Week 1 - Jo Kawabata

"Fight the Tower" by Professor Valverde delivers an extremely powerful message of modern day discrimination through an emotional anecdote illustrating her painful journey in the academia. While corruption and prejudice in the academia has never been a subject unheard of, I believed it to be a thing of the past when segregation and racism was exhibited in plain sight. The reading opened my mind in that the system of academia still is tainted with such biased that prevents brilliant minded individuals with much potential to even have a chance to begin with. In a way, I believe this corruption and prejudice - one hidden much deeper and less obvious to the public - is, in a sense, more dangerous than precedent examples of plain racism and sexism; less light is shined onto the problem and the problem remains to be unsolved. Being an Asian myself, I read this as a warning for my future that at any point I could still face racism that may not be so obvious. However, I was moved by the motivation Professor Valverde has in her challenging the corruption in the academia and I believe this will be a way to inspire many women and other individuals to speak up and shine light onto a hidden darkness still lurking in the system, the same way it has warned me of potential road blocks on my path to achieving a higher education.

This video is Dante Basco performing a poem. He talks about growing up as an Asian in a community where he would face racism. However, he was able to make them realize that in the end, everybody is human. Hopefully we see a day where color or sex plays no role in how people are treated, even in the academia.

Question (to Prof. Valverde): What motivated you through the toughest of times and how did you stay emotionally sane in such a difficult situation? I am simply amazed at your strong mentality to be able to thrive through such conditions.

References:
Valverde, K. (2013). Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia. Seattle Journal for Social Justice, 12(2), 367-419.

Basco, D. (2014, May 10). Retrieved April 05, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ibx3OtgZ1ao