Week 4 Blog

Nadya Saptono A01

This week we were assigned to read a poem, “Who Killed Soek-Fang Sim?”. The poem was very touching and you could the pain and struggles of the poet. I tried to find more context to the poem so that I would understand it better, I found a few news articles which clarified the background for this poem. It seems to be pretty major move on our part, but there is very few news coverages. This further emphasizes how women of color are treated and very often we are regarded as unimportant. It is a sad reality that we have to work twice as hard just to be considered good enough. 

The tenure and heartbreak that have contributed to the cancer progression which has taken Soek Fang Sim’s life, are sadly not unique to her. The pressures from academia have taken down not only the physical wellbeing of many women of color but also their mental health. Just as how our own Professor Valverde has suffered the impact first hand. As a society, we need to do better in actively stopping ourselves to succumb and rely on stereotypes that we have held on for too long. We have to be the ones who break the cycle. Before many more pay the price.

Question: How can we as a society make an effort to break the cycle of racism?

References:

https://www.istockphoto.com/photo/asian-women-patient-on-wheelchair-and-she-is-headache-at-a-hospital-gm1080604844-289679580

Valverde, K.-L. C., & Dariotis, W. M. (2020). Fight the tower: Asian American women scholars resistance and renewal in the academy, “Killing Machine: Exposing the Health Threats to Asian American Women Scholars in Academia”. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Won, M. (2007, November 6). Former professor Sim, 'a true original,' dies at 35.

Retrieved from https://themacweekly.com/62231/archive/former-professor-sim-a-true-

original-dies-at-35/