Week 9 _ Wenru Shi _ A01

Week 9 _ Wenru Shi _ A01

I agreed with what Omatsu mentioned in the article “The ‘Four Prisons’ and the Movements of Liberation” that many so-called ethnic study classes like Asian American classes sometimes narrow the definition of some movements. These classes just aim for having a “great lecture” instead of inspiring students to find the roots behind them. When it happens, we have to pay more attention to these class structures because it further reflects the social engineering through public education. By introducing some so called history and their influences, these classes can let students to use scantrons to select the right answer, framing students in a definite box. 

Omatsu pointed out we need to revaluate of  “the impact of the 1960s on American society today.”: “The movement was not centered on the aura of racial identity but embraced fundamentally questions of oppression and power.” For example, the San Francisco State strike in 1968, students from various minorities came together to fight for rights. Starting from students in high education, to political changes, it proved that high education is the cradle of liberal thinkings. This strike influenced students from all minorities, passed down “the tradition of resistance”, broadened the issues of many parts in ethnic studies and liberal rights. 

The same for 1970s and 1980s, these are golden ages of protest for fighting rights not only in Asian American Study, but also for passing down the spirit of standing out and fight for rights. However, there are some people who considered as “neo-conservatives” and they denounce or neglect legacies form 60s to 80s.

Question:

How does US Government or the institutions separate these unions from various minorities groups during the 60s - 80s?

Reference:

• Omatsu, G. (1994). The State of Asian America Activism and Resistance in the 1990s. The ‘Four Prisons’ and the Movements of Liberation. Boston, MA: South End Press.

• Ohashi, A. [Image]. (n.d.). Chinese American Museum. Roots: Asian American Movements in Los Angeles 1968-80s. Retrieved from http://camla.org/past-exhibits/2017-2/roots-asian-american-movements-in-los-angeles-1968-80s/

Week 9 - Carissa Fejarang - A02

The theme of this week is politics, relating to the emergence of Asian American representation. In “Barack Obama as the Post-racial Candidate for a Post-racial America: Perspectives from Asian America and Hawai‘i”, Jonathan Y. Okamura talks about Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and his victory in relation to the two understood meanings of post-racialism, which are colour blindness and multiculturalism. Colour blindness refers to how race does not have a role in determining who or what decides the distribution of rights, rewards, and privileges. Multiculturalism refers to the view that the different cultures, races, and ethnicities, especially those that are minorities, deserve acknowledgement.

This article relates to the theme of the week because Obama is known as an honorary Asian American, partially because he was born in and grew up in Hawai’i. The society seemed to become more post-racial once Barack Obama became president. This idea of post-racialism came about as a result of a breakthrough in America’s history of race relations. Obama was known as a post-racial candidate because of the way that he said things in inclusive ways. For example, during the 2004 Democratic National Convention, he said, “There is not a Black America and a White America and Latino America and Asian America - there’s the United States of America” (Okamura, 138). This statement touched people because it showed that he was inclusive and wanted to bring diverse groups of people together. About a decade before Obama’s presidency, the United States had been referred to as post-racial by neo-conservatives. Back then, post-racialism had a different meaning though, because it involved denying race in order to maintain the prestige of white power or dominance. It is interesting to see how the idea of post-racialism has changed over the years.

Question: What do you think about Obama being an honorary Asian American?

Sources:

Jonathan Y. Okamura (2011) Barack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America: perspectives from Asian America and Hawai‘i, Patterns of Prejudice

Tesler, Michael. “Obama's Race: The 2008 Election and the Dream of a Post-Racial America (Chicago Studies in American Politics) EBook: Michael Tesler, David O. Sears: Kindle Store.” Amazon, Amazon, www.amazon.com/Obamas-Race-Election-Post-Racial-American-ebook/dp/B004E9S7US.

Week 9 - Nai Saechao - Section A03

The article “Barack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America: perspectives from Asian America and Hawai‘i” by Jonathan Y. Okamura, explains what is happening post racialism in the new society in the United States. Okamura talks about his campaign and election about Barack Obama being claimed the first Asian American president. For me I do not know much about politics, but I do know that Barack Obama was the first Black President. After reading this article, it claims that Barack Obama is Asian American because he is from Hawaii and was raised there. He has been racially identified as Asian American because of culture values and cultural practices he has been engaged in. I don’t know if this is a good thing or not, but some people believe in the experts statements. I believe that if he is now identified as Asian American, why now say so? This would’ve brought attention to more people and now people are just trying to get Obama back in.

Reference:

Okamura, J, Y. (2011). "Barack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America: perspectives from Asian America and Hawai`i". Patterns of Prejudice.

Week 9_Kenta Nishiyama_A03

From the reading, "Barack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America: perspectives from Asian America and Hawai`i" done by Jonathan Y. Okamura, explains the trend of new society in the United States known as the post-racialism. As society is generally accepting the individual, not by those racial and ethnic groups, post-racial could be referred to as a post-racist, resulting from the removal of racism as a barrier to socio-economic mobility. It is interesting to know the features of the shift, which was the focus on the race and biological concern for the cultural differentiation and national identity. Some experts explain that race should not be categorized by as privilege and it is the results of oppression, struggle, and conflicts. Personally, I strongly agree about those expert`s statement and it is a key to breaks human rights. However, some people also believe that race is a primary maker of human difference,  collectivity, and solidarity. It expresses how each individual gets empower from their cultural aspects and performance. I was surprised the term when Barrack Obama was elected as a first African American " the president who happens to be Black rather than the Black presidents", it could be a
sort of reverse discrimination occurring in the post-racial society.

Okamura, J, Y. (2011). "Barack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America: perspectives from Asian America and Hawai`i". Patterns of Prejudice. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/Nishiyama/Downloads/Barack%20Obama%20as%20the%20post%20racial%20candidate%20for%20a%20post%20racial%20America%20perspectives%20from%20Asian%20America%20and%20Hawaii.pdf

A01_group#4 video pre-screening Review for: A02_group#4 (Bryan J. Magaline, Mingyu Wang, Ziyu Wang

A01 Group 4: Harry Kang, Ao Yang, Yuzhe Zhang

The video has a very interesting start. The tone and speed of the narrative voice works very well with the background music making it very enjoyable to watch. The visual material is clear and easy to understand as well. Overall, it’s done a pretty good job introducing the topic Xenophobia. However, it doesn’t explain much about how the topics relates to Asian American probably because it still hasn’t finished yet. Also, the video can be more informative. For instance, it could include some specific events or examples.

Week 9 - Marissa Gomez-Alforja A03

In "The 'Four Prisons' And The Movements of Liberation", Omatsu believes that there are four types of prisons that hold you back: your origin, the history of your origin, society's idea of social and class structure, and your own self. The author uses these to describe the Asian American liberation movements starting from the 1960s. Asian Americans, as you all know, have had an eventful history and have fought for what know as "freedom". The sad part it, a lot of these movements have been reinterpreted and sugar-coated. It is not surprising that as history gets passed down, a little bit gets lost in translation. One of the misconceptions about the Asian American movements was that young Asian Americans were taking the lead on campaigns and anti-war protests, when in reality, this movement brought Asian Americans of all ages together for this movement. Another misconception was that the main goal was to be legitimate and have accurate representation for Asian Americans, when the real main purpose was for liberation. Asian Americans did not just fight for their own, but for all other who were suppressed. This changed the course of our society and culture as we know it. There were common slogans like "serve the people" and "power to the people". I think it is important to keep these ideals alive and to stick together at this day and age. We are stronger as a group and we should stray away from the idea of grouping together different ethnicities.

References
Omatsu, G. (1994). The 'Four Prisons' And The Movements Of Liberation.
(n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.redspark.nu/en/imperialist-states/statement-from-red-guards-philadelphia-on-the-formation-of-serve-the-people-philly/.

Section A03 Pre Screening Review for Tristan's Group by Marissa Gomez, Natalie Lortz and Nai Saechao

You guys are off to a good start. The animations in the beginning was very cool and it is informative. The editing for the animations are impressive. During the text near the end maybe make the text last longer, so people can read it. Also, add some color to the text to make the words pop out more. maybe adding more pictures near the end will help as well. Not sure if you guys are going to talk more about the text in your narrative or not, but the text left us hanging because it ends with a question.

Week 9 - Jessica Garza A04

In “Barack Obama as the post-racial candidate for a post-racial America: perspectives from Asian America and Hawai’i”by Johnathan Y. Okamura his thesis states that, “Okamura contends that proclaiming Obama as an honorary Asian American and as a local from Hawai’i inadvertently lends support to the post-racial America thesis and its false assertion of the declining significance of race: first, by reinforcing the ‘model minority’ stereotype of Asian Americans and, second, by affirming the widespread view of Hawai’i as a model of multiculturalism.” The campaign of Obama was so successful because he appealed to both disadvantaged and advantaged peoples throughout the United States through the denial that racial diversity influences your experiences and opportunities. He was dynamic and able to proclaim his racial diversity which appealed to the neoconservatives and those who advocate for equity, this tactic helped support him to gain voters and contributions. Winant explains that “It is not [racial] identity, not difference, that we should (or could) dispense with, but the continuing hierarchy, oppression, bondage.” Obama was able to appeal to Asian Americans specifically by claiming his identity was largely shaped by asian american ideals such as; education, hard work, and family. This pushes for a colorblind societal view where, “neoconservative discourse seeks to preserve white advantages through denial of racial difference.”Although Obama was elected as the first African-American President of the United States, this furthered the agenda of neoconservatism of individualism and denied that racial groups are structurally disadvantaged in the United States.

Week 9_Kathryn Garcia_A02

Week 9 Blog entry

Reading:

“Patterns of Prejudice”

Visual Addition:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&source=images&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjz0cC2tdrgAhVIs54KHQmqCYIQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fpopularresistance.org%2Fthe-myth-of-a-post-racial-america%2F&psig=AOvVaw2HxYGvyyM8KWBgSjVhg0d4&ust=1551305482097980

Reference:

The Myth of Post Racial America [Digital image]. (2014, March 5). Retrieved February 26, 2019, from https://popularresistance.org/the-myth-of-a-post-racial-america/

Blog Entry:

 
              In today’s lecture, we discussed about Hmong religion specifically that of the role of the shaman. It was discussed that many are embarrassed or turned off about discussing their religion, because of the racism or derogatory things that come with practicing this kind of religion. This is due the anomaly of the such a religion within American culture. This is also discussed within the reading of ‘Patterns of Prejudice’. When Barack Obama was elected to presidency, some claim that a ‘Post-racial America’. In my opinion, I do not believe this, because racism and other problems that stem from it have been going on for hundreds of years. The first president of color is not going to stop this. I agree with the article that I have attached to the visual addition that post racial America is a myth. If post-racial America did exist, then Hmong children wouldn’t be embarrassed to practice or discuss their faith and traditions. However in lecture today, this was obviously not the case, because a majority of America culture is logic based. Religion with shaman, spirits, and rituals all does not make sense within American culture thinking. Post racial America doesn’t exist. It’s sad to say, but racism is very engrained into the American mindset.

PreScreening Review Group 1 by Julia Wells, Lucero Hernandez, Aparna Komarla

Our Critique:
- the statistics displayed at the ends of the video needs to be a bit longer to allow the audience to read it
- the message is clear and concise : mental illness
- nice footage and editing and transitions executed nicely
- music was adequate and added a realness to the scenario
- suggestion: the argument between mom and son could have potential dialogue to enhance the message/make the message more clear
-  suggestion: showing a clip of the phone being unanswered to show that the friend was worried about his well-being and not being FAKE
- suggestion: have a clip that shows parent being supportive towards the son to convey the message even clearer
- Suggestion: The generational gap between a parent and child affects how parents understand and interpret mental illness in their children. Although a parent might love their child deeply, they might not be fully aware of how to support them. It would be hear a detailed analysis on this dynamic, and how it unravels between the mother and son in the scene.
- Suggestion: The statistics in the end are powerful, however, it would be interesting to also analyze them through the lens of academia's tendency to pathologize Asian Americans (the theme Professor Valverde discussed in class).

Week 8_Christina Lukban_A02

This week the topics we are discussing are “Faith, Sexuality, and Mental Health: The Triple Taboo Topics.”
Being able to discuss and have readings on these topics in itself is extremely important, but also very rare.
Many Asian Americans face numerous hardships when it comes to dealing with these struggles and simply
talking about it within their own households, but why? We are fortunate to be able to learn about these topics
in class and giving people a greater understanding and awareness of validating their own feelings and
understanding that they are not alone in these struggles. But learning about these topics shouldn't be a privilege,
it should simply be a right for everyone. Many people are just unaware of what Asian-American communities
really deal with and this type of curriculum of learning about ourselves; our histories and our identities are an
important facet in understanding why we are the way we are and helps others understand us as well, even our
own families. In the reading Teaching Justice and Living Peace: Body, Sexuality, and Religious Education in
Asian-American Communities by Boyung Lee it really highlights how Asian-American communities are very
heterosexual-centered because of sexuality being tied to the church and old-fashioned traditions. Asian Americans
grow up very differently in comparison to the upbringings of their parents and this adds to the generational gap
of values between parents and their children. This adds to the struggle in understanding one another and the
oppression many of these minorities face when it comes to sexuality. Many old traditions and values of older
generations are ingrained in people such as our parents and a lot of the discrimination queer-identified
Asian-Americans are from our own families. Many of these children often have to suppress these part of their identities because of the fear of being disowned by people who are closed-minded and care about them, but this also adds to not only social struggles, but struggles within their own mental-health and accepting themselves.

Question: What is the best way informing our families and older generations about these topics?

References:

Lee, B. (2006). Teaching Justice and Living Peace: body, sexuality, and religious education in Asian-American communities. Religious Education.

Carney, M., & O'Connor, B. (2017, May 25). Taiwan becomes first Asian country to recognise same-sex marriage. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-25/taiwan-becomes-first-asian-country-to-recognise-gay-marriage/8557380

Week 8 - Tristan Kwik - A03

This week, I read the article Teaching Justice and Living Peace: Body, Sexuality, and Religious Education in Asian-American Communities written by Boyung Lee. In the first part of the article, Lee discusses the topic of sexuality within Asian-American communities. He describes it as a “null curriculum,” meaning that sexuality is a topic that is not talked about within Asian-American communities. In most Asian-American communities, it’s kept under wraps, especially by parents. Parents that find out their child is not heterosexual typically try to keep the news within their family and avoid bringing it up to extended family and others. In the case studies described in the articles, those that identify as homosexual are silenced by others, such as parents or the media. Because sexuality is such a taboo within the Asian-American community, they pretend that it does not exist at all. For instance, in the first case study, the father, who was a minister, refused to acknowledge the fact that his own son was gay. Instead, he made his son keep it a secret within their immediate family and pretend like the whole thing never even happened.

I find the second case study to be pretty interesting, as I have met many people who think the same way that the mother in the case does. The mother claims that she’ll always love her daughter even though she’s lesbian, but “she’ll always be unable to live a normal life and that she’ll always be viewed as an oddity in our society” (Lee 405). I think that the mother’s statement is conflicting in a sense because even though she says she loves her daughter, she can’t accept the fact that she’s lesbian because she lives in a world where straight people are considered normal. By already believing in this ideology, she ostracizes her own daughter and “dream[s] of the day when [her] loving daughter will change” (Lee 406).

Question: How can people, especially parents, ignore their children’s sexual identity, yet still claim to “love their child no matter what?”

References

Lee, B.  (2006.) Teaching Justice and Living Peace: Body, Sexuality, and Religious Education in Asian-American Communities.  Religious Education 101-3, 402-419.

Image from Canyon Vista Recovery Center

Week 8_Harry Kang_A01

Through reading the Fucked up by Haydock, I think her experience and thought mentioned in the article reveals a serious but normally being ignored issue in today’s society. In order to keep up with the times, more and more people keep seeking to be so called “normal.” However, few people realize that their understanding of being normal may actually not quite normal.

In Haydock’s article, she points out that by being normal, most people actually mean being alike to others. Like her parents or most of our parents, many people tend to define normal by their own experience, knowledge, or attitude. Even worse, they always want others to be their so called “normal” as well without realizing people are having different situations. They even come up with solutions to “help” fix those abnormal. Thereby, many people who are experiencing real mental or physical illness may be told normal and reject proper treatment. It is certainly not limited to middle age people, but it’s also spreading among youngsters. Admittedly, I would sometimes treat someone as abnormal as well just because he or she may have a different understanding or point of view to something than mine. Normal may be necessary to our society, but sometimes, abnormal is equally important. After all, it is those abnormal parts make you the unique you.

Question: how to unbiasedly define normal?

References:

Haydock, S. B. Fucked UP, I would always rather be abnormal than holistic: Nine micro-essays, p45-53.

Bruce, K. (2016). Normal Doesn’t Exist. https://www.theodysseyonline.com/normal-doesnt-exist. [Accessed Feb 24^th 2019]