Week 10: Raylph Evangelista - A01

Raylph Evangelista

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A01

The article Academics Awaken: Power, Resistance and Being Woke can be seen as a summation of this Asian American Studies class as a whole. From the struggles of being an Asian American in the work force to the struggles of just being a part of the academia in America. It seems as though within these 10 weeks, I really have become a bit more woke towards these matters. There was a part of the article that really stood out to me, and that part reads "The more one group fights with another group, the more difficult it is for us to all come together...". The reason why this stands out to me is because it is applicable to many of the current problems in the world. One of the more related problems being the discrimination of people of color within the workforce. From these readings, it seems as though the recurring theme is that people who have been a part of academia for a while, tend to ostracize those who haven't. The problem is that the people, who are getting ostracized, don't come together and try to make a stand against the oppressors. I feel like people are less and less likely to make a stand when they see an individual getting attacked, so long as it isn't themselves. This, in my opinion, is terrible because instead of stopping it and making sure it happens again, some people definitely just turn a blind eye and act like everything is fine. I feel like the best way to counter this problem of oppression in the academic workplace is to include the people who they are educating, the students. If more students were aware of this problem, I am sure that this would not be a reoccurring theme in academia. In other words, I think that this problem can be addressed with people being "woke". I hope that in the future, there will be less and less of these problems, and I hope that we can all come together and take a stand against those that like to oppress others just because of their seniority. 

Question: If the academia catches on to these problems, why aren't they always being addressed?

References

Dariotis, W. M & Valverde, K.L. "Academics Awaken: Power, Resistance and Being Woke."

Kanakarathna, T. Authorities had not made any attempt to resolve Uni. non-academic strike: UTAJU. 9 April 2018, http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Authorities-had-not-made-any-attempt-to-resolve-Uni-non-academic-strike-UTAJU-148440.html. Accessed 10 Mar. 2019.