Im going to try and tie the question Erik asks here to other parts of class. Im sure that one of the tweets erik referenced would be one of mine when I said that im tired of sam pushing his liberalistic viewpoints and anti-christian sentiments on his students. As I look back at it now, I can see how that can be misconstrued.

I am a Christian and I am a moderate who tends to lean republican (I worry about calling myself conservative, and/or a Christian conservative at that because people like Santorum, Romney, Limbaugh, Beck etc. just piss me off) and I think I feel the need to defend my beliefs because I am in the minority at Penn State. Do I come from a small town? Yes. Do I come from a military family? Absolutely. To some reading this, these facts will initially make you think that I am close minded and just resort back to my roots because that’s all that I know. Thanks for judging. With this logic, this makes you no better than people who hate blacks because of the color of their skin. Ever think you could be the close minded one?
I took a class with a future (he usually is anyway) guest speaker for SOC 119 in Chenjerai Kumanyaka and he is the one who really opened my eyes to other sides of the issue. He challenged us in COMM 410 to see the other side, and form an opinion from there. This is where I think Sam misses the mark, which creates a thought process in his students to take on his views, then tweet them. With this, I feel the need to defend the other side. When I read a news article, or take in news, 9 times out of 10 I will read a source on the same topic that takes an opposite viewpoint. For example, if I watch a MSNBC package on something, I will try and find the Fox News version. As Chenjerai always said, he was never trying to make us think like him, he tried to make us think as well. The difference with him was he gave us both sides of the issue and allowed us to form our own opinion. Sam gives you his opinion and I honestly think he wants you to agree with him. If he really wants us to think about something, wouldn’t he challenge people who initially thought like him to think the other way?

Im sick of sitting in class and thinking im wrong because I love Jesus and agree with many republican viewpoints. I take in news sources such as Al Jazeera, Democracy Now, MSNBC, USA Today, Fox News and many others. This doesn’t make me more right than any of you, but my viewpoints don’t make me wrong. Im tired of uneducated people getting on twitter and regurgitating what Sam says. Challenge that viewpoint for once.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this class so far. As I haven’t had my ‘mind blown’ as some students had advertised, I definitely have had a lot of good discussions based on topics in class. I really enjoyed the white privilege lecture. I am white, and I was really challenged when certain topics were brought up, and most were 100% true. During the lecture(s) I felt attacked at some points because Im not guilty of all of the instances, but I am guilty of some. I couldn’t believe how some people in class were acting during this lecture as far as not having an open mind. Some white people were being complete idiots on twitter as if this was a personal attack. It wasn’t an attack on you personally, it was an explanation about why whites think they are better and/or deserve more things than other races.
I have been challenged by one thing with regards to this topic though. I have been struggling with the thought of black privilege. Does it exist? If it does, what does it all encompass? Im not trying to push some blame off, or attack the black race, but I think it is a fair question. Many black people feel entitled to things because of what ‘the white man’ put them through. I love sam’s outlook in that its not our generation that put you through the hardship, or the one that experienced the hardship, so essentially stop playing that card. If you have ever spent more than 5 minutes on the #soc119 twitter feed you know that there are many black people on there playing ‘the race card’ the whole time and not looking at things realistically. They are taking every single comment as an attack on them, but they are allowed to say whatever they want about white people. How does that make sense? Im not allowed to make a single negative comment, but you can call me a ‘cracker’ or a ‘honkie’ on a whim? Come on. The thing that pisses me off most in this situation is that the vast majority of these people making these comments on twitter are ones who grew up at least in the middle class. They didn’t spend a day on the streets like you see in ‘8 mile.’ That’s unfortunate, because I think if they experienced a day in that setting their outlook would be different.
The same goes for white people. Most white people at Penn State come from middle class to higher class households. This is where white privilege comes from, entitlement to things because you’ve never experienced the other side. Im from a working class family, and the first to go to college and im sure I possess some type of white privilege, but cant the same be said for blacks too?

Let’s get one thing straight first, discrimination is not something that will be a quick fix. We wont end it in five years, ten years, and probably not in the next one hundred years. It is a sad thing to think about because of how serious and terrible discrimination is, but it is the truth. Now that’s out of the way, we can start blaming certain cultures!...but that’s not why racism exists. Racism doesn’t exist because one culture is the all-evil super power and they want to keep their foot down on other races. The same generalization that other races put on white people is the same concept that they are trying to defeat themselves. Hypocritical? I say yes. I’m a white man, and I’m not taking all the blame from white people. Honestly, that would just be stupid and put us back to square one. What I am saying is that as there may not be equal blame, white people shouldn’t be shouldering 100% of it. I understand there are extreme cases on both ends of the spectrum but I think all sides understand at least some of this. One of my good friends is half Filipino and half black, and he identifies with his Filipino side because he cant stand the way that blacks always play ‘the race card’ as he calls it. He doesn’t believe that helps the situation at all in the fighting racism aspect. He (as do i) think that the way other cultures view racism only hurts the cause. How can you expect a racial group to quit making generalizations about you when you’re doing the same? This works on both sides.
Lets just use blacks and whites as the example. As white people, we need to just stop being racist, in all accounts. There are plenty of black people out there who are, for lack of a better term, better than you. Get over it. It’s the way the world works. Color of the skin should not dictate how we view each other, it should be based on personality and abilities (when using the hiring process in the workplace as an example, there is obvious discrimination there). Now, black people, I understand that white people have been ruthless bastards to you, and I apologize for that, I really do. Its not fair what your ancestors went through. This isn’t the case anymore though. That was 150 years ago. For the rampant racism in our country to end, you are going to need to forgive the current white man. We aren’t the ones who enslaved your ancestors. If I had it my way, it wouldn’t have happened. Im not saying get over it, im saying completely forget about it. Racism will not end until both sides work at it, and neither side thinks they should.

I definitely think there is a correlation when it comes to race and sports. I will admit I have no idea the physical differences why it seems like black people can run and jump higher than white people, or why Dominican baseball players can hit the ball better than blacks. I will say this though, I think a lot of it comes down to socio-economic standing. Let’s take hockey for example, dominated by white people. This is a sport that is very expensive to start and to continue to play. First you have gear, which is very expensive in itself. Then there is ice time, one on one instruction, team fees among other costs. Hockey gets expensive very quickly. Travel for this sport is also a huge cost since hockey rinks aren’t as readily available as the local basketball court or baseball diamond. White people have a greater access to money for many different reasons, and this is a big player in why whites dominate hockey.
Now, let’s look at basketball. Basketball courts are readily available at your local park, high school, gymnasium, YMCA, etc. Basketball is a sport that can be played all day, everyday because it is a low cost and doesn’t take many people to play. If you are really enthused with the sport, you can keep yourself entertained with it all day by yourself by practicing. Essential costs to play basketball is the cost of a ball, and maybe sneakers (if you so choose). Basketball doesn’t need to be played in a nice gymnasium with nice jerseys. Basketball can be played on rims from the 1970’s with no nets. The blacktop can be cracked and the sun can be beating on your backs, but the ability to play is always there. I think that black people dominate the sport because of this. Many times when you enter ‘ghettos’ or less developed areas, there are always people playing basketball on the local court. I know that when I go home, the courts are always full with teams ready to go after one another. They are always playing, and this leads to getting better with great competition around you. Also, you can look at the argument ‘play your way out of the ghetto.’ I won’t touch on that here, but it is an interesting point.
These are just two examples why certain sports are dominated by certain races. I think they both provide good points and allow for a new way of thinking if you haven’t gone down that road. Physical differences play a part I’m sure, but the socio-economic differences cannot be ignored.

This is a powerful question and one that I don’t think we can answer in depth in 450 words. White people, for years, have been viewed as the ones who have caused racial inequality. I understand that ALL races have their own problems and things to go through, but white people do too. Do white people go through more than blacks? In my opinion they don’t, but I think people of other races think whites get a free pass in this. They don’t, not at all. The main thing white people go through is the hatred spewed towards them from other races because of what ‘whites have done to them in the past.’ This is why whites shy away from topics on race, they are afraid of being ridiculed, and nobody listening to them. To be general, I think most other races see white people only complaining and trying to find a problem when they complain about racial inequality. With this thought process, it only makes sense for white people to shut up. Who wants to talk and discuss something when you know the only thing coming from it will be people rejecting you? It’s a tough situation for white people to discuss race because they are profiled as nothing but whiners.
People from other races that think like this are only hurting themselves though. I think white people have a lot of good things to say about race. Until things like that are put into the open though, there will always be racial hatred in this country. When I think of racial hatred, I think of whites hating blacks. When it comes down to it though, it goes both ways. I feel that there is enough blame to go around, and that is why racism still exists. One side consistently blames the other 100% of the time, and that’s not right. The only thing that can be done to stop race is have open forums (like soc 119) and have discussions. In the outside world, very rarely will you have a white person speaking about race because they are scared of being portrayed as racists. This stems from the years and years of hatred that other races have against white people because of ‘their part in racial inequality.’ It also doesn’t help that whites are stereotyped as ‘people who think they are perfect.’ Put all of that crap to the side. Put all of the thoughts of whose fault it is, and get to the real issue. The only way that whites will openly talk about race is when they quit getting blamed for starting it, and 100% continuing it.

In America, I think that we cater enough to non-English speakers, especially Spanish speakers. When you call into a call center for help, you normally have the option to hear the menu in Spanish. In many cases, you can’t hear the menu in other languages, but I think this comes down to population share in the country. There are far more Spanish speakers than any other (taking the English speakers out of the equation) and that plays a role in why America caters to the Spanish speakers. Just because America caters to the non-English speakers doesn’t mean they are sympathetic though. America does enough to cater to the immigrants, but it’s not nearly enough. Also, I think we say that America caters to them enough because we are comparing it to what America has done in the past, and that is nothing.
America could be a little more sympathetic to these people. Most Americans have the mindset that ‘it’s our country, learn our language’ and that is wrong. America is a melting pot and we have to keep in mind that at one point we didn’t speak the American language. I can’t believe that Americans have the audacity to tell people coming into our country to learn our language. With the way America is catering to these speakers, you would think that the population would be ok with what is going on. It’s not the case though.
I think America will become more sympathetic towards these speakers as they become more a part of our culture. If you think about it, most people who disagree with catering to these people are from areas that don’t have a lot of diversity. Cities like Los Angeles, Miami, and New York don’t have a big problem trying to get used to having more diversity. Coming with that diversity is the new languages that the people speak. The Americans in these cities don’t throw fits about learning these languages, or at least learning enough of them to where they can get around their culture. When it comes down to it, Americans need to be more receptive of others cultures and languages. Regardless if we believe that they have to learn English, we have to respect them. When our ancestors came to this country, they didn’t assimilate with the natives, they killed them. When the immigrants come here, they at least respect our culture. The least we can do is respect theirs.

The idea of self identification isn’t something new. Regardless of people’s stances and opinions on the issue, this has been around for years. I think people feel the need to self identify so that they don’t feel like they’re alone. When they self identify with a group, they feel like they are a part of something. They feel as if they can go into this group of people and they will instantly be friends, understand each others struggles, and identify with them as well. For instance, take a look at the international student culture at Penn State, with a focus on Asian international students. How often do you see Asian students hanging out with whites or blacks? For me, more often than not, Asians are surrounding themselves with other Asians. This goes for all of the races though. Whites feel the need to surround themselves with other white people, blacks with blacks, and so on. Self identification isn’t only based on race though. People who identify LGBTQ are also self identifying, but aren’t doing so by race. This brings up my point from before about how the group you identify with will understand struggles and what you are going through.

Personally, I identify myself as white because my heritage is a predominantly white culture. For the most part, I do surround myself with other whites. I would like to think that I don’t do this on purpose, but I’m not 100% sure if that’s true. It seems odd that just happens by accident. One pro of racial grouping for me are the understanding of basic life and what is going on in my world. The major con though for me with racial grouping is the fact that I am not cultured. I do not know much about Asian, Indian, or African culture, and a lot of that has to do with me not being involved with people from those areas. As a former resident assistant, I learned a lot about other cultures and what the people who came from them were about. It was an eye opening experience to be surrounded by kids on the floor who identified with many other races. Also, one of my residents was bi-racial, and my interactions with him were interesting. He is black and Filipino, straight down the middle (as far as he understands anyway). What is interesting is that he identifies Filipino because he doesn’t like being sucked in to the black stereotypes. This interested me as an RA, and brought upon deep conversation. To answer the question on correct self identification though, I think it is important to a point. If you are milti racial, its your choice. If you are 10% Indian and 90% white, if you want to identify Indian you are more than welcome to do so. It is a personal choice.