Week 1 Blog
Anahi Rivera
9/30/2015

The essay, “The Four Prisons and The Movements of Liberation" by Glenn Omatsu serves as an eye opener that describes the obstacles Asian Americans had to over come to be treated equally. The first sentences really captured my attention because Omatsu mentions how “ each of us exist within four prisons” (according to the philosopher Ali Shariati).  These philosophical prisons Omatsu refers to are ideological prisons which history, society, and ourselves impose. The four prisons are; the confinement of history and geography, history and how it affects our society, society’s social and class structure, and finally the self prison where one is responsible for choosing between the good and the evil.  These prisons transformed the lives of Asian Americans as the faced the difficult challenge of breaking through them on a daily basis. The article mentions how during the 1960 Asian Americans struggled to confront the racial discrimination, poverty, and exploitation.  It impresses me how one group of people can transform their thoughts and ideas into actions just to follow “the myth of the American Dream” (Omastu). It was then when they came together and created the San Fransisco Strike which became one of the “longest student strike in U.S history” (Omastu). Although nothing was done students created campaigns which promoted political change. It became a strategy to bring awareness to the community and it encouraged others to speak up against injustice. 

Question :  What could be done to break away from the four ideological prisons?