Maximilian Probstel
A03
Week 1

In this weeks reading “Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Colour in Academia” professor C. Valverde explains the importance of striving to reach your goal, even in very harsh social environments. In her case being a Vietnamese Asian-American, she did not only have to fight against the oppression of her white co-workers but also of her other Asian-American co-workers. Her struggle of not giving up her tenure and having to fight for her job due to malicious and malevolent administrators, all this in a professional setting, is quiet inspiring. It is not only inspiring but a situation that for me as a white male, more of an intriguing unfamiliar situation. Unjust pay is a big problem in america but there is a difference in hearing it on the news compared to having primary examples of such happening. Especially, when these examples consist of threats, backstabbing and vicious lies to oppress the minority. My dad would always say that we humans subconsciously feel safer when we live in packs, with other humans that are similar to us. This I agree with, since it is the fundamental reason for oppression between but also within ethnicities. Other than the .00000001% genetic difference between the pairing of nitrogenous base pairs in the DNA, white/asian/african-american are all of the same genus, family, taxa, order etc. It is therefore astonishing how such a tiny difference prolongs a smart, motivated, tough individual like Professor C. Valverde to receive the recognition she deserved. 

  The reading reminded of a video, it consists of a social experiment where they put people of different social classes in a room. They then proceeded by asking questions that apply to people in all classes such as “Who is married?”, “Who has step-parents?” or “Who has been bullied in school?”.  The results showed that each social class was affected and that is what makes us humans, to share compassion, misery, happiness, etc. 

Question: A big point in the article was who to trust and who to distrust. Going both ways to the extreme such as distrusting everyone and trusting everyone is not healthy. What would be the middle line? How do I make sure my trust is safe? 

References: 

Valverde, K. (2013). Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia. Seattle Journal for Social Justice, 12(2), 373-419.

KashKhanTV. YouTube. YouTube, 03 Feb. 2017. Web. 05 Apr. 2017. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh-xdZzyjVI>.