Sunday, June 28, 2020

Emery Nguyen ASA 002 001 Week One


Coronavirus has showed the United States what late stage capitalism looks like. It has showed us that a world centered on corporations will not work. This profit-centralized system emphasizes profit over the livelihoods of humans. A system like that shouldn't exist. It puts the powerful elites, including the wealthy, at the very top of the hierarchy. It increases income inequality and makes it harder for people of color to be able to advance. It has shown that Asian Americans are "others." We went from the "model minority" to the yellow peril very quickly. In reality, we were never accepted as Americans since we are not white. We are the buffers between African Americans and white Americans. We do not have the white skin of white Americans and are not African Americans so they decided to use us as a buffer. Many Asian Americans found out the hard way that they don't belong. Many of us think we're doing great since we're doing well academically as well as career-wise. That couldn't be further from the truth. From microaggressions to straight-on racism, we found out that we don't belong and never will in this racial hierarchy that favors white people at the top, Asian Americans in the middle, and dark-skinned people at the bottom.

This course has already started to seem interesting. I really like courses that have discussions between students and teachers and tell the truth for what it is without sugarcoating things. I expect to do well in a course that is geared towards pointing out what we Asian Americans are facing right now. 

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