Week 10 - Adriana Goracci A01

The article " “The Time to Fight is Now”: When Asian American Women in Academia Go Rogue" by UC Davis professor Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde and San Francisco State University professor Wei Ming Dariotis addresses the rising crisis of today’s educational system by reframing academia as a workplace with labor and civil right abuses rather than the most prevailing representation of it as an intellectual discourse creating thoughtful members of society. Through the personal experiences of model women who fought not only against the racial discriminations but also for the gender barriers that segregate women of color from the rest of the society, the authors are able to convey and expand the understanding of labor issues, systemic oppression and structural injustices in academia.

I agree with the author's statement that no matter the effort and struggles one puts into working and dedicating time for the academia, achieving prestigious positions and obtaining prizes, if the people who hold the power don’t want to reward you, they will create extra difficulties and make it impossible for the person in question. This creates an unfairness between the way people are treated. In order to obtain the same prize, people of color are forced to work double or even triple the amount of a regular caucasian male, who is not discriminated. As we see in the personal examples provided in the article, in the case of a woman of color working in the field, chances to obtain the same recognitions are nearly impossible without a conflict and some sort of confrontation that puts not only the carreer at risk but also the reputation, the friendships and as seen in the case of professor Valverde, the health of one’s.

Question: I wonder when this discrimination against people of color but most specifically women of color will cease and how the world would benefit from fullfilled potentials. However, if in someway we would be able to erase discrimination, will it end forever or just temporarily? Is discrimination of people such as racism or gender discrimination something that is genetically installed within us and just worsen with social interaction or is there a possible way to completely terminate social injustices?

References:

• Valverde, Kieu-Linh Caroline, and Wei Ming Dariotis. “The Time to Fight Is Now”: When Asian American Women in Academia Go Rogue.

• “Inequality Cartoons and Comics.” Inequality Cartoons and Comics - Funny Pictures from CartoonStock, www.cartoonstock.com/directory/i/inequality.asp.