Jowi Deguzman - Week 5 - Section A03

Jowi Deguzman

Section A03
Week 5

In Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence, by Darrell Y Hamamoto, Hamamoto writes about how there was an increase of serial killings of Asians and Asian Americans in the United States right after the Vietnam war ended. Unknowingly, when the soldiers were ordered to kill the Vietnamese during the war and view most of the Vietnamese people there as enemies, some of them continued to use this thought process when they came back to the Unites States and taught their communities to view Asians and Asian Americans as the enemy. I have never thought about this correlation because I did not know that many cases of Asian and Asian American murders had the same backgrounds, but it makes complete sense. If people are more exposed to violence, they are more likely to partake in violent action, as it has somewhat been normalized for them. Imperialism is defined as “the policy of extending the rule or authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries, or of acquiring and holding colonies and dependencies” (dictionary.com). Based on this definition, Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence relates to the theme of the week, “Imperial University,” because people in higher education could unknowingly be using the same thinking that was spread from these Vietnam war veterans and past it down to them. Racism and discrimination of Asians and Asian Americans in Academia could have come from this. I always thought that being discriminated against as an Asian American was solely because I looked different than the average white American. However, reading about this and learning about how it could have come from these Vietnam veterans truly opened my eyes to the different possibilities in why some look at me the way they do.

References:

Darrell Y. Hamamoto. “Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence.”

Imperialism. (n.d.). Retrieved April 30, 2017, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/imperialism

Fuchs, C. (2016, May 23). Complaint Filed Against Yale, Dartmouth, and Brown Alleging Discrimination. Retrieved April 30, 2017, from http://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/groups-file-complaint-against-yale-dartmouth-brown-alleging-discrimination-n578666

Question (To prof. Valverde): Have you experienced any form of racism, or even violent behaviors, from a veteran from the Vietnam War?

Media: I chose this image because it shows how Asian Americans are discriminated against, and it is valid that this racism could have come from these veterans from the Vietnam War.