Day: March 27, 2021

Increased Attacks on Asian Americans and the Role of Systematic Racism

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An example of systematic injustices that we are seeing currently is the increased frequency of attacks on Asian Americans. While racism has existed in America throughout its’ history, attacks on Asian American people has increased significantly within the last year as a result of COVID-19. Our government did not handle this pandemic as well as it could’ve, but due to a combination of racism and sometimes blind patriotism it has proven very hard as a country to accept our own failures. Instead, many individuals have been looking elsewhere to place the blame. Because the virus may have begun in China, this has generated an incredibly dangerous environment for Asian individuals in this country. Over the last year, countless attacks have taken place, largely uncovered by the media. Things proved to have gotten significantly worse just over a week ago, when eight individuals (six of which were Asian women) were left dead after a man opened fire in an Atlanta spa.

These attacks in themselves are an injustice, spurred on by systematic racism in America, but the lack of media attention alone is very telling. Had it been white individuals being attacked, it is not hard to guess that these stories would be all over the news. Every day we hear stories about white victims of both major and minor crimes. However, it was not until a major public shooting occurred that I saw anything consistent in the media about these increased attacks on Asian Americans. Because America is systematically racist, it does not want to face news that confirms that fact. And so, events like these are sadly under reported.

Earlier this spring, we learned the concet of a “single story” as described by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. While she was referring primarily to the story Americans and Europeans hold of Africa and its’ nations, this concept also applies to the biases we hold for ourselves as well. The media in America only consistently covers the news they believe the public wants to hear. As a result, we see many stories every day that perpetuate systematic racism and covers up the tragic results. White children grow up in America being taught one single story: that America is the best country in the world. We grow up believing that we are the land of the free and that everyone is incredibly lucky to be here. We learn very little of America’s truths; of how we actually treated the native people when we arrived on this continent and how we’ve continued to treat minorities ever since. Only by breaking through this single vision we have of America can we begin to contribute to its’ growth. As Americans, it is our job to keep ourselves aware of what really happens in our country, especially if we dream of one day eliminating these systematic injustices all together.

Context Presentation for “The Reluctant Fundamentalist” – Kelsey Knudsen

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As the main capital city of the Punjab province and the second-largest city in Pakistan today, Lahore has an immense amount of history leading to its wealth and commerce in Pakistan’s society. However, during ancient times, the history of Lahore is incredibly vague with little to no written proof of the events that led to the city of Lahore. In 1947, Pakistan achieved independence from British rule which lasted for about a century (Javed, Nasir, and Sana Riaz). The colonization and Partition of India and Pakistan has played an important role in the structure of Pakistani cities such as Lahore. The recent shift of power away from Britain has caused various issues in Lahore such as, “lack of integrated urban development policies, unchecked urban growth, overlapping jurisdictions of land governing authorities and ineffective building control..” (Rana, Irfan Ahmad, and Saad Saleem Bhatti).

Along with the increasing variability in urban development, the economy in Lahore, Pakistan has grown immensely since turning away from British rule. Particularly, the study of finance and accounting has had an uptake in interest from citizens residing in Lahore, Pakistan. Furthermore, “..Islamic nations have been mostly left out of the accounting development research…” (Ashraf, Junaid, and WaQar I. Ghani). Therefore, countries like Pakistan have had to hyper-focus on building up their economy from neglect resulting from colonization. However, in hopes of building up the economy in Lahore, there have been educational disadvantages. Regarding the available education in Lahore, “members knowledge of developments in the international sphere may not have been well developed…” (Ashraf, Junaid, and WaQar I. Ghani). So, there was little educational opportunity provided to the citizens in Lahore, Pakistan.

Lahore’s potential economic and urban growth but contradictory lack of educational opportunities formulated the idea of finding education in a different country, which is substantial to the migration of many Pakistan citizens. Also, the historical significance of British colonization and Partition has affected the city of Lahore and its citizens such as Changez in the book The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Changez migrated to the United States of America and studied finance at Princeton University, which is likely related to the economic and urban state of Lahore, Pakistan at the time.

 

 

Works Cited

Ashraf, Junaid, and WaQar I. Ghani. “Accounting development in Pakistan.” The International Journal of Accounting 40.2 (2005): 175-201.

Javed, Nasir, and Sana Riaz. “Issues in urban planning and policy: the case study of Lahore, Pakistan.” New Urban Agenda in Asia-Pacific. Springer, Singapore, 2020. 117-162.

Rana, Irfan Ahmad, and Saad Saleem Bhatti. “Lahore, Pakistan–Urbanization challenges and opportunities.” Cities 72 (2018): 348-355.

 

 

 

 

Yo, is this Racist? Podcast Assignment

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Donovan Carroll

Throughout the course of this semester, I have written diaries about systemic injustices that occur throughout society. These have been written on the ideas based on police brutality among the African American community, societal racism regarding the Asian American community, the intolerance of certain religions, and the list goes on. The idea that I wanted to talk about in this “Yo, is this Racist?” podcast assignment would be that of systemic injustices facing the African American communities. The specific category I wanted to talk about would be the rise occurrences of police brutality among African Americans (I.E., excessive force, unlawful shootings, etc.) since these types of situations have been a staple of the news world as of lately, which should not be considered a good thing. If you look closely at all of these situations, you can observe and tie together pieces of evidence that can relate to one overarching idea about society. Here in the United States, the general public has specific stereotype placed on the African American community, which influences how people react in certain situations regarding African Americans.

The first situation I want to bring to the stage would be that of Andre Hill. A little back story, Andre Hill is a native here to Columbus, Ohio and was tragically involved in a shooting involving a Columbus PD officer in December of 2020. The policeman who shot and killed Andre was officer Adam Coy. The officer has since been fired from his job, since the shooting was considered unnecessary on the officer’s part. Although the shooting happened, it was deemed to be unnecessary, and to possibly uncover the motive behind the situation, we need to look closely at the details. According to a news report done by NBC 4, officer Coy was called to the scene when a neighbor reported that there was a suspicious vehicle being parked outside of their home, which was being constantly turned on an off. Coy arrived to the scene and later ended up shooting and killing Andre Hill. Andre was shot four times, once in the chest, and three times in the right leg. The situation ended up being investigated. What they noticed was that once Coy arrived at the scene, he didn’t turn on his body camera, which is needed for every situation that the officer responds to. The second thing was that there were no weapons of any sort found on the scene or in Andre’s car, which leads to the question, “Why was Andre shot and killed that day?” Well, the world may never know the true answer to that question, but it is easy to break down the situation and analyze why the officer responded the way he did. My thought is that the policeman did not turn on his body camera because he had an intention of doing something illegal once he arrived at the scene. It may sound far-fetched, but that is just how I have interpreted the situation. The role of systemic racism applied heavily to this situation as well. It was reported that there was an African American man (Andre Hill) doing suspicious activity involving a car outside of someone’s home. When officer Coy heard the report, he most likely assumed that the car was being stolen, since a lot of police officers have a general stereotype among African Americans. This could be the reason why Andre was shot. The officer had an existing bias toward Andre’s ethnicity, and acted accordingly toward that personal bias. This existing bias would be that African American people tend to invoke more dangerous activity and are then deemed more of a danger when it comes to police officers themselves. This existing bias Is well known among the African American community and influences the way they act toward police officers as well. The African American community tends to show a large amount of mistrust toward police officers, which is why many of which are involved in a crime (most the time not even involved in one) tend to run out of fear of what might happen to them. They are afraid of the idea that they may be shot and killed just because of a looming stereotype that police officers placed on them. So, it leads to the question, “Yo, is this Racist?” The answer is yes, this situation and action performed by the officer is racist and cannot be considered in any different manner. The fact that the police officer shot and killed Andre without evidence of video, or without evidence of any weapons found near the scene proves that officer Coy had a looming stereotype of African Americans when he arrived at the scene, which made him act the way he did. These types of situations further the mistrust among the African American community and police officers, which explains why these types of situation have been on the rise as of late. This is not the only situation that involves the prejudice among police officers; Vincent Belmonte was involved in a similar situation as well.

The next victim involved in a most-likely biased shooting was Vincent Belmonte. Vincent, who generally went by the nickname Vinny, was from a suburb of Cleveland. This situation occurred a little bit more recently, happening on January 8th of this year. The situation started when Vinny had to borrow his stepmother’s car in order to drive his girlfriend to work. He then proceeded to drive his girlfriend to work but passed an officer by the name of Larry McDonald at an “excessive speed” and McDonald decided to follow. The officer ran the plates of the car and found out that the car Vinny was driving had recently ran from another police officer a week earlier. That is when McDonald decided to turn his lights on and pull over the car. Once Vinny came to a complete stop, he jumped out of the car and tried to flee the scene. As he was jumping over the fence, he was shot in the back of the neck by the officer, killing him instantly. The reason why the officer shot at him is unknown, but it is assumed that the officer linked the running of the car a week earlier, as well as Vinny fleeing the scene, made the officer assume that this person is one of dangerous intentions. McDonald responded to the situation according to his pre-observed bias against African Americans. Although Vinny did try and flee the scene, there were no reports of dangerous activity happening recently, nor any weapons found in the car or near the scene. This once again to the question, “Yo, is this racist?” The answer once again is yes, the way the officer responded to the situation Is racist and cannot be seen as any other type of way. The officer most likely responded in a manner that involved is bias of African Americans. He saw that there was an African American trying to flee the scene, which he identified as a dangerous situation. The officer shot Vinny because of his ethnicity and the fact that he was trying to run. He believed that since it was an African American trying to flee the scene, he assumed (based on stereotypes) that he was dangerous to society and shot him. This situation was made more dangerous with the shooting, since it was in a residential area. This once again leads to a further mistrust of the African American community in relation to police officers. This situation shows just how far an officer is willing to go when a simple situation, such as this with a traffic stop.

These types of situations have been on the rise throughout the American society for a number of years but have been brought to light with the recent death of George Floyd. This shooting as many know, was unprovoked and was seen as a turning point for society in regard to these types of situations. The stereotype seen in many of these situations point to the African American stereotype (according to police officers) is that of “danger” and many are perceived as “thieves” just because of the color of their skin. Police officers react to situations according to the stereotypes placed on these people, which is why a lot of them unfortunately end up in the unlawful shooting or even killing of the victims. This foreseen stereotype placed on African Americans results in these people reacting to situations involving police officers. They tend to avoid police interaction in whatever means possible, in fear of their wellbeing. This in turn creates a cycle of stereotypes being positively reinforced by these police officers. Simply, African Americans are afraid of the police officers, so they run and avoid them. This furthers the policeman’s view that they are running for an illegal reason. For the most part, the officer’s do not even consider that the people are running and avoiding them for their own well-being. In order for these situations to change, the police officers need to change their views and remain unbiased, no matter who they are involving themselves with. The only reason why most of these situations occur is because of the stereotypes, and these situations will not stop until this changes. So, to answer the question; Yes, this is racist.

 

 

Diary of Systemic Injustices Showcase – Winter Storm Uri

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In late February, the United States had gone through an extremely hard time as a winter snow storm barreled through the majority of the country. This storm his hard both in severity of the precipitation and temperatures, but also that it had hit areas not prepared or equipped for a snow storm of this magnitude. The storm left millions of people without power, creating a spiral of different problems from there. Although homes took a hard hit, the homeless and less fortunate people in the were hit hard during this time as well. I had been so fully distracted from my own homes loss of power that I did not even imagine what other people could have been going through. It was not until a conversation with a friend who works with an organization called Food Not Bombs. The summarized goal of this group is to support the homeless and those without direct and easy access to food. He had told me a story about Portland, that during the storm grocery stores had lost power and had to throw out fully packaged and untouched perishable foods due to health regulations. All of this food was placed into the dumpsters behind the store and those less fortunate had come to hopefully find food that was perhaps kept fresh from the cold and still available, however the city had sent police officers to stop anyone from attempting to take any of the food through threat of arrest.

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The injustices that go only daily towards the homeless, jobless, and hungry are sickening. To station police officers during a time of so much chaos to stop the “theft” of food sitting in a dumpster is baffling. Along with that, my immediate response was to be angry at the grocery store for throwing out the food instead of being able to simply donate it to those effected by the storm, however I found that the health codes written would not allow them to do anything but trash it. Grocery stores are required to throw out any food that does not fulfill the health code requirements despite it often still being good for longer. Over 42 billions pounds of food are thrown out by grocery stores annually, and none of it is allowed to be given to the less fortunate due to injustices in the health code system in America. In America, it is easy to see those less fortunate or in a lower class as the “other” as described by Simone De Beauvoir, making it easy to put them outside not realizing the impact certain actions may have on them. Although the health code written was most likely not meant to hurt the hungry, the authors clearly took no time to think how slight changes could help those in need, and stop the waste of food in America. An interesting blog post that talks about the food wasted by grocery stores is linked to this sentence here.

 

 

Systemic Injustice Under the Influence of Covid-19 in China

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Covid-19 changed people way’s living in many ways, especially when it first appeared. The Chinese government reacted quickly and put the entire country into quarantine which was very effective. However, there are quite some systemic injustices exposed during the government regulation. This one is very famous and commonly known by a lot of people. Doctor Wenliang Li was a doctor who noticed the new kind of virus, which was Covid-19, started telling people around him to be careful and protect themselves. However, he didn’t expect that he was detained for “spreading rumors”. What he said was considered as “false information” which might cause social instability.

 

This is clearly a systemic injustice that the authorities should improve immediately. Instead of telling people to stop talking, I think they should at least verify the information. Later on, the central government investigated the local authorities in Wuhan after Li’s death. They found multiple protocol injustices of the local authorities detaining doctor Li. Eventually, the central government apologized to Li’s family and gave Li the title of martyr. This shows that there might also be a lot of systemic injustice in different local authorities but this is the most significant one that raises the attention of the Chinese central government. I believe the central government should enforce the supervision of local authorities to avoid such circumstances. Here’s a news story about doctor Li.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-51409801

Dr. Zhong also commented on him as a hero saying that this time the Chinese government encourages people to tell more thanks to doctor Li.

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This is actually very similar to Persepolis. A person who wants to do the right thing even the authority forbids it. Doctor Li also chooses to do the thing that he believes to be correct. He knows what he is facing but he didn’t give in that Chinese people give a lot of respect to him. There’s one thing that is different. Marji chooses to leave to a place to pursue her life. Doctor Li chooses to offer as much as he has to warn people. He is a whistle-blower and a hero. He is strong enough to face the system and change the systemic injustice with his hands. It turned out that he did it, with his life. It’s understandable that most people might choose to be like Marji to live their own lives, but I think we should give more respect to people like Doctor Li.

Learn more about Doctor Li:

Work cited:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/02/08/opinions/coronavirus-bociurkiw/index.html

http://www.mnw.cn/news/shehui/2247594.html

https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1661642945986992301&wfr=spider&for=pc

Don’t put the blame on Asians

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     I am going to discuss those injustices that happened to Asians in recent days. According to the CNN news, a 75-year-old Asian woman named Xiao Zhen Xie was been punched in the eye in the street Wednesday morning by a man named Steven Jenkins in what police believe was an unprovoked assault. The picture shows a crowd of police officers, paramedics and bystanders gathered around Xie while she holds an ice pack to the side of her head. She cries out and points at a man who is handcuffed to a stretcher and is being treated. “He hit people,” Xie is heard saying in the video, speaking in Cantonese. “He bullied me, he bullied me, jerk.” At one point, Xie gestures towards the man with a large stick she’s holding(Cheri Mossburg, Stella Chan, David Williams).

75-year-old Asian woman says she fought back after being attacked in San Francisco

     During the COVID- 19 period, those kinds of hate crimes happened a lot to Asian-American or Asian-looking people. What is the reason why so many Asian hate crimes happened in America? I believe that attribute to the former president Trump repeatedly referred to COVID-19 as “ The China virus” blaming the country for the pandemic so that many American people shift their fear to the pandemic to hate Asians. Former President Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric around the coronavirus, which is believed to have originated in China, helped spark anti-Asian Twitter content and “likely perpetuated racist attitudes.” The Asian American community has experienced a striking rise in incidents of hate since the onset of COVID-19, according to officials and advocates, and critics say the former president’s repeated use of “China Virus” and other terms helped fuel an environment of hatred(Dr. Mishal Reja) Trump also followed in a long American history of using diseases to justify anti-Asian xenophobia that has helped to shape the perception of Asian-Americans as “perpetual foreigners”.

Trump defends calling coronavirus the 'Chinese virus' | Coronavirus pandemic News | Al Jazeera

     Many people have turned their frustration with the epidemic into racism against Asians that leads to more and more hate crimes happen in America. Some 17% of Asian Americans reported sexual harassment, stalking, physical threats and other incidents, up from 11% last year. Half of them said the harassment was spurred by their race or ethnicity, according to the survey from anti-hate group ADL. Overall, 21% of Asian-American respondents said they were harassed online. (Jessica Guynn and Aleszu Bajak) The hatred of the rich is also the other reason why so many Asian-hate crimes happen in America. Since in recent years, Asian Americans are becoming richer that caused a lot of dissatisfaction to many American people since they believe that their failure is due to those Asian Americans are stealing their resources. 

 

work sited

Dr. Mishal Reja, “Trump’s Chinese Virus’ tweet helped lead to rise in racist anti-Asian Twitter content: Study”,

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/trumps-chinese-virus-tweet-helped-lead-rise-racist/story?id=76530148

 

Stella Chan and David Williams, “A 75-year-old Asian woman says she fought back after being attacked in San Francisco”,

https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/18/us/san-francisco-asian-woman-attacked-trnd/index.html

 

Jessica Guynn and Aleszu Bajak,” Asian Americans report biggest increase in serious incidents of online hate and harassment during COVID-19 Pandemic”,

https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/03/24/asian-american-hate-crimes-covid-harassment-atlanta-google-facebook-youtube/6973659002/

 

https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2020/3/23/trump-defends-calling-coronavirus-the-chinese-virus

 

 

Systematic Injustice Show Case: Gender Inequality in China- By Emily Underwood

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A systematic injustice that is present outside of the United States is the way women are being treated in China, especially in the workforce. In an article that was written in The New York Times, it mentioned that a woman was questioned whether she was married or had children in a job application and when she accepted the job, she had to sign an agreement promising that she would not become pregnant in the next two years. If she were to get pregnant then she would be fired without pay or benefits (Qin 1). These types of agreements are increasing in China and are found to be common, even though they are illegal in the country (Qin 1). Women in China are being treated unfairly and are seen as less than men.

At this time, the Chinese government are insisting for women to stay home and have more children to increase their population. With this happening, women are being forced to not have jobs and to focus on domestic life (Qin 1). Not only are women being pushed out of the workforce, but the women who are working are receiving 80% less than the amount of pay men make (Qin 1). This is a systematic injustice because women are being oppressed and are being treated unequally throughout the country of China. They are being forced to either make a decision between their career or having a child and are being expected to be a stay-at-home mom to take care of “domestic” life.

Along with men getting paid more, it is also found that a lot of job listings that are posting in China have a preference for men. In the Chinese Government’s job listings for service, it was reported that in 2018 and 2019, 19% of the jobs mentioned they are looking for men over women (Ducre 1). It was also found that less than 1% of jobs had a preference for women over men (Ducre 1). Having these preferences written in job ads show gender discrimination and inequality. These job ads are inferring that men are better than women and that women are weaker mentally, physically, and less knowledgeable (Stauffer 1).

Gender inequality, prejudice, and the systematic injustice of women from China getting treated unfairly is exemplified in the book, The Leavers, by Lisa Ko. One example that is mentioned in the book is how a failed marriage is the women’s fault and not the mans. The book states, “If a woman was too devoted to her husband it was her fault for being mushy and desperate; if a husband had a girl on the side, it was the wife’s fault for driving him away and both the mistress and the wife’s faults for letting themselves being taken advantage of” (Ko, 132). Prejudice judgements against women are being shown and display systematic injustice due to the gender inequality throughout China. It is crucial to acknowledge the inequality between men and women, and action needs to be taken to ensure all genders are equal.

This picture taken from the article “Only Men Need Apply: Gender Discrimination in Job Advertisements in China” by Brian Stauffer in 2018 shows an example of what a discriminatory job ad in China looks like.

 

This statistical graph was taken from an article “Gender Equality in China’s Labour Market: Some Worrying Signs” that was taken from a blog that was written in 2020 by Jeni Klugman, Limin Wang, and Meiyan Wang. In this graph, it shows that from 1990 and 2019, women in China have had the lowest percentage of participation rates in the workforce.

Work Cited

  1. Ducre, Dorian. “The Fight for Women’s Rights in China”. The Borgen Project. 2020. https://borgenproject.org/womens-rights-in-china/
  2. Klugman, Jeni. Wang, Limin. Wang, Meiyan. “Gender Equality in China’s Labour Market: Some Worrying Signs” (Graph). 2020. DevPolicyBlog. https://devpolicy.org/gender-equality-in-chinas-labour-market-some-worrying-signs-20200304/
  3. Ko, Lisa. The Leavers. Chapel Hill, 2017.
  4. Qin, Amy. “A Prosperous China Says ‘Men Preferred’ and Women Lose”. 2019. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/16/world/asia/china-women-discrimination.html
  5. Stauffer, Brian. “Only Men Need Apply: Gender Discrimination in Job Advertisements in China”. 2018. Human Rights Watch.

Diary of Systemic Injustice Showcase- Women in Politics by Zhuoer Xu

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No matter what country or culture, women are always in a weak position. In the modern society, this weak position translates into the workplace. In fact, statistics show that there are very few women in politics. Only 5% of top management positions are women. In 2013, the proportion of female in office holders in United States is less than 20%. It makes me wonder why this is happening. After looking up relevant information, I found that a large part of the reason is the social stereotype. 63% female never thought about run for office, and 27% of them has crossed in mind. Only 10% of them thought it many times. 

 From this overwhelming data, it is true that, on the whole, women pay less attention and are less interested in politics and history than men. This is inseparable from childhood education. Many families and schools will guide women to read some “things that girls should see” and let women do some “things that women should do”, which naturally does not include history and politics. Most of the model women promoted by our society to women are stars and journalists, but few scholars and politicians. Many cultural works imperceptibly endow the housewife with a sacred status as a good wife and mother, which has a subtle influence on women’s thinking. 

 It is tacitly assumed that politics is a man’s business, not a woman’s. So when a girl is interested in politics and wants to do something related in the future, her parents won’t support her, and her friends won’t support her either. Because of the prejudice of society, her own heart also has doubts about herself, so she has no confidence. These factors influence the determination of many girls to engage in politics. 

Most Powerful Women in Politics 2019: Pelosi, Warren, AOC and More | Fortune(Most Powerful Women in Politics 2019)

I think it’s a systematic injustice. We should encourage more girls to run for office.First of all, girls’ parents should educate them about politics’ knowledge from a young age. So when they grow up, they can choose whether or not they want to work, rather than just encouraging their sons to run for office. Secondly, High school and college years are a very important part of cultivating a person. So girls to join more sports clubs and students’ union to exercise their ability. Most college community leaders are men, but girls also need to get involved and know that they deserve to be candidates.

 

Word Cites

https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4674147/gender-inequality-politics&cliptool 

https://www.c-span.org/classroom/document/?4104 

 https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4546794/impact-women-politics 

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Ffortune.com%2Flongform%2Fmost-powerful-women-politics 2019%2F&psig=AOvVaw0rCUhptR3DdTdj8PbIE_Oq&ust=1616944884227000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAIQjRxqFwoTCIihhp_j0O8CFQAAAAAdAAAAABAU

Introductions on fundamentalism- The Reluctant Fundamentalist

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It took nearly six years for Mohsin Hamid to finish the book, The Reluctant Fundamentalist. After the book was published, Hamid’s profound thinking on September 11 Attack, the border conflict between India and Pakistan, and the cultural conflict between the East and the West, has made a great impact in the western countries. First, we should know about fundamentalism, since it is the main topic we would like to discuss about here. Fundamentalism is a concept in many religions around the world. It refers to some certain religious groups which try to return to their original beliefs, or make it strictly abiding to the basic principles of their religion by some collective movements.

 

The fundamentalists believe that the liberal theology that emerged in the religions in modern times has made their beliefs secularized and deviated from the essence of their beliefs. They generally advocated literal and traditional interpretations of the basic scriptures or documents of their religions, and believe that the doctrines gained from these interpretations should be applied to all aspects of social, economic, and political life. Fundamentalism exists not only in Islam, though it is discussed in the book, but in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and some other religions.

 

Among all of the religions, fundamentalism has become the most important trend of thoughts in the Islamic world today, compared with any other mainstream religions in the world, and is widely supported in many Islamic worlds. Many Muslims believe that the modern world is affected by secularization and westernization, and is not in line with their beliefs. Therefore, the Islamic fundamentalists try to return to the original state of their beliefs and strictly manage their personal and social life according to the Koran. Moreover, as many of the Arab terrorists generally had islamic fundamentalist religious backgrounds, fundamentalism started to have a negative meaning.

 

The Iranian hostage crisis was a turning point of the term, fundamentalism. The western media tried to explain ruholrah Mousavi Khomeini’s ideology and the Islamic revolution in Iran to the audience; therefore, the media described it as “Islamic fundamentalism”, similar to the “Christian fundamentalism” in the United States, and after that, “Islamic fundamentalism” has become a common term for subsequent use.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamentalism

 

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00285/full

Tensions Between African & Asian Americans

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Event

I was changing a lightbulb on a Zoom call and an Indian American told me that increasing the light in my room wouldn’t make me (an African American with brown skin) any less darker.

Context

I know this individual on a personal level as my company contracts with him on a regular basis. He and I interact frequently. We have worked together for a few years. 

My Analysis

This moment definitely raised a red flag for me. As an African American I have become desensitized to microaggressions to the point that they are laughable (kind of sad typing that out). However, I can almost always recognize the indignities. 

I believe this individual thought of the comment as an innocent joke between two minorities. It went a little deeper than that. As an Indian American, this individual is in fact an Asian American. Statistically, Asian Americans have some of the highest educational scores and incomes in the United States. As a result, the minority group has been given a “model minority” status in America. Asian American’s placement on this pedestal causes all other minorities to be considered “Other” and subordinate in sociocultural hierarchy. Despite both being discriminated against by White Americans, this otherness creates a cultural tension between Asian Americans and African Americans that has existed for several decades. The conflict between African Americans and Korean Americans is one of the most prominent conflicts. 

In 1965, the United States restructured the immigration system from being quota-based to being skills and educationally based. Koreans were able to enter the country at relatively higher rates than other groups because they were “hyper selected”, or had much higher socioeconomic and educational access relative to their country of origin and the US born population (Tran). Many of these immigrants became small business owners in predominantly African American communities.

 

Korean liquor store in Leimert Park LA / (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

The fact that most African Americans could not open businesses due to discriminatory financing practices by banks increased bitterness on both sides. American media made both groups distrustful of one another as well. Korean Americans were distrustful of African Americans because of the racist portrayals of African Americans as poor, violent, and uneducated. The Korean War depicted Korean as untrustworthy, which was internalized by some African Americans. Language and cultural barriers also exacerbated the problem (Bailey). The conflict may have reached its pinnacle during the 1992 LA/Rodney King riots when dozens of stores in Koreatown were looted and Korean American store owners were forced to go on the offensive.

 

Korean store owners in 1992 during the LA Riots (Hyungwon Kang/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Scott Kurashige, professor and chair of comparative race and ethnic studies at Texas Christian University summed up the conflict between both groups well: “…what we need to realize is that there’s this timeless structure, in which there’s always one group on top and another at the bottom.”

I doubt the individual I interacted with knew these dynamics were at play, as he is a light hearted guy. I also doubt he intended any harm. Nevertheless, ignorance and good intent never trump impact. Education is the only way to stop the perpetual injustices.

 

Works Cited:

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7758/rsf.2018.4.5.09#metadata_info_tab_contentshttps://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0957926500011001004