I got caught smoking weed last year, and am still on probation and pay a $140 fine every month. For smoking a plant. Meanwhile, Sandusky has free reign to play with little boys. The head of the Penn State police department was told about the incidents, yet did nothing. So clearly smoking weed is a much more vicious crime than playing with little boys' buttholes. I also watched a show that said that Joe Paterno went over the heads of his superiors to keep football players out of trouble. It's pretty great that our football coach, who has always preached "success with honor", is able to avoid the entire chain of command and keep his players out of trouble for things that the rest of us pay heavy fines for. I guess that what I've learned from this whole scandal is to never trust authority, because there is always the possibility that said authority is covering for a grown man who likes to fuck little boys. We are Penn State, but I am not.

At times, State College feels like it's in a police state. Everywhere you turn, a cop car is driving past you. I read that 40 to 50 percent of the taxes in State College are used on the police force, and it's pretty apparent. My question is how did Sandusky get away with his heinous crimes for so long with such an amazing police force that seems to always catch kids drinking alcohol or smoking weed. Cops literally wait behind dumpsters looking for kids to stumble while they are walking home on the weekend. This gives these defenders of justice and order a reason to stop and search a person, even when the person hasn't done anything wrong. If they've been drinking, then it's a $500 fine that goes straight back into the police force salaries. It's a pretty clever scheme, and one that has worked at Penn State for a while.

I didn't learn anything new from this scandal; the news simply corroborated what I already knew about Penn State. It seems that a lot of higher ups in this situation simply looked away and turned the other cheek to the whole situation, which contrasts heavily with the atmosphere about other illegal activities on campus. Sandusky was raping little kids in a football locker room shower, and at least four grown men essentially did nothing to stop it. I also have a feeling that there is a lot that we don't know about the situation, and that a lot more people will come under fire in the coming months. This is incredible to me, considering the way Penn State and Centre County handle other legal matters.

For a protest movement to work in today’s age there must be a strong interest that sweeps the country. This is the key to a protest movement, having a cause that people feel strongly about and are willing to fight for. For example, the Occupy Wall Street protesters feel that those who are in the top one percent in wealth in the country own too much of the money in our country. This is a cause, something that people can get behind and support. Another necessary component of a protest movement is getting the message out about your cause. This is definitely easier in today’s society, considering the means of communication that exist in today’s society. The internet makes getting information out extremely simple; all you need to do is post a video on Youtube stating your beliefs with a good argument and millions of people have access to it. That’s not to say that your video will go viral, but there is always the chance. The internet also gives others the opportunity to respond to your videos with opinions of their own. You can communicate with other possible protesters in a way that people have never been able to.
Another part of protesting that’s equally important is unity and solidarity amongst the protestors. This is the most integral piece of the puzzle; it is the glue that holds the protest together. If the Civil Rights Protestors in the 1960s had shown any cracks in their solidarity, there is no way that they would have been able to change history like they did. It took a concentrated effort on the parts of the protestors to make sure that the people that they were opposing knew they were united. The government and police might not be as willing to crack down on protestors if they know that the people who are standing behind them are willing to fight for them as well. Fellow protestors become more than strangers standing next to you; they become your allies in a fight for your beliefs. This is a powerful notion, and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. The government needs to know that people are not willing to just be stepped on and kicked around, and that they will fight back. If the people who are in charge know that people will stand together and fight for one another, it will keep them from using their powers in a way that is against the interest of the citizens. This is what our founding fathers intended when they enumerated our rights in the Bill of Rights. People need to stand together and make sure that the government is not intruding on our rights, and one of these ways is protesting.

I don’t really have a feeling about the fact that whites will be the minority in the future. I think that Sam really wanted some white kid in the class to stand up and freak out about how scared they are, because Sam loves to try and show white people that they are stereotypically close minded as opposed to other races. Sam proposed the question in a way that made it a lot more loaded than it need to be, asking one student “how do you feel about the fact the whites will be the minority soon, scared?” I am definitely not afraid of the day that white people will be the minority in this country. For one thing, at this point, all of the races in the country will technically be minorities. To be a minority simply means that you aren’t the majority, or over 50% of the population. Sam made it sound as though whites will be the minority while a singular group is the majority. This obviously isn’t true; Asians, Hispanics/Latinos, African-Americans, and other groups will all be minority groups along with whites. If a white person is scared of this situation, then why is that person taking Sociology 119? The whole point of the class is to try and view race relations in an entirely new light and learn tolerance and acceptance.
Maybe by this point in our nation’s history we will have overcome the socioeconomic inequality that exists between races, and the country will be more unified. If this is the case, then why would white people need to be scared? I think that white people are neurotic about maintaining their grip on the country; they think that if they give an inch of control to those who don’t possess any that they will take a mile. Actually, this has less to do with the fact that the elite groups in this country are white, and more to do with the fact that the group that controls society always has the eerie feeling that it will be snatched out of their hands one day. Also, people talk about white people in a way that makes it seem like there is one, singular group of white people. There are white people who descended from all over the world living in America. Most of these groups were persecuted at one point or another in history; German, Russian, Irish, and many other groups were all discriminated against at one point in our history. At the time, people didn’t think that these groups could rise up and become productive either. This is the same concept as the illegal immigrants who are coming to our country in today’s age. There is always a fear of a new immigrant coming to the country, and that fear is dispelled once those immigrants settle in the country and make a name.

I think that homosexual inequalities will definitely disappear before racial inequalities for a number of reasons. First and foremost, there has been racial inequality in this country for hundreds of years, dating back to when the country was first formed. Slaves had no rights, and were treated like property and animals. Even after Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, blacks were still treated in an extremely unjust manner. Voting rights weren’t granted to blacks until 1870, and during that time many were lynched or severely beaten with consent from the law. This obviously isn’t the same as homosexuals, who haven’t been discriminated in the same way at all. Racial segregation was legal until 1965, which is pretty unbelievable when you consider that the country was built on the foundation of equality and freedom. The only reason that segregation was even ended is because of the most famous civil rights movement in history. It’s interesting as well as unnerving to think how long segregation would have lasted without the efforts of civil rights leaders. Things haven’t even gotten that much better since that time, however. Even today, the gulf between white wealth and the wealth of other races is vast. My point is that racial issues are woven into the fabric of this country, and there doesn’t seem to be an endpoint in sight. The rights of homosexuals are more a recent development, and gay rights leaders have made a huge amount of progress in a relatively short time when compared to the efforts of racial rights leaders. While society seems to be getting more progressive about race, the statistics don’t lie; racial inequality remains. This differs from homosexual inequality.
I think that the prominent difference between racial inequality and homosexual inequality is that homosexuals can hide their sexual preferences. Unless they are open and talkative about it, people would never know unless they were told. I think that many homosexuals are afraid that they will be ridiculed for their preference until they are sure that someone will not judge them. Once they are sure of this, many are very outgoing and ready to discuss. This is different from race relations, which are generally seen as awkward to talk about even between two friends of different races. Obviously, people cannot hide their skin color, though many have tried. There is also the fact that being afraid or apprehensive of people who look different than we do is genetically hardwired into our systems. When we first emerged as a species, there was a large likelihood that a person who didn’t look like you was your enemy. With this thought process buried deep within our subconscious, it’s hard to just dig it out entirely.

There are a lot of times that I feel what is referred to as “white guilt”, when whites look at their disproportionate advantages over other races as an issue. From elementary school through high school, my classes were filled with black people who were at a much lower socioeconomic level than my family. These kids came from the less fortunate neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, and some of the kids had serious problems with money. When I was younger, I didn’t give it much thought, and most of my friends were black. However, in middle school my thought processes became more mature, and it was harder to simply ignore the major disparity. This is also the first time that I remember really noticing and feeling white. In high school, the issue was known to the point of redundancy. The black community was obviously poorer, and there were a lot more issues like fights involving black students as well. High school freshmen come in to my school knowing that a fight could break out at any second; once there was even a full on riot involving the police because kids from rival neighborhoods snuck into the school and brawled. I had always thought about the reasons behind this type of behavior, and I now know a lot more about the reasons that black people struggle more than whites in America. While I always knew that whites were at an advantage, I wasn’t aware how much so. Now, whenever I am home and drive through some of the impoverished neighborhoods, I too feel a sense of guilt and responsibility.
My friend lives in Point Breeze, a relatively wealthy neighborhood, which is directly adjacent to Homewood, one of the most poverty stricken areas in Pittsburgh. In a two minute drive, you go from a neighborhood that features parks and historical houses to a neighborhood that features overgrown weeds and crime. There are barely any businesses in Homewood; they all went dry along with the funds of the residents. The houses are run-down and the cars are rusted, everything and everyone is lacking. The other neighborhoods in Pittsburgh that are majority black are the same way, and it makes me wonder how a group of people can just be so obviously tossed to the wayside. This is when I feel white guilt. I know that there is nothing that I have done personally to cause this, but I still feel bad. I know that I was born into a very fortunate situation, and that it could have easily been me who was born into poverty. There is one way to alleviate white guilt, however. I plan on coming back to Pittsburgh when I’m older and have more of an ability to make changes happen. This is what I’m working towards, and that will help with the guilt for now.

I absolutely believe that race can affect the amount of illicit drugs that a person uses, as well as the types of different drugs that a person is willing to experiment with. Take weed for example; most of the people that you hear about smoking marijuana are white, black, or Latino/Hispanic. The first people to bring marijuana into the country and be known for smoking it were Mexicans who brought it across the California border in the early 20th century. The habit then spread to African-American jazz musicians, who used it because it helped with the creative aspect of their improvisational musical style. This is the early source of marijuana use by Latinos and blacks, and it soon spread to whites. I know for a fact that my grandfather, who was born in 1930 and lived in California during the 1950s and 1960s, used to buy and smoke ounces of weed at a time. Hippies in the 1960s and 1970s, who were mostly white, used weed to spread their message of “love and peace.” This “drug” habit naturally spread to the kids of former hippies who learned about their parents past, validating their own weed use. Nowadays, I would say that most of the black and white people I know smoke weed, while a lot of the Asians and Indians do not. This can mostly be attributed to the history of how weed infiltrated this country.
Other, more harmful drugs are also more prevalent in certain races, such as crack cocaine in the African-American community. While powdered cocaine is prevalent in a lot of different races, crack cocaine is more common in the African-American community. This can be attributed to the “crack epidemic” in the inner-cities of New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Detroit in the 1980s. Because most inner-city residents are black, there is a much higher likelihood of a crack smoker being black than white. Whites are also heavy users of cocaine, however. Many affluent communities have coke problems because of the availability of the drug and the financial freedom of the users. Coke is also frequently present in fraternities, which tend to consist of mostly white members. Whites also tend to use hallucinogens such as mushrooms and LSD more than blacks, and have higher rates of Ecstasy and pill use as well. It’s a simple fact that all types of people in the world have drug problems, and while race may influence the actual drugs used, I don’t believe that certain races are biologically wired to crave drugs more than others. I believe that certain environments encourage or discourage drug use, and certain races are more likely than others to be in certain situations. This is how I would explain the racial component of drug use.

This is why I’m definitely excited and eager to get started on the Haiti project. The people in all the videos, not just the one that I’m writing about, need a lot of help. The devastating earthquake in Haiti put people in financial holes that they are struggling to climb out of, and we have a real opportunity to help pull them out. This is a chance to truly change someone’s life for the better, which is something that I personally take seriously. So often in life I look at what I don’t have, instead of what I do have. There are people literally dying every day because they don’t have food, and I have a fully stocked kitchen downstairs. Some people can’t sleep at night because they are so cold and afraid that they are going to be robbed, while I sleep for nine hours and don’t have to wake up before noon. These are things that are incredibly important to think about, and I’m glad that I have a real chance to help influence someone else’s life in a positive way.

This is truly sad, because in America a person with such drive and determination can make something of their lives, even if they start in conditions that aren’t ideal. There are steps that Americans can take to help get their businesses off the ground, such as loans and other financial options, that aren’t possible in Haiti. This is the type of inequality that we always discuss in class, and it’s truly sad. This is why I said that I went through a few different emotions while watching the video. As upbeat as Suze is, the reality of her situation is somewhat bleak. Unless she gets help, as I hope she does, there is a good chance that her business will fail.