray to Dan to Marc’s call to arms:

And our job as activists is to keep building the movement not just to save our libraries but to change our government. Sooner or later we will find political leaders who understand that they can build on our movement rather than trying to govern in opposition to it.

It might be Michael Nutter. It might be someone else. But it will happen, because when the people are united in struggle in a liberal democracy, it always does.

In my opinion the YPP community more than delivered.

YPPers helped elect Seth Williams to office, championed libraries (in posts too many to highlight), campaigned against stupid cycling laws, got election returns published, watched Foxwoods go down and fought predatory casino legislation, held Specter’s feet to the fire, and had our fair share of laughs along the way. I loved YPP’s work this year in cross-posting with two new blogs – the Public School Notebook and Media Mobilizing Project. I deeply appreciated the opportunity to hear from the front lines of health care reform (Marc), environmental activism (Brady) and One Philadelphia’s work in redefining progressive economics for a progressive city (Stan). I also loved the addition of new writers like MMP’s Bryan Mercer and Todd Wolfson and their insights into media justice and the SEPTA strike. Thanks for the education y’all.

Thanks as well to the whole YPP community for allowing me to share and discuss some of the work I’ve been doing, from campaigning to get BRT patronage off the District payroll (which I first wrote about here at YPP 18 months ago) to challenging problematic city immigration policies to fighting Foxwoods and continuing the campaign against predatory gambling. YPP helped me “break” another story here (via the Notebook) by writing about the surprise resignation of SRC Commissioner Heidi Ramirez. It was sad to note that a June post on violence against Asian students became all too prescient about December’s appalling attack on dozens of Asian students at South Philly High and the school, District and Mayor’s equally appalling (lack of) response.

Like many folks, I’m not sure how much time I’ll have in the new year, but I’m looking forward to new writers and new ideas, and I’ll always be reading.

A few of my favorite posts of the year:

• Hannah Sassaman’s reportback on the Sugarhouse action which resulted in the arrests of 14 anti-casino activists. I can’t tell you the number of times I was told that casinos in town were a done deal and to stop wasting my time. But this action showed that the fight is as strong and frankly as smart and relevant as ever.

• Brady’s reporting on the sins of the natural gas industry and in particular the outrage of not taxing them was an absolute eye opener for me. It would of course make sense that our worlds would ultimately collide. With the potential demise of the table games bill (dare I hope), Rendell this past week announced a look into taxing the natural gas industry.

• This post on the Constitution Center's health care town hall meeting because I couldn't be there but wanted to be. (Similar shout out to Jennifer and the D.A. debate).

• Since YPP's crazy ex-server holds hostage Dan's post on why the Dad Vail will be back in 2010, I'll put up his beautiful rowing post from last spring. It was great to see someone incorporate their love and passion for something into moving posts that were both personally and politically relevant.

• In addition to Jennifer’s many posts on the criminal justice system, she really does her thing here calling out the media for its framing of women and violence and pointing out the things we should have noticed.

• Jethro Heiko’s response to Councilman DiCicco’s son’s threat: ‘cause it was so damn funny.

• YPP's best work is in the dialogue that follows. In that vein, I enjoyed the responses on teacher merit pay. It was a spirited and pointed discussion that stayed civil and smart even when we didn’t always agree.

I cringed when I saw the cover of this morning’s Philadelphia Daily News: the blurred back of an Asian man with the headline "The lonely, illegal world of ‘Mr. Cheng’."

After all, how many Daily News covers do you see with Asians on them? So now we get a full cover story devoted to an Asian resident of this city, and darn if it isn’t a surprise that:

1. we’re anonymous;
2. we’re illegal; and
3. we’re a symbol of a horde of illegal immigrants secretly hiding in Philly (1 of 103,000!).

A few years back, I worked with the reporter, Julie Shaw, who was circumspect and responsible in covering a case I was working on about a deaf Indonesian boy seeking political asylum. I don’t think there’s any deliberate intent to do harm here on her behalf. But the problem with the story is that it takes an extremely inflammatory issue – illegal immigration – and presents it through an extremely narrow frame without any sort of context, commentary or perspective. It alone doesn’t exude ignorance but it fosters it.

It’s not like the Daily News regularly covers immigration issues so it’s hard to think that this story fits any broader purpose than something rather exploitive, no? Hey, got a lead on a random Asian undocumented worker. Let’s follow him and report on where he lives with other undocumented people, where he works with other undocumented laborers, how he gets paid with "illegal" wages, and quote him saying how grateful he is to be working while other "real Americans" are unemployed – then let’s see what our readers think about it!

Anyone else wonder how that will go?

The story becomes more problematic when paired with the accompanying sidebar that presents a "crackdown" on illegal immigration framed entirely from ICE's point of view. Here we get real specific about who ICE’s "illegal" targets are:

The office is aware of immigrant communities' use of temporary-employment agencies to find jobs for undocumented workers. It sees such agencies as a threat.

Such agencies serve immigrants not only from Indonesia, but have cropped up to serve Hispanics from Central and South America, Africans, Chinese and Vietnamese, according to ICE.

Then to really bring out the knee-jerk reactionary in you, there's the online poll that asks you to vote on, yes, who to blame!

Who do you blame for illegal immigration?

• The illegals

• The employers

• U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

• No one. That’s how my family came to this country

Way to really get people informed on immigration guys!

This whole package is frankly appalling in its ignorance of why there are so many undocumented people in the U.S. It treats immigrants as little more than cheap labor, and overlooks the critical role of family in drawing and keeping immigrants here as well as the complicated mixed status of a significant portion of American families. It gives no sense of contributions immigrants make overall to the culture or economic revitalization of cities in general and Philadelphia in particular (Washington Avenue, Chinatown, West Philly, Olney, etc.). And it presents ICE as some sort of protective line between real Americans and "the illegals" (cue scary music here) when in fact ICE has made it into the headlines far too often for their human rights abuses, ranging from Texas’ T. Don Hutto facility which abusively imprisoned children and political asylees to horrible immigration raids to deaths of immigrants in ICE custody.

In 2007, I worked on a case involving a young Chinese mother, Jiang Zhen Xing, who miscarried twins following a violent deportation attempt where she was denied adequate food, water and medical attention. This happened during a scheduled visit with her immigration officer at 16th & Callowhill Streets. While her husband and two young sons waited outside, ICE officials dragged her through a back door and shoved her into a van, bruising her in the process. During the ride to JFK Airport, Philadelphia ICE officers mocked her cries of pain and told her “no more American babies for you.” Their plan? To dump her onto a plane to Beijing which would have been 2,000 miles away from any relatives, without clothes, ID, money, or any notification to any family member. When her husband asked anxiously about her whereabouts hours later, the ICE officer at 16th & Callowhill refused to answer his questions, instead smugly advising him to come back the next morning when they’d tell him where she was.

It’s hard for me to understand what kind of mentality it takes to deny a pregnant woman in obvious distress and severe pain any amount of basic care. But it was clear from the commentary stream on philly.com and messages at Asian Americans United that plenty of people operate on only one plane – if she was undocumented, for any reason, she had it coming.

Today, we’re looking at a City administration that appears to be breaking a decade-old understanding that police would not conflate immigration with community policing. At last report, a Pennsylvania prison is now taking the former political asylees of T. Don Hutto, including children, contributing to PA's ever increasing incarceration rates. The D.A.’s office now plays a key role in a relatively new system of information sharing that strengthens ties among the D.A.’s office, the courts, the police, the City Solicitor and ICE. Meanwhile, we have a rapidly growing population of immigrants hightailing it out of Philadelphia for the suburbs – losing Philadelphia residents, commerce, and economic and neighborhood revitalization opportunities.

More than ever, as the city debates serious issues around immigration and specifically deportation, community policing and a new District Attorney, we need a sense of responsibility and rigor in the debate around immigration. Instead what we get from the Daily News is the "illegal world of ‘Mr. Cheng’."

It’s yet another example of a historic cycle of scapegoating immigrants in difficult economic times. It promotes and fosters ignorance on a critical issue of concern impacting the region. It paints Asians in particular and the broader immigrant community in broad strokes and feeds into anti-immigrant sentiment with "blame polls" that themselves reflect appalling ignorance.

I’d like to think that stories like this just end up lining my kids’ guinea pig cage, but the fact of the matter is that many of us will be working to combat the ignorance and fallout for a long time to come.

Ways of tackling the drop-out crisis that make me happy

Philly Student Union members cut a CD addressing the drop out crisis to raise attention to the issue and raise funds for a great org whose 99% graduation rate is testimony enough of their success. Check out Koby's pitch below, listen to the CD and donate here.

Ways of tackling the drop-out crisis that do anything but

This month the state Board of Education approved new state graduation exams for all high school students in Pennsylvania. The "Keystone Exams" had been rejected year after year by an overwhelming majority of school boards, education organizations and school advocates. (Exception: Both Mayor Nutter and School Chief Arlene Ackerman endorsed the idea.)

The ten exams cover basic high school subjects like algebra and science. Students must pass the exams every year in order to pass their class and must pass six out of the ten exams in order to graduate. Students who don’t will be denied a high school diploma but the larger likelihood is that they’ll drop out if they fail a number of tests. This has been the trend in a number of states as I wrote about last year. The exams go into effect in 2014.

As we know, it’s not a Pennsylvania project if there’s not appalling amounts of money and financial contributions involved. In my post last year, Josh inquired about the cost of administering such tests. Here they are: $176 million to develop the exams and $31 million a year (borne by local districts) to administer them. Cost of increased drop out rates in a city that doesn’t need it: priceless.

Photos c/o Casino Free Philadelphia

As a number of groups appropriately mark and protest Day 100 without a state budget, it should be noted that one of the primary reasons for the budget hold-up is . . what else? Gambling of course.

While day care centers are shutting down and people go without paychecks, legislators are fighting over expanded gambling via table games and a new proposition that should ensure that casinos are pure misery: gambling on credit.

The table games law (SB711 which was supposed to be only about gambling reform -Note: This is also in the latest SB1033 reintroduced last night) now includes Sect. 1326 A/B and Sect. 1504. These lift a former ban on slots on credit and now allow casinos to become check cashers and, yes, lenders for both slots and table games. Even better: though there's an extensive section on legislating how to fill out a credit application, there's nothing about basic consumer protections to avoid predatory lending or stop problem gamblers from losing everything at the penny slot machines.

Philly consumer advocate Lance Haver told me that asking for basic protections like fee and check cashing limits as well as wait periods for credit card applications is the most minimal bit of protection on an otherwise horrible idea.

Sen. Farnese is trying to move an amendment that would limit free alcohol and stop slots on credit. He's falling short on his votes however. Other local supporters of his bill are Sens. Kitchen, Stack and Hughes, among others.

At the end of the day though, gambling on credit just ensures that casinos are just becoming a little more like hell every day.

It was a long and torturous wait, but it was worth it:

During a meeting in his Cabinet Room with a small group of reporters, Nutter said he favored shifting the responsibility for setting property values to the city Finance Department.

He also wants to end an arrangement under which 80 BRT employees - half the tax board's staff - are on the school district's payroll, enabling them to circumvent policies governing city government workers, such as the requirement that they live in Philadelphia and a ban on political activity.

"Every employee should be held to the same standards," Nutter said.

He said he would also push to change the process under which city judges appoint the BRT's seven-member board. That practice has left the agency in the hands of political insiders influenced by party leaders such as U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, chairman of Philadelphia's Democratic Party, and former Democratic State Sen. Vincent Fumo, a convicted felon.

Instead, Nutter, citing property assessments as a vital city function, said the mayor's office should appoint tax board members.

While these proposals have not been incorporated into any specific bill, Nutter highlighted them as components necessary in any legislation he would support.

The Mayor's plan is critical because it precedes the unveiling of a Council proposal tomorrow. The primary difference? Whether to bring the BRT school district employees onto the city payroll - the Mayor says yes; Council says ............. nothing about it - and for no reason.

Even BRT advocates like Councilman DiCicco muster up incompetence in defense of the School District employees:

"The patronage employees become a good scapegoat . . . because they don't have the skills that are necessary to do the job correctly, through no fault of their own," he said yesterday.

Rrrriggghhhht. (Sam had the best response on the original post above.)

So many thanks to the Mayor for holding firm and setting the bar. As for Council's bill, while it's a start, the smell around the BRT will still linger as long as the bill leaves out the School District employees. As the Mayor's Task Force noted, you have to address "consistency and fairness" and the perception that these are "patronage hires who do not add value."

You can't do reform half way, and you can't engender the confidence of folks when everyone from the Mayor to the Schools Chief to the School Reform Commission to parent and education advocacy groups to good government groups like the Committee of Seventy are calling for bringing the BRT workers onto the City payroll.

Council stands alone on this one. Let's hope they'll change that.