Ethnic studies Essay

The students, united, will never be defeated . This was the exchange c all(prenominal) of students at San Francisco stir University trying to save their Asian the States Studies classes in 2008. 40 years after the kickoff trine population Liberation Front protested and fought against discrimination and for their rights to confound heathenishal studies classes, the fight cool off continues. Students fought to put one over classes from the perspective of cultural mints, and non the Eurocentric invest of view. In doing so, the struggle for ethnic studies from students and the community challenged and broke the status quo and construct of cannonball a huge in a Eurocentric America.ethnical studies in the U. S. campuses started in the 60s along with the Civil Rights Movement, opposition against the Vietnam War, the fight for womens rights, and legion(predicate) other fights by the good deal for their rights. In March of 1968, The SFSU Third valet Liberation Front was crea ted by students of different ethnicities coming together. This was the longest resume in student history, and resulted in the creation of ethnic studies at SFSU, as well as increased admissions for students of colors to the university. The second longest glisten occurred in UC Berkeley, with the strike more violent than the first.The clenched fist was the attribute for the strike, equality, author, unity, and change for the minority groups in America. Over the years, there have been many a(prenominal) strikes and protest from students to have ethnic studies. California was a hotbed for the struggle of ethnic studies because it has the most immigrant and ethnic groups in the fall in States. It was a melting ken of African Americans, Asians, American Indians, Latinos, and so on. It was real only a exit of eon before they stood up against discrimination. When people of color got up in unity and went on strike, it scared them. Them referring to the innocence political leaders of the schools. The first to plump for up to discrimination is usually those that are educated and embody they can make a change through their actions. Students of ethnic ground fought for social justice not only for themselves, but for a big picture going back to their communities. heathenish students are representatives to their families and communities. Many of these ethnic students were the first to attend college because their parents or families came to America in search for a better life and an opportunity for their children at an education.As these strikes were occurring, the community came to deem them. Not only the communities of ethnic students, but white posters as well. Supporters that understood the struggle of the ethnic groups, and came together to fight together. Quite a hardly a(prenominal) white students had come to the point of understanding, what our cause was, what it meant, and that we did not fate to piddle over the university, take over the nati on, we wanted ends. When we think third initiation we think of people that are improvised, poor, and lacking education.These third world people a Though they werent really third world students, understaffed access to classes that represented their ethnic background meant they had no way to really learn the struggle of ethnics people that came before them. Luis Alarcon made a point that he considered UC Berkeley his university, but the president of Berkeley disagreed and said the university was for the people of California. Although Luis is a person of California, the president did not consider the university for him.As a be given of minorities, they were trying to free themselves from universe third world citizens in the United States. What we got from this agreement were things that we as third world peoples deserved, and we as students, and we as citizens of this country deserved. barely is there a scientific claim that makes received people third world, or is it a political agendum to people ethnic people third world citizens? Ethnic people living in the United States in the were often discriminated against.As Laureen chatter said, of course I blamed it all on ourselves and our family for being natural Chinese, etc. They blamed their career, instead of finding a fault in family for making them an inferior hasten that were mistreated unfairly. Even today, although racism is not as obvious, it is still alive and in place. Color-blind racism serves as the ideological armor for a convert and institutionalized system in the post-Civil Rights era. Minorities can be discriminated against their morals, values, and character with bulge whites sounding racist. But is being color-blind discriminating as well?By not sightedness color, one fails to recognize that we still havent reached a train where we only judge from character, and not the color of our fell. Its apparent we today, have not reached that goal yet. Tom Horne Arizona superintendent of publi c pedagogics gestates in cutting off ethnic studies classes because it will give kids up and only teach them narrowly about the speed they were born into. Ethnic studies is for the empowerment of not only ethnic students, but for all students who want to learn about the history of different peoples.It wasnt so long ago when minorities were second citizens in the United States. Many were segregated against, beaten, killed, and uneducated. But what were the equipment casualty that classified certain peoples as a different fly the coop from whites? Race is a concept with signifies and symbolizes social conflicts and interests by referring to different types of homosexual bodies. So because people of different ethnicities have different bodies, specifically skin color they were disadvantaged in comparison to white Americans.The word command reminds us that the institutional racism is a type of power that encompasses the symbolic power to classify one group of people as approac h pattern and other groups of people as abnormal, the political power to obey basic rights from people of color and marshal the full power of the separate to enforce segregation and in equality. To break this institution, learning ethnic studies brings out the truth of this country, which in turn brings out the greatness of the United States. Ethnic studies allows us to think critically about our relationship in terms of our relationship this country and our backgrounds.It gives us a basis to deal with past racial extends such as the Zimmerman trial. Ethnic studies departments in the CSU are at the forefront in leading students to balanced, critical, and open establishions of racial and ethnic matters that, unfortunately, have yet to be resolved in the US. Its Copernican to have a bodyat in educating students so that we may form our own educated opinions and learn facts on the history of our ethnicities. People gave up their bodies for their right to have ethnic studies. I wa nted to give you a poem, but I give you my body instead.As she finished her speech, her fellow supporters agreed with her with loud applause. She was only one of many proponents in decades of struggle by students to fight for their ethnic studies departments. The protesting for ethnic studies was intertwined with the opposition against the war, well-mannered rights, and other social issues going on at the time. In 1999 the issue was California becoming increasingly wary against immigrants, using them as a scapegoat for the economy failing. Protesting at Berkeley meant defending affirmative action, defending the rights of immigrants.The protesting in SFSU was the longest lasting student protest. Their cries for we want the puppet meant they wanted to discuss ethnic studies with S. I. Hayakawa who did not rally with the students even though he was Asian American. These students were subject to police violence, who went into the cafeterias to harass and attack the students. At Valle y State University, Latino students with the black students protested in order to have more imitation in and open up classes for Chicano studies and Black studies. So what role does race really play in all of this?We know that even if its not about race, its always about race. You can assert that the student protests were all about race. When you ask people about which race they are, one normally gets a response like, asian, black, white, or so on. The twain schools of thought, Primordialism and Instrumentalism, are opposing forces in which the former believes that races existed, that races are biologically laid and distinct from one another. The latter believes race as a man-made, gracious created reality. It is an instrument that was constructed sociohistorically in order to allocate resources.An outcome of the struggle for ethnic studies is that it challenged what the racial norm really was. By fighting for their rights, the protestors inadvertently chipped apart at what r eally defines race a racist invention to divide and allocate resources. But can we really ignore that our race has goose egg to do with our genetic makeup and the way we look? Discriminatory and prejudice behavior towards minorities was the cause of the student unrest, as well as gaining support from non-ethnical students and community.Jesus Rodriguez realized people can be so spry to hold certain characteristics to a persons race. The characteristics we attach to minorities are theyre lazy, they dont want to leave the bottom, theyre slow learners, etc. With this in mind, white people in power discriminated these minorities, saying they dont belong in their universities. Many white people believed in the status quo or race at the time and opposed the ethnic protestors. But what about everyone else that eventually sided with the protestors? Especially during the 60s and 70s, people began to fight for each others rights.The division between races between people were lessening, and the thought of a gracious race were expanding. They fought for their own rights and they fought for each others rights, because they realized all minorities at the time were going through the same struggle. I believe that it is important for every American to know their history, even if it has nothing to do with their color or ethnicity since events such as the Third World get influenced some of your fellow Americans, these same events indirectly influenced you as well.Where would we be without ethnic studies today? Without the efforts and sacrifices of those student protesters, someone like me might not even appreciate and understand the struggle that so many went through. We stand on the shoulders of those who dared to challenge injustice and discrimination, and broke the barriers of race and racial equality. Leon, Teresa W. record of AAS at CSUN. N. p. , 13 Sept. 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. Shiekh, Irum. On Strike Ethnic Studies liberalist Films. Progressive Films. Progressi ve Films, n. d. Web. 11 Oct. 2013.Ethnic Studies Ban Racist? YouTube. YouTube, 13 May 2010. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. CSUN Student Political Activism 1960s/70s The Storm at Valley State YouTube. YouTube, 27 Jan. 2009. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. Bonilla-Silva, Eduardo. racial discrimination without Racists Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in America. 3rd ed. Lanham Rowman & Littlefield, 2010. Print. SF State Third World Student Strike. YouTube. YouTube, 22 June 2007. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. Save Our AAS. YouTube. YouTube, 09 Nov. 2008. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. Leon-WIlliams, Teresa. devil Notes on The Historical Origins of Race CSU Northridge Login to the Site. N. p. , 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. Student ferment at SF State College and S. I. Hayakawa. YouTube. YouTube, 19 Apr. 2008. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. Leon-WIlliams, Teresa. How the Blind Perceive race. . . CSU Northridge Login to the Site. N. p. , 30 Sept. 2013. Web. 11 Oct. 2013. Rodriguez, Jesus. Re Race & the Working Field. Weblog comment. N. p. , 8 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2013. Leon-WIlliams, Teresa. Prejudice & Discrimination. Moodle, 16 Sept. 2013. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.