In the module ASU TBW205: Welcoming Dialogue on Asian American/Pacific Islander

Bias we learned about the challenges a largely marginalized community faced through a
history of exclusion, but still found a way to belong. For decades, Asian-Americans and
Pacific Islanders were discriminated against for simply existing, being treated like
foreigners everywhere they went. One particular harmful stereotype, the “perpetual
foreigner” aims to exclude Asian Americans in America, always viewing them as
“foreign.” Asian-Americans have fought to guarantee their rights in America, they have
experienced decade long struggles to survive, to be considered a foreigner in a land that
is home to them. The TBW assignment covered the topic of Pacific Islanders and the
struggles they experience with trying to make ends meet, even in their native lands;
some migrate to new lands and continue to struggle to remain stable, and having to
deal with the harmful stereotypes that are created along with it. In terms of a workforce,
the TBW assignment describes the term “bamboo ceiling,” they’re limited in how far they
can go with a company. The Model Minority Myth is a stereotype that is harmful to
Asian people’s identities as well, the generalization of Asians to being smart or talented
because of their race, reduces them to their race, dehumanizes them, and produces
misconceptions for Asian Americans that downplay the racism they face. If we consider
the uniqueness of each individual in their own ways and become more inclusive of
these populations, we can better understand the harmful stereotypes that people
associate. Failure to understand the contributions of individuals because of their race
will only continue to uphold ignorance and stereotypes towards these groups of people.

The TBW assignment related to the module learnings are centered around cultural
intelligence and the true meaning of diversity. Cultural intelligence as described in the
podcast featuring Dr. Tom Vargas and Jurgen Prause as “the ability to interact
effectively with people of different cultural backgrounds” is related to the understanding
of the TBW module and the stereotypes upheld by not understanding cultural
intelligence. The lack of understanding of one's culture ensures that people of different
cultural backgrounds will not be able to communicate effectively in the sense that they
will always have biases and fail to acknowledge them. In the TED talk “How to get
serious about diversity,” Janet Stovall says “caring about something enough to do
something about it” is exactly what she did when it came to becoming more diverse in
her hometown. She provided statistics that “ethnically diverse companies perform 33%
better” showing that being more diverse is beneficial to the workforce. In order for
minority groups to have their voices heard, Stovall says that the mass needs to be at
least 30% and by 2045 America is projected to be a minority majority country, meaning
these communities of people will need to have their voices heard to make necessary
change.

How I can incorporate what I’ve learned into my life is imperative before stepping into a
leadership role. My current role is in recruiting, and I aid in the sourcing of candidates
for our company. I’ve already begun researching new websites to source candidates
considered diverse and from underrepresented groups. The leaders of my company
now are predominantly white and many are men. Our company however, has a DE&I
council, employee resource groups, and hosts monthly meetings to bring other
employees' cultures into the workplace. These things alone make an impact, but are not
the solution to the systematic racism in the corporate workforce. I can take what I’ve
learned about Asian-American’s and Pacific Islanders, what I’ve learned about diversity,
and use that to encourage the leaders of my company to continue on a diverse path to
become a better company. Not only in the workplace, but in my personal life, like I’ve
done in this class, I can seek out understanding and learn from the differences people
have, and what brings us together. The harmful stereotypes that people form about
others, reducing someone to their race, is disheartening and discredits the
achievements and struggles that an entire group of people have been through.

Resources

Nahavandi, A. (2022). The cultural mindset: Managing people across cultures. Sage.
Stovall, J. (2018, September 13). How to get serious about diversity and inclusion in the
workplace | Janet Stovall. YouTube. Retrieved August 1, 2022, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvdHqS3ryw0&feature=youtu.be