Asian American Dreams: The Emergence of an American People

after reading chapter 5 and 6 of Asian American Dreams by Helen Zia, i would have to say that i was more aware of the struggles that we had to go through in our asian american communities. i suppose normally i make myself ignorant to the issues only so that i don't feel the need to deal with them. but after reading about them, and only two of these issues, it made me realize what the asian american people have been going through for decades. we had to endure just as much racism during the time of the civil rights movements as the african american people. this surprised me. and the funny part is that we didn't get recognized for our fight as much as african american's did. it's all pretty interesting.

reading about the issues with stereotypes and asian american actors dealing with showbiz in chapter 5 made me understand more of the inequalities they had to endure. asian american actors didn't have the same opportunities as caucasian american actors and they still don't. they also had to deal with the sterotypes that emerged from television programs, plays, and movies about asian people. as if it wasn't degrading enough to not be able to get the lead role in a movie, they had to be tormented with the sterotypes about asians thanks to that movie.

chapter 6 really opened my eyes to the struggles of my people. as a filipino-american, i found this specific chapter especially interesting because it talked about the struggles that my people went through at the salmon canneries in alaska. i never even knew there were filipinos in alaska! lol. anyways, i was really intrigued when she mentioned how most of their struggles was going on during the civil rights movement and that made me connect with history more. i never felt connected to U.S. history because they always talked about black/white history. and here in chapter 6 of this book by helen zia i found a missing puzzle piece to my own U.S. history. something i actually might have cared about if they mentioned it in junior year of high school.

over all, the chapters i read were very insightful, and i hope to read the rest of the book at some point when i get the chance.

take care,
Donna ;)