Week 1_Wesley Lee_Section A01

In Valverde's entry to the Seattle Journal for Social Justice, I found the social strata in which Asian Americans were broken down into similar to the exercise in class where we ranked Asian ethnicities from most represented to least represented. East Asians (Chinese, Korean, Japanese) were highest with Indian and Filipino following behind. Southeast Asians were the least represented. It makes me wonder whether the "Asian American" label is more harmful that helpful. I understand that there is strength in being a collective and we could achieve more when working together. It would be the same if Asian Americans, African Americans, and Latino Americans worked together and supported each other causes also. However, I know that when I think Asian American, the first image I have in my head is Chinese. I would imagine other non-Asian ethnicities might think similarly which might not benefit underrepresented Asian Americans. I have Southeast Asian friends who are also Muslim that I have witnessed having an especially difficult time explaining their backgrounds and getting accurate representation due to the intersectionality of their ethnicity and religious. A friend of mine has told me about movements to diversify the Asian American category so that underrepresented Asian Americans can identify themselves more accurately and I just wonder if that is the proper way of approaching the problem. Will we lose some of our collective power? Will it divide us?

References:

• Valverde, K.L.C. (2013). "Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia". Seattle J. Pham, H., & Pham, K.
• Data Disaggregation Resources. Retrieved from https://sites.ed.gov/aapi/aapi-data-disaggregation/