Week 1 - Angela Kang

Angela Kang

ASA 02- A02

Week 1

After reading the article “Fight the Tower: A call to Action for Women of Color in Academia”, by Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde, I was saddened to hear all the discrimination she went through due to her color. Although Valverde had the same potential and qualities her fellow coworkers had, she was still treated as though she was considered less than the rest of them. As fellow educators, Valverde’s co workers should have treated Valverde with the same respect they enforce on their students. If educators treat other people like this, how are the students suppose to learn from them? Throughout the reading I was continuously shocked by the treatment Valverde experienced. However one in particular that was horrifying to read was the discouragement of receiving help for her ADHD. It is always hard to come forward in asking for help but for it to immediately get dismissed is heartbreaking. Society often tries to enforce people with disabilities to come forward and not be ashamed of who they are, but the situation Valverde was placed in contradicts to what we were taught. After giving birth to her second child, Valverde was denied any additional extension due to the fact that she already had an extension due to her disability. Being a parent should not have limitations due to a disability. The outcomes of these same circumstances may have been different if Valverde wasn’t a person of color. In the end, the color of our skin tone should not define who we are and how we are treated. Valverde had every right to be treated fair and have the same respect as everyone else.

Question: Why does the color of our skin tone define us and overpower our qualities as a person when we are all one human race?

Resources:

Welcome to Website5.Com, www.website5.com/TFTDcolorbook.htm

Valverde,K., (2013). "Fight the Tower: A call to Action for Women in Academia", 12(2), 367-419. Retrieved October 1, 2017