APAs aren't notable?

For non-liberal arts/media scholars, cultural hegemony is defined as "the concept that a diverse culture can be ruled or dominated by one group or class, that everyday practices and shared beliefs provide the foundation for complex systems of domination." It's a theory rooted in Marxism and coined by Gramsci. According to Gramsci, the dominance of ruling class values is so engrained in the very institutions of a society that these values, no matter how contorted, become normalized and the dominated peoples are effectively complicit in their own subjugation. The most modern day example for me still is Asian Americans thinking there's nothing wrong with wearing Abercrombie after they put out that line of racist t-shirts and lost a class action suit for not hiring minorities or keeping them safely hidden in back storerooms. Sorry I cant stop blogging about that but I go to a college and every day I see that, it pisses me off to no end. How stupid can you be really?

But I have another example. I was tutoring one of my charming 13 year old students and was reading over his list of important Americans in history. He had to pick one to do a research report on. It was a two page single-spaced freakin list. Mostly white men. There were maybe 5-6 women listed in the "feminist" category and a couple token African Americans (MLK and Malcolm X of course) and Cesar Chavez, the only other non-white guy.

And of course, there was not a single Asian American. How about Fred Korematsu? How about the Asian Americans who dared to take a stand during the many decades of institutionalized and unjustified anti-Asian American racism around the turn of the 20th century? Or some APA scientists?

What does it say to youngsters when our list of "heroes" or "notable people" doesn't include people of their own color when there are numerous untold stories of heroism and bravery? And the fact that this list looks a lot like the lists of notable historical figures I had to choose from in jr. high 15 years ago (ie all white guys) means no one's spoken up to make a change. We've accepted lists like this as "normal." Just like it was normal that there were no Asian characters in the piles upon piles of Sweet Valley High books I read in elementary school. Just like it was normal that all the dolls in the store had white skin, no black, no yellow, no brown. Unless you want to contribute to this ongoing silent subjugation, you as an individual need to do something. The first step is to see that this is not normal or natural or right.