Zoua Vang - ASA 2 Sec. A02 - Week 8

Zoua Vang

ASA 2 Sec. A02

Week 8 Theme: Student Activism

In “What Asian Americans are Bringing to Campus Movements for Racial Justice,” Mark Tseng Putterman highlights how Asian Americans place in the United States race relations.  Asian americans have faced discrimination throughout history and you see their activism transition from “Yellow Peril supports Black Power” to APIs4BlackLives.  Asian americans are in a way left out of the race relations because there is an agenda to focus on race relations as a black-and-white issue.  Asian americans are rising in their student activism.  Putterman points out that even though there is an increase of student activism, the institutions students of color attend “lack a sense of safety, support and belonging on their campus.” “For many students of color, building names that honor racist historical figures, racialized slights from peers and faculty, and a lack of black and brown faces at the front of the classroom—and behind the desks of top administrators—create a clear message: these spaces were never meant for them.”  This message creates a lack of support for students, thus also making it more difficult for them to participate or lead activities of student activism.  

Image:

Question: How should we fight against the institutionalized student activism, termed from Do & Deloso?

References:

• Leslie Do and Shannon Deloso. “Precariously Positioned: Asian American Women Students Negotiating Power in Academic Wonderland.”
• Conor Friedersdorf. “UC Davis Students Demand the Ouster of their Chancellor.”
• Mark Tseng Putterman. “What Asian Americans Are Bringing to Campus Movements for Racial Justice”
• http://www.wazzuppilipinas.com/2013/08/student-activisms-asserting-their.html