Week 1-Tao Zheng-Section #3

Through readings of week 1, I was able to understand the corporatization of education and was inspired to "fight the tower". In the article, "Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia,"  Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde shared the story of her tenure battle and her experience from a confident scholar to a weakened one. As a mother, she lost one of her child during the tenure battle, and nearly died. Then she called for action and provided several suggestions including "self-care, recognizing you're not alone, telling your story, making alliances, learning your rights, and fighting the tower (Valverde, K.L.C., 2013)." Before reading this article, I didn't realize the odious environment of academia for women in color. One interesting concept explained in the article, "Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia," is presumed incompetency. Entering the academia, Asian Americans, as the target of bullying, harassment, and dismissal. are presumed to be incompetent and undereducated, in turns denied advancement. 
In the first lecture, the professor showed us the video of Pepper Spray from different perspectives. Although the students under attack are not all Asian Americans, they were standing in an inferior position against the polices just like Asian Americans' social status in the America society. Both stories are trying to point out the necessity to speak up and fight for oneself. I think the theme for this week should be "empowerment". As of today, the Asian Americans community are growing, and as more of them is empowered, speaks up, and fight for the common cause to end discrimination, the situation would be better in the future. One question I have for the reading is that what can individual Asian American woman do to fight the tower and inspire others to do so. 

References:
Valverde, K.L.C. (2013). Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia.
Liou, Alice. (2018). Model Minority Mutiny: Whiteness is a Plague. Retrieved from: http://aapr.hkspublications.org/2018/10/11/model-minority-mutiny-whiteness-is-a-plague/