Portfolio 5: Community Experience

I attended the Healing after abuse: victim recovery lecture that was given on campus. It was so interesting. There were two people that spoke, Chelsea and Stewart.
Chelsea focused on how to recover as an abuse victim. By looking at her, I never would have known that she was an abuse victim. This was hard for me to grasp because I realized how ignorant I am. I don't know what I had in mind about what abuse victims would be like, but Chelsea did not fit my picture. She's white, a college graduate, probably from some middle class family and she looks happy. It would never be my first guess that she had been abused. I was reminded that everyone has their own story and it is complex. There is no one story to a person. There are multiple perspectives and aspects of a person's life that are not covered by just one story like we talked about in class. Victims of abuse are not defined by their abuse. It was so impressive to hear Chelsea open up just a little about her past and how she has been able to move forward.
Stewart focused on what parents and loving supporters can do to help victims. This experience opened my eyes to what happens in the world. I have some friends that have been victims of abuse and it is hard to understand their healing process. Chelsea explained that you cannot let others tell you when you should be done grieving. Stewart talked about this too. He explained that supporters cannot become the interrogators. People typically do not like to talk about their suffering and if they are asked the same questions over and over, they won't want to explain things when it matters (like to law enforcement). I think this is good to remember as a teacher. If a student approaches you saying that they are being abused, you have no need to ask questions but just report it and let the authorities take over. We talked about in the class that teachers just need to believe. There is no need to question, just believe your students. Have faith in them. Your job is to remember that this event does not define this person and to thank them for sharing with you what they have shared.
I am grateful I attended this lecture. I learned a lot about any type of relationship. I learned how important it is to retain a solid understanding of your divine nature. It is also essential to help others remember their divine nature and that abuse does not happen because that person did something wrong or because they deserved it. Every person has infinite worth and potential and teachers can remind students of this every single day in a safe classroom environment. I also learned that there is no stereotype for abuse, it happens between all races, ethnicities, socioeconomic statuses, genders. It would be wrong to dismiss someone's suffering because they don't fall under a specific category of "people who get abused" which is typically believed to be those in the low socioeconomic category or racial minorities with machista husbands. To believe that their is only one type of people that get abused is like passive racism. We can unintentionally assume things about people and be completely wrong. Abuse can happen to anyone. This lecture ties into multicultural education because abuse happens in all places, to all races, genders, SES etc. We, as teachers need to be aware of what's going on but we have no right to be interrogators. The classroom is a safe space where some students are probably escaping their real world problems, abuse being one of them. This was a great experience to have. 

Chinese Oppression

Immigration to the United States from China began in the early 19th century. Immigrants came during the California gold rush and were often workers on the transcontinental railroad. Soon after Chinese immigrants settled in the US, oppression began. Chinese immigrants suffered racial discrimination on all levels. It got to be so bad that the US passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882. This law prohibited immigration from China. This is the only law that has prevented immigration and naturalization based on race. Chinese immigrants were know as the "yellow peril". During this same time, many states had anti-miscegenation laws, which are laws that prevented Chinese men from marrying White women. However, the oppression decreased during WWII because China became an ally with the US. It wasn't until 1943 that Chinese immigration was allowed by law once again. In 1965, the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 was passed which lifted national origin quotas on immigration causing an increase in immigration from China. Today Chinese-Americans make up the largest group of Asian Americans (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Chinese_Americans). Oppression towards Chinese Americans may not be as extreme as it once was but there are still traces of oppression today.
According to PEW social trends, Chinese Americans make up 1% of the total American population with over 3.3 million people. 44% of US-born Chinese can speak their native language, 59% of Chinese Americans are married, the median annual household income is $65,050, and 35% of Chinese Americans have a Bachelor's degree (http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/asianamericans-graphics/chinese/).
Today it is common for people to not distinguish different Asian ethnicities.
Many combine all Asians into the Asian category rather than distinguishing people as Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Filipino etc. This is a mild type of oppression. It is not uncommon for Chinese Americans to be asked where they are from, referring to what country their ancestors came from. Some are called communists and 25% of Americans believe that Chinese Americans would side with China instead of the US in a China-US dispute with 7% unsure of what would happen. There is the belief that "China is going to take over the world"and that Chinese workers are robbing Americans of jobs. There also remains the stereotype that Chinese Americans own stores and restaurants.
Here are some more stereotypes that are given of all Asians, not just Chinese. Pardon some of the content.

 So Chinese people are said to be smart, short, all look the same, be bad drivers, and not be good at sports among many other things. Like these videos say at the end, we have the power to uphold stereotypes, pass them on, or stop them. It appears to me that Chinese Americans have done a very good job at being resilient. This is the only minority group that has been literally excluded out of our country but they came back once that law was appealed and have proved to many that they are not aliens but very hard workers and are some of the most accomplished people in our country today.
However, with this desire to be the best, many Chinese parents have very high expectations for their children. This may not necessarily be a negative consequence but US-born Chinese Americans often struggle to live up to their parents' high expectations. As this meme indicates, eliminating stereotypes is not the number one priority but rather to study hard and get good grades.

As you can see, the media often clumps all Asians together rather than distinguishing between different asian ethnicities. Older Chinese people do not think that Panda Express is awful but the younger generation, who most likely never lived in China, think Panda Express is definitely not comparable to real Chinese food. 

Doing this research, I realized that Chinese Americans are an oppressed group. They may not be as much as other groups but I often clump all Asians together and so I need to stop doing that. I also think it would be important to recognize the history of this group of people. They were treated very harshly and I think there are a lot of Americans that don't even know about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. As a history teacher, I think this will be an important lesson for students to learn. This is one way I can help support anti-oppression efforts towards this group. I can also continue to be informed and keep up to date on Chinese oppression through current events. 

Here are some more portrayals of Chinese Americans in the media:

Just look at the girl in the background, she's disgusted.

"Hats of to you for not seeing race"

Once again, Asians are all combined.