Starting grad school at UMBC next year? 

Enjoying your time as a student leader? 

Looking for ways to explore your passion for multicultural, diversity and social justice work? 

Thinking about how you can contribute to campus life in meaningful ways while getting financial help with paying for grad school?

A reflection written my staff member, Yoo-Jin Kang 

As an Asian-American woman, I’ve always struggled with finding people who look like me in the larger media. You see, May is Asian Pacific Islander month, and regrettably, I am not sure who I can expect to be featured during this month because I am so unfamiliar with Asian historical figures and their contributions.

Growing up in the United States education system, I had always learned about other important figures in our country: white presidents (except our current one!), famous white men who made *amazing* contributions to our society, and the few African-American historical figures who were brought up as part of our history lesson, like Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, and Harriet Tubman. What I didn’t consciously realize for a long time was the lack of Asian representation, across the board, throughout my entire schooling and life. Why was this the case? Could it be that Asian Americans did not make useful or noteworthy contributions or impact to our society? Could it be that the only famous Asian American that I would ever know about would be figure skater Michelle Kwan?!

Of course not.

I can’t help but think about how the paradox of the minority model stereotype  fits into this lack of representation and recognition. This stereotype can be truly harmful because it can create a silencing and minimizing effect on the contributions, successes, and voices of Asian Americans who are “expected to do well” anyway, and so it’s not such a big deal. Growing up,  I couldn’t help but feel a quiet voice that told me that no matter what I did, I would not get recognition for it as a individual person, but would be praised because:

“Oh, you Asian people are so good at _____” or “have always been great at _______.”

Not only was this isolating for me… it also contributed to this liminal feeling I had of not being considered white, but not being labeled as a “person of color.” It took until college for me to realize that I, too, belong, and that my struggles were also worthy of speaking up about.

When I think about television shows and movies, this is where I feel the most isolated from the people who supposedly “represent” me in the media. Often, if I ever saw a character who looked similar to me, I noticed their role often consisted of stereotypical characteristics that only perpetuated already trivializing cultural beliefs.

Often, we seemed to be lumped with characters that had little personality — characters who seemed to serve one purpose: The math/science whiz. The person at the computer/phone navigating directions, while all the other characters were out kicking bad-guy butt. The repressed and studious best friend. The fetishized “oriental” model (often with chopsticks in her hair). Or the person with the broad “Asian” accent who spoke broken English, often seen working at a Chinese restaurant. Even when there was “representation” of an “Asian” character, I couldn’t relate to them at all.

Moreover, the term “Asian” is so broad. As an ethnic group, “Asian” encompasses so many regions, all with many similarities and differences in culture and values, and I can’t help but think that it’s harmful to lump so many different regions with one word, when we don’t recognize and pay attention to our differences. This May, I plan to learn more about not only my heritage, but also about the different cultures and contributions that make up the pan-Asian community. I hope you will join me and I challenge you to also recognize when a character of color, in any form of media, is being used as a trope rather than a valued person. 

[P.S. I haven’t seen the show yet, but I’ve heard a lot of mixed reviews for the new show, “Fresh off the Boat“.                 On one hand, I hear people who love the show because not only are they seeing a family that might look like them, they are also identifying with some of the immigrant and often humorous experiences that are portrayed in the show. On the other hand, I hear about people who highly dislike the show, stating that it fulfills stereotypes about Asian immigrants, specifically with the notion that Jessica Huang (the mother) is a “tiger-mother“. It’s interesting to note that due to the scarcity of representation in our media, we often feel that when we do see people who look like us…we want/ expect them to be perfect. There is a fine balance to be made between respecting and honoring a person’s culture and background, as it influences who they are, and completing erasing a person’s racial identity to make it more accessible for a whiter audience.]

A reflection written by Women’s Center intern, Narges Ershad

It has been more than a month since Oscars has aired, speeches have been given, and many reactions have been shared. But as Pay Equity Day is approaching, I have been thinking a lot about that night, especially Patricia Arquette’s Best Support Actress acceptance speech. In her speech she talked about the gender pay gap, which is a reference to the fact that mostly men get paid more than women for holding the same position at work.

Since I was a kid, watching Oscars was one of my favorite days of the year. Until few years ago I wouldn’t understand the content fully due to language barriers, but I was always amazed by the pretty dresses, exciting faces of the people, the lights, amazing videography, and that huge and amazing stage. Later on I was able to understand the content fully and it was then when I realized Oscars is more than a fancy award ceremony to recognize the achievements within the film industry. The Oscars can also be about social change, a place to raise awareness regarding social issues, a stage for critical thinking and reading between the lines.

I was excited as always with the 2015 Oscars and made sure I had time to travel back to my childhood by watching the ceremony. But something was different in the 2015 Oscars, that made me love this ceremony even more, as well as also think more critically about it. Many amazing speeches  were given regarding social issues and problems that we are dealing with in the world, and most importantly in United States of America. Many moving speeches and performances were given that night, like John Legend and Common’s Glory from the movie Selma.

In my opinion Patricia Arquette speech was a great move, which took a lot of attention toward it in social media right after she left the stage. One part of her speech stated that “It’s our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America.” I personally really appreciated her speech and her using her fame to give gender pay gap a platform at an elite event. As an individual who works and cares about the gender pay gap, I really liked the fact that now more people who might have not known about the issue now know. Perhaps from knowing more about the issue these individuals will be able to think about  it more in depth or even make strides to changing the situation for  the better.

Throughout much of the evening, our events of Critical Social Justice 2015 came to mind. Most especially, I was reminded by what they keynote speaker, Franchesca Ramsey, talked about in her keynote titled “Your Powerful Online Voice: Social Media for Social Change.” The Oscars were taking place in a room, but the conversations were also happening in our living rooms and entering various social media platforms. Social media became a tool for change and started many needed, important, and critical conversations. People used their “online voices” via social media, especially Twitter, to bring social change to talk about issues that famous people on stage were talking about in real time. This is where people used their voices to bring light to the speeches, read between the lines, and start a conversation about needed social change. For example many different readings, understanding, and reactions were seen on social media platforms after Patricia Arquette’s speech. People were able to take it in, analyze it, and and talk about it. Some people completely agreed with her, some people wished she would have talked about other communities as well, some people argued that her speech was gender binary, some people liked the specific points that she had. The conversation didn’t end when the Oscars did but they had only just begun. As we are approaching Pay Equity Day I think is important to take a moment, educate ourselves about this issue and see what we can do close the gap.

Last year’s pay equity bake sale! Be sure to stop by the 2015 bake sale on 4/6 from 11am-2pm!

In the past few years Women Involved in Learning and Leadership (WILL) at UMBC have hosted a Pay Equity Bake Sale, to start the conversation on campus. This bake sale is a great start to many critical conversations. Each person who visits the table and would like to purchase a bake good is asked to self identify based on the provided chart , to see how much they need to pay and they can see how much other individuals are going to pay. In other words these prices are link to the gender pay gap that exists in united states. This is a way to get people thinking, to see how much they are getting paid compared to others. Also we understand that the provided chart is gender binary, and is fully accurate but this suggests that more research and thinking is needed in this area.

Moreover one of the reasons for this wage gap, is that mostly women start working with a lower salary compare to men, therefore it is important to learn how to start smart from the beginning. WILL with the help of GWST department, Women’s Center,and the Honors College is providing UMBC students with a workshop called $tart $mart. As someone who has participated at this workshop I highly recommend it. I learned how to negotiate for my salary and ask to receive what I am worth. This workshop will be held on April 15th. Please visit this link for more information and registration as the space is limited.

Also I encourage you all to visit WILL table  Monday April 6th from 11:00AM-2:00PM. Visit this link for more information.