en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/4254291 Comments by Stephen Hill http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/20/voices-from-the-classroom-156/#IDComment347927686 I honestly don’t know the answer to this question but I want to work it out in my mind. I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on my parents and their views so I should theoretically be able to determine which one of these things my parents would least hate. If I had to guess I would say me dating another guy. My oldest sister is a lesbian and they are aware. She brings her girlfriends over and to family functions and no one minds or ever says anything out of place. On more than one occasion I’ve heard my mother mentioning she wants grandchildren one day but she’s never said anything derogatory to a girlfriends or about gays/lesbians. So from this information I think that she would be okay with it but she just wants grandchildren from her oldest daughter. On the other hand, my parents have been known to have racist tendencies towards certain races and ethnicities. So this is not a simple question to answer. In general, as long as I dated a minority my parents would be completely fine. A black, latino/hispanic, philipino, caribbean. Those racial groups that are closest to the blacks, my parents have no issue with. On multiple occasions I’ve seen and heard my parents saying something racist about a person of Indian descent. Nothing as overt as calling them derogatory names or insulting their religion and culture. My father has on multiple occasions been seen saying things like “you can’t drive like that this isn’t India”. Not exactly “racist” but it shows an innate dislike for Indian people and their customs. On the other hand my mother has displays a strong dislike for white people on multiple occasions when it comes to dating. She once saw me hugging two girls I know after one of my basketball games and when we got home she asked me “who was the ho that hugged me”. She was referring to the white girl as the other one was black and she specifically said she wasn’t talking about the black girl. She has also on multiple occasions expressly forbid me from bringing a white girl home. She could be joking about it but I have long since realized that things like this aren’t funny. If you joke about it enough you start to believe it. I know I certainly do. So basically what all this says is that my parents are homophobic racists right? Wrong. It just means that that they are human and they are flawed. It gives them layers and makes them a bit harder for me to understand. The only way I’ll know for sure is if I get into an interracial gay relationship and whatever point they bring up first is the point that they care most about. Even then I don’t think I’d know exactly how they feel. They’re very secretive about how they feel sometimes and this is just my best guess at how they would feel in two similar situations based upon how they’ve acted in the past. Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:20:17 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/20/voices-from-the-classroom-156/#IDComment347927686 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/20/voices-from-the-classroom-157/#IDComment343552560 I’m answering this question because I said that I didn’t care as much about these poverty stricken white people as I do for people of my own race. I also felt like many of the other people of color were lying when they said they feel exactly the same. Its entirely natural to not feel as passionately for another person’s demise as you would for your own or someone that is close to you. We (minorities) generally feel a connection with other minorities as we all share the same basic plight and disadvantages. When it comes to white people, they can only understand through empathy but it’s rare that someone really understands what the minority goes through on a day to day basis in America. This is what strengthens the minority bond and makes us care more for one another than we would for those on the outside. Its not that minorities don’t care about white people but its hard for us to feel the same level of sympathy in these situations. Another reason why I can’t feel the same amount of sympathy is because I personally feel that white people have all the opportunity in the world. In the case of the mother from the video we watched, she really screwed up. It’s understandable if you grew up in poverty but as a white in America she had chances to make something of herself. We all do and she failed. She screwed things up for not only herself but for her children. Her oldest son is intelligent and goal oriented. He knows what he wants and has a plan to get there. Of course he’s at a disadvantage because his mother screwed him over but he knows that his success in the end is dependent entirely upon his self. You can’t blame anyone but yourself for your failure and he knows this. His mom on the other hand still has yet to grasp this knowledge. It honestly pissed me off when she blamed her father for having so many children but in the end it was her that chose to settle as a cleaning lady at burger king. That job doesn’t require much and she obviously didn’t try hard enough. Her son who is in just as bad of a situation as she was is making something of himself in any way he can. He tries to dress presentably and showed off all the academic and athletic awards he’s won. If he fails then he was just dealt a truly crappy hand but that certainly wont be for lack of trying. With people of color it’s an uphill battle. We don’t just have to worry about being born into poverty but then the color of our skin is usually a disadvantage. Its stinks for us but we make the best out of what we were giving. The reason why I don’t feel the same level of sympathy is mainly because its not the same level of disadvantage. I’m not going to argue about who has it worse but I feel like minorities in poverty have it worse that a white. Fri, 20 Apr 2012 17:06:16 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/20/voices-from-the-classroom-157/#IDComment343552560 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/10/racist-profiling-appears-to-be-alive-in-nyc/#IDComment337069044 My first though when reading the article is, “How is this mistreatment allowed to continue. I know that many individuals in soc class would like to believe that racism isn’t an issue in America but clearly it is. People know this stuff goes on but no one ever does anything about it. I know personally that whenever I her about police brutality or injustice I just brush it off. I say “it happened to that one guy but it doesn’t happen to everyone.” I usually think that they gave the cop a probable cause. The truth is that No, it doesn’t happen to everyone. It just happens to people of color. I know for a fact that those people of color enrolled in institutions of higher education tend to be some of the least suspicious people around. The are well mannered and dress presentably. In no way a gangster or trouble maker and yet they still get profiled. If this doesn’t make you angry then you probably can’t see the injustice in the situation. Its obvious that this is wrong but it’s going to continue to happen because everyone thinks the same way that I did. Either its one guy or that it doesn’t happen as often as the media portrays it. If the numbers from this article are correct then this happens way more often than is portrayed in the media and this is a serious problem facing cities. Also as much as I’d like to say that this is a problem just facing cities it happens in suburbs too. I can attest to being pulled aside at a local park for fitting the profile of a local criminal. The problem is that the profile didn’t actually exist as the police didn’t know who had actually been robbing bikes from the park. They’d assumed the thief was black and he must have been me because I was the darkest person in a suburban park. It happened so long ago that I almost forgot about it but this story brought up old buried anger. Its really frustrating to know that this is happening on the scale that its happening on and that there’s nothing that's being done to stop it. If anything this kind of abuse is being tolerated and promoted because it is believed to lower crime rates. I believe that crime rates are just lower because people have wisened up and realized crime doesn’t pay and people of color are more likely to end up in jail for their crimes. So in other words crime rate has dropped and the police force wants to use that as an excuse to toughen their grip on the “streets”. Except this isn’t just on the “streets”. It's everywhere and it doesn’t make sense and it needs to stop. The only way this can happen is if the people stand up and do something about it. Let the police know that we know what's going on and we wont allow it. Its not even so bad that black are being arrested. If whites were being stopped and mistreated and the same rates things would certainly change. As the mayor, it's ok to say that things are fine since its not his family being arrested and stepped on. If it was I can assure you two things. 1.) Kelly’s view would be totally different. 2.) This bullshit would be stopped immediately. Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:57:47 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/10/racist-profiling-appears-to-be-alive-in-nyc/#IDComment337069044 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/01/the-saggy-pants-problem/#IDComment332395783 I was once told that the “saggy pants” trend originated in prison. When inmates are given clothes in generally one size fits all so clothes tend to be very baggy. Those who wore the clothes in jail when released are more likely to don more loose fitting clothes and those on the outside that want to appear tough will wear loose fitting clothes because it will make them seem like they did jail time and by association make them seem tough. There’s also a joke on the internet that states that inmates sag their pants to show other inmates that they are sexually ready but that's not true. It's something that got started to dissuade young people from sagging their pants. Now the government has 1 upped the internet and passed a law banning the sagging of pants. I dislike sagging as much as the next guy but this is absolute overkill. Sam Richards once said “Welcome to Orwell's 1984” in response to another law allowing strip searches on the premise of probable cause. I felt he hit the nail on the head. In english we learn that one of the major fallacies in writing is the slippery slope. An example of this is when you forget to turn in 1 homework assignment and your mom extrapolates that you're going to start failing all your classes and drop out of school. One could argue that the same situation is occurring here but I disagree. To continue with the metaphor this is like you failing a class and dropping 2 more and still saying that it's unlikely that you’ll drop out of school. This government that was for the people is increasingly become against the people with each new law that is passed. It would not be a slippery slope to say that the government is overextending its power. We were always fairly close to Orwell’s 1984 but with this new law on sagging pants, that future is almost tangible. This is something that the American people can’t continue to allow. No one wants the government butting in on what we do but no one ever wants to stand up and speak out. This is how things got to the way they are but it's not too late to make a change. If we don’t make the government aware that we still want our free will they will take it from us. Sagging pants is just the beginning. Who knows what could be next. Today its sagging pants and tomorrow its country wide uniforms. Who is the government to decide how its people wear their clothes. There was a certain boundary and it has clearly been crossed. God Bless the USA. Thu, 5 Apr 2012 16:19:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/01/the-saggy-pants-problem/#IDComment332395783 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/22/voices-from-the-classroom-131/#IDComment322775198 Let's start with the positives.Going through anything at a younger age just makes you more prepared for the future. Most people of color are thrust into a later stage simply by being exposed to some racial injustice. I’m a firm believer in what doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger. I think that it's sad that children have to be exposed to this but it's something that’s necessary to prepare them for later in life. If I’ve said it once I’ll say it again, racism just isn’t surprising anymore. Especially when it comes from a white person. It’s expected and growing up as a person of color you either learn that early or just break down. It helps kids to develop a tough skin early. I hypothesize that its makes minorities in america more emotionally tough or “stable” that someone white in america. I’ve seen this before on a documentary made by the rapper ice cube. He took a black family and a white family and had movie make-up artist come and turn the white family black and the black family white. It was eye opening to see that the children in the white family wanted out by the second week. Being black and being exposed to those injustices they simply couldn’t handle. Because as a child they weren’t exposed to it. The flip side to this argument is that some children learn these lessons too young and it can cause problems with that individual's perspective. For example, the experiment where children were asked which doll they preferred and which doll was good or bad from a selection of a white and brown doll. They liked the white doll better and said that the dark doll was bad. The problem is that all these children were of color. They believe that it's wrong for something to be black or brown or of color. They also realize that they themselves are just like the doll. Then there’s a conflict internally where they see that they are taught that because of their race they are inherently bad people. The children were way too young to understand the implications of racial discovery and yet it probably made them a better person. I guess it all depends on perspective and personal character. By that I mean some people will get consumed by this. Want to be white to fit in or be accepted. Or hate white people for making them feel down. Its sad that children have to go through this but even more sad that it's the reason why racism gets perpetuated through the years. A few bad apples will certainly spoil the whole bunch is the mentality for race. One bad experience with a white person and all whites must be racist. One bad experience with a person of color at the third stage and all people of color must hate whites. Fri, 23 Mar 2012 16:11:22 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/22/voices-from-the-classroom-131/#IDComment322775198 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/13/voices-from-the-classroom-119/#IDComment316949425 When it comes to the armed forces, Americans can be pretty damn patriotic. Americans in general are some of the most patriotic and nationalistic people in the world. There is a pride that comes with being an American and it doesn’t take too kindly to negative words comments. This is something that started when America gained its independence from England and has only grown stronger since. In class when Sam began to talk about the bad things that the military has done, people didn't like it. They weren’t being defensive, they were being American. This is the American way and we’ve all fallen victim to it in one way or another. Whether that means hating an entire race because a few radicals poor decisions or hanging a confederate flag from your window. Its really all the same. These are the negative side effects of American patriotism. Its bold and often times brash but it is the reason why people became almost belligerent when Sam informed us about military policy. Many individuals in Soc 119 have parents or grandparents or just some family member that served in the armed forces. One of the most prominent phrases used to help Americans sleep at night is as follows: “American soldiers kill to preserve the United State’s freedom and way of life” Regardless of whether or not this is true, people are being killed so you can maintain your standard of living. At its most basic explanation soldiers are killing others so that you may live. You may not like it but its only natural after all. Survival the fittest, eat or be eaten, only the strongest survive. The point here is that people are being killed and in order to help us sleep at night we say its for our freedom or lifestyle. The trust is that's this is just something we say to make us feel better about what the military is doing. Then the other side of the spectrum is those that know people are being killed and they are OK with it. These are those naturalist, mentioned before that believe it is kill or be killed.Apparently the most individuals in the class were one of these two. They were so adamantly against what Sam said because it would mean that all the death and killing was pointless and they are just as bad for sitting back and watching it happen. SO, they defend the military and everything they do because it either helps them sleep at night or agrees with their primitive way of seeing the world. It also means that those people in their family that defend their freedom are murderers and bad people. Its not possible for a good entity to do bad things. Sam was just providing a different way of seeing things but some people are just extremely narrow minded and cant see the other point of view without thinking its wrong and their way is the only way to see it. Thu, 15 Mar 2012 19:19:10 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/13/voices-from-the-classroom-119/#IDComment316949425 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/29/what-more-do-you-want-to-think-about/#IDComment305707969 There’s one thing that occurred indirectly in class that I thought I knew but I didn’t fully realize until I saw it with my own eyes. The thing that I though I knew was that racism hurts more when its done among the same racial groups. Racism within a race is something that we see all the time. So often in fact that there are names for it. One of the most common ones is “black on black [insert verb of choice here]” Although it sucks its something that happens everyday. The only difference is that when it happens in our day to day lives, we don’t dwell on it, so you never know what the parties involve think or feel afterward. Being in Soc 119 allowed me and everyone else in the class to get a first hand view into the mind of an individual that made a “seemingly” racist comment and into the minds of those individuals that felt offended by it. Now let me explain this in more detail. When a white person calls a black person a nigger, it may surprise them that the white person had the gall to say that, but it rarely shocks a person of color that a white man would use the word in a hurtful or derogatory manner. Now a black erson can say it but it just doesn’t have the same meaning. People who share racial backgrounds understands what hurts on a personal level and they can be infinitely more hurtful, and sometimes without even realizing it. What I am talking about is the day in class where we were talking about sports. All day, individuals (white ones to be more precise) were going back in forth with explanations to why they believed one race was more adept than another at sports. The moment that one black girl spoke up about her own race regarding why blacks don't play hockey there was an all out uproar. Girls were getting offended, annoyed and angered that another black girl would extrapolate that all black people live in the hood. I use the term extrapolate because at no point did she ever say that all or the majority of black people live in the hood. Her comment that there are no hockey rinks in the hood could have applied to here and what she knows but not to black people as a whole. This just served to show me that blacks get way more offended when its coming from another black person. The reason I say this is because people were making similarly racist comments all day and no other black person stood up. The reason why is because its expected from the whites. Its not expected from your own kind. Thu, 1 Mar 2012 20:30:59 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/29/what-more-do-you-want-to-think-about/#IDComment305707969 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/15/voices-from-the-classroom-106/#IDComment293439764 This is one of those statistics that I refuse to believe. I’m going to challenge Sam on this one because I do not believe that blacks are anymore likely to refute evolution than any other race. The reason that he gave in class is also totally wrong. It sounds like something a white person would say to explain away black ignorance. This is the white people once again making things about them. Now I personally don’t believe the statistic is true but for the sake of this post, lets say that it is. If a person has the knowledge to understand a concept such as evolution, they’re not going to choose to not believe it just because it make them look bad. This is the same as my father being a convicted mass murderer and I choose not to believe it because I’m twice as like to have psychological issues. One could even argue that me refusing to believe this statistic is the same as blacks refusing to believe in evolution because it makes them look bad. Your welcome to believe that if you like but without evidence of this I can’t place faith in this statistic. The point that I’m trying to make is that in order for this statistic to be true, the surveyed population would have to be individuals who have learned about evolution but not truly understand it. To say that the white man is more evolved than a black man because of the color of his skin is not only incorrect but its illogical. Skin color is an adaptation not an evolution. Species (and on certain occasions populations) evolve. This means that if anything blacks choosing not to believe in evolution because they’ve been taught wrong, but going into that is another topic all together. The grand scheme here is that saying that black don't believe evolution because it makes them appear inferior (or less evolved) is false. The only way it could be true is if the demographics were skewed. The reason I’m defending this position is because I’m black and although I have a religious faith I believe in evolution. You just can’t ignore evidence when its presented to you in the way that evolution is. If you truly understand evolution and choose to not believe it you’re being ignorantly bliss. So statistically blacks tend to be more ignorant than any other race because they are presented with evidence and refuse to believe? Doubt it. This is the same as all heavily religious folk that have blind unwavering faith when the evidence against it is far greater. You can say I’m doing the same thing here when I say blacks can’t possibly be that ignorant of facts but in this case I just don’t have the evidence I refuse to believe a great majority of my race is doing this. Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:07:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/15/voices-from-the-classroom-106/#IDComment293439764 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/17/voices-from-the-classroom-90/#IDComment268854095 Its a commonly known fact that our experiences affect our views. For this very reason I feel that I had a different take on immigration in America where Native Americans are concerned. While most people in the north east have never met more than two Native Americans in their lifetime, for the first 10 years of my life I grew up with them. I was born and raised in Oklahoma where reservations are more common than malls. This meant that Native Americans (although still considered a minority) are in the majority. The people were not just a part of my life but a part of my family. My great great grandmother was Native American although if you saw me you wouldn't know it. I'm African American but that doesn't mean I ignore my heritage. What this does means is that even before the lesson I was totally aware of the Native American sentiment towards immigration. I commend Professor Richards for making this known to more people. It seems that the people are out of sight and out of mind. Since moving to the Northeast in the 5th grade I've literally met one Native American. This is a major problem since the majority of Americans don't know the Native people, they can't possibly understand what Native Americans go through and how they feel. As for the reality TV show about the cops and drunk native Americans, I don't blame society like the girl form the video. Blaming society tends to be a cop out. If someone sees this TV show and formulates their view of a race based upon it, then they're ignorant and closed minded. If you had never met a Native American and the first time you see them is on a TV show getting arrested because they were too drunk to control themselves then you shouldn't just assume that's how all of them are. Its this kind of thinking that leads to racism. Whats so bad about the show is that Americans not only oppressed these people to the point where some need to get drunk to make life worth living, but now American film and watch a TV show depicting Native Americans in their worst light. Its a shame that this is how Americans learn about the Native people. Being black, grew up knowing the oppression that blacks went through many years ago. Native Americans are still being oppressed in many of the same ways that most other races have risen from. The point of me saying all of this is just that there is voice in number. Since Native Americans are so few and far away they have no voice. I thank Sam Richards for giving them a voice in his class. Thu, 19 Jan 2012 17:50:03 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/17/voices-from-the-classroom-90/#IDComment268854095