Week 1

Iris Wu
Section A01
Week 1

In article “Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia,” Professor Valverde described her struggle in gaining tenure and the discriminations she has encountered through her journey. And being in the same boat as an Asian American, I feel sympathetic and can’t agree more. The closely related story that came to mind was that of my aunt’s. My aunt, a Taiwanese American who has stayed in Sacramento for more than sixty years, still often faces unfair judgements. Being a well-known real estate agent, despite of the many successful cases she has dealt in her career life, people still judge her communication skills, doubt her competent and basically everything before she could even show what she’s got just because of how she looks. It was all because of her skin color, her ethnicity. Also like what Professor Valverde mentioned in class, “Asians can only do calculus.” We do get praised for some skills, but over time, they turn into sarcasm, and this kind of stereotype negates all our other values. Stereotypes of Asian Americans being presumed incompetent and generally unwelcomed have long blocked these passionate Asian Americans from pursuing achievements in academia. This kind of discrimination just can’t easily be removed, even though the society has become a lot more open-minded and welcoming than the past.

This picture is to show sanction on discrimination and violence against Asian American (Chinese in this case).

Question: What are some ways to remove stereotypes like incompetence and discrimination of Asian Americans?

Reference:

1. Valverde, K. (2013). Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia. Seattle Journal for Social Justice, 12(2), 369.

2. Stereotypes in "American Born Chinese". (2011, November 14). Retrieved from https://youngadultliterature.wordpress.com/2011/11/14/stereotypes-in-american-born-chinese/