CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
In movies in China, I saw U.S. high schools
and thought you all smiled and shook hands at lunch.
The first things I learn at South Philly High
are racial slurs, curses, and how to get punched
in the back of my neck by two kids who laugh and jet
down the hall, and I face the wall while my face falls
cuz even my Chinese classmates act like there’s no tears
on my cheek – they pass me, don’t ask me, they don’t even speak
up about the fact that they too got beat up
last week, cuz they don’t wanna be cast as weak
so we each keep it to ourselves – and when we do finally meet,
it’s Chinese kids here, Vietnamese kids here,
each blaming the other for the beatings we’ve come to fear:
Chinese kid gets jumped, we say it’s cuz the Viets made trouble
with the Black kids who look at us each and see double
and decide to attack us, and why does that happen and—

STAFF MEMBER
Be silent. Don’t speak of these beatings.
Be silent. Don’t try to translate them.
Be silent. You don’t speak good English.
Be silent. And silently hate them.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
I keep a journal of beatings of Chinese kids first,
don’t invite Vietnamese to our meetings, which makes things worse.
We each maintain our silence, the lunchroom divided
into these immigrant islands of language,
hiding our pain with the self-reliance we came with.
We get harassed in the caf, and there’s no help from staff
so I skip lunch, hide myself in a ESL class
and some Chinese students begin to join my fast
but it’s not yet a movement, cuz we can’t get past
the fact that we and the Vietnamese kids are so different
til a teacher we both love is about to lose their position,
and a Vietnamese student leader shares their petition
with us Chinese students, and even though the teacher
still gets removed, that little movement proves
though we lost that moment, we did not lose –
cuz if we can come together, we can win.
The school separates us by our tongues, by our skin,
where we’re from, where we’ve been, so we think we will never
break the boxes they got us in. But

CHOIR
BE SILENT.
I WILL NOT

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT,
BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & CHOIR
Every time we come together, we win.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
When people of color come together, we begin
to recognize the bigger struggle we are in.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT,
BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & CHOIR
Every time we come together, we win.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
Every time we come together,
the staff in their beautiful English, tells us

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & STAFF MEMBER
Calm down, let it go, let’s move on.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
From the principal on down, they promise

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & STAFF MEMBER
More security and well-trained teachers.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
They promise

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & STAFF MEMBER
More cameras and random security features.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
They promise a lot, and nothing is what we got.
We got thirteen Asian students hospitalized in one day.
At first we just wanna make the Black kids who did this, pay:
arrest them, suspend them and send them away.
But the older generation of Chinatown leaders
say that’s exactly what this racist system is tryina teach us.
In Philly schools way back, people attacked people.
Fifty years back, it was white attacking Black people.
To right this wrong, we need to fight that evil.
Then Black students teach us

BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
The school’s failing us too –
It’s not “Who beat up who?” This school is cheating me and you.
Push youth of color out is what this school is about.

STAFF MEMBER
Be silent like these Asian kids do.
Be silent – when bad teachers help you fail.
Be silent, Black and Latino kids too.
Be silent, or we’ll silently put you in jail.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
The school separates us by our tongues,

BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
by our skin,

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
where we’re from,

BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
where we’ve been,

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
so we think we will never break the boxes they got us in.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT,
BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & CHOIR

every time we come together, we win.
Every time we come together, we win.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
When people of color come together, we begin
to recognize the bigger struggle we are in.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT,
BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & CHOIR
Every time we come together, we win.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
Every time we come together, I tell ‘em: We are

BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & CHOIR
youth.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
We are

BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & CHOIR
leaders.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
We have the power

BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & CHOIR
to make a change.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT,
BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & CHOIR
I believe this.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
We are

BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & CHOIR
[fill in the blank: immigrants; trans; etc.]

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
We are

BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & CHOIR
leaders.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
We have the power

BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & CHOIR
to make a change.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT,
BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & CHOIR
I believe this.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
Silently we recognize the school system is broken.
Quietly we start to speak the things that were unspoken.
Call up a reporter – soon the news is in the open.
Seek out leaders in Chinatown, let their teachings soak in.
First: stop goin to school; our safety cannot wait.
Meet daily in Chinatown. Stop. Translate.
English, Vietnamese, Mandarin languages.
Spread the word in all of them, remember whose campaign this is:
everyone’s.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT & CHOIR
Boycott!

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
We’re meeting:
give breakfast and lunch, different people leading.
First day, thirty students show.
Facebook, Snapchat, phone calls let ‘em know.
Second day, fifty kids, then sixty, we grow
to seventy boycotting school for eight days
we make our own school, march, rally, make waves.
Vietnamese, Chinese, together get things done.
Two lawsuits against the district – which we win, / one by one.

BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
One by one, Black student leaders start to come to every action.
The more our struggles come together, the more we gain traction.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
& BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
We are not anti-each-other, we are anti-violence.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
We are tired of our voices being smothered into silence.

BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
Silently they pushed us out, but now we’re feelin our pull.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
Silent’s how we started,

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
& BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
now our voices gettin loud ‘n full.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
On our own,

BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
we’re breakable,

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
& BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
together we be powerful.

CHOIR
WE WILL NOT
BE SILENT.

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
We shake the whole school system, make ‘em sign a settlement,

BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
dedicate more resources and make sure they are better spent,

CHINESE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
& BLACK HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT
start a student movement to make schools nonviolent,
cuz we will not be silent.

The system separates us by our tongues,
by our skin,
where we’re from,
where we’ve been,
so we think we will never break the boxes they got us in.

But every time we come together,
we win. Every time we come together, we win.
When people of color come together, we begin
to recognize the bigger struggle we are in.

Every time we come together, we win.
Every time we come together, I tell ‘em: We are
youth.

We are
leaders.
We have the power
to make a change.
I believe this.
(If cast includes Mandarin, Cantonese, Fujianese or Vietnamese speakers, repeat
chant in these other languages.)

We are
[fill in the blank: immigrants; trans; etc.]
We are
leaders.
We have the power
to make a change.
I believe this.