Major concerns of injustice can be found in schools in various ways. One common way we can see is misrepresentation of minorities inside certain departments inside schools. At the athletics department at Ontario University, there are about 60% of staff and athletes that are Caucasian. It should also be known that minorities are being paid less salaries for working in the athletics department. There are low rates of hiring and finding racialized groups. This becomes a very large problem just due to the nature that it is inside a school environment, and these are where children learn to grow up and start to take in certain lessons and habits. One of the biggest issues that is probably lying in the university is the fact that racialized groups are probably fearful of what may come if they try to speak up and take more of a prominent role in the department. This system that is being dominated by whites is the reason that more minorities have struggles taking parts because it creates a cycle where they are afraid to and avoid the idea of entering athletics. We see this mimicking the idea of One and the Other. In this school’s athletics, the number of Caucasians that are dominating the field are seen as the One. They are the ones that “run” the area and can enjoy the benefits and participate without anything holding them back or making them question. The minorities are seen as the other as they have hesitations for not being in the athletics department. They may not be joining due to various reasons that may be in place such as not feeling confidence in the environment to try, or non-discrete discrimination may be in place. Videos like the one shown below are reason why potential athletes have questions and are scared of partaking in athletics. Proper rules and regulations need to be established at this school for more equal representation among races to contribute to not only athletics, but other sectors as well. Anti-racism training is required, and quotas should be established to reduce this discriminatory department the university seems to be showing. They need to collectively work to show equal proportions not only in the athletics department, but other areas such as education as those probably do not have equal representation as well.

Link related to artcle: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/mar/17/college-sports-racial-dynamics

Link to article: https://www.cbc.ca/sports/ontario-university-sports-racism-report-1.6223950

For the first half of the story, most of the story is told describing Deming’s life in New York and focuses on Deming to try and understand himself and the things happening around him. The beginning of the story tells a segment of Deming’s life with his mom Polly, his mom’s boyfriend Leon, Leon’s sister Vivian, and Vivian’s son Michael. The purpose of the story tells a life experience through the eyes of an Asian American who grows up facing struggles and the repercussions of parenthood problems. 

The main issue occurs in Deming’s life when one day his mother disappears from his life and at that point it becomes a struggle for Leon to take care of him. Deming ends up having adoptive parents. His adoptive father, Peter, and mother, Kay, want to push him to go and complete college for a better chance at life. Deming has a history of academic problems and even dropped out of college so doing this is very difficult. Although a majority of youth in foster care aspire to attend college, they are less likely than their peers to enroll in college. (Johnson) Growing up in school, he faced racism for being Chinese and being called names and getting into fights. (Ko, 61) Even over dinners with close friends and family, there would still be racism such as when Jim, Peter’s friend, makes a comment “It’s all Chinese to us dumb-dumbs.” (Ko, 89) He also had a gambling problem as a way to avoid school problems and make money but ended up in trouble with loan sharks. “Asian Americans experience systemic racism in all sectors of society.” (Morey)

Growing up for him can’t be easy as he can get made fun of very easily for the way he looks. “Asian Americans will face these struggles as racism has been normalized against Asians.” (Phan, 2021) There will be many accounts of people showing examples of these problems and especially with being inside a Covid time period, this causes even more issues for Asian Americans. “Since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak, Asian Americans have reported more cases of racism and discrimination. The Asian Pacific Policy and Planning Council found that between March and June, 2,031 Asians have reported cases of discrimination.” Discrimination is something no one should have to face, but Deming’s experience with it affected his life in some ways and prevented him from having a more stable life. “Problems begin to form where he is unable to maintain stable relationships, as well as having worse mental and physical health, and financial issues.” (Johnson) Not having his biological parents when he grew up affected him in different ways as well. Even though he had adoptive parents, he never let go of finding where his mom went in the back of his head. “The schools that youth in foster care attend are often among the lowest performing.” (Johnson) He dealt with identity issues of understanding who he was due to this environment he had to grow up in without his mother. His position as being the child of an immigrant affects the way he experienced things during his life. “Popular and harmful sentiments about immigration and race become enshrined in immigration policy.” (Morey)

Phan, Natalie. “Asian American Students Share Their Cultural Struggles.” KMC Crusade, 12 Jan. 2021, https://kmccrusade.com/6895/news-features/asian-american-students-share-their-cultural-struggles/. 

Johnson, Dana. “Impact of Foster Care.” American SPCC, 10 Sept. 2021, https://americanspcc.org/impact-of-foster-care/. 

Morey, Brittany. “Systemic Racism Impacts Asian Americans as Well.” Orange County Register, Orange County Register, 22 May 2021, https://www.ocregister.com/2021/05/22/systemic-racism-impacts-asian-americans-as-well/. 

Ko, Lisa. TheLeavers. Dialogue Books, 2018.