Author: Minjee Go

From the Lee reading, I learned many Western countries think about the Asian population as various ways. What surprised me was that not only the first Asian to immigrate to the United States was Filipino but also the Filipinos were called Indians. Many Asians thought American life looked much better than most Asian countries, and they sought American life to escape their reality.

This class was necessary for me to graduate. Also, it is writing-intensive class, which is very difficult and requires a lot of essay writing. At first, I thought it would be a very difficult class, but the more I listened to the class, the more interesting it was and the more interesting it was to get to know history. Our professor provided us with a lot of materials and articles, and because of them, this class, which learns Asian American history as an Asian, was a meaningful class.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1uLv5c7ixyljyyvuBVZe8vJTqqdvdv5Q8Jg0V89_–ik/edit#slide=id.p

Phi discusses how conservative Asian-Americans are about conflicts with police and black issues. Asian-Americans themselves are often victims of police brutality, and when we (Asian-Americans) understand the wrongdoings of history and our people and side with those who oppress us, it tells us that this is not protecting us. Phi says Asian Americans should stand on the side of the community fighting against systemic injustice and oppression and fight together. Jen’s article “Chinese conservatism” also discusses the conservative stance of Asian-Americans in favor of discriminators(police officers). The purpose of these letters is to show that Asian-Americans should understand, help and strengthen the struggles faced by many black people.

For frameworks, I chose “Coronavirus & Yellow Peril” by Amanda Yee. The issue of this excerpt is that the overall media about the COVID-19 is used as a metaphor for the “Chinese virus” and the Chinese government itself. She states that ““There’s a lot of similarities between coronavirus coverage and the way mainstream media covered Ebola a few years ago.” Media outlets report that virus is a country’s virus by substituting it for a country’s image. Bad news travels fast. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeii also called China a ‘central threat of our time’ and claimed that the Chinese government has challenged Western democratic values. Amanda says these comments about the Corona virus are intentional, a stark indication of U.S. anxiety over the rising economic and political impact of China.

For stories, I chose “Tired” by Alice Tsui, musician & educator. In this story, she shares her feelings she is been going through since the coronavirus broke out. How can young students know the truth when the Ministry of Education jokes about the virus itself? Even Asian educators are being racially discriminated against. I think educators also need guidance to correct racist remarks.

For resources, I chose “Wash your hands” by Malaka Ghairib and Wanyu Zhang. They share daily routines about the COVID-19. 1. Wash your hand often. 2. Sneeze into your elbows. 3. Avoid touching your face. These actions are that we must do after we faced the COVID-19. Even though these are very simple, everyone does not practice them. It is very important to follow the rule to overcome this pandemic as soon as possible.

In an article, Kimberly Yama’s “Forgotten Asian Refugees in American Prison” showed the suffering Cambodian people suffer from moving out of the communist regime after the Vietnam War to the United States to live a new life. The lives of Southeast Asians in the United States were not fair, and they were deported from the United States because of ICE. The government is not helping to improve the lives of immigrants, it is making their lives worse.

The “model minority” myth explains that Asian-Americans are the only minority who worked hard to become self-sufficient in the 1960s. For this reason, African-Americans and Hispanics are seen as the opposite. This myth only raises the idol of white people, discriminates and prejudices against ethnic minorities.

From reading and movies, the standard for U.S. citizenship seems to be “white.” It is hard to understand that a person’s skin color, whether he or she really gets citizenship or not, is the basis for the decision. Ozawa said he has white skin and is entitled to get citizenship because he has lived in the United States for more than 28 years. The court, however, said in an absurd expression that Ozawa cannot be considered white due to a lack of evidence that he is white. I can define today’s “citizenship” that people who are respect this country and pay taxes, work here and have settled down in the United States for a long generations should be able to have right. There should not be an irrational definition of separating citizenship into race skin color.

Racism was the reason why Chinese immigrants were excluded from living in the United States. White Americans are not treated Chinese immigrants as American citizens because of their different skin colors. Even Chinese children could not go to school in the United States. According to Kamiya’s reading, she stated “In an 1858 editorial, the San Francisco Evening Bulletin reflected the city’s overwhelming rejection of integrated schools. ‘Let us keep our public schools free from the intrusion of the inferior races,’ the paper opined. ‘If we are compelled to have Negroes and Chinamen among us, it is better, of course, that they should be educated. But teach them separately from our Caucasian blood pure…'” Chinese society disagree about this discrimination. They argued that it was very unfair that they were denied the right to send their children to public schools, although they had to pay taxes, and in 1878 they petitioned the legislature, claiming that 1,300 Chinese children had the right to public education. I think racism is happening in Pandemic. Racism will continue in this society, where even the U.S. president calls the coronavirus is a Chinese virus.