By Katy Nguyen and Karen Phan
Video clips of two Bolsa Grande High School (BGHS) students engaging in racist and disruptive behavior on campus shocked students, parents, staff and community members. The clips were taken from a Youtube video that has since been deleted but was reposted on multiple social media platforms on Saturday, March 7.
BGHS junior Hilary Tran wrote on Instagram that the students mocked and harassed the school’s Vietnamese Student Association (VSA) club before and during BGHS’ International Night Assembly, which showcases and celebrates many cultures.
“A girl with some of her friends filming came by, grabbed one of our traditional hats and danced with it,” Tran wrote. “This may seem harmless, but it was an insulting mockery of our dance. On top of that, she even threw our hat down.”
The students were also seen harassing another Asian student who wore a face mask and yelling “coronavirus” and screaming inappropriately during the school’s International Night assembly when Asian students performed.
“As a graduate from this high school and a member of VSA, this DISGUSTS me,” BGHS alumna Teriann Nguyen wrote on Facebook. “There wasn’t any sort of racism during my high school years. Seeing them mock and disrespect my culture AND harassing another student because she was wearing a face mask, this ANGERS me.”
Tran and Nguyen’s posts have reached thousands of views on social media and sparked outrage throughout the Vietnamese-American community of BGHS and Garden Grove Unified School District (GGUSD).
“The situation itself makes me angry because doing this type of nonsense is unacceptable and unforgiving in an environment like high school,” Instagram user @1e.1ong commented on Tran’s second post of the incident. “It is disgusting and sickening to make racial slurs against Asians…for no apparent reason.”
The students posted an apology on YouTube on Sunday, March 8, stating that they were “obviously kids trying to have fun” and “have looked back at [their] actions.” The apology has been deleted from YouTube.
A petition to BGHS administration was started on Sunday to expel the students in the video. Ly Thai Tong, who created the petition, wrote that the Asian population of BGHS would not feel comfortable “that such students would be allowed [to] continue to be [a part] [sic] of the progressive and multi-racial Bolsa Grande High School and the Garden Grove Unified School District.”
“The Asian community of the Bolsa Grande High School and the Garden Grove Unified School District, calls on the school to uphold [its] promise to provide a safe and supported environment for the students to study in,” the petition states.
At the time of publication, about nine thousand people have signed the petition.
GGUSD and BGHS were notified on Saturday about the incident and have sent emails out to students, parents and staff. The district released a statement condemning and apologizing for the behavior of the students.
“The behaviors shown in the video are unacceptable and will not be tolerated by Bolsa Grande or GGUSD. Disruptive and bias/hate speech and actions have no place in our schools,” the statement said. “Rest assured that any students engaging in such behaviors, including hate/bias speech or activities will face disciplinary action in accordance with California Education Code.”
GGUSD addressed the growing discrimination against Asians due to the 2019 novel coronavirus as well.
“Some may say this is harmless and ‘everyone and their mom jokes about corona’,” said a BGHS student who wished to remain anonymous. “However, the joke has led to more violent behavior from other ethnicities toward Asians.”
The student added that it was shocking to see xenophobia against Asians in a “very accepting and diverse school.”
“In school, there’s already invisible barrier between us,” the student said. “You rarely see interracial groups, and with this coronavirus, it’s only making this barrier worse.”
Approximately 30% of students in the GGUSD and 60% of BGHS students are of Vietnamese descent, according to the statement.
“Garden Grove Unified School District is a highly diverse district dedicated to equity and inclusivity,” the statement said. “We proactively address hate and bias in our district.”
GGUSD is working with OC Human Relations and the Orange County Human Relations Commission “to take a firm and unwavering stance,” according to the statement. There are already several district-wide measures to combat discrimination and hate speech, such as a partnership with the Anti-Defamation League for staff and students and protocols for staff to report hate and bias.
Amid the backlash and blame that BGHS has received for the inappropriate behavior of the students, Nguyen wrote on Facebook that “the school and district have done nothing that leads to this behavior.”
“It is also essential we do not vilify an entire school of almost two thousand students based on the behaviors of a few individual students,” the statement said.
BGHS Principal Tracy Conway wrote in a post on Parent Square on Saturday that the students’ behaviors do “not portray the values of our school in which we embrace and celebrate cultural diversity.”
According to the statement, GGUSD began investigating the incident on Saturday with the Garden Grove Police Department. They have received a “tremendous volume of identical reports” on the incident and encourage anyone with additional information to reach out via Facebook Messenger.
“Bias and hate have no place on our campus,” Conway wrote. “We rely on the help and support of our community to maintain a positive and safe school culture and climate.”
