This is so cool! I mean, these people are living in conditions that I have never seen in this country and they’re coming up with such creative solutions! Around here, we think that people who can get an A on a test is smart, but it takes some real intelligence and craftiness to be able to do something so great with so few resources. I have so much respect for people who can get by in any situation. I’m pretty inspired by this! A cell phone charging station? I think that’s brilliant. And he’s making kids happy. Way to go dude!

I can’t get over the simplistic beauty of this letter. I’m so touched by the last two paragraphs! The author is absolutely right, we all have such negative preconceptions about inmates and we rarely stop to realize that they too are people capable of change, of learning, of emoting. And it’s not just jailers that we consider in this way it could easily be any other group of people. A lot of people make bad decisions every day, and some of them get caught. It doesn’t give us the right to judge people without knowing their stories or their background. The author of this letter seems like a wonderful person, and I’m sure that if I met this individual in any other setting I would assume that he was a bright, decent man.

I understand what you are saying. It really is awful that something so massive can happen and everyone just goes on with their lives. But what would be the right thing to do? And how much time do we commit to doing the right thing? You proposed taking a year off if someone in your family died, but is that appropriate for someone you have never met? Where do we draw the line? I spent a couple of minutes each day reflecting about what happened any time I heard a mention of it. I donated some money. I wish I could have gone down there to help, but how can I leave my $40,000 education behind? I don’t think that it’s a bad thing to go on with your life if you’re unaffected by the tragedy. Sure, we are all one world and we should feel something when someone suffers, but when do you think it’s okay to stop feeling that sorrow?
So let’s say that you just found out your best friend’s cousin’s wife’s brother just died in a really tragic event. You’ve never met the guy before and don’t know a thing about him, other than what’s in the news and what your friend says about him. Would you really be as affected by his death as you would be if he were your own brother? Most people would feel some sort of sadness, but they are not going to take off a week and mourn for someone they don’t know. I think a lot of people do feel terrible about what happened in Haiti, but how can they stop their lives for people they don’t know? The best and most they can do is to make a few donations, think about what happened, and feel sorrowful. So although 300,000 people is a lot of people, if your life wasn’t personally changed by any one of them, then it’s doubtful that your life will change a whole lot when they are gone. It is a really sad way to think about it, but I don’t think that there is much more that people would want to do if they don’t have a direct association to the event.
College students have a harder time involving themselves in events such as Haiti, which is acceptable. It is a little selfish, but at this stage in our growth we are allowed to be selfish. We are trying to build our own lives, so it is hard to be affected by something we are unfamiliar with. Additionally, we don’t have many resources to effectively help out. Of course we all donate a few dollars, or maybe our time to a significant cause. We help the best we can. Taking a year off, or even a week off is really out of the question. We have invested time and thousands of dollars into our education, so how could we just leave for a week to mourn for people we don’t know?

I totally understand this sentiment…and it definitely sucks. I think it is so ignorant when someone sees a person of a specific group and then assume that they represent everyone that belongs to that group. I have plenty of Muslim friends and they are obviously nothing like Osama or Saddam. It is really unfair that these amazing people are represented so poorly, but when you think about it, people are represented poorly all over the world. I mean, look at how Americans are portrayed in different parts of the world. We’re usually seen as either rich, fat pigs or scantily dressed sluts.

Why would men be exempt from feeling like they have to conform to society's expectations? I think their expectations might be slightly healthier than what is expected from women, but of course they still have the weight of fitting in on their shoulders. Women might aim to be thinner than necessary or have to try harder to look presentable, they could have but men do too. They are expected to have defined, muscular bodies and high paying jobs. They think the way to be “cool” is to drive nice cars and buy expensive stuff but obviously that’s a pretty high expectation to live up to. Yeah, men definitely have it as tough as women do.

I think it's great that you could keep up that idea and stop buying clothes. Obviously it takes a very strong will to carry that plan out. I don't think it's completely necessary though. Just like chocolate there are clothes that are not the product of forced labor. Finding out which brands incorporate this ideal into their manufacturing might be a stronger move. That way you can still buy clothes when you need them but you're not paying into slave labor. So if this is working for you, then keep it up!! For someone who wants a baby step first, maybe start by doing some research on which clothing brands have stepped away from sweatshops and forced labor.

Well, if the first step is acknowledging the information that is presented to you and accepting it as the truth, then the second step should be making a decision about how you feel about that. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have to take any action; it simply means that you have to take a stance on the situation. There is no right or wrong decision either. If you really are uncomfortable with eating chocolate after seeing that movie then you have to figure out what that means to you. Maybe it just means you need to buy fair trade chocolate, and maybe it means that you have to stop eating chocolate entirely. If you thought that it sucks for the slaves but doesn’t really affect you then your next step would be really simple…you decide to eat any chocolate you want.

I did not eat the chocolate, but honestly, I felt pretty bad about wasting it. If you think about it, all the hard work and labor, even though it was forced, just got tossed into the garbage. Is it twisted to think that they should get some sort of remuneration for their work, even if it isn’t monetary? I mean, their labor provided us with a tasteful commodity and not eating it would be similar to saying “yeah, I feel bad for you so I’ll make myself feel better by not accepting the product of your hours of labor.” I do not think that eating that piece of chocolate would have meant that I did not support their liberation, and I do not think that refusing to eat that piece would mean that I have no regard for their suffering. I have decided that I would like to make a more conscious attempt to buy fair trade products because I want to support the businesses that are finding creative solutions to offering products without costing someone else their life.

Chocolate has become so ubiquitous that we cannot go anywhere without seeing it. Its something that has grown to be so common that people do not think twice when they get that twinge of craving that makes them hunt down chocolate in whatever form it may come in. Seriously, chocolate is incorporated into so many products...cereals, granola bars, cakes, drinks...how is anyone going to be completely cut their ties to chocolate?

That being said, I think it is extremely important to be a smart, informed consumer and know as much as you can about the products you are investing your money in. If you find that you are uncomfortable with an aspect of that product, find another one. The same applies to the chocolate dilemma. It is so widespread that it will take decades before all chocolate and chocolate products are completely Fair Trade (p.s. props to Cadbury's who is ahead of the game--at least in some countries). The best we can do right now is acknowledge its source, and the work that goes into making one of those delicious chocolate bars. I think that is the first step. The next step would be to make a decision about how you feel about that. It would be the same process for any other type of product. Once you know your feelings on the situation, you decide whether you want to eat that piece of chocolate or not.

I can’t be upset with the people that did eat the second piece. The chocolate is already paid for, so in a sense, that slave labor has already been supported. Eating that piece of chocolate won’t make a difference at this stage. The only thing those people can do now is tell other people about who makes their favorite chocolate bar and let them make their own decisions about it.

I grew up with a variety of friends, as well. I had a lot of diversity exposure at a young age and I am very thankful for that. I think it helps me understand other people’s perspectives better. I do not have a hint of white in me, but I somehow experience the feeling of white guilt. I guess that could be a result of feeling like an American, and not a visitor to the country.
In response to the Disney comment, I do not think Disney intended to make a negative reference to Africans. Not all of Disney’s characters are human. Ariel was a half fish, and the Beast was…well, a beast.

I think this is a really interesting point. I do not see how there will ever be a resolution to this problem, though. I feel like someone is always going to be offended by either a lack of a term or an inclusion of a term. The important thing to keep in mind though, is that you can check more than one box. I guess most people assumed you can only check one box, but you can check off anything that you want to check off.
When I fill out the census I am going to take into consideration how I perceive myself. Although I am not white, I was brought up in a community with a large percentage of white people. Sometimes I feel like I know those customs better than I know my own parents’ customs. However, my favorite culture is the Hispanic culture, because I feel like I relate to that culture the best. Even though no one in my family is Hispanic, I feel the most at home when I am with my Hispanic friends or when I am traveling in a Latin American country. I love their music, their dances, their food, and their language more than I love any other culture’s. Does that make me Hispanic?
And what about the children of immigrants? My parents immigrated here when I was two months old. I have spent my whole life here and as a result, I am a mix of various cultures. Are they over going to have an option for that? Can you just put “American” in front of or after any other ethnicity and make it applicable to children of immigrants? Vietnamese American, Indian American, Chinese American. I think more of my friends could identify themselves as _____ American.
In reference to the term “negroe” on the census, I think that it will eventually be replaced in time. Once the older African American generations have passed on, the term will not be used to the same degree that it is being used today. I understand why some people would be offended by it, but I think most people are really just surprised that it is on there, not exactly offended.
The best route for the government to take here is to include every option. I think more people would be offended if they thought that their race or ethnicity was forgotten on the census completely. Like they mentioned in the video, some older African Americans would be completely confused if they did not see “negroe” on the census because that is how they are used to perceiving themselves. I think that this was the route to pleasing the most people.