Students at Middletown High School have always enjoyed their environment and had great representation via teachers, athletics, and more. It's made a very diverse group of students where it's hard for ethnic groups to receive discrimination. All except one particular ethnic group; Asian Americans.

0.3% of MHS' population is compromised of Asian students, and while it's very small to the demographic of White students (44.4%) African American (21.9%) and Hispanic (21.1%), that does not mean that Asian students are less. 

As a mixed student with a Filipino background, I found it difficult to represent my culture without someone making a racist remark or hateful stereotype about me. When I bring my mother to the school, people assume she speaks Spanish just because she has brown skin. When I bring up that I'm Asian to my classmates, there's a chance they take their fingers and stretch the skin by their eyes. The national celebration, "Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month," is never brought up or celebrated by the district's leaders, even if "Black History Month" and "Hispanic Heritage Month" are widely praised and celebrated. Why are we being excluded? Is it because there isn't enough students to "celebrate?"

For many Asian students, this has been a lifetime struggle. We are responsible, kind-hearted, and bright students, not the racial slurs we've been called. We do not receive enough recognition from the school compared to everyone else, and we are tired of the casual racism and hate we receive for the way we are born. Asia is made up of 48 unique countries, and we've all been reduced to only being considered Chinese, not to mention Asia makes up rougly 60% of the world's population.

However, a lot of students are a part of the problem. The desensitization and lack of consequence or action for discriminating against Asian students has caused people to gather a racist impression of Asians. The common misconceptions are the following; every Asian is Chinese, we "can't see," we're "great at math," and for South and Southeast Asians,  they are "poor," "dirty" and "smelly." This stems from harmful social media that encourages the belief that these are true. 

There are many great figures that represent Asia that people lack acknowledging, such as Mahatma Gandhi, a lawyer who went against British colonial rule (representing India,) Manny Pacquiao, a famous and one of the greatest boxers of all time (representing the Philippines,) Kiyoshi Kuromiya, an anti-war, civil rights, LGBT rights activist (representing Japan,) and the Trưng sisters, the first rebels against the Chinese dominance in Vietnam (representing Vietnam.)

Even today, there are celebrities and musicians who represent Asia well. Some examples include Jeon So-yeon, a female artist and leader empowering listeners and breaking Korean standards such as double standards between women and men, sexualization of children and women, and redefining confidence for listeners, (representing Korea) and No Na, a girl group that is breaking global pop norms by embracing cultural dances, traditional instruments, and healthy working conditions for dancers and singers (representing Indonesia.) 

If Middletown High School isn't allowing its Asian students to receive the spotlight and call out the hate that has been put against us, it doesn't deserve to call itself a district that "inspires," "unites," and "transforms." There isn't any of those qualities that are currently applied to Asian students and staff. There are so many amazing Asian people in the world for us to look up to, but we have nothing when it comes to the place we work at everyday. Support the cause for the raise of awareness to all Asian cultures and help us create a bigger impact in our school!

(This petition does NOT condemn the actions of Israel's government, the Al-Qaeda's actions on September 11th, 2001, the Taliban, and another hateful actions that Asian countries perform against other countries and groups of people. This petition isn't intentioned to bring any other ethnic groups down, but to uplift Asians and create a greater unification with all people of color within the district.)