Nationwide, Asian students say they're often beaten, threatened, and called ethnic slurs by other young people, and school safety data suggest that the problem may be worsening. Youth advocates say these Asian teens, stereotyped as high-achieving students who rarely fight back, have for years borne the brunt of ethnic tension as Asian communities expand and neighborhoods become more racially diverse.
''We suspect that in areas that have rapidly growing populations of Asian-Americans, there oftentimes is a sort of culture-clashing," said Aimee Baldillo of the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium. Youth harassment is ''something we see everywhere in different pockets of the US where there's a large influx of [Asian] people."
In the last five years, census data show, Asians -- mostly Chinese -- have grown from 5 percent to nearly 10 percent of Brooklyn residents. In Lafayette High's neighborhood, Bensonhurst, historically home to Italian and Jewish families, more than 20 percent of residents are Asian. Those changes have escalated ethnic tension on campuses such as Lafayette High, according to Khin Mai Aung, staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is advocating for Lafayette students.
''The schools are the one place where everyone is forced to come together," Aung said.
Brooklyn's changes mirror Asian growth nationally. Between 1980 and 2000, the number of Asians and Pacific Islanders grew from 3.7 million to nearly 12 million. After Latinos, Asians are the nation's fastest-growing ethnic group.
Stories of Asian youth being bullied and worse are common. Bang Mai, a 16-year-old from Vietnam, was killed July 11, 2004, in a massive brawl in South Boston.
