Week 10 - Carson Ho - A04

Carson Ho
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A04

While reading Academics Awaken: Power, Resistance and Being Woke, I felt the that the reading was the culmination of all the lessons we have learned in the lectures. In the beginning of the quarter, I only thought about the struggles that the Asian American community face in our general American society, but being this class has made me aware of Asian American issues within academia. I think the most important thing that I learned from this class was how systems of hierarchy are institutionally present in multiple settings. Particularly for academia, I've come to realize how the actions of the university and the people in charge do not do things for the sake of their students, but for the sake of keeping their own positions of power afloat. Such injustice reminds me of the video that we first watched in class about the UC Davis pepper spray incident. Despite peacefully standing up (or in this specific case, sitting down) and protesting against those in power, the university blatantly ignored the students' demands and students ultimately faced the consequences of opposing the power hierarchy. Even though reflecting upon the result of the pepper spray incident made me feel powerless as an individual, the article gave me a sense of hope in the fight against injustice and oppression. The specific quote that spoke out to me was "We learned collectively that taking no action certainly will result in no change. We learned that even our individual acts can have rippling effects. The numbers of the discontented, abused, and oppressed are already there, we just need to work, find our allies, build our coalitions and direct our grievances collectively." The pepper spray incident showed hope, as the large gathering and unification of students during that time showed that students are not content with the usual narratives that are given to them and that we demand justice. We, as students, are woke against the what the university feeds us, and we demand to be treated with respect.

?: What will it take for the university to truly listen to the demands of the students?

References

Dariotis, W. M & Valverde, K.L. "Academics Awaken: Power, Resistance and Being Woke."

Photo retrieved from: http://macleodcartoons.blogspot.com/2011/11/uc-davis-police-pepper-spray-and-its.html