Impressed By Levins Morales' Arts

In the book "Beginner's Guide to Community-Based Arts" by Keith Knight, Mat Schwarzman, and many others, the story that struck me as really interesting and impactful was Ricardo Levins Morales' story. According to the book, Ricardo Levins Morales is a union artist and known as a "Visual Griot." What struck me as interesting in this story was Levins Morales' openness to the pervasive thoughts and opinions he came across. Not only was he open to listening to views different from his own, but he was bold and taking risks to travel with strangers and ask them about their lives. To top it all off, he takes all that information and portrays it through his art. He would have to pay attention to not only the objective facts of the information he receives but also the tone and attitude of the one sharing. It's great that he is able to take drawing, something he's passionate about, and influence the world to make changes for what he believes in. He could easily be keeping the information he receives and his art he creates to himself, but he tries to do something with it. He continues to share that information.

Asian Privilege

Our society often talks about the "White Privilege" yet rarely of other races' privilege, so this task of considering my own privileges was a bit difficult at first. But, once I really contemplated and thought about "Asian Privilege," many ideas came to mind. 

1.  Just as Caucasians are less likely to be suspected or searched at the airport security check, I've noticed that Asian Americans are just as unlikely to be suspected or searched. I think my dad has been checked once though, which may be due to his extremely dark skin tone. 

2. Given the benefit of the doubt more often than others to make a few mistakes due to the stereotype that Asians are hard-working.

3. Even as an Asian American female, I think people usually assume that I'm docile and harmless.

4. While Asian Americans are considered a minority, Asian Americans often get experiences beyond that of other minority races due to being seen as the "model minority."

5. Due to Asian American genes, we tend to look younger than we actually are. This might actually help open up more opportunities to Asian Americans of the same age as other races. 

6. Asian Americans receive more opportunities in education and career choices due to the assumptions that Asian Americans are intelligent and hard-working. 

7. When discussing scientific, mathematical, or intellectual topics,  what Asian Americans say usually are respected due to the assumption that they're very intelligent and study a lot.

8. Asian Americans trust other Asian Americans fairly easily due to similar features, regardless if they're the same ethnicity or not. For example, Japanese people will trust me over a Caucasian person even though I'm not Japanese.

9. People assume Asian Americans are very filial.

These privileges are simply stereotypes of Asian Americans with a positive interpretation. I believe that any of these privileges can just as easily backfire and be disadvantages. For example, many people resent Asian Americans for being the "model minority." Sometimes, I've even heard jokes dripping with disdain about how an exam's curve was thrown off probably due to "some Asian kid" scoring a 100. Also, employers may also assume that Asian Americans are intelligent hard-workers, but they also just as easily assume that Asian Americans are too docile to be a good employee who should be innovative and takes risks. All that to say, these stereotypes of Asian Americans can be privileges or disadvantages, depending on the circumstances and the people's interpretation of the stereotypes.