Jill Porter: Beating shatters sense of security

IN PAKISTAN, the four Daniel children were harassed and bullied in school because they were Christians in an Islamic world.

The family fled to America in 2006 so that they could be safe.

Two weeks ago, the youngest son was beaten in school - not because he was Christian. Perhaps just for the thrill of it.

Or perhaps, in sad irony, because he is Asian.

Jeremayah Daniel, 14, was jumped from behind as he was leaving Samuel Fels Senior High, in the Northeast, on Jan. 15.

He was punched in the back of the head. Then two youths punched him in the face so violently, they broke his nose and gave him a concussion.

He's had one surgery on his nose, and has to have another.

On Wednesday, he sat in his cozy Lawndale apartment, reticent and shy, while family members described the ordeal that has left them badly shaken.

"They left everything they loved behind so the kids could be safe here, and this is what they get," said an American cousin, Billie Bakhshi.

In Pakistan, Jeremayah's father, James, worked for a leper colony, traveling to mountains and caves to bring sufferers in for treatment. Now he works in a 7-Eleven.

His wife, Khalida, was a primary-school teacher. Now she's a nursing-home aide.

James was also a Christian proselytizer. When he converted two Muslim girls, their families pressed charges and the community "put a price on his head," Khalida said.

James was granted political asylum in 1999 and spent the next seven years working to bring his family here.

"He'd work 60 to 80 hours a week to send money home to them and to pay an immigration attorney to bring them over," cousin Billie said.

"He'd work all night driving a cab, sleep a couple of hours and go back out."

Family members were thrilled when they learned they'd finally be coming to America.

Here, education is not dependent on religion, bribes or connections.

"In our country, everybody wants their kids to come to America to study," said Agatha, 21, the oldest daughter.

"We were happy," said mother Khalida.

"We thought we were saved."

No one has been arrested in the attack on Jeremayah, and it isn't clear what prompted it.

James Golden, chief of safety for the school district, said he's not aware of any "intergroup or interracial conflict" at Fels. But Jeremayah said that Asians are often pushed around by black students, who make up the majority of the school.

His attackers were black.

His parents now fear that their children are no safer here, as Asians, than they were in Pakistan, as Christians.

They were so disturbed by the attack, they didn't want Jeremayah to return to school.

"He can stay at home," Khalida said. "We don't need study. We need our kid, we need his life."

The school's indifference made matters worse.

Other than the school nurse, who was helpful, no Fels official reached out to the family - a fact confirmed, and lamented, by district authorities.

"This is such an unfortunate situation, and you want to give the level of care that makes everyone feel cared about," said Mike Silverman, regional superintendent for comprehensive high schools, including Fels.

"I'd have really liked that we would have contacted the child and family during the next week and found out how he was and seen whatever we could do for the family."

Fels principal Gregory Hailey referred my call to the district's media office.

Jeremayah was medically cleared to return to school on Monday.

With the help of their cousin to navigate the bureaucracy, the Daniels transferred him to George Washington High. He'll start today.

But two of their other children are seniors at Fels, and the Daniels worry about them. Fels, at Devereaux Avenue and Langdon Street, is categorized as a "persistently dangerous school."

A broken nose may not seem like much in a culture where brutality is so commonplace.

But it has wreaked emotional havoc on this fine family and ruined the sense of safety that brought them to America.

"We are not secure in our country," Khalida said, "and we are not secure here." *

E-mail porterj@phillynews.com or call 215-854-5850. For recent columns:

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