I also thought it was interesting how much people really do consider themselves as generally “better” than other people. Seeing those statistics and how 60 percent of males considered themselves to be in the top 10 percent of physically in shape males in their college was laughable to me. It made me want to rethink how I see myself! I was thinking, am I really in the top whatever percent of my class or one of the top employees at my job? It was definitely a wake-up call to see what people are really thinking and that they think so highly of themselves.

I had never really thought much about affirmative action before this lecture. I had heard of it but presumed that it didn’t really affect me so I didn’t give it much thought. The way that other people have such strong opinions on affirmative action really surprised me when I learned that only 10 percent of jobs, promotions, or admissions are actually connected in any way to affirmative action programs.
When I see things like the Trading Schools Experiment that Oprah did and learn about the inequities of education and life in general for poor and minority people, I think that affirmative action could only be a good thing. I guess when looking at the definition of affirmative action, I can see that it is an inherently unfair thing, but I also think that it has good intentions. I really do think that it is necessary in some form to balance out the discrimination that goes on unintentionally behind the scenes. Like Obama, I agree that affirmative action should be based upon social class and economic circumstances of people, not just race or disability. Like Richards pointed out, some black or brown people are much better off than poor white people.
Something that I found interesting when contemplating my feelings on the issues we discussed in class was that I am more angered by nepotism than by affirmative action, although they are basically the same exact thing. I think the reason why I feel this way is because usually nepotism benefits people that have inherited all these connections, therefore making their lives much easier and affirmative action attempts to benefit the people who actually need it. (whether or not it actually does, I am not entirely sure, but that is the point behind it.) Throughout my life I have seen people that may not be deserving of them get things because they “knew someone” and it really frustrates me. I can say that although I am a white woman, every single job I’ve ever had (5) I’ve gotten on my own. Thus far, my parents nor other relatives nor friends have gotten me something that I don’t deserve. I think that’s why I get frustrated when I see it happen for other people. I understand that it is a natural human instinct to want your family to prosper, but I think that the families who tend to have the most connections also have the most money and I get a little upset when I see rich people reaping all of these benefits when there are people jumping over so many obstacles and working so hard to get to where these people are and much of the time, they deserve it more.

I definitely thought that part of the lecture was interesting also. I always loved my history classes and I am studying to be a history teacher currently. To think that everything I’ve learning up to this point has completely left out this side of the story that the first Europeans to come to America took this land from the Native Americans, and brutally, totally weirds me out. I get it that people of a certain group want to shed good light on themselves, but I honestly think that children would be better off in the long run learning the whole story! I mean why not? I really sat here and envisioned myself teaching a history class, teaching my students the side of the story we learned from Richards and backing it up with a real meaningful lessons on tolerance and humility. I think that would be pretty cool.

When we began the conversation on immigration I was confused that Richards was telling us the real reason why illegal immigrants are allowed in the United States is because of business. That made sense to me, but I was confused because it seemed that Richards was approving of the situation. It made me a little annoyed as well because I thought that was a little shady on the part of businesses that they are hiring illegal immigrants for these jobs rather than the many Americans who cannot find work.
Originally, I started trying to come up with a solution. I was thinking that if the United States really needs people to work for lower wages, they should look within the American people who are living off of the welfare programs. I was thinking something along the lines of New Deal programs like the CCC, providing Americans who cannot find jobs with lodging in places that need these workers. Basically, the reason why I was attempting to get Americans in those jobs instead of illegal aliens is because I didn’t really understand why people who are here illegally should be able to get the benefits of living in America while not paying taxes and so forth. Richards mentioned that many illegal immigrants do pay taxes though so that wiped that reasoning away.
Towards the end of the second lecture, after watching the video of Jorge Munoz, I was inspired and began to feel for these people. Richards talked about the fact that he knew many people from Latin America that wanted nothing more to come to the United States to work and hopefully become citizens. I realized that a lot of these people are really ambitious and really trying to make better lives for themselves and their families. I thought back to my “solutions” and thought about the Americans I had suggested take these jobs that are usually held by illegal immigrants. Some of these Americans are homeless or poor because they choose to be, whether they are addicted to alcohol or drugs, or just don’t want to work. Still others live off of the welfare programs and don’t even attempt to work because they are making more money from welfare than getting a low paying job. I started to think that maybe these ambitious workers from Mexico and other Latin American countries deserve a chance to live and work in the US more than some Americans do!
I can say that I now understand more of the issues surrounding immigration. I was interested to know that the costs and benefits of illegal immigrants working in America generally even out. I definitely think what Richards says rings true, this situation is not going anywhere with people screaming and arguing about, it is something that needs to be looked at from a different perspective.

I definitely agree with you on the grocery store survey question. I was also in the group that would feel comfortable and be intrigued enough to ask questions and attempt to learn something from the person of another culture. I’ve had experiences similar to this when I studied abroad in Spain, although I knew a tiny bit of Spanish, and I almost always jumped at the chance to learn more in these types of situations. I can see how this practice, if more people caught on and did the same thing, would help the multicultural situation in the US. I think immigrants and native-born Americans should all the same be interested in one another’s cultures and learn about them, because that really is what our “melting pot” in America is all about.

The LGBT lecture was really very interesting for me. As much discrimination and struggle people of this group must go through, this lecture actually made me very hopefully for their future. I identify myself as a straight woman, but I think the idea of a continuum of sexuality rings very true. How many of us, after hearing this laid out in the way Richards did, can really say “I am 100% straight!” or “100% gay!”? I really do think that we are all human beings and our bodies, ideologies, and attractions are all different and they are not just black and white. I’m willing to bet that most of our sexualities are shades of gray. This gives me hope because if we can all realize how we can relate to one another, it will only promote equality.
I also love the fact that Richards showed the verse from Corinthians that pointed out many of the sins that are all equally bad in God’s eyes. I hear many people use religion as their excuse for not agreeing with homosexuality and then see them at the bar later that night hammered. It is really quite hypocritical and I wish that those people could see that.
Anyway, as I said this lecture made me feel good and made me hopeful that soon people of the LGBT community will be seen as equal and sexuality will be a non-issue. Richard’s lecture showed that businesses, adoption agencies, and others are all getting on board with equal rights for the LGBT community, even in the past decade. With the recent passing of New York’s bill that grants gays and lesbians the right to marry, I think this is even further proof of the changing times. And by this I mean changing for the better!

To touch on the lecture on multiculturalism, the main thing that stuck out to me was once again the hypocrisy. Many people express their wants for immigrants to assimilate into “American culture”, but yet want nothing to do with immigrants in their neighborhoods, schools, and jobs. That doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me. I also think that “American culture” is really made up of many, many immigrant cultures! This goes along with what Richards said is “amalgamation” and the coming together of 2 or more cultures to make a new one. That is really what our country is about. Another important thing is that it is really becoming less and less important what country your loyalty lies in because of globalization. In the age of the internet, we are all working together across the globe, and I think we should all realize that we are in this together and difference really don’t matter.

I was definitely interested in the adoption topic also. I never really knew many people who were adopted, but I guess I’ve contemplated adoption for myself before and adopting a child of a different race, so this intrigued me. I think I’ve always wondered about how different the process of raising an adopted child can be from raising a child you’ve given birth to and I wondered what the best strategies could be. It made sense to me that if a child was adopted into another culture other than his or her own, they would benefit most from having been taught about both cultures. I think that denying any aspect of the child’s birth culture or family could only hurt them, so it made sense to me to hear that this was indeed statiscally correct.

The lectures this week helped me to see things from another perspective beyond my own. I have to say, I enjoyed it just as much as the White version in which I was able to reflect upon myself. This time, I had to try to see things from the perspective of someone in minority groups.
The fact that pre-awakening usually happens much earlier for people of color than it does for white people made a lot of sense to me. For people of color, at least in America, they are growing up in a white majority world and a world that gives advantages to the minority. This is the complete opposite for those of us who are white because since our world is “made for” us we don’t notice as many obstacles as people of minorities would. Although I understand this concept, I was pretty surprised to see that some minority children not only realize their difference, but also look at themselves as part of a negative group. This came from the experiment in which black children were asked if they preferred a white or black doll. When I heard that fifteen out of the twenty one children picked the white doll I wasn’t immediately shocked, but when the facilitator asked “Which doll is bad?” and the child showed the black doll, I felt very bad. Right after she answered that question, the facilitator asked “Which doll looks like you?” and she picked the same one, I felt horrible for the child. I can’t imagine being a child in elementary school and looking at myself as “the bad one” and that is how this child felt. And that was because that is how she was taught to feel! I guess I had never realized to what extent this awakening really had an effect on minorities and how young it could take place.
I think that helped me to understand the way that minorities sometimes act when they are in the Immersion stage. Before this, I would often get frustrated if a black or brown person asked “You’re white, why do you care?” (like the example of the women from the Jena 6 rally.) I would think to myself, because I’m a human being and I don’t appreciate discrimination no matter what the race is, but I would also be pretty annoyed with the person who questioned me. Now, I can think about the fact that a person who says something like this is probably just going through the process of Racial Identity and it is normal for them to feel bitterness towards me. I understand the fact that it is just a natural part of the process.

I share some of the same concerns as you for the “Prussian Blue” girls. I honestly could not believe what I was seeing when Richards showed that video. I have a tendency to be worried for children who seem to be forced into something by their parents (ie. Child beauty pageant contestants, child athletes), but this took it to a whole new level. We see all the time children exemplifying the wants and beliefs of their parents, but when it comes to discriminatory beliefs it is really disheartening. I also feel that there is probably no coming back from where these girls are at now and it really makes me upset. I wish they could have had a chance to hear other viewpoints before being pushed so far in the direction of white nationalism.

I really enjoyed carrying on this discussion about the stages white people go through concerning race. I feel like these past couple lectures have really helped me to reflect on where I am in the world of race relations. These lessons have definitely been more of a reflection on myself than the first half of the class and I actually feel like my process of going through the racial identity stages is moving along at pace with the class. For instance, I didn’t give much though to my “whiteness” before this class. I wouldn’t say I was completely unaware, but I didn’t think of “Pre-Awakening” as an important stage to go through before taking part in race relations discussions. After learning about why I never thought about my whiteness, I began to realize it and understand more. Then, as we moved on throughout the class and learned about ethnocentrism and inequalities, I felt more informed. That’s when I realized I was fully in the Awakening phase of my journey. I could relate to the characteristics of being in that stage. For example, I could see how some people might want to avoid any further race discussion because of their fear of being politically incorrect. I also realized, that for me, knowing all of the information that Richard’s gave us and thinking about experiences I’ve had interacting with people of other races, there was no way that I could go on ignoring racial discussions. I feel that I took the third path and decided to really dig in and learn more about racial issue and race relations. Well, once we reached the third stage of Revisioning and talked about feeling guilty and feeling anger towards white people who are racist, I could relate to that stage as well. I took some time contemplating where I was at with all of this, and realized that I do reach out to people of color to learn more and just to discuss. I feel that I am at the point where I am revising my previous visions and getting out there to discover more. The thing that really makes me nervous about this whole process is the stage that we discussed at the end of the last lecture, Reversal. I don’t think I have had enough time in the Revisioning stage to have hit the reversal feelings yet. But, I do think that Reversal will probably come with more experience in race relations. I have already had some instance where I have been shut down or called out because of my questions or comments about race, but I haven’t had a real moment where I’ve given up on it. Basically, I’m just really not looking forward to taking a step back after I’ve come this far. It is a journey so I guess I’ll have to see where it takes me.