Week 8 - Yuanxin Zhang

Yuanxin Zhang
Section A01
Week 08

The article “What Asian Americans Are Bringing to Campus Movements for Racial Justice” mentions that Asian Americans witness and support the “Black Life Matters” movement, but they do not fight for their own rights like Black people do. I think this might have to do with the Asian culture. As a Chinese, I want to take China as the example. Back to the Ancient China, civilians who tried to rebel or question the system would receive harsh penalty on themselves and their families. Some poets at that time wrote poems and essays to criticize the emperor and the system; however, they have to write the artwork in a very obscure way, so as to avoid receiving penalty from the emperor. In the modern society, the freedom of speech is still limited. We are taught by the parents that do not publicly say or spread the rumor against the government, and we do see that those rumor would be blocked on the social media in China. As a result, our culture limits our intention to rebel or start a movement for equal rights. I still believe that more people will stand out to seek for the equal rights, but I think there is a long way to go. Another inspiration I got from this article is that enhancing the culture foundation of Asian American students is very important. Having ASA class on campus is definitely a good way to let more Asian American students have deeper understanding of their culture identity and probably get more sense of belonging.

Question:

What are some other ways to let Asian American students have a deeper understanding of their culture identity?

Reference:

Putterman, M. T. (2016). What Asian Americans Are Bringing to Campus Movements for Racial Justice. Race Files.

[Digital Image]. (n.d). Retrieved from https://libwww.freelibrary.org/explore/topic/asian-americans