Author: Louis Sanchez

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1L5de5_82-gMVQ_FOhRY9s2o2lacsColWmsI4kiMFBIc/edit?usp=sharing

 

1. So according to the readings, “Excerpt of Prashad The karma of brown folk” & “The racial triangulation of Asian America”, The term “Model Minority” first came about in 1969, when the United States was planning on extending their resources and looking for the best people when it came to science & technology. The United States was mainly focused on hiring people from foreign country that had high degrees of education such as technology & science, specifically ones from Asian America. Many people felt as if this was a way for the United States to try and prove to everyone that they’re not racist & actually accept everyone no matter where you are from.  In reality the United States did not realize that while they’re trying to prove to everyone around the world that they are not a racist country by hiring asian Americans & stereotyping them to the point where Asian people are the smartest people in the world, they were actually making it seem as if you were not asian American then you were not smart enough to do this specific task. To sum it up, this is what lead to the comparison of the “elite immigrants” to the rest of the minorities that existed, which unfortunately lead to the citizens of the United States discriminating other groups of minorities and ethnicities simply because you did not have any of the terms that the “Elite immigrants” had. It’s sad that till this exact day, no matter how much it gets called out, racism and discrimination still exist.
2. There has been many ways the myth of “Model minorities” have been challenged especially a man named “Zhao” wrote a book going into details on how Asian Americans were judged by the level of success they had achieved throughout their life. So is this saying that if I was an asian American but was not at the level of the next person when it came to education, that I am a failure? that is ridiculous honestly. On top of that, Hasan Minhaj went on to show how many asians Americans were not even being accepted to big Ivy League schools such as Harvard. Statistically he stated Asian Americans only took up 22% of it’s members which shows a clear bias to the term “Elite immigrants” & “Model Minorities”. It is honestly unfair the fact that stereotypes are created towards people, when all this causes is discrimination and hate.

1.What I honestly realized about the reading & video I had to review was the fact that it actually reminded me of basically what still goes on in a day by day basis. So what do I mean by this? well it went on to show that if you’re not part of the caucasian race you will definitely be treated as an outsider. This leads to violence and of course racism which sadly still goes in till this day. One thing I did learn though was the fact that European immigrants actually had it easier than asians while trying to become citizens, in a way which made them feel privileged. On the other hand, there were precautions  taken when it came to Asians trying to become Citizens, such as forcing them to fill out a loyalty questionnaire. Unfortunately just because the United States was afraid of the foreign government, it lead to them being paranoid and treating other races as if they were a risk factor. I guess this is what lead to many other immigrants,  not just asians, trying to act the same way as the “usual” American behaves, which ended up starting a lot of argument and violence. For example Ozawa had to act like an American and prove he had no relations with any time of asian organization so that the court would actually take his side which is so unfortunate.

2. In this day and age I guess the definition of a citizenship in the United States is to be rich and caucasian. I say this because I realized if these two terms do not apply to you, you’re automatically treated different, by people, businesses, the police, and even Schools. A clear representation of this is just look at how cops treat minorities in less fortunate places, compared to the way cops treat other people In the suburbs. This is why I say, the more money you have, basically determines your position in the united states unfortunately. Personally I believe being a citizen should be defined as how hard working you are, not only for yourself & for your family but for the community. Does not matter the race or gender of which you are, everyone should be treated equally and given the same opportunities anyone else has. The world would consist of less violence and negativity if this was the case but sadly we have someone in charge who promotes the exact opposite of what I just described.

 

Given the different text & videos I have reviewed for the week I have realized a wide variety of information when it comes to how life was back in the day, compared to how it is now & that fact that race has been a social construct for years and years now. For example in the video titled “A Conversation with Asian Americans on Race” a vast majority of asians, no matter what age they were, were always getting discriminated by everyone and being called racial slurs, all because they did not have the same culture & religion. On top of that they would also get mistaken for other ethnicities such as Hispanic people which furthermore adds on to the fact that social construct truly exist because if you did not look, acted, and dressed as the average American then you were basically not accepted in the community. Unfortunately this lead to many asians Americans to try and copy everything the Americans did to try and fit in so they would not get discriminated against. This goes to show the amount of years this has been going on and the fact that is still happens this exact moment and people are still blind from it is disappointing. It makes me even more uncomfortable that hate crimes and discrimination like these are usually never handled with. For example look at how the someone as big as the Presidentcalls Covid 19 the Chinese virus and has not been held accountable yet, which leads to his followers to actually believe the nonsense he says. However I did like the statements the “Race: The Power of an Illusion” was trying ti give off which was basically that we should not let differences in appearance and lifestyle separate the fact that the vast majority of us are extremely similar when it comes to just simply being a human, such as physically, Mentally etc. If Society thought like this then I believe race would not be a social construct but due to the racism and discrimination that has been going on for centuries as all 3 sources went on to prove, Race is a social construct. The only way we could get past the fact that its a social construct, would just be to stop all discrimination and racism towards everyone. & If these types of actions keep on being committed it should be penalized a certain way.

1. To be honest it is safe to safe everyone who has migrated all have their own reasons on why they decide to migrate to the united stated with their family or on their own. everyone’s reasoning is unique in each way but the main reasons people have migrated to the United States was mainly for another opportunity in life & to make sure their family gets a better education compared to the one they have in their actual country. In addition I have also heard of people wanting to leave the country they’re currently in because of how dangerous it is and they would like to make sure they are safe with the rest of their family. However when it comes to Asian migration   I was personally told by a friend in college that her family migrated to the United States for the amount of opportunities they had over here, which was a better environment and a chance to become successful or at least comfortable, Which In her family’s case it worked & both of her parents became certified surgeons. On top of that she is also on the road to become a therapist which just goes on to show how far migrating to the United States can actually get you. Personally I was also told by my own father he migrated from the Dominican Republic over to NYC to start his own business. He stated how difficult it was & how it took him steps to actually get to where he is now. From being homeless to having to introduce himself to specific people, he eventually ended up making it happened and opened up his own business around 1998 to be able to bring my mom and sisters over to NYC, which lead to me being the first ever born from our family in NYC. Yang’s theory proves the fact that people tend to migrate from poor countries because they need a restart button in life, such as better education or to get away from natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes etc. Other clusters I would add to yang’s theory is the fact people tend to leave their country because sometimes they’re being hunted for by gang members which can also lead to their family being put at risk which is a totally understandable reason on why someone would want to leave their country. Another theory I would add to yang’s theory is religious freedom, since I am aware that some countries do not let women do or dress a certain way because of their religion and if they do not follow it they will either get abused or killed unfortunately.

1. To start off, One thing I would say I learned from the Lee reading and the film was that Europe was actually very interested to find out more information about Asia, since they had heard about the resources they had & their culture, to the point where Europe even considered them as the “Polar Opposite.” What ended up surprising me however was the fact that instead of working together since Europe was so interested in Asia’s culture, they decided to take advantage of the fact that asians wanted to migrate over as well which lead to europeans mistreating asians who worked for them in ships which unfortunately these Asian sailors suffered  unfair wages, working conditions, and died off in the freezing weather. On top of that, europeans decided to colonize Asia in a sense to try and conquer them. What does not surprise me at all is how asians were mistreated same way the Spanish workers were as well, due to the racism going around. It just shows how europeans basically wanted to control everyone who was not European. I realize till this exact day the united states is still interested when it comes to Asia’s culture, riches etc, which Is why they are our #1 contributor when it comes to business. Literally almost everything you own, or see being sold food etc, are usually exported from Asia. According to Lee’s Reading, it is believed that the first asians to come to the americas were called “Filipinos” & the main reason they decided to migrate to the americas was because they believed that is where fortune was & the opportunity for a new life was, which is a coincidence since in a way europeans felt the same way about Asia’s culture as well. Sadly instead of working together with them they decided to try & conquer Asia since Europe considered them as “Feminine”.
2. In Many ways I would say these stories compare very similar & at the same time extremely different than the narratives we hear today in the new world. For example, The big difference would be the fact that at this point, the United States is not interested in basically ruling other people just because you are not the same ethnicity as them. However it is the exact opposite, now instead of wanting people to come over here from other countries & help out, they want to get rid of every single person who arrives here without the proper documentation, just because they might be a possible threat (WHICH IS RIDICULOUS). One thing I could say is similar is the fact that asians were coming to the americas for the hope of a new life, or “fortune from the new world” As stated from Lee’s chapter. The main thing I would say we can get out of this chapter & video is that History always ends up repeating itself, one way or another.

1. To start off, Bahadur wanted to research about the history of her great grandmother & why she decided to go aboard a ship while she was 4 months pregnant all alone, especially because she did not leave any “letters or diaries describing the circumstances that led her to climb aboard a ship” as stated by Bahadur herself. During her journey she found written documents that were left there by planters, captains, immigration agents, all which stated how they all slept with these Indian women, which was an issue for Bahadur because not only did it limit her on constructing the information she needed, but this also left out information from the women’s point of view such as how they felt on a day by day basis, or what their everyday thoughts, were. This made Bahadur much more curious, especially since women at the time were “illiterate” which is why there is not a single existing narrative from a woman at that time. This lead to Bahadur expanding her ways of finding information about these women, such as going back to the village where her grandmother is from and studying unofficial sources such as the songs that was listened to at the time, the photographs that were taken, the tattoos people used to have or even postcards that were found. She even went as far as studying about her own journey in India and her current profession so she can acquire as much knowledge as possible. Honestly this helped me realize how much women were restricted back then and the amount of information we do not have because of the fact that they were not educated enough to leave documents from their point of view. On top of that, it made me want to go out and even learn about my own history with my family and just my country in general. If I was to construct an archive about my own family I would start off by researching how the country (Dominican Republic) was doing around those times economically & even politically. On top of that I would fly out to Dominican Republic and ask my grandma, uncles, and neighbors about how life was for them back in the day & even how hard it was for their family as well.

The person I watched was Grant Din, who lives in Oakland and is the great great grandson of Gong Him Hik, and helped his family complete the journey of migrating to the United States. Gong Gim Hik, the great great grandfather, was someone who worked on the railroad in the United States which motivated him to bring his whole family back. Grant Believes his great great grandfather was an adventurous person specifically because he decided to travel all the way from a small village called “Lok Cheung” Village to Nevada so he could work on the railroad, then go back to get his wife and family to travel right back to the states. Grant din struggled on finding written down information about his great great grandfather migrating to the United States, however there was an author who wrote a book which was based on how Chinese people migrated to the United States, which mentioned the small village his great great grandfather lived in and how people from the village worked on the railroad back in the United States. In addition, Grant had family members such as uncles, aunts & even his grandfather which confirmed the story. In addition Grant got most of his information confirmed by a website called ancestry.com which helped him understand more. When his great great grandfather migrated to the United States, they ended up opening a local laundry business to try and make money to bring in the rest of the family from china to the United States. What surprises me the most is the fact that his great great grandfather was basically fascinated by the life in the United States and worked so hard to bring his whole family back and start a new life here. This oral history confirms for me that asian Americans came to the United States the same reason many other races migrated as well which was for a better & new life. I would like to know about the day to day lifestyle & process it took to migrate to the United States.