After reading that article I have a lot of different feelings on what is happening to Marissa Alexander. First I don’t really understand why she is comparing her case to Zimmerman; it isn’t really the same incident. I guess the similarities are that they are both claiming self-defense when the law is saying that they are wrong for “defending” themselves. I believe the woman’s story, and even if there are fabricated parts, she was a battered woman. Her husband was beating her a few weeks after giving birth to his child, in front of his 2 sons. She could have just shot the husband and maimed him or worst killed him, but she shot away from him. She was trying to send a warning. I feel like that is the best thing to do. I love the part when Alexander says he ran out of the house and called the cops when she shot at him, he’s pathetic. Another reason I don’t think it should be compared to Zimmerman’s case is because the husband isn’t dead and he even said under sworn testimony that he was the aggressor. The husband was arrested twice for domestic violence for abusing her. It was so bad that she ended up in the hospital; Alexander even went to the police and told them that she was in fear of her life. I don’t understand the justice system in situations like this. Yes I know there are laws and all that good stuff, but it isn’t supposed to be black and white. There are gray areas in life and I feel like this case falls right into that mix. Laws are supposed to be guidelines on how to go about justifying someone’s criminal action. However I feel like everything that led up to her firing the gun at him should exonerate her from all charges. The woman just got back home from giving birth and this man was beating on her. And not that my next point has any legal backing, it should still have some sort of bearing; the judge was a woman, now I’ve never given birth before so I don’t know the physical aspect of it but I’m sure 6 days after giving birth makes it a bit difficult to do a lot of things. Especially jumping out of windows, which is something the judge suggested. On top of that, who really has time to think of different escape routes when you’re in a panic? Anyone can say they’ll do something in a certain situation but when the time actually does arise you do the complete opposite or don’t do anything at all. I find it so sad that this new mother has to be dealing with this because the child is going to suffer so greatly and they are completely innocent. The justice system has always had its flaws in situations, sometimes they come through but then there are times like this when you feel like you can’t trust the system. I hope this woman by some miracle can get off and return to her daughter. And the most ironic thing is, she gave birth 9 days early and the situation happened 6 days after her daughter was born. It makes you wonder if she was still pregnant would he have been attacking her so badly because then this entire situation wouldn’t have happened or if she was pregnant would she have been tried differently. Food for thought.

First I wanted to touch on the exercise that the guest lecturer had the volunteers do. The initial story was that a guy was at a college that didn’t offer any African American studies classes. So he went to his dean and asked him if he could get a class going on Monday nights. When he got the room and everything was ready they went and a bunch of racist students were in there watching the game and didn’t want to leave. They started yelling racial slurs at them and I think in the end the black guys room got trashed by a white guy and I think a white girl walked by and threw something that went through his television. The first girl that was supposed to be the first source completely blotched what really happened. After that everything went haywire. It was so funny to me to see how information can really get altered once it goes through a number of people. The main guy in the story went from black to being from the Philippines. Things like that happen in every day life. Whether its in regards to gossiping or news. A lot of us don’t question a lot of things we hear. We don’t ask really know where the source of this information is coming from or what their agenda may be.
It’s actually a scary thought because that idea can apply to the media. They can literally tell us whatever they want to tell us. As a society we just assume that whatever is on the news or what is fed to us through the media is 100% fact. When a lot of the times the information we are given are only provided to us because that is what we are supposed to know or that’s the way they want us to view something. And I’m sure I’m guilty of spreading something that I hard or read somewhere without doing some investigating. I bet there are times that I’ve heard something so outrageous and before I checked out the validity of anything, or asked who the source was I just told a friend and that’s how the cycle starts.
It makes you think how different a lot of things would be if assumptions and stereotypes weren’t spread through cultures and generations of people. I feel like if there was a lot of questioning done before acceptance of truth a lot of things would be different. The war on terrorism is a prime example. A lot of people have no idea what the war on terrorism is about. Some people don’t even know what countries we initially had the problem with. Political officials wouldn’t get away with so much if a lot of us asked questions and didn’t trust accept everything as truth.

I’m really surprised that a predominately black state passed a law like this. I’m really pleased that this was done. I personally hate seeing boys with saggy pants. I especially hate to see white boys doing it because if I would want white people to adopt anything from us fashion wise the saggy pats is the last ting on my list. There was a time when I was younger that I thought it was cool but now it just looks really sloppy and silly to me. A lot of people don’t even know the history behind the sagging pants. It actually started in jails. The inmates who wanted their other cellmates to know that they were available for sexual activity would sag their pants as code to indicate this. I’m sure if a lot of the guys that wear their pants like that now knew what it meant, I doubt they would still be doing it. I find it more interesting that the state representative that wrote it was black. I agree that if it were a white representative his name would have been dragged around the mud and he’d be called a racist. That to me is unfair. We all have eyes, we all see that the sagging trend is very unattractive and unappealing to most people. Why is it that because a black person suggested sagging be banned that it isn’t national news. I would think our society would be proud that black people are acknowledging something negative about our selves and doing something to change it. If a white man had proposed such a law I feel sorry for him. I’m sure there were so many white representatives that have been waiting to initiate something like this a long time ago but didn’t want to be that racist white guy. Another thing that I find really interesting is that there are a lot of white guys that sag their jeans. The article said that saggy pants are “largely seen as something that people who are not white do to show how different they are from the mainstream” but I think I disagree with that because the guys that I know that still sag do it for comfort. They don’t really sag because they want to differentiate themselves from white people. I honestly think that there isn’t much thought when the boys sag. The action is just second nature now in my opinion. There was also a link to an article that discussed Arizona legislator, Katie Hobbs and her movement to ban the airbrushing of models. She says that she would like advertisers to put a disclaimer at the end of their ads stating that “Post production techniques were made to alter the appearance in this advertisement. When using this product, similar results may not be achieved.” I understand why she would want something like that to be implemented but I don’t think advertisers are going to be down with doing this. It’s basically saying that the image that we’re showing you is not really how you will look like, we are lying to you. No advertiser will do this.

I think that, that statement definitely has a lot of truth to it! If it were a black guy that had shot an unarmed white boy then there would be no doubt in my mind that the black man would be in jail. And that would be the case in my opinion because there are soo many underlying reasons as to why the tables would be turned. For one, when you see a young white boy walking in the streets, you are not going to associate him with anything negative. But when you see a young black boy walking you automatically wonder what he’s up to. Even if they didn’t have enough evidence at the time the black man would not have been assumed to be innocent. He would have been arrested for murder. I am actually really confused as to why the Man isn’t in jail. I listened to the 911 call from the neighbor. You could hear him yelling for help in the background and then when you hear the gun shot you no longer hear his voice. The community watch member said that he shot the boy in self-defense. How can someone screaming for help be inflicting any kind of harm your way. If anything you should have been the one screaming for help. And even if he was harming you, you are a grown man this is a boy. You have a gun, he doesn’t. Why did he have to go as far as shooting him? If he wanted to play cops and robbers so bad why didn’t he have a pair of cuffs with him and just subdue the boy if it was that serious. And why did this man have a gun anyway. The report says that he called the police because he thought the young boy was up to something. The 911 dispatcher specifically told him not to approach the boy, to let the police come and handle it. Why did he go after him, shouldn’t that alone be reason for him to be arrested? I also read somewhere that the boy was on the phone with his girlfriend and he told her that he felt someone was following him, and she told him to run but he said he’s not running anywhere. Why aren’t all these things sending off some sort of light bulb in the officers or detectives heads? I do not understand at all. I thought by now the man would have been arrested but he’s still free. I don’t know if things will ever change for the better. I would like to hope they will. We have come a long way. So it isn’t impossible. It’s just sad that things like this have to happen for there to be any kind of change.

I think it’s extremely hard to relay on the media for valid and truthful news because a lot of news organizations have their own agenda. There are a lot of factors in my mind that make me not so quick to believe what I hear on the channel 2 news. One factor is me knowing that news corporations are owned by big businesses. Some of them may have stakes in the war in Iraq. They might own a company that distributes oil and because of that they see the troops in Iraq as a necessity to their wealth and business. If there is an article that will make the public believe that we shouldn’t be in Iraq then I’m sure owners won’t allow that article in the paper because it’s not beneficial to them at all. Situations like that probably happen all the time. Owners force editors and reporters to publish what they approve of and what will benefit them. That’s one of the reasons that I don’t really trust everything that the media puts out. I don’t think that everything we read in the newspapers or watch on television are lies but I feel like a lot of things we are told is what they want us to know and nothing more. In my opinion that is a form of censorship and it’s frustrating because a lot of people are unaware and just take whatever the media puts out as truth when you can’t be that way. You have to try to assess what you’re being told and seek out the real truth. Some places where you can find unbiased news is BBC. One of the worst places to receive your news in my opinion is FOX. They are so biased it’s ridiculous. Another thing that I noticed the media does is they try to come off as if they have no opinion on the situation, they don’t say oh this is wrong, or this is terrible or this is how I feel about the situation. They hire experts that will “prove” or elaborate on their opinion. This to me is just as bad. Yeah maybe the reporter or the news organization didn’t state their opinion but the experts that they interviewed are only stating one side so you already know how the news company feels on the topic. I want reporters and editors to stop putting one sided stories in their broadcasts and papers. I don’t really know how we would be able to get reliable news because it’s not like we can go to Iraq and see what’s going on ourselves. I’m sure there are outlets out there that provide truthful information about what’s really going on but like I said it’s up to us to go looking for it. It’s certainly not going to be handed to us.

When I initially saw this picture I was taken back a bit. Not because I’m homophobic, only because I’m not used to seeing two men in a display of affection like that. I like that fact that they were so brave and comfortable enough with their sexuality to do this. I also love the fact that they are embracing the people that have negative things to say about them. I don’t agree with that Asian hosts choice of words though, he said that he was grossed out by it. I feel like grossed out was the word he used because they were 2 men. Even though he said that it’s because he’s old school he wouldn’t have chosen the word gross if it were 2 women or a heterosexual couple. I agree with him that the legs wrapped around the other guys waist was a bit much but I think it’s because I’m not 100% comfortable with seeing things like that yet.
You also have to keep in mind that they hadn’t seen each other in a long time. If someone you love and care about was deployed 3 times and you’re so excited to see them I think the first reaction is to just jump on them and hug them. So you can’t knock this couple for reacting to each other in a normal way, regardless of their sexual orientation. I honestly don’t see the reason that this picture is such an issue or is getting as much attention as it is. I mean I understand because they are 2 men, one in the military and they are embraced in a way that I guess can be considered deviant but what they are doing has no affect on me whatsoever. The guy Brandon being gay did not affect his skills as a soldier while he was fighting for me so why should I be bothered by a picture. If anything I should have a lot of respect for this guy because he did so much for his country. How dare I judge him.
About the Newt Gingrich kiss I thought that was pretty funny just because what they were saying is soo true. She’s such a robot, like if you look at all her pictures she just looks so machine like. Her hair is literally THE same all the time. It never ever changes, or moves. It’s so perfect. So to see her kiss like that was really funny because it just figures she would look like that.
Honestly, who cares about who’s kissing or who’s in a relationship with who. It just doesn’t matter really. I’m happy for the gay couple because finally they can be together. And Brandon should be happy too; everyone can see how cute his boyfriend is. He kind of looks like Tanning Chatum, and that’s never a bad thing or something to be embarrassed about.

I agree with that statement 100%. I think that there were a lot of white girls in the class that knows that they would never use the sperm of a black man if they had to do in vitro. I’m sure there are other factors; like maybe their parents would not approve or they just wouldn’t want to deal with the looks, especially if the husband is white. But the thing is no one wanted to speak up and say that. In my opinion they were so afraid of offending us (I’m Black) that they just kept everything to themselves. But personally I welcome it. I’ve never been one of those black girls that gets offended if a white person says nigga if its in a song or feels uncomfortable talking about race with someone white. I think it also depends on where that white person is from and how acquainted they are with being around black people. There are some people that may live in very rural areas and may not have seen that many black people until they came to college. I went to HS in NY and there were alloott of white people in my school as well as Hispanic, but there was no weirdness. There were German kids Albanian kids, Irish kids and a bunch of Italians. People went to each others houses after school and everyone was so comfortable that the white kids could even go as far as making black jokes sometimes. So I feel like yes, white people do feel reluctant to express themselves on topics about race in front of black people but there are also a bunch of other factors that probably have a bearing on why that is.
I also feel like a lot of people take things wayyy to seriously. Black people especially. It’s almost like we have this chip on our shoulder towards white people and they can pick up the vibe. So why would they feel comfortable talking to us about something like race if they feel like we’re going to bite their heads off. I think a lot of us have to remind ourselves that the white people around today are not slave owners and were not the slave masters from back in the day. Maybe their ancestors were but that has no bearing on them. I’m not saying that there aren’t still racist people out here today but we have to give people the benefit of the doubt. I’m sure once they start feeling “safe” then more will be said and they wont be this fear of offending us.

If I could say that I learned one thing, I learned that when it comes to a business there is no such thing as loyalty. I know that we were asked not to directly talk about The Penn State case, so I’m not going to start going off on a rampage defending Joe Pa but from the events that unfolded its clear that when there is money involved it really is every man for themselves. I’m not defending Joe Paterno or anything; this is just an observation that I made. He donated so much money to the school, gave so many years to the institution and to the legacy of Penn State; but they fired him via telephone and then aired it on television. It doesn’t really get much more disrespectful than that. Where is the loyalty? Another observation that I made is that the media holds so much power it is ridiculous. As a broadcast student this makes me very happy but it’s also a very scary thing. It would be fine if the media were that powerful and the viewers could think objectively and critically but they are just so gullible and easily influenced. There needs to be a balance. From the first day that the story broke the media had the entire country glued to the TV. There were people who had never paid attention to football who all of sudden knew names of coaches on the team. And with the media of course, comes the spread of false information. There were actually some people back at home in NY saying that Paterno was the one that molested the kids. I find that so mind blowing. There were also employers that were blatantly telling graduates of Penn Sate that they wouldn’t be hired because of the school the attended. The ignorance!! I can not deal. What did we do? Did we take part in any of Sandusky’s actions, No. So why should we suffer. It makes no sense. Before people investigate things for themselves they would much rather just go off of what someone said. A prime example of this was the blog that Sam posted about the Spanish-speaking firemen. Not most people go looking for information or the truth, they just accept anything thrown at them and then of course it turns into the game of telephone. I don’t know if you can attribute these observations to human nature; but whatever the reasoning behind these behaviors, it really says a lot. I’m not sure what exactly, but it says a lot.
There weren’t only negative things that I’ve learned from this scandal. I saw the real meaning of community and togetherness. Even from something as chaotic as the riot that took place to the touching candle light vigil held for the victims. I saw first hand the love that people had for someone demonstrated, whether it was negative or positive.

I lovee The Colbert Report. I don’t understand how he makes the most complex and controversial issue appear so obvious and so funny at the same time. He has a gift. His sarcastic approach is probably the only logical way to look at this situation, because the government cannot be serious. Even though I know he didn’t mean it in a literal sense when he said that Latinos are harder workers than Americans, I feel like there is some truth to it. Not that we don’t have the same drive or ambition as they do, but I think there are certain jobs that you just won’t find and American doing. We won’t wash cars or mow lawns or pick tomatoes. I don't know whether it's our pride or just ignorance. I really don’t see what the issue is with immigrants being here. They are the backbone to this county. In the hospitals most nurses are immigrants from the Caribbean islands, the Delis and supermarkets are run by Latinos, if you pay attention most construction workers are from another country. All these jobs that are a necessity and vital to our country are dominated by immigrants, illegal or not. Watching this video really made me take a step back and see how ridiculous the government is being. It made me think of that other video we watched in class where the man was going off on a rant about the rights or lack thereof of these illegal immigrants. I don’t understand the cruelty. These people just want a chance to provide for their families. What is the problem? If they’re working and not causing any trouble then what is the big deal. And I’m sure if some of those politicians that passed that Alabama law looked into it, they'd find that they have a little mixed blood in them as well.

I think people in America feel the need to self identify them selves because we learn to classify ourselves in a specific group from the early years. Like the SAT example used in the video, we are always asked to specify whether we are Black, White, Hispanic or Other. These practices have us predisposed to categorizing and identifying ourselves. In regards to people not mingling and branching out to other ethnic groups; I think this happens because we like to feel comfortable as people. We normally stick to what we know and we don’t put ourselves in a situation where it might be awkward. If you walk into the HUB you can see this behavior first hand. When you look around all you see are groups of the same people sitting around together eating and doing work or just talking. It’s very rare that you will see a group of mixed races sitting together. That’s only in the brochure for the school. I went to a high school in The Bronx where there were just as many Black kids as there were White. So when I came to college I wasn’t one of those kids that felt awkward around a group of kids of a different race or felt like I couldn’t interact with them. I actually found it weird that the White kids and the black kids didn’t hang out that much, that wasn’t what I was used to.
I think a con of ethnic grouping would be that you’re not getting a sense of the real life. There isn’t just a world of “yous” out there. Personally, I also feel like your missing out. People of other races and ethnicities are so different from you. From the clothes to the food to the music, there are just so many things you can learn from other ethnicities.
When I identify myself I say that I’m Black or African American. My father was born in Jamaica and my mother was born in England. I’ve never really thought twice about what to call myself or how I should be classified. I feel like those habits are sometimes a personal thing. There are some people that you will find are the very afro-centric Blacks that are extremely proud that they are Black and will remind you every chance they get. Then there are some people who don’t really consider race or ethnicity to be a major factor in their daily lives. I think I fall somewhere in between that spectrum of people. I’m very proud that I am Black but I don’t think it is something that determines how I view myself or any other person that is not of the same race.