Week 1 -

Do Won Lee

Section 2

Asian Americans live different lives compared to other races. Each race has their own experiences living in the United States, whether good or bad, they are still experiences that many of us happen to share. Looking deeper down, we see even more diversity among different ethnicities and nationalities. You would think that given our identity as Asians and Asian-Americans in the United States, we should be able to find things in common and help one another given the circumstances. But unfortunately, that doesn’t always happen, and instead, the worse can occur as well.

            A fight broke out between a group of Koreans and Chinese students at my high school one day. It mainly happened due to misunderstandings between a member from each group, and it escalated from there. But there was more to it than a simple misunderstanding. The Chinese students were the type that moved to the United States at a late age, so they didn’t have a chance to get accustomed to the culture of the U.S. and learn the English typically spoken in California. They stayed to themselves and spoke to each other in Mandarin throughout the day. The Koreans were more “Americanized”, given that they were either born in the United States or moved earlier in their lives, meaning they could speak fluent English and live comfortably without fear of being culturally removed. This meant that this group of Koreans looked down on the group of Chinese. The disagreement created between the two groups couldn’t be resolved diplomatically because neither party wanted to negotiate, which eventually caused a fight to break out between both groups.

            Reading about Professor Valverde’s hardships in “Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia,” made me remember about this event that occurred at my high school. Because some of us share similar traits that we use to identify ourselves doesn’t mean we can get along. When the scholar that joined the department at the same time with Professor Valverde began to discredit Professor Valverde and cause conflict within the department, it just shows that even within our own communities, we can have those that may not only disagree with us, but also have malicious intent. Just because we’re Asian and Asian-American doesn’t imply that we’ll get along and live happily together, sometimes it can even separate us and cause conflict.

This picture isn't meant to parody the sizes of the countries in Asia, but rather to show how close Asian countries can be in terms of proximities and the exchanges of cultures between us. But history and prejudice can cause us to hurt others despite having shared similar experiences.

Sources:

Legitprivilege (2015). Meanwhile in Asia. Retrieved from https://www.reddit.com/r/polandball/comments/2fwl6e/meanwhile_in_asia/

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