It is like Sam Richard said in class, when you are king of the mountain, you don’t want anyone else on the top of that mountain with you, because then you would have to share. Furthermore, If you keep people around you that are similar to you, you will be able to maintain your position on top. When white people are in charge, they want to keep it that way. With affirmative action, white people could lose the power they are so used to. They grew up and have always been accustomed to being on top and constantly having an advantage over everyone else. Furthermore, I feel like some white people are afraid that if they lose the power to other races, they may fall completely below. If black or brown people are king of the mountain, they may continue the game the white people played, and ensure they stay on top. Power is a crazy thing, and people will do anything to maintain that power. Why wouldn’t they? For centuries they have been constantly put down by white people. Between slavery and Jim Crow who wouldn’t want to get back at white people? Another reason I feel certain white people are afraid of affirmative action is because they fear people will be rewarded things they do not deserve. For example, no one wants to lose the opportunity for something they are better equipped for over affirmative action. By following the “American Dream” people believe anything can be accomplished through hard work. Say someone does the hard work for a job, and is the best candidate, but is not rewarded they job because it goes to someone else based off of something like race. Nobody likes unfair advantages. Everyone hopes that they will be rewarded for hard work, not some uncontrollable factor. One of my friends had applied to a job with a gaming company. Now this kid had infinite knowledge on video games and was very well prepared for this job. He would have done excellent work. The job was given a female because there corporation was trying to be more “fair.” For obvious reasons, he was pissed off. This girl had never played a video game in her life, and was not at all going to be beneficial towards the company. I believe this is why most white people are afraid. They don’t want to miss the opportunities that they have worked their whole lives for. We need affirmative action though to fix the situation now. Hopefully, in the future, everyone will be given the same opportunities, and there will not be any discrimination, and these efforts will not be needed. But right now, affirmative action is needed to fix the situation.

The most opportune moment for change to succeed is in times of despair and destruction. When a place is completely knocked to the ground, it can make the decision if it will drastically change for the good and become completely different from what it was, or it can continue the ways that brought them to that destruction in the first place. Penn State right now has a perfect opportunity to become even greater of an institution than we were. We can set up a new foundation towards abused children, and create another wonderful opportunity to help another group of millions of children like THON. We can completely re-vamp the institution, and fire every person involved with the scandal. We could bring in a set of new policies and standards, not only for the students, but the staff too. We can be known for more than JoePa. We can take what we were and make it better. But, there is also a possibility that this happens in the opposite direction and we may lose our great name. If they don’t completely fire everyone involved with the scandal, and continue to try and hide things, it will never get better. We even have to remove people from the Board of Trustees, because there is no way they weren’t at the very least partially aware of the situation. Every person that knew about what was going on with Sandusky should get the same treatment Joe Pa did and be fired. Otherwise, if the campus just fixes itself for the media and by their standards, the full truth will never get out and Penn State will never be able to regain its prestigious name. Honestly, I am really scared for whats gonna happen. I’m terrified that people will not want to hire me because they think I support rapists and child molesters and I like to flip vans for fun. I am afraid that will no one will want to come to college here, students will stop applying, and some students may even transfer. I’m afraid of the mockery I’ll get from my family and friends. I am afraid that a college that once meant everything to me will lose beauty in my eyes too. The best I can do is hope the once incredible school that I feel in love with will be able to uphold the incredible mottos that surround us, like our alma mater says, “For the Glory of Old State, For her founders strong and great. For the future that we wait, raise the song, raise the song.” Right now we are waiting for the future raising the song in the hopes that the glory of Old State will go on and hoping “May our lives but swell thy fame, Dear Old State, dear Old State.”

There is no easy solution to the problems our processors have caused. We cannot just give back what we have taken. That would be quite impossible. What are we gonna do? Evacuate everyone from the land and just say "you can have it back." No, but we can make movements to make life easier on Native Americans, and at least try to make amends for the problems we have created. Firstly, land was the most important thing to native americans, and it is what we took. They created religions and myths around the lands they lived on. Additionally, there should be members of congress and the senate and other powerful positions where they can help and make input towards the changes that should be made toward the benefit of native americans. That way, the changes can be sure to please them. It was not just a place of residency, but a sacred space. Instead of the disgusting land we forced them onto, they should have a say of where there reservation should be. They should definitely be given new reservations, or the ones that they are on need vast improvements. They are disgusting slums, and the government should set aside some money to make this happen. What about affirmative action, and the policies we have instilled to help out black and brown people? Why can't we create a similar concept biased around native americans. Furthermore, it is a huge problem that their life expectancy is so low. There should be movements to provide them with jobs, and initiatives to keep them in school. Maybe even provide healthcare. Though we took their land so very long ago, we cannot just ignore the problems we have created. Many people do not even view it as problem, or even know the struggles for these people continue to exist. Additionally, many people believe in determinism, and that if the native americans want things to change they themselves need to make those changes. We had a mass genocide on their people, and that is not something that can just be forgotten. Instead of making life better for these people we just threw them together on a terrible reservation. There was nothing done for the betterment of the people, instead we just pushed them aside. Housing is the most important thing, considering that is what we stole. But replacing housing is not good enough, because in the future those houses will be worn down and need replacing. Instead of giving them fish, we need to teach them how to fish. There needs to be jobs opportunities, much more education opportunities, health care, and psychological services. The last is especially important considering alcoholism and suicide are so prevalent.

Firstly, the stage I believe myself to be in is stage five. I was in a year and a half relationship freshman year of college with a black male, and I can positively say that that pushes you through the stages very quickly. Coming in to the relationship, I was definitely a stage two. I remember when we first started dating I was in the middle of reading “Gone with the Wind” and I refused to read it around him or carry it in my purse cause I was afraid it would offend him. It is my favorite epic novel and I was afraid he would think that meant I supported slavery, obviously not the case and frankly absurd thing to think. Throughout the relationship I moved through the stages and after the relationship was over I had moved from stage two-four. It was not until recently that I had progressed into stage five. My roommate is black, and moving in I didn’t realize it, or acknowledge any possible problems with it. Me and her are the exact same person and so inseparable. Additionally, me and my best friend were her only white friends, and we had to constantly jest about it. The best friend is furthermore gay so we are a pretty rag tag diverse team. Gays, go through essentially the same discrimination and struggles as racial groups. Furthermore, my sorority is a very diverse group of girls, and I find it comforting that we have members from India, Malaysia, China, England, Dominican Republic, etc. When I was in a relationship with the black guy, my parents were not at all okay with the decision I had made. And frankly, I did not view it as a decision. I didn’t decide to date a black guy, I had feelings for a black guy and pursued them. My mother actually sat me down and told me she would not be okay if I decided to marry him, and she would not pay fir the weeding or even show up. It got so bad me and my mother did not speak for months and my father had to intervene with an intervention. I cannot exactly pinpoint why me and my mother are on different stages, there are many factors that contribute. First, she grew up in an entirely different environment and time. She was born in 1954, which isn’t too bad but my grandparents were very closed minded and they were always in predominantly white environments. She additionally stopped working when her first child was born in 1984, so essentially after that time period she was never forced to interact with people she didn’t want to. She was never forced to leave her comfort zone. Both of my mom’s parents were also very closed minded, I only received that from one parent and I can’t ever remember (except when I was dating a black male) instances where she subjected racist views on me.

The time in my life when I have had the biggest feeling of white guilt was this semester in Soc 119 lecture. It was the day when we went over the experiment where the white male, black male, and Hispanic male all had the same exact resume and were trained extensively to act identical through job interviews to determine if racism was still present in the work force, and if so how prevalent it was. I expected a little difference, but the numbers that were given were absolutely shocking. They did the experiment flawlessly accounting for everything. The men dressed the same, talked the same, had identical personalities, and matching resumes. The only difference was race. I don’t remember the exact numbers, but the white male was called back significantly more than the black male and Hispanic male. It was so bad that even the white male with a criminal record got more jobs back then the back male without one. That is absolutely disgusting. Especially in America where it is constantly advertised that with hard work you can do whatever you would like, and whatever you set your mind to. It has always been stressed that with the proper education you can overcome whatever financial bracket you were born into. These results prove how completely hypocritical the “American dream” beliefs are. It essentially proves that the American dream is only applicable to whites. I know Sam was saying that we shouldn’t feel guilty, but it is almost impossible not to. My roommate is black and she is one of my best friends. It is unbearable to me that with the same education I am statistically proven to go further than her. How can you not feel guilty with that information? The second time I was faced with white guilt was in our soc discussion groups. We were discussing our first experiences with race, and the black girl sitting next to me said that when she was younger she was in a predominately white school and kids used to make fun of her all the time for her skin color. That killed me. Obviously I was not one of those children, but no child should have to witness such racism at such a young age. Though I personally have not done anything like that to someone who is black, you can’t help but feel guilty on behalf of your race. Sam say all the time that you shouldn’t feel white guilt, but I believe if enough of us feel it one day when we are in more powerful positions we can use that guilt to make a difference. Personally if I am ever in position where I am hiring new people that study will always be in the back of my mind and I will do my very best to prevent that from happening.

First and foremost, as a thespian that has been doing theatre my whole life, I’m not gonna lie I would be pretty ecstatic (certainly not that all gays are flamboyant theatre gays, those are just my favorite). I love gays. It takes a very special type of person to be able to so wholeheartedly admit that they go completely against the grain of society. I believe gay individuals are some of the strongest people in society. They go through so many hardships and prejudices just for being themselves, they have a strength most people don’t understand. I’ve always made jokes that I would rather a gay child, just cause it would make life more interesting and give a very unique family circumstance. I feel like a family would develop a very close knit unbreakable bond when coming together to support a child who is gay. It would teach the other children I have of the importance in being unique, and how it is simply okay to be different. My best friend is gay, and after I developed such a close relationship with him I started to change my perspective a little. I would be 100% supportive of my child, my only qualm is the troubles that he would have to go through. It is so difficult growing up knowing you are different from everyone else and not knowing why. It is terribly confusing to a child, and quite frankly much harder. I would hate to see my child go through all the hate and discrimination the world has. When you have a child you want to give them the world, but the abhorrence certain members of society possess is something as a parent you cannot protect them from. I would give them all the love and support that was possible, but at the end of the day they are going to have to bear the weight of being so different in societies eyes every day, and there is really nothing you can do to prepare them for that. Hopefully, by the time I have children gay rights will be in every state. I would hate for my own child to be less privileged from someone else solely because of his sexual orientation. It would kill me for my child to not be able to get married. Everyone should have that right regardless of your sexual orientation. Love is love and one should be able to express that love to anyone they so choose. Who are we to say two people don’t deserve the beautiful sanctity of marriage? As proud as I would be of my son/daughter, it would kill me of they still were not allowed to get married. Every parent wants to see their child happily married and to me it makes no difference what sexual orientation you may have, so long as you are happy with who you are with.

On a superficial side; the video was funny. You had to laugh at how outright ridiculous this seemed, but then be terrified at the same time by the stunning reality that this is how people actually take race into their way of respond to illegal activities. When the white guy was stealing the bike, people assumed that he worked for the park because the image of a white person stealing a bike does not fit into our superficial beliefs in stereotypes. But the white guy with the common blue-collar stereotypical job fits seamlessly. Most commonly the white man was ignored and people chose not to get involved. On the opposite end of the spectrum, it was absolutely shocking how quickly people would intervene in the case of the black male who was engaging in the same illegal activities as the white male before him. To push the focus on race, the men were dressed in very similar clothing carrying the same exact conspicuous bag of saws and wire cutters. The men were also giving the same answers when pedestrian’s questioned who the owner of the bike was. They both answered “Is it yours?” or “It doesn’t matter.” Action was taken immediately when passerby's saw the stereotypical image of a young black male stealing property. That’s the image portrayed everyday by the media and racial prejudices. People associate white with good and black with bad, and when these connections are so prevalent in everyday thought, they are guaranteed to present themselves in every day life. So without even thinking you are acting on a deeply embedded idea of racism, and though it is nearly instinctual to say that you would interfere regardless of someone’s race or appearance, the truth of the matter is the you develop these thoughts without even being conscious of it. Personally, if I was there I probably wouldn’t have tried to stop any of them. Something about a stranger holding sharp objects meant to cut through metal makes me not want to criticize their actions or get myself stabbed. I personally found it hilarious when pedestrians were helping the young woman steal the bike. Even when she had admitted that she was stealing the bike men continued to help her. At least other women were calling it into the police station, but the men were completely defenseless to the stereotypical girl next door who could never be involved in illegal activities. The whole point of this are the subconscious stereotypes that affect our everyday decision making without us even realizing it. There is no way to correctly asses yourself on the actions you believe you would do in this situation in the future because you are partially unable to control your instant reaction.

I am not surpriesed by the fact that SAT scores are statistically proven to be higher as family income is higher. Family income is based on the status of the job the parents have. Generally families that have a high income went to a high level college and came from a high income family. High income families stress hard work and good grades heavily on their children because they want them to go to as good of a school as they did, and have all the opportunies they did or better. When you’re in a high income family there is much more stress to do well on the SAT’s, while lower income houses may not show as much a concern. Additionally, families with higher incomes can afford tutors, extra help, and extra classes. If you are very wealthy you can afford to send your children to expensive prep schools and private schools and place them into special education oportunities. They can afford to do extra classes during the summer while less priveledged kids have to work during summer. Additionally, kaplan courses are very expensive classes that guarantee good scores on the SAT and guarantee that your scores will increse by about 100 points. Families with more money can affors to give their children these opportunities. When you are in a family with lower income, you have more drastic needs to cover. For instance families in this situation are more concerned about putting food on the table than SAT scores and grades. Morever, if they are a lower income household and have a lot of kids, some of the older children have to take on the role of parents and do housework like cleaning and cooking and they dont hav the time to work on studing for the SAT. Additionally, lower income families will live in lower income neihgboorhhods that are in lower income school districts with classes much less advanced and with much less opportunities at their feet. Another factor that contributes to this statistic is that generally when families are wealthy, their children will be wealthy and so on and so forth which creates an endless cycle of the correlation. Another contributing factor is that when you’re wealthy your children can be in better and more expensive day care and sitting service that start education young and give children really great starts to life. When you are from a higher income family you can also afford to take the SAT’s as much as you want. As they say practice makes perfect, and the more you take the SAT’s the more you are proven to do better on them. I personally cam from a higher income family and the SAT’s were very much stressed and I was enrolled in Kaplan courses and I additionally took the test three times. I know I wouldn’t have dome this well if I did not have the financial staibility to afford all these great opportunites.

I believe that a person has no choice over their sexual orientation, but on the other hand I additionally believe that a person chooses their gender based on the constraints of society. Gender is something you are born with, and even as a child you are heavily pushed toward your gender roles. Sexual orientation, is a tad different, in the sense that as a young child you are not socially forced to be attracted to the opposite sex, such as a child is forced to like dolls and not football. As a child, you generally believe romantic attraction to be icky, and not something within your realm. Even from the moment you are born you are placed/surrounded in either blue or pink, and that is influence toward your gender roles. My closest friend in the world is gay, and I was the first person he had ever come out to. It was an absolutely eye opening experience, and taught me so much. In the midst of him coming out I had to ask, “when did you know you were gay?” and I will never forget his response. He said to me “I’ve always known. When did you know you were straight? There’s not an exact moment in time where you are like holy crap I’m gay, but a whole lifetime of knowing you’re different and attracted to your same sex.” I had never thought of it like that, but it makes perfect sense. There was never in my life a moment that I decided to be straight, its just something I always was. So clearly it is the same when you are gay. Furthermore, why would anyone decide to be gay? It’s so difficult to come out to your parents and all your friends, and you will go through so much hate and hardships in your life. That is not something you chose, that’s something you are. That’s why they have so much strength to put up with the intolerance and closed-mindedness of the world. As far as gender goes, you choose the girly/manly activities you do every day. I choose to put on make-up, and I choose to wear dresses. This is highly influenced through adolescence. A perfect example of this is how many girls do you see on middle school / high school football teams? The answer is none, because it is not socially acceptable. I choose to not play football, and I choose to keep my hair long (even though life would be much simpler with a male haircut that you don’t even have to brush). Think what would happen if you were a small child that was a boy and you came outside wearing a dress. Your family would highly discourage this behavior and most likely not let you out of your house. So even though I believe sexual orientation is not a choice, gender is a choice you make everyday based on the influence of your parents and peers.

The main question I have to ask is: How after years and years of turmoil, war, enslaving, hate, and fear between the races, can we still remain to be so ignorant to the blatant truth that overcoming all of these things would be the best for man kind. All the vast feelings we have towards one another sprouts from the fear we have of the unknown. It is my understanding that someone who lives halfway across the world will have completely contrasting idea of the world. To me, it is diversity that makes life so beautiful. Could you imagine how boring this planet would be if we all grew up encompassed in the same ideas and in the same culture. I could travel the world starting today until the day I died and I still wouldn’t be able to learn and experience all the fast cultures this planet has. That’s what I find so wonderful. There is not a single day where I could learn nothing. This diversity leaves the search for knowledge at infinity.
Sometimes war is necessary (ie: Hitler killing all the jews. We had to stop that) but if we didn’t contain that fear in the first place there would be no desire for a superior race or to end an entire group of people. We have always been taught to fear the unknown. Not even necessarily taught, but more of a basic instinct we all have. The unknown is terrifying, but if we overcome this fear, the world as a whole could make so many advancements in science, knowledge, understanding, over all well-being, etc.
When has hate or feared ever worked to anyone’s advantage at any point in history? The most substantial and beautiful parts of history are the times we put aside hate and fear and work together to get something accomplished. Diversity brings so much more to the table and if we utilize this diversity instead of fighting it life would be so much simpler are so much more could be accomplished.
Last year I was in a year and a half relationship with a black male and it utterly shocked me to realize how narrow minded people to this day still are. My own parents told me that the relationship could not get any more serious because they would not support it if we decided to get married. That is disgusting, especially today where our country has moved to a level of electing a black president. You would think people would get over this. The worst excuse to me is when people say, “It’s not their fault, it was how they were raised.” Sure they way you were raised is going to have an effect on the way you see the world, but you make decisions for yourself. The inability to question the environment you were raised in, or the ideals you were taught is pure narrow-mindedness. How can people be so narrow-minded towards race?