Week 10: Bryan Ngo, A0

Week 10: Bryan Ngo, A01

Week 10:

Bryan Ngo

ASA 002

A01

It is known that Asian Americans, especially Asian American women, lay in the middle of this black and white race spectrum. On one end, we have the privileged, and on the other, quite the opposite. It was highlighted in this week’s reading that Asians have the ability to acquire these privileged “characteristics”, but stay vulnerable to races higher up in the racial hierarchy at the same time. To me, this is an interesting claim, mainly because I can see it being relatable. Asians are known to be hardworking individuals who succeed in life, but keep their heads down. They stay out of trouble to maintain a stable life. However, I think one point this article was trying to make is that, this needs to change. Too often, society sees Asians in this light. As a result, they are not known to hold many positions of leadership, especially in academia (this is even more difficult for women, as experienced by professor Valverde). Again, like in many of the weekly readings, we see a racial hierarchy cluttered with many other variables such as gender and socio-economic status. This inequality is difficult to solve, simply because of the fact that there really shouldn’t be a hierarchy at all; all races would be treated equally in a utopian world, but that’s just not the case, and it won’t be for a while.

Question:

I’d like to believe that the cause of racial inequality is in large due to a generational gap. It doesn’t make sense to me that one race would be treated differently than another, so is that just a mindset that was commonly found in the generation previous to me?

References:

Belle Wheelan's Drive Pays Off for Higher Education. (2015, May 29). Retrieved November 26, 2017, from http://diversepodium.com/article/73448

Valverde, C. & Dariotis, W. M. (2017). “The Time to Fight Is Now”:When Asian American Women in Academia Go Rogue. Retrieved November 26, 2017.