Emery Nguyen ASA 002 001 Week Two

Some see fear as something that should not be used. Some see it as a weapon. For the those oppressed, it's used to keep us in line. It prevents us from saying anything because we're scared something will happen to us. It's worrying that Asian American women are having trouble being promoted to tenure when many of them do so well in their research and teaching. The problem is that they can't speak out if they're discriminated due to racism and sexism for fear of reprisal. This creates a vicious cycle where Asian American women are forced to keep their heads down and work hard which perpetuates the "model minority" stereotype which paints them as nothing more than a hardworking, quiet minority. Even worst is that many people don't realize that this is happening right now. It isn't in the media so few of us even know about this. The corporatization of college is troubling as well. College should be a place where you can find your interests and learn life skills. Instead, it's a place where you go to take classes to prepare for a job as just another worker. The social engineering of us may seem like a conspiracy, but it isn't. It's labeled as such by those who benefit from the system, mainly white Americans and the wealthy. Many of us think of ourselves as the "model minority." This is a problem because we're accepting what label white America has put onto us. We should be free to create a name to define us as a whole. The concept of model minority has been used to divide us from our other allies, the other minorities. We should be sticking together, not fighting each other.

References: http://blog.angryasianman.com/2016/05/dartmouth-community-speaks-out-after.html

Emery Nguyen ASA 002 001 Week One

Coronavirus has showed the United States what late stage capitalism looks like. It has showed us that a world centered on corporations will not work. This profit-centralized system emphasizes profit over the livelihoods of humans. A system like that shouldn't exist. It puts the powerful elites, including the wealthy, at the very top of the hierarchy. It increases income inequality and makes it harder for people of color to be able to advance. It has shown that Asian Americans are "others." We went from the "model minority" to the yellow peril very quickly. In reality, we were never accepted as Americans since we are not white. We are the buffers between African Americans and white Americans. We do not have the white skin of white Americans and are not African Americans so they decided to use us as a buffer. Many Asian Americans found out the hard way that they don't belong. Many of us think we're doing great since we're doing well academically as well as career-wise. That couldn't be further from the truth. From microaggressions to straight-on racism, we found out that we don't belong and never will in this racial hierarchy that favors white people at the top, Asian Americans in the middle, and dark-skinned people at the bottom.

This course has already started to seem interesting. I really like courses that have discussions between students and teachers and tell the truth for what it is without sugarcoating things. I expect to do well in a course that is geared towards pointing out what we Asian Americans are facing right now. 

References: https://time.com/5797836/coronavirus-racism-stereotypes-attacks/

Qi Chen ASA002 001 Week1 Blog

Topic: Reflection of Coronavirus and expectations for the course

Starting from the initial burst of Covid-19, the trends of the news have changed a lot. From purely the reports of rates of infections, death, and recovery to the policies, racial hates and something that are not quite related to the coronavirus, the news is all connected to the virus with all the different voices oversea. The coronavirus was firstly reported in Wuhan, China, and the source of infections was initially detected to be the bats. As investigations became deeper, the source of infection was determined to be Paguma larvata. However, as the source being revealed, the country of origin became skeptical. Many countries proposed differently with their evidence that also lead to international “conflict” with all the adverse news and voices to those countries. With all the overwhelming news, what should we believe? As a person who is curious about the facts, I discovered that when people post their comments or make their proposals on platforms like social media, some of them exist a kind of behaviors that are referred to as the concept, “unconscious bias,” in the textbook. The “unconscious bias” refers to a phenomenon in which “dominant group members” unconsciously favor their own group, which means that many people post comments unintentionally based on the evidence from their own countries. Those comments also potentially induce national hates and even racial hates. Furthermore, with the requests of wearing masks coming out, the hates and conflicts became even worse, especially for Asians (Americans) in the US, some people start to use violence and insult them even on campus. After the requests became accepted in the US, Asians are seemed to be “treated” better, but without much news, it is still hard to tell if the condition has become better or not.

Here is an example of a skeptical claim about the country of origin of COVID_19:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=28&v=9DhV-1LDmp4&feature=emb_logo

 

 

 

Reference:

Valverde, K. C., & Dariotis, W. M. (2020). Fight the tower: Asian American women scholars

resistance and renewal in the academy. New Brunswick, Camden, and Newark, New Jersey, and London, Rutgers University Press.

 

Peter Beaumont (2020), “Where did Covid-19 come from? What we know about its origins,”the    Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/01/could-covid-19-be-manmade what-        we-know-about-origins-trump-chinese-lab-coronavirus

Yuwei Wang ASA 002 001 Week 1 Blog

As a Chinese international student, I have a lot of experiences on how Asian People are living in the Covid-19 situation. Covid-19 was first detected in Wuhan, a big city with more than ten million people. After the danger of the virus was reported, the government of China responded with polices to keep people from intense social activities, as well as several centered medical facilities to support the cure on the infected individuals. This year, Chinese people had a memorable Chinese New Year, in their own houses but not getting together to reduce the risk of infections due to social contacts. As Chinese students studying in the US, lots of Chinese students like me also did a lot to support our families, such as making donations and sending materials for self-protection against the virus. After the outbreak, people paid a lot of effort to stop the spread of the virus.

However, nowadays, the virus has already spread to many countries around the world. Resisting the spread of coronavirus has already became the responsibility of the whole world. But sadly, at least in the US, some of the people refuse to take this responsibility and blame Asian, as well as Asian Americans, for the happening of all those stuffs; and of course, some of them still don’t wear masks until today. This volatility towards Asian faces results in violence: except the body violence we often see in news, but what is more common is language violence, happening anywhere. Here is an excerpt from an article I saw on the internet.

Jay Koo is a simple Asian American living in New York. On March 24, after dropping his brother in the hospital, he found that he was followed by two men. They yelled to him: “You got the virus. We have to kill you.” Luckily, he finally escaped by protecting himself and doing fake-coughing. Koo thinks the hidden reason of this incident is the “weak and nonconfrontational” stereotype on Asians, and when he describes the detail on the behaviors of the two men, he says: “The men acted out of reflex in quoting President Donald Trump and Stated that I have the ‘Chinese virus’, which propped up the Chinese as the scapegoat.” (Kambhampaty & Sakaguchi, 2020)

Note that Koo mentioned “stereotype” and “President Donald Trump.” When the word “stereotype” is used, it means this impression is kept for years, or even centuries. In the course professor mentioned the history of how Asian people were discriminated throughout history. When the first Asian immigrants came to America, their home country maybe still undeveloped, and maybe this is the reason why they are discriminated at that time. But time changes. Through the history from late 19^th century to now, we can see the dramatic change- or development- of Asian countries, China, Japan, South Korea, and more. More people became educated, and they began to know more about the “outer world”. And indeed, it can be hard for those Asian faces to accept the traditions in the US, but at least they are different from maybe 100 years ago. But some of the people fail to see those changes as those Asian faces accommodating better to the life in US, passing those old thoughts, which has finally became racism and discrimination for those “weak” minority, to the younger generations. Political leaders, especially the president, have the responsibility to guide people, but obviously this time the President put the guidelight into a wrong path of stereotype and discrimination. Guidelights are needed, and the one who provides the guidelight can be Asian American themselves. I read Fight the Tower by Kieu Linh Caroline Valverde and Wei Ming Dariotis. In the prologue of that book, the “misguided stereotype” is also mentioned: Asian Americans were often identified as “successful hard workers and achievers” as well as “quiet and docile people”, as a result, their rights as a citizen are harassed. (Valverde & Dariotis, 2020) That is remarkably similar to what Koo has experienced. Also, in search of the correct guidelight, the author used the college examples to illustrate how Asian Americans had their contribution, but being mistreated, then bravely called the oppressed to resist. There was an old saying, a college is a mini society. Begin from college, if Asian American people starts to fight against the stereotype, I believe the guidelight can be brighter and brighter to change the whole society.

People resisting racism on Asian Americans in the Chinatown of San Francisco.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/we-have-been-through-this-before-why-anti-asian-hate-crimes-are-rising-amid-coronavirus

References

Valverde, K.-L. C., & Dariotis, W. M. (2020). Fight the tower: Asian American women scholars resistance and renewal in the academy. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.

Kambhampaty, P. A. & Sakaguchi, Haruka. (2020). 'I Will Not Stand Silent.' 10 Asian Americans Reflect on Racism During the Pandemic and the Need for Equality. https://time.com/5858649/racism-coronavirus/

Yuwei Wang ASA 002 001 Week 2 Blog

Today I continued to read “Fight the Tower” by Valverde and Dariotis. In the chapters I read today, the author describes the unfair things experienced by Asian American People. While talking about this issue, it is easy for us to think about the famous Harvard University lawsuit happening last year: Asian Americans with high grades and many activities are waitlisted and finally failed to enter the university because of their race. Sadly, this is not a single example.



  This is a chart of the different college admission rate in different SAT ranges of four major race in the US: White, Black, Hispanic and Asian. Surprisingly, Black was the race with higher admission rate in most SAT ranges, then followed Hispanic, when the SAT score exceeds 1200, its admission rate even exceeds the white. The results made me think of a case I read in the news. A boy from India had an interview of a college, then he was rejected. But after that, he used his dark skin color to pretend as a black international student, while all other factors remained the same (of course, not the same, but not better than the previous attempt). This time, he was admitted. This is enough to reveal this issue. But why Asian faces often had low admission rate?

  Still, stereotype. According to Valverde and Dariotis, Asian Americans are falsely perceived as “passive and without the desire, ability, or resources to advocate for themselves”. (Valverde&Dariotis, 2020) This somewhat “weak” stereotype makes their single voice muted by others, carrying the bad endings themselves. But what about multiple voices? In the book, Valverde has started “Fight the Tower” campaign, in which calls Asian American people to resist. I really appreciate the courage in the raiser and her member’s soul. I believe the situation will be far better with the campaign being raised.



References

1.      Supiano, Beckie. "Asian Applicants Wonder about Higher Admissions Bar: Is Admissions Tougher on Asians?" The Chronicle of Higher Education (2012): The Chronicle of Higher Education, 17 December 2012. Web.

2.      Espenshade, Thomas J., Chang Young. Chung, and Alexandria Walton Radford. No Longer Separate, Not Yet Equal Race and Class in Elite College Admission and Campus Life (2009). Web.

Valverde, Kieu-Linh Caroline, and Wei Ming Dariotis. Fight the Tower: Asian American Women Scholars' Resistance and Renewal in the Academy. 2020. Prin

Mattia Sayson ASA 002 A02 Week 10

While this week's reading was mainly a recap of the overall text with a "call to action" for readers with this new understanding of Asian American scholars in academia, it really reiterated the importance of education with ethnic studies/Asian American studies. The idea of "wokeness" that Asian American scholars in this text are especially familiar with, is necessary for many of the youth now. "Staying woke" in the sense that one's knowledge is transformed into action to support those whose voices have been repressed and oppressed is a feeling that I think many are going through in light of what's been happening. This process of unlearning and learning of the systems of oppression and communities of color that continue to struggle with all the "-ism's" such as racism, classism, and sexism is evident now. While this emphasis is especially prominent in society, many need to understand that this is a concurrent issue. This will continue to be an issue when no one is posting about it. However, we should never go back to sleep. We should continue posting and spreading awareness. How we critically analyze and deconstruct these institutions and systems should continue for the rest of our lives because it will affect how we see and live those lives. As a student of color in higher education, this gives me the opportunity to learn and unlearn as well as educate those who need guidance during this process. I am also aware of the university as an institution, which was heavily discussed in this week's reading. I feel these academic pressures especially when I am frustrated with pain and a heavy heart for those who are especially suffering right now. I continue to have these conversations with interpersonal circles because these conversations need to always happen.

References:
Valverde, K.-L. C., & Dariotis, W. M. (2020). Fight the tower: Asian American women scholars resistance and renewal in the academy. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, pp.369-380.
Image:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pri.org%2Fstories%2F2016-02-23%2Fdespite-their-history-japanese-americans-and-african-americans-are-working&psig=AOvVaw3m-e5OabdYOypW2bDPR3Yq&ust=1591159276681000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCMjZncyo4ukCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

Frank Sang A04 Week10

From the last week's reading "Conclusion: Academics Awaken: Power, Resistance, and Being Woke", I am informed that the reason for fighting back is that the current system has been broken, and we as victims have to right to repair it. Besides the academic injustice and unfairness that are being discussed throughout the entire quarter, what I wish to tell about is the protest that occurs recently in the US. First of all, it is people's right to have a protest in order to solve some problems that the minority is not able to solve. However, what we can see from this protest in many cities is that some people are rubbing and grabbing items from stores illegally, and they call it to protest. We have to admit that color-discrimination is definitely a wrong thing, and we should let equality exist in our society. In addition, what we more need to consider is that if this type of protest should be supported without management. crimes should not be covered by this so-called activity, and we as people in society should be able to find what is the proper way to express ourselves and fight for the justice. For those negative parts, what the government and we should do to avoid such tragedy how to educate people on how to face and treat justice in a better way.

Question: is there any limitation for a proper protest?

Dakss, B. (2020, June 1). U.S. braces for more unrest as Trump berates "weak" governors. Retrieved from https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/george-floyd-death-protests-unrest-disorder-2020-06-01/

Yidi Chen A02 Week 10

This week, after reading the whole book, fight the tower, I feel deeply about how Asian American women have been through all those racism and inequality. Racism is a really big problem in American, not only happened in Asian, but also happened on black people. How can you believe that the death of a black American sparked protests in 140 cities and even protested by James and Jordan. Protests against white police brutality spread from Minnesota to dozens of states across the United States after a video emerged on May 25 showing an African-American man, George Floyd, being "knee-locked" to death by a white police officer. Protests against racism and police brutality have broken out in at least 140 cities across the United States, according to the New York times. Some of the demonstrations have turned into riots, prompting the use of the national guard in at least 21 states.