Matthew Ko ASA 002 A01 week 4

In the poem, "Who Killed Soek-Fang Sim?" written by Professor Wang Ping, it describes how the narrator's treatment as a professor is similar to that of Soek-Fang Sim, who was a Singaporean-Chinese scholar who faced unjust discrimination during her time teaching as a professor. Ping goes on saying how she, just like Sim, is constantly criticized by her peers and college that she is "not good enough" and is viewed as just another "Dumb teacher, dumb scholar, dumb woman" because of her "yellow face and a funny accent." I was frustrated when I read how Ping compared the racial slander as a "gas chamber" because it shows that no matter how hard an Asian American scholar tries to appeal to the colleagues or university- even if  she or he has PH.D's, published books, awards, or good student evaluations-they will never be treated with respect. This indication of an ongoing battle for Asian American women to get recognition and respect from their peers show that much work needs to be done in order to get rid of this stigma placed on female minorities.

I believe this poem is very important because it brings light into the issue of Asian Americans being discriminated in the workplace. Before reading this poem and the ones before, I had no idea it was possible for Asian Americans to be discriminated in an academic setting because Asian Americans are stigmatized as being the smartest individuals-even smarter than the whites-and so I thought that it was to the Asian Americans' advantage in the work field. However, after reading this poem, I now realize that they are stigmatized that way so society can eventually keep raising the standards for Asian Americans until it is nearly impossible to reach that standard. This is a strategic move that allow society to take advantage of Asian Americans and over work them. Statements that I personally have heard--such as "Come one, you are Asian, you can score better!" or "No big deal, you are Asian. That 100 % on the Math test is normal for you."--is proof that standards are purposely raised up for me so I can constantly fail to reach them and think that I am never good enough, similarly to what Professor Ping described in her poem.

One question that I have is: What are steps we as an Asian American community can do to get rid of this poisonous mindset that we are not good enough and to make aware of our battle to those who may not know about the struggles we face?



Reference:

Fight the Tower: Asian American Women Scholars' Resistance and Renewal in the Academy, by 

     Kieu-Linh Caroline Valverde and Wei Ming Dariotis, Rutgers University Press, 2020, pp. 77-82.

Tran, Haley (2019) "It’s “A”sian not “B”sian" [Photograph] Retrieved from
https://medium.com/@myhanhtran_45511/its-a-sian-not-b-sian-growing-up-having-asian-parents-6a9be516853d