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.

Yandong Zhang ASA2 A04 Week 10

After reading the article for the final week, “Conclusion: Academics Awaken: Power, Resistance, and Being Woke”, I find that it gives us a good summary of this book and our course. The author wrote that the goal is to make academia become free of racial discrimination and everyone has the same chance to seek knowledge and promotions. We want to be treated equally in academia. In the book, many people have talked that Asian Americans are facing discrimination and gender problems in academia. And many people choose to stay in silence. However, staying silent will not prevent others from wrong opinions. We should stand out and fight for ourselves. This is not a fight only for Asian Americans; this is a fight for all people with colors. Just like what has happened in recent days. Many people walk on the street to protest for George Floyd’s death. This is not the first time that people with colors face unequal treatments under police. We should protest for our rights. However, people also need to stay calm when they protest. Violence will only make the situation worse. What people need to do is acknowledging people the idea of equal treatment.

 

Question: why there has been much violence in the protest for this time and past?

Reference: 

Acevedo, N. (2020, May 30). Man fatally struck by FedEx truck during George Floyd protests in St. Louis. Retrieved from https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/man-fatally-struck-fedex-truck-during-george-floyd-protests-st-n1219701

Bowen Xu, A04, Week 10

Bowen Xu
ASA 002 A04
2020.05.31

During this semester, we read the book "Fight the Tower" in depth. This weekend's reading is more like a summary of the whole book, as well as the creators' original intention of their own creation and their understanding of "fight". The author mentions a core point that people must stay awakened and put this conscious resistance into action. The article reviews the author's central ideas and the people affected by this core idea. That is the Asian women, and all the persecuted scholars, which is the so-called "our people." The author lists many ways of struggle, such as literature and art, such as establishing a typical image and fighting with various kinds of efforts To shape everyone into an affected community, and encourage people to substantively fight for injustice.


In my opinion, substantive struggle is still a very long process for Asians. The ethnic personality of Asians and their less urgent social status have left many people “unawakened.” But in fact, such resistance is ultimately decentralized and has no major effect. For example, the vast majority of asa 002 are Asian students, and the voice of Asian scholars is still selectively ignored by other races. On the other hand, it is precisely because of the spirit of resistance of the Blacks that the violent protests of the recent days have raised the influence of the race, making them more and more indisputable. Of course, I am not encouraging anti-social riots and attacks on civilians. I just think that sometimes we can learn a little bit about the practices and essence of other races in the civil rights movement, or maybe our situation can change a lot.

Reference

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.

Yidan Xu ASA 002 A04 Week 10

For the past ten weeks this quarter, we’ve been talking about the unfair and racial discrimination that Asian Americans face mostly in academia. However, those problems and inequality are not only happening in academia but also in many parts of people's life. All the videos we have watched, all the guest speakers' talking, and all the data and cases we have seen in the powerpoints opened a new world for me. Some of them shocked me and some made me mad and sad.
All these unfair treatments are what intensive people fight back. People have to fight the injustice and discrimination by calling it out, support each other, and gather together to stand out a place for themselves. Staying silent cannot change anything but lead to worse conditions. What we talked about doesn’t just apply to academia, it applies everywhere. Also, the discrimination between different-colored is only between whites and Asian Americans. Recently, something causes huge influence happened. Protests erupt for a sixth day across the US in over thirty cities because of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of a police officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. And up to yesterday, at least 40 cities have imposed curfews and National Guard members have been activated. This was not only about a man died due to the police's oppressive conduct. This brought up one of the most serious problems in US-Blacks and Whites. This is not about Asian American but similar racial discrimination we have to face.



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.

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-05-28/what-we-know-about-two-of-the-officers-caught-on-tape-in-the-death-of-george-floyd

Qi Chen A04 Week10

Qi Chen 

Week 11

ASA 004

 

                                  How Asians Fight for Their Right

This quarter 's ASA course came to an end with the outbreak of Coronavirus. From the beginning to the peak of the epidemic, we have witnessed how the epidemic, directly and indirectly, affects our life. What shocked me recently was the time when police brutality in Minnesota led to the death of the black. This incident has been fermented all over the United States, and even expanded to Canada, Britain, and other places. A large number of American citizens took to the streets to "uphold justice" for the black men who died miserably, especially the black people. They went to the streets to protest "for their own races" in this incident. In the outbreak stage of the world, only the United States has such cases. I can understand the angry behavior for the death of their compatriots, but I can't understand the purpose of such behavior at this special time. As more and more people gather on the streets, they will have a greater chance of contracting pneumonia, which will bring more difficulties to the medical community in the United States. It's controversial, not to mention the bad behavior of street protesters in setting the fire, looting supermarket goods, smashing glass, and attacking police. I want to discuss the importance of a race's voice for the sacrifice of a compatriot and the views of Asians on similar events.

In the conclusion of Fight the Tower, I recognize the saying "To die for one’s people is a great sacrifice. To live for one’s people, an even greater sacrifice. I choose to live for my people." In this case in Minnesota, I saw a lot of discussions among Asians. Many people have expressed that black people can obtain so many rights and respect in the short term in the United States because they dare to fight for rights in society, while Asians are still discriminated against and looked down upon for hundreds of years after immigrating to the United States. Whether this is because Asians are unwilling to fight for their own nation or sacrifice for their own. First of all, as an Asian, I don't think that's completely right, but it's not completely wrong. The Minnesota case is a chain event, which can not be explained in a single sentence. But when Asians encounter the same incidents, I don't think most people will choose violent protests. I believe that there will be protests and processions, and a large number of Asians will also make their voices heard in the media and professional fields, but the behavior is different from that of today's protests. Many people think that Asians are humble and law-abiding. In fact, I don't think this view is completely wrong, but it doesn't mean that Asians won't fight for the race, just that such a fight is not fierce. Nowadays, there are many Asians who are writing for their own race and making society pay attention to Asians. As the author of this book and its participants. But seeing this incident in Minnesota, and based on my observation of similar incidents. I have come to realize that a peaceful voice is always ignored. No other race would choose to read a book about Asian' unfair experiences, and few people from other races would come to listen to lectures about Asian American Studies. And then I can understand that black people fight for their own interests, which is effective from experience, but it undoubtedly destroys social order and makes many people sacrifice. It is painful and contradictory to acquire rights, and it is also very difficult and worth discussing to fight for our own nation.

Question: Do Asians have to be more aggressive to gain rights and respect more effective. 
 

Reference

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.370-377.

 

 

 

Yuanji Zhao Week 10 A03

Yuanji Zhao
Week 10 blog
A03



"I can't breath"- this are the most powerful words currently in United States. At the moment office Derek put his knee on George Floyd's neck, he wouldn't execpect to create one of the most miseable tragedy in American history. Since May 25, when George Floyd passed, there was a huge wave of protist in American society. Thousands of people are taking both peaceful and violent actions to send their voice towards mis-used power among the society. They not only express their anger on socail media, but march on the street to show how they feeled. Although what happen to Floyd triggered the whole thing, the protist now has already went beyond that. People wants to fight against the power which are used to loot them. They wants to fight for their basic rights as human beings. According to "Daily Show" host Trevor Noah, society is a form of contract. When people choose to obey the contract representing by following all the rules and laws, they are expecting the maker and the enforcer of these laws also follow it. However, what happen on May 25th is an absolute example about how some of the offical break the contract. Along with the development of the protist, it is possible there will be other violent events, maybe there is other people who will be harmed. From an objective point, this protist may not end up with a satisfying result, but I bilieve it will continue for a long time as the desire of most American towards equal and human rights will not be vanished quickly.
In the end, I think protists may not be the best way to conmmunicate with the goveronment if they will lead to harm or even death, but as long as the spirit of fighting for justice is still inside people's heart, everything can be done to accomplish this ultimate goal.

Reference

Matt Wilstein-"Trevor Noah: ‘Police In America Are Looting Black Bodies’"- May 29, 2020 - "https://www.thedailybeast.com/daily-show-host-trevor-noah-police-in-america-are-looting-black-bodies"

Itsumi Nagakura - Week 10 - A04

Reflections

It is hard to speak about Asian-American problems when so many Black Americans are scared for their lives. It feels like our problems are "not as bad" but then again, I realise that this is all a result of the hierarchy that has been constructed within People of Colour because of the model minority myth. I realise now, that it was privileged of me to say that protests should be peaceful and people should fight with love in the past because our Black peers can no longer afford to just "fight with love" because the police only treat them with violence. Especially in a time like this, I believe it is important for Asian-Americans to understand that the fact that they can go out and face the police without fearing for their lives, is because we are used as a wedge to undermine the rights of other racial minorities. Like in Conclusion: Academics Awaken: Power, Resistance, and Being Woke "We came to recognize that even the seemingly positive stereotypes of Asians as model minorities, by which we supposedly have free access to achievement and success, is a lie deliberately built over hundreds of years to construct a wedge between potential allies—not only between differently racialized groups of color but also between Asian American women ourselves."(Location 11065 on Kindle Version) We should be angry about what is happening because we are "privileged" from how we stand on our POC peers and we as spit out once institutions are done using us as a wedge.

If I were to explain things according to the title, I would say that for Asian-Americans in higher education the power is in the faculty and for Black Americans, it is in the police. Our resistance is against the institutions and our wokeness is to realise how we fit and play into the model minority myth while Black Americans have been woke to the racism they face every day. I see Asian-Americans complaining about how they wish people would be this angered when COVID-19 happened. While I understand their anger and cannot deny that a part of me feels the same way, I have to understand that we just simply don't get KILLED BY THE POLICE because of our skin colour. In fact, Asian/Pacific Islanders have a lower lifetime risk of being killed by the police than White people (Edwards, Lee, & Esposito, 2019).

Edwards, Lee, & Esposito, 2019

Now the fact that a graph like this needs to exist is beyond me. But you KNOW you are privileged/lucky if you are better than a white person. The model minority myth that labels us as sensible and obedient is in a way saving us but it labels our Black peers a violent as a consequence. Fearing for your life is no longer a race problem anymore, it is a human rights problem. We are fighting police brutality stemming from racism.

Payne, 2003

Works Cited

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. (Kindle Version) 

Edwards, Frank, Hedwig Lee, and Michael Esposito. “Risk of Being Killed by Police Use of Force in the United States by Age, Race–Ethnicity, and Sex.” PNAS. National Academy of Sciences, August 20, 2019. https://www.pnas.org/content/116/34/16793.

Payne, Roz. Yellow Peril Supports Black Power. Photograph. Oakland, California, n.d. The International Center of Photography. https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/objects/yellow-peril-supports-black-power-oakland-california