Week 8- Iris Wu

Iris Wu

Section A01

Week 8

In this week’s reading, “What Asian Americans Are Bringing to Campus Movements for Racial Justice,” Mark Tseng Putterman brought up the fact that there are not enough numbers of Asian American students standing out and being active about the ongoing political and racism issues, despite them being the majority in the society or on campus. On the other hand, he pointed out the lack of solidarity of the “model minority” groups. He stated that it is essential to hold a rally with other groups of colors, such as black and Latino.

I believe Putterman’s statements are more than true, especially when they apply to UC Davis. In UC Davis, Asian Americans take up the largest percentage of student population, but are obviously participating in a lot fewer activist scenes compared to other color or race groups. I believe the built-in and cultural personality, being shy and afraid to speak up or express oneself, of most Asians is one of the main reasons. Therefore, being able to gather more Asian Americans to participate in ongoing activism is a main issue. However, the second idea Putterman brought up can act as a solution. He encouraged the cooperation and alliance of Asian Americans and other ethnic groups, which I agree to be helpful for both sides, since us model minority groups are often pursuing a same goal of equal rights on various political topics.

Question: How can we gather more Asian Americans to participate in campus movements?

Reference:

1. Putterman, M.T. (2016, February 1). What Asian Americans Are Bringing to Campus Movements for Racial Justice. Retrieved from https://www.racefiles.com/2016/02/01/what-asian-americans-are-bringing-to-campus-movements-for-racial-justice/

2. Making and Unmaking the Asian American Movement. (2016, December 09). Retrieved May 21, 2017, from http://aaww.org/asian-american-movement/