Week 1

Karen Nguyen

A02

As an Asian American, I grew up with the mindset that education comes first. My parents practically hammered the idea into me at a very young age. They thought that if my siblings and I did well in our studies then it would help us immensely in our search for a well-paid job that makes us happy. This idea that my parents held, I believe, is an idea that many other Asian American parents share as well. It would explain why so many Asian Americans are in college even if they do not know what they want to do with their lives.

However, it never occurred to me that just being an Asian American woman who is also Vietnamese could prove to be an obstacle in my future. I was under the impression that all I really needed was a good education, good communication skills, and lots of experience. However, after reading Fight the Tower by Professor Valverde, I immediately realized that that mindset is an ideal and that is all it is. In Fight the Tower, Professor Valverde faces such extreme discrimination from the majority of her peers that it led to the death of her unborn child and her almost losing her life. At the beginning of the ordeal, Professor Valverde never felt the need to defend herself against the slander of others as she believed that her work would speak volumes and others would see that. This belief is not necessarily wrong. I know that as a scholar myself, it is logical to think this way as scholars are trained to look at things objectively and to do our very best to remain impartial. By doing so, the only things that would matter would be our work. There is no way Professor Valverde could have prepared herself for what was to come as she was trained to think the way she did initially. In addition, like Professor Valverde said in the text, there are many other cases similar to hers which makes sense. As people of color, especially women, we are not trained to prepare excellent work and deal other people’s prejudices, beliefs, and micro- and macro- aggression. If we do not, our work then really does not matter. This can be seen especially when Professor Valverde got her tenure denied but other less qualified people got it.

Question: Why is it that most people in academia are not outright told or made aware of the fact that not only do they need to produce excellent work but they also need to be prepared for other people’s discrimination if they hope to survive in the world of academia?

Question: If people were aware of the fact that they needed to be prepared for other people’s discrimination, do you think there would be more people of color, especially women of color, in the world of academia?

Now imagine there were people of color and females in the picture.

Resources

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.

MIller, Z. J. (2017, January 28). President Trump Orders Review of Strategy to Fight ISIS [Digital image]. Retrieved April 05, 2017, from http://time.com/4652696/president-trump-isis-review/