JulietaVenegas

JulietaVenegas

26p

23 comments posted · 1 followers · following 0

13 years ago @ Race Relations Project - What might be the seco... · 0 replies · +1 points

I have to say that I agree with this rather strongly. After Thursday's class, it's quite obvious that even after reading Disposable People from cover to cover, slavery is something that is far more widespread than we thought. I mean, this is chocolate that we're talking about. Just like beer is to St. Patrick's Day or Christmas Trees are to Christmas, chocolate is to holidays like Easter and Halloween. Kids will agree to eat all of their vegetables at dinner just to get a piece of it, and yet we know so little of where it comes from. And I'm not talking about the trip to Hersey Chocolate World that many of us who are from PA take at least once. I don't know how many of us have actually stopped to think of exactly where it is that companies like Hershey and MARS get the chocolate, but I'm guessing it's close to none- myself included.
But now that we have this knowledge, although it's disturbing, it's definitely eye opening. When going to grab some dessert this evening, I couldn't help but to intentionally ignore the chocolate chip cookies simply because of what I had learned just yesterday. Although Sam said that we should all go ahead and "eat the second piece of chocolate because it's the only reasonable thing to do," I can't help but to become blank. It just doesn't seem fair that there can't be a 2nd step... I mean, I definitely understand that my decision to never eat non-fair trade chocolate would be about as effective as trying to reverse the direction of the wind just by sticking my tongue out at it, but I can't help the feeling inside of me that keeps saying that there IS something more that can be done by all of us. I hate the fact that it seems so impossible simply because that discourages others from getting involved and doing something, The same goes for the similar issue of the amount of slave labor that contributes to the other everyday things that we buy. Can we just stop consuming and using these things in a snap? Can we get others to see the same way that we now see? And if so, will they help to put make a dent in this horrible situation? I guess I'm just left wondering if I can do that very thing. I'm not positive that I know the final answer to that yet, but I do know that I can at least try it.

14 years ago @ Race Relations Project - In Her Own Words · 0 replies · +1 points

I feel bad about this subject because as a woman, I can understand both sides of Sam's argument. I agree with him in that yes, this is definitely a male dominated world and that there is definitely some silencing going on thanks to that. But on the other side, I can definitely see how this could be gross. I mean, I have to deal with it and I think it's gross sometimes. Blood is blood whether it's in person on your underwear, dripping in the sink from a paper cut, bleeding out of a body on the nightly news, or shown somewhere on a Discovery Health TV show, and I think it's gross regardless of where it is. I have a girl friend who faints at the sight of it (yes, even the tiniest drop), so to me the "gross" factor comes from the fact that it's blood, not in that it's a thing that only women get. I do think that guys should know more about it though... I mean, Sam's right in that it's just a part of life, so why not just learn about it? I mean, it's not like we're asking you to watch or anything.

14 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Flip the Script for a ... · 0 replies · +1 points

While I definitely agree that we should never stop questioning, I think something has to come even before that: we have to get people to *care* about somthing--- anything!-- first. I was a junior in high school when the elections of 2004 took place. To refresh everyone's memory, that was of course the GWBush vs. Kerry campaign. I can say that an overwhelming majority of my friends came from Republican families, and only a handful of us could be considered Democrats. Being the minority among people that I cared for greatly at the time made me really want to push the political envelope with them. Except, there was a problem. Hardly any of them actually cared about what was going on. I can admit that I wouldn't expect them to care much about the 2000 elections because we were younger and rather naive, but I couldn't believe that someone holding a drivers license could just refuse to have an opinion about something as serious and consequential as the Presidential elections. So did they question anything that was going on? Of course not! They didn't care! And I feel like that's such a widespread problem in our country because 1) people don't believe that it can actually directly affect them and 2) they don't think that their vote/opinion matters or that they can change something if they are unhappy with it. So what are we to do with a bunch of apathetic people who have no opinions about anything? It's frustrating to me because people die every day for this thing that we call freedom, and yet so many just let it slip by not questioning anything.

14 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Those Dolls Say Alot A... · 0 replies · +1 points

I have to admit that I was basically speechless after watching this clip in class. I had heard of this experiment when I took a Soc class back in High School, but I know that I had not seen the video (if it was even made back then). In any case, I am left feeling a variety of emotions... shock, disbelief, and guilt are a few that come to mind, but overall I can't put words to what I feel here. I guess that's because I feel a mixture of pain for different reasons. I am a 22 year old white female with naturally blonde hair that grew up loving Disney and Barbie dolls. I have to admit that even though I did have the Black Barbie, I didn't like playing with her as much as the Blonde Barbie. That being said, I also didn't like playing with the red or brown haired ones either. For me personally, I think this is just because I liked the dolls that looked like more like me. Additionally, my mother has fair skin and blonde hair, so maybe I was drawn to the dolls that looked like her because she was my Mommy. Along the same lines, my favorite Disney princess was Sleeping Beauty because, again, she had long blonde hair like I/my mom did. But does this mean that what I was "picking" was what I thought was beautiful--- even back then??
But I simply can't get over what that video revealed. I am left with a sense of guilt because of the fact that my hair and skin are represented by those dolls that the children kept picking... and for that all I could think to myself was "No, don't pick the one like me... pick the one like you!" White guilt? Not sure. I just know that I had such a horrible feeling in my gut after watching those videos and that I was basically mortified.
Then, after watching the video, somebody brought up the fact that Disney is one of the biggest influences in what children thing is "beautiful." While I totally agree with this statement, I have to admit that I really think that they are trying to change things. This is most recently seen by their new animated film "The Princess and the Frog." I have not seen it myself, but I have heard that it was really good and very entertaining for both children and adults... but that has been from white people, so I'm definitely curious as to what the black community thinks about it. Are her features really white features that were simply colored brown (as Sam put it)? Was it really an effort to diversify the pool of Disney's Princesses or was it just a PC thing that they had to do?

14 years ago @ Race Relations Project - I Reckon She Can Hit · 0 replies · +1 points

I agree with this 100%. I mean, if you were to hide her identity completely from others, throw pads and a helmet on her, and send her out onto the field with a bunch of guys, I highly doubt that anyone would be able to tell that she's a female. It comes down to who is the best for the job, and his woman is the clear choice. Unfortunately, since football is definitely a male dominated sport, she's going to have some difficulties overcoming certain prejudices that are being cast upon her, but there's no denying the fact that the girl can play some football. The same prejudices occur in other male dominated fields such as engineering, math, science... the list goes on. But females are just as smart, talented, and capable of doing a man's job and are in fact rising to the top faster than ever seen before in history.

14 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Prom or No Prom: Just... · 0 replies · +1 points

When I first heard about this story on the television, I thought that was a joke. I couldn't believe that this had *actually* happened and it really thew me back a couple of steps. Additionally, the school's "reason" to cancel the prom ("distractions to the educational process") was simply infuriating to me. Since when has the high school prom been part of the educational process?!? I mean, sure, we've all heard the story of that friend of a friend who ran off after prom and had sex in their car or hotel room or something. And from that you can argue that that's simply a lesson about the birds and the bees but I highly doubt that that Mississippi was counting this as the prom's contribution to the educational process. I'm so glad that the family is taking this seriously and are taking legal actions because this is something that simply should not have happened.

14 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Are Whites the Only Pe... · 0 replies · +1 points

I too have to admit that I've never noticed the overwhelming whiteness of The Bachelor/Bachelorette. I never really watched the show until this past summer, but even from that one season that I followed it was indeed filled with a bunch of white guys and a white girl. Based on that fact, I'll take the word of the girl in the video post in that the number of white people can be counted on your hands.

My first thought to this observation is along the lines of the fact that the main character in the shows has been white. So the pool of possible fiancees was probably chosen in a way that limits the racial diversity within the group. I don't know how the network or show producers chooses that group of individuals, so I can't speak for them.... but my guess would be that the main character has some say in who's in in the mix because *they* are the one who is going to be snuggling up to one of the group members in the end. If the network were smart, they'd pull in some people of color in order to appeal to a larger target audience. But like I said, I don't really know how the whole selection process really works.

Now, getting back to the question of whether or not whites are the only ones willing to embarrass themselves on national television. I too agree in that you have to look at other networks and their respective reality TV shows because there is clearly some diversity there. Take The Biggest Loser, for example. Again, I haven't watched it a whole lot so I can't really speak from the perspective of someone who really knows what goes on that show, but I do have a general idea of who has been on the show thanks to commercials for the show, magazine covers, and E! News, and it seems to me that there's a fair amount of diversity within that show. Again, I don't know how that casting process works nor do I know which network hosts Biggest Loser, so I can only speculate... but all of this leads me to think that the situation with the Bachelor/ette show is simply that the group of participants is chosen based on what the main Bachelor/ette wants.

14 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Could You Compete With... · 0 replies · +1 points

I too am amazed at that tiny thought of "what it?" What if she had been born in the United States or any other modernized country for that matter? I don't think it's hard to see that her determination, work ethic, and aptitude would allow her to go places in life. But again we're brought back to the point that Sam keeps making in class-- Is life what is is because of what you do or because of the roadblocks in your path? Yvrose's situation saddens me because clearly, like everyone else in Haiti, there's a huge roadblock that has been thrown into her path. She'd be perfectly fine and not in trouble with her bank if it weren't for that fateful day that brought a devastating earthquake rumbling through Port au Prince. For those out there that consider yourself to be a true believer in the "Life is what YOU make of it" viewpoint and not the "Some people have more roadblocks in their way than others," I would like to urge you to really think about Yvrose's position and how her life would be different if it weren't for the earthquake.

14 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Inequality Class: Ques... · 0 replies · +1 points

I have to agree 100 percent with you when you say "money plays the biggest role." Just look at Hollywood: how many of your favorite movie stars and pop rockers have gotten in trouble for one thing or another and got away with it when everyone knows that your typical American citizen would have been thrown behind bars for the same crime? It comes down to the fact that money can pretty much buy you out of anything (with the exception of Bernie Madoff who clearly despite the fact that he embezzled more money than any one person should be allowed to have, can't buy his way out of being convicted) why you have it/ are famous. When it comes down to things (and as shown graphically by Sam during class), minorities generally tend to have lower household incomes when compared to those of White people. Not saying that people with money don’t do drugs, but the people who do drugs and get caught tend to be in the lower-class housing developments like the projects or ghettos. And since police know that illegal activity is happening in those areas, of course they’re going to pay more attention to tip offs and are going to be patrolling the streets and sending out undercover officers more than they would be in say Beverly Hills.
Now... the question becomes why is this even allowed in the first place? Clearly it's not difficult to figure out who is accepting bribes (Hey there Your Honor- nice new BMW you have there...), but why isn't anybody doing anything about it? I think that fact is just as disturbing as the fact that more Black people are in jail than White. We all know that life isn’t fair and that the average person typically doesn’t get what they deserve, but is it too much to ask for some decency in the system that is supposedly what sets us apart from third world countries?

14 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Inequality Class: Ques... · 0 replies · +1 points

I would have to agree with you here. I wouldn't think "he's a gangster" or anything based on his appearance. I have black friends who are much more ghetto-like in appearance, style, and language, and yet they're some of the kindest people I know... so I think the question needs to be separated into two parts: 1) How does he appear to the eye on first glance and 2) What kind of a person do I think he is. Just because someone looks like 50 Cent doesn't mean that they're going to mug you. I have to admit that my kind-hearted and ghetto-fabulous black friends were intimidating at first simply because I didn't actually *know* them, so that's definitely testament to the fact that you need to get to know people before you can judge them.