Rage against discrimination in Texas remains after Chinese flight cadet suicide

(Photo/Yangtse Evening Post)

Silently holding signs reading “Justice for Yang” and “End Discrimination Now,” Chinese residents in Texas, US, stood during a funeral on May 13 for Chinese student Yan Yang, who committed suicide, seeking to draw attention to questions of suspicious discrimination treatment from the US Aviation Academy (USAA) that drove Yan to desperation.

One month has passed, but anger and questions remain.

Yan Yang, a Chinese flight cadet studying at USAA, Denton Campus, was found dead in his dormitory on April 16. The suspected cause was the long-lasting serious mistreatment and even racial discrimination that he had endured during training.

Under a contract with Shenzhen Airlines, Yan was sent to USAA to study for his pilot license in 2018, which was approved by the China Civil Aviation Administration.

In one-year-plus of study, Yan only had two or three months of normal flight training, which, according to his fellow classmates, was abnormal. They also claimed that their grounding punishment from the school left them with no choice but to leave the school, according to the China Economic Net.

Yan was often compelled to arrive at the training ground early in the morning to serve as a doorman for white people, and other demeaning work such as kneeling on the floor to clean others’ footprints, said Wang Tian, the initiator of the rally at Yan’s funeral, who volunteered for defending Yan’s justice.

Before the incident, Yan had received two warnings that were only reportedly targeted at Chinese students who made major mistakes, and students with three warnings are grounded and must return to China without a graduation certificate. Yan was about to receive his third warning, the China Economic Net reported.

“We want to defend Yan’s rights, and we seek a justified judgment and reasonable penalty on the school’s arbitrary management. USAA students’ graduation and career path are totally controlled by school. Those who are forced to drop out will lose the opportunity to become a pilot. The invisible discrimination and emotional abuse undoubtedly led to Yan’s suicide,” Wang told People’s Daily Online.

The unexpected and tragic suicide of Yan stirred up a lot of grief, frustration, and even anger among students. Several friends and classmates of Yan posted messages on the Internet, condemning the school’s unfair treatment, while also sharing their painful experiences at the school.

Meanwhile, USAA believes there is no obvious connection between the school’s training system and Yan’s death, according to a letter published on the school’s official social media account, in response to fierce criticism on the Internet.

In the letter, which was later deleted, the school administration emphasized the importance of emotional stability and calls for timely mental therapy.