Week2_Van Nguyen_A04

Week 2
Van Nguyen
ASA 02
Section: A04

This reading of affirmative action has a close relationship with the Introduction to Fight The Tower we need to read for Week1 reading response. When this reading is about being accepted into high school and college and the higher bar for Asian American to be admitted in comparison to other races, and the other reading is to be able to work their way up as a professional in academia.

According to the reading, affirmative action has a history of itself and it has been reassured that no states and schools shall violate the equal protection clause. Starting in 1973, affirmative action was saved after multiple battles and there are still affirmative action took place in recent days. The most recent and biggest one is no other than the lawsuit against Harvard by Asian American (Students for Fair Admissions vs. Harvard) where Asian American applicants are discriminated by Harvard and it sets such a bar that is tougher for Asian American applicants to be admitted. For years, many Asian Americans have been convinced that it is harder for them to gain admission to the nation’s top colleges. As a 4^th year college student, this issue of academia discrimination against Asian American students or faculty are not hard to find. I experienced this myself where my SAT is 300 points higher than a Hispanic friend of mine, she did not contribute much to the school activities, not a lot of other significant extracurricular activities but she was admitted into one of the top schools and I was rejected. Moreover, as the discrimination progress, Asian Americans starting to refuse to accept their ethnic identity, by refusing to declare their ethnicity in college, grad school, or even job applications. Asian Americans are mostly not included in affirmative action program even though Asian Americans themselves belong to a minority, such that the affirmative action program hurts the hard-working and more-qualified Asian Americans, and give their spots to those who are more under-qualified because their race meets the requirement of affirmative action program.

Even though I am not white, but whenever I discussed issues I encountered in the US as an Asian, my white friend would so surprised due to the fact that they neither encounter those problems or they never need to think about it. There are a lot of privileges that white people take for granted but others need to fight for it themselves, and when they fight for it, they are marked as rebellious by those who take the privileges for granted. Even when talking about discrimination and being racist, it is more of White vs. Black frame work where Asian American are not mentioned. Due to the successful achievement that Asian Americans achieved in despite to a much smaller population ratio that people other than Asian Americans don’t think that there is discrimination towards the Asians.

-         - Chung Allred, N. (2007). Asian Americans and Affirmative Action: From Yellow Peril to Model Minority and Back  

                     Again. Asian American Law Journal at Berkeley Law,14. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.15779/Z38JS23.

-         - Lamarque, K. (2015, December 9). [A demonstrator holds a sign aloft as the affirmative action in university admissions 

                     case was being heard at the Supreme Court in Washington]. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-

                     news/supreme-court-upholds-affirmative-action-college-admissions-n582981