Week1_Xiao Zhang_Section 3

As globalization progresses in modern society, the USA cultures are getting much more diverse. At the same time, USA society is becoming more and more inclusive too. However, It is hard to believe that implicit biases and even racial discrimination was so intense and pervasive not long ago. When I read those harsh experiences Prof. Valverde had gone through in her writing Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia, I felt so sad and sorry for her. Meanwhile, I came to realize that it was those like her who bravely spoke out their experience of discrimination and fight for racial and gender equity that ensured us a much more racially society today than the one decades ago. I quite like the lecture theme this week, which talked about the definition of race and ethnicity and some historical stories about race.

I found this reading to be a very helpful supplemental learning material to the content of lectures. Professor Valverde writes specifically about how she was treated in her workplace – no matter it is about isolation, unfair doubt in regard of her capacities and moralities from her coworkers or leaders, or even the conflicts within same Asian American groups, she was seriously unfairly treated and harmed. But I felt so empowered and encouraged when I read that she choose to stand up, to gain support from those who shares same belief of equity and to fight against the tower. It is definitely not easy, but she was not alone. I still remember that I was seriously looked down upon by a professor in one of my writing class just because of my accent of English. I felt powerless and unsupported at that time. However, just like the theme of peace and freedom in this reading, I believe this class would definitely help me understand more about where the bias come from and how to mitigate it in a right way.

Question: What exactly makes the discrimination among Asian groups happen? And when usually would such kind of discrimination happen?
References:
Valverde, K.L.C. (2013). Fight the Tower: A Call to Action for Women of Color in Academia.
Love and Peace(2013) retrieved from https://firstrealize.wordpress.com/2013/11/01/love-and-peace/