many immigrants do not have the necessary means to come over to America the proper way to become a citizen legally and the time it takes to get citizenship could be an extreme factor. Although,I do not think this is an excuse though for people to be allowed to immigrate illegally. In my own opinion illegal immigration should not be excepted in the United States because many people are hurt by the matter, however i do understand why many people take part in the act. It is also sad that they are such a key tool to our economy because we have a national problem solving a national solution. In the end America gets hurt and we have to find a better solution. Being able to migrant legally into this country is all about our countries dependency on workers outside of our country. Although this is unfair, what else would it be based on? You cannot just open your borders to tons of foreigners who bring nothing to the country. One would say, and I fully agree that this is not a fair way of deciding who can and cannot immigrate into the country because immigration shouldn't be about America's dependency but it should be about people trying to better their lives. I think this is a way more complex issue than people think and there really is no simple answer.
I think this issue is really interesting how people have such strong views on illegal immigrants in this country. I feel that the decisions needed to be made about immigration are tough ones and it is hard for people to express their true feelings about it because no matter any proposal to the situation someone gets hurt. But the fact is that we as people cant come to a conclusion on how to tackle this situation and in the meantime the state of the economy is being effected. It certainly is not fair that this is the way it works. I am ethnocentric in that I believe I live in the greatest country in the world. Why wouldn’t people want to come live here and who are we to tell them they can’t? There has to be some kind of boundaries though. There are only so many people that can fit in this country and it would not be very fair to take all of the American’s jobs away because of the immigrants. I can definitely understand why people hire illegal immigrants and I think it is essential for our country to succeed by hiring these people for much lower wages.
I think people are way too quick to criticize the system that we already have without having a better way of doing it. I personally cannot think of a better way of doing it so I do not think I have much room to criticize. It would be nice to live in the a country where your citizenship depends on your contribution to the country as well as, your need for the country.

In our given society I do feel that it is designed so that people of color cannot "win". And what I mean by that is, that no matter how hard we try to blend in the white society we will never become a part of the white society. The is no amount of assimilating or conforming that any minority can do to be "victorious" (not saying that minorities should conform, because I feel that no one should have to conform for any purpose). we as a society have it made up in our heads what are the ideals for a black person, the ideals for a spanish person, the ideals for a white person, etc. that if a certain individual doesn't fit the ideas of his or her race that they a fraudulent in an aspect that they are not being true to "what they are". I also feel that the majority of the ridicule comes from the individuals own race. For instance, the scenario that Sam gave in class was that black people don't where shorts and the black man in the LLBean catalog was wearing shorts exposing his knees. The purpose of Sam showing us this example was to show that the general society of the world would say that the model in the catalog was attempting to be white. I feel that someone's ideals, attire, demeanor, or mannerisms have nothing to do with race. But here is where I agree with society. It is definitely wrong to someone by their attire, but trends show that most stereotypes have much truth behind them. Just how Sam spoke on how he and his wife sat on a park bench for two hours in Washington DC and saw a total of one black person wearing shorts. So in fact a black man wearing shorts above his knees is somewhat part of the abnormal black community. So basically what I am getting at is that the only way to "win" as minorities is to change the stereotypes about minorities, which would require to change some truths. And to add my own opinion I feel that no one should have to change and everyone should be proud of who they are and that they shouldn't have to go through other people tormenting them. As a people we are too judgmental and too hypocritical. Let people be who they want to be. I we were all as worried about ourselves as we are worried about other people we would all probably be better off. I mean it is absolutely ridiculous to say that a person is not being true to themselves because they are wearing a certain attire. As a people we all need to learn how to accept each other for who we are.

The gentleman in this video actually proposed a very good question. I can't give a definite answer for this question, but as a black person, I feel I can give a sufficient answer. (And just want to note that I was offended by nothing that was posted on the screen). It caused an uproar because there is a history of white people oppressing black people and not the other way around. Not justifying the fact that black people can say rude things because it is definitely wrong, but the world is what it is. It is what Sam was talking about in class. The worst thing that you can call a white person is a racist because white people never had an oppressive era in the history of the world. Not that minorities are angry of this fact, but minorities are sensitive to the words and actions of white people because white people have a history, so to speak, of putting down other racist. One may say it is in the nature of caucasian people. So for that fact minorities stay alert for the next act of racism, which is no way to live. Also, it is difficult to describe what true racism is and what could possibly be a joke but to ensure that all racism is caught society jumps at everything that looks like a hate crime. Along, with the ideas that I just stated I will also state that white people are not easily offended (as a whole). There isn't to much that you can say to a white person regarding their race that will hurt their feelings because they are on top of the food chain so to speak. So in a sense the emotions of minorities are much more fragile than that of a white person. So to answer the question at hand it is more offensive for a white person to say a racist comment than a black person to say a racist comment because white people have a history of being "racist". I mean in all seriousness true equality in America just began in the 1960's. And even still equality isn't "true". But to answer the other portion of the gentleman's question it is in no way, shape, or form for "black racism" to go unpunished if "white racism" is punished. If we as a society want to promote equality it has to come from both ends of the spectrum. We as a people need to stop being so sensitive and let things be. Minorities if someone calls you a offensive name turn the other cheek, and white people if someone calls you a racist let it be. We will never get to a world where everyone is equal if we keep supporting arguements that keep us apart.

This is actually a good question and feel that no one in the Television Entertainment business would be willing to give a straight forward answer. I feel as though that the media is definitely bias to the white race. Not trying to sound like an activist but it just is. Especially on larger networks such as ABC. I never personally watched "The Bachelor" but as stated in the video all of the contestants are white (also seen in the photographs above). So to counter-argue the person above's statement shows like "Flavor of Love" may have majority minority contestants however there are vastly more white contestants on those shows than shows like "The Bachelor". And like I said before I think it has a lot to do with the networks decision. Take this into perspective. VH1 is a network that airs many reality dating shows such as "Flavor of Love" and "I Love New York" however they are a lot smaller network that is more so catered to youthful people. In current day, the youth tends to be the most liberal and least likely to show prejudice or discrimination. There are more biracial couples now than ever before. So if I was an executive at VH1 I would definitely include more biracial couple dating to cater to the minds of the vast majority of my viewers. I want keep my network as prosperous as possible. Where if I am ABC I have a little more room to air what "I" want to see. I'm pretty sure that ABC has wider range of viewers than VH1 thus they wouldn't lose as much fan support, if any, if they aired a show will all white contestants. The fact that they have older viewers means that they will probably get more viewers that feel one should date inside their own race. Being that ABC has been around a lot longer than VH1 also probably expect to see more white people on the network because that's who has been on there for several years. So in conclusion, I do feel that certain shows are catered to certain age groups and races. Pretty much all of them are. I mean aren't most cartoons catered to children? Isn't QVC network catered to shopping fanatics? It''s safe to assume that ABC caters to certain viewers as well. Television is a business, so whatever sells, airs. Personally, I am not offended nor do I feel like protesting. As a minority I understand that it is a business even though I would like to see more minorities. For that reason, I am prone to watch VH1 reality TV than ABC reality TV. So it is a completely understandable business ploy, not saying I'm in full support of it.

BTW Reality TV sucks

I also find it fascinating that what ever race discussion topic is brought about that the discussions always brings the relationship between black and white people to the table. And what she is saying how no other minority race experienced such an epidemic makes a lot of sense. Because there was no slavery, or civil rights movement for no other race outside of blacks and African Americans there are really no direct references or "images" as she put it to show the disputes/racial relationships of other races. i also feel that black and white people jump to the front of the race relations line because many ideals and opinions are no spoken due to the anticipation of unpleasant response for the other race. There are white people who think or feel certain things that won't express themselves in fear of the ridicule of black people. White people prefer not to be called things like racist or prejudice. On the opposite end of the spectrum there are black people who don't want to seem prejudice by saying certain things and raise the idea that they are spiteful of white people for something that happened years ago. Others don't want to seem to make excuses for themselves. So whenever the opportunity presents itself the topic pops its head up because people still have opinions. But the fact of the matter is that there Asian American people who have issues, as well as Latin American people, and Arab American people and etc. The point is that just because of the history of on group of people, the issues of other groups of people is forced to take a back seat. Now I will admit that the idea and the image of the terrible things that occurred is truly devastating. One couldn't even imagine how it felt lo live then if you weren't alive to experience it, but racism, prejudice, and animosity between black and white people will always exist if people don't start to recognize that there are many more races involved in race relations. And people may argue that this does not exist but it surely does otherwise black and white people won't continuously be brought back to the head of discussion. I feel that this is always the lead topic in race relations because blacks and whites have such a dramatic past, which is an understatement, that there is still some tension around this relationship. This is unfair because other races have just as many and important issues as black and white people. We as a people need to recognize each others issues so that we can become a better people and not focus on the same to groups like others do not exist.

The usage of the word "Negro" on the U.S. Census is an interesting fact. Considering that we as a nation seemed to have done away with that word in our society and daily lives. Rarely will you go around and hear someone described as that "negro man". More commonly a that person would be called "black". I feel as though the word "Negro" was just used as a politically correct way to segregate black people after our nation was "integrated". But I don't just feel that the race "negro" should be removed from the U.S. Census. I believe that race should be removed completely from the Census all together. Putting race on the Census in my opinion has no real good to the citizens of the United States. I thought the idea of a Census was just to keep count of the number of people who are in our country. Instead it is really a demographic. It tells what races make the most income, which have dominant populations, and where different races are geographically, and other things of that nature. What I see, is that the primary use of the Census is just for politicians to target certain demographics. By breaking the nation up into groups by income, race, gender, employment, etc. simply make it easier for politicians to target certain peopled when election time comes around. By eliminating the race category on the U.S. Census that would truly show that the government is viewing each "race" as equal. It is not as important to not take "negro" of because only a few number of people identify, as important it is to take race off. And to address the people who are multiracial the Census is actually as inaccurate. Like the article said only 2.4% of people actually checked more than one race when in actuality we know that the percentage is far greater than that. Typically, multiracial people only identify as the race that they are most commonly associated with. For example, we know that President Barack Obama is half Kenyan and half whit, but he considers himself a black man so he is black in the eyes of the world. So the demographic is very inaccurate because multiracial people are extremely underrepresented. The inaccuracy of the Census further proves my point that race on the Census is only used for political reasons. If race was actually important than the lack of people identifying themselves as multiracial than we would have to have some effect on the government to run efficiently. Right? So in closing I feel as though our nation is passed the age where the word 'negro" should be used to identify black people and thus should be removed from the Census, but more importantly race should be removed from the Census because it categorizes and stereotypes different races.

AJM5188 addressed many good points in their blog above. I think that it is quite crazy that there are laws against indecent exposure, but now in France there are trying to create laws that are penalizing women who are veiling themselves for religious purposes. Since when is it improper to wear too much. It's no different than an American woman wearing a head scarf to keep her hair concealed on a bad hair day. And to my knowledge the country of France doesn't have a set religion for its people so I don't understand why it is actually a problem for Muslim women to practice their faith in their own desired manner. I actually didn't know that there was a fine for the wearing of a “niqab”, “abeyya” or “hijab”. It makes the whole situation worse because now not only are Muslim women who practice their religion in this way being verbally tormented by the society and government, but now they are putting a price on the freedom to practice what religion you chose and the way you wish to practice it.
And to note on the comparison of Muslim women wearing abeyyas to American women wearing high heels and make-up, it is indeed interesting that women choose to wear them instead of feeling like an obligation. It is almost like the "abeyyas" are a fashion statement in the Muslim religion. To my knowledge the only reason that women wore them was for religious reasons only. Of course I need that it was an optional act, however, I thought it was all in decision of religious factors. Even to hear that some of these women have husbands that do not want their wives to wear hijabs is an interesting fact. It makes me, an outsider to the Muslim faith and ignorant to its teachings, wonder about the true value of abeyyas, hijabs, and niqabs. In any manner the significance of these "head wraps" of sorts is irrelevant. I feel that if a woman's apparel doesn't cause a a problem within a society than it shouldn't matter whether or not what they are wearing. to say that the covering of ones hair and neck does cause a disturbance is just ridiculous. If someone agrees with that I would have to say that the whole ordeal must have to do with some sort of prejudice to the religious faith and it is actually illegal. Such an act could be considered a hate crime. Telling someone to remove their abeyya because they have to fit in better??? That is in no way shape of form fair. So in my personal opinion, this issue in France is a dilemma that shouldn't have began and shouldn't be occuring.

Khalon Blakeney
SOC 119 (Section 005)

PART 3
Not saying that blacks and African Americans don't do indirect actions of segregation, but it is more trending with white Americans. This scenario was a big deal because white people are often having a finger pointed at them calling them racist and thoughts like Harry Reid's is causing these acts. Both parties are wrong on both sides of the finger. However, integration among the country is still fairly new and I can honestly say that we have made much progress.

COMMENT BROKE INTO THREE PARTS DUE TO TOO MANY WORDS??? READ TOGETHER

PART 2
We, the United States, are trying to grow as a people and we need to eliminate racial boundaries and only see men (or women); not black me, white men, Asian men, Latino men, etc. Every time we seem to take a step forward to achieving this there is always someone who decides they want to block the path. Politicians really have to take lead in the task that we are trying to accomplish. The fact that they are politicians does not put them above some imaginary line that says that they don't have to make this movement with the rest of the country. Harry Reid may not openly say he is racist and he may not be a "racist", but he apparently has some sort of opinion towards colored people and he separates himself in his mind from the minority portion of the rest of the nation. His statement is comparable to John McCain referring to Obama as "That one". Referring to the now President out of his name and indirectly segregate himself from him. I am almost sure that President Obama or any politician of color would not refer to a white politician with a name such as "Anglo Saxon".