Before the beginning of this class, I have to be completely honest in saying that the issue of race didn’t cross my mind. This is mainly because I’m from a very small town and have never really been in contact with other racial groups other than whites. Then I came to Penn State, where some may argue isn’t extremely diverse but I think it is, and I suddenly was surrounded by so many different groups of people for literally the first time in my life. I never thought about discrimination before either and after 15 weeks of taking soc119, my eyes are now wide open to the effect races have on society. I guess I kind of thought that racism disappeared, but now I know different. For example, before this class, if someone were to tell me that there is a higher rate of blacks being incarcerated than whites for the same crime, I probably wouldn’t have believed it. I also probably wouldn’t have believed all of the different types of stereotypes in our world and just how deep racial issues run. Now I know just how difficult racism is to overcome and how unlikely it is that it will disappear within the next few decades (as sad as that sounds, I don’t think it will). It makes me sit back and realize how our world is so filled with unnecessary hate that almost seems irreversible. If only people would open up to new cultures and become more accepting our world would be such a better place.
Also, before this class, I never thought about third world countries as much as I do now. Now I am aware of Haiti, and along with this, I understand the idea of micro credit. I thought that donating anything like clothes and food would be great for any third world country, but now I know that these countries do not need or want donations, they need small loans to spark local businesses and economic growth. If donations are sent, they need to be items that the people of that country can’t produce on their own (like the old laptops and the yarn) so that this doesn’t hinder any possibility of economic activity. I think that this is very important and that more people need to be aware of this.
Overall, I think that this class has definitely changed me. I now have a different perspective on different cultures and races and I’m more aware and accepting of different things. As a freshman, I’m really glad I was able to take this class my first year here at Penn State. Now I feel like I will be able to get more out of the different groups of people that are here on campus. I’ll consciously try to hang out with people different than me so that I can experience new cultures.

I’m really hoping that throughout my whole entire life I am never put into a situation where I would have to choose life or death for my mom, significant other, or my child. However, if by some weird chance I ever really was put in this spot and had to pick who to save, I would choose my child. As seen in class, I think that this is the most popular decision made by people in this hypothetical situation. I know for a fact that if I tried to save my mother she would throw a fit and probably yell at me and convince me to choose anyone but her. And although I love my mom so much, I would have to agree with her on that one and choose to not save her. As harsh as it sounds, she lived the longest and with my child living the shortest out of everyone, they have more ahead of him/her. As mentioned in class, our country is very future oriented and I guess that means I am as well since I’m thinking about the amount of time each person has left in their life, aka who will be surviving further in the future. Now since I eliminated my mother from the possibility, I’m left between my significant other and my child. Almost the same thought process would go through my head; my child is obviously younger than my husband, so they should be saved over him because they have more life to live with more time and opportunities ahead of them. And just like with my mom, my husband will most likely refuse to be saved, putting my safety and our child’s safety ahead of his own. Actually, if my husband didn’t do this I would be really mad; so I guess I should make sure my husband actually loves me this much before I marry him.
I know that if this scenario was skewed a little differently and instead of me having the child, husband, and mom in the boat, it was my mom, me, my grandmother and dad in the boat, I know that my mom (in my position) would definitely pick me to save over my dad and her mother. It’s kind of like a maternal instinct, I guess, to want to save your own child.
In class, some people said something to the effect of being able to replace their significant other so that’s why they wouldn’t choose them to save. But actually, if you think about it, you would be able to replace your child too, right? I guess in conclusion to this absurd scenario, I would have to say that I would definitely choose my child to save. I feel as if many people would do this too. But what are the chances this will ever happen, so maybe we actually can’t determine who we will save until we’re placed in that exact position.

After reading this article, I am shocked to think that this could actually be a potential dialogue between a white parent and their white child. I think it’s disgusting that a parent would put these ideas into their child’s heads…and we wonder why the issue of racism isn’t going away. I know in the article the author says he never had a full out conversation that contains every single factor in that article, but the fact that each bullet point was conveyed to their child at some point in their life is horrible. I especially think it is disturbing how he ended it by saying that if you haven’t had this talk with your child yet you should as soon as possible because it could save their life. That is such an ignorant statement, how could anyone believe that by telling their child degrading facts about a certain race could end up saving their child’s life? That’s sad to think that some people in this country are actually racist enough to think like this.
Out of all the “points” that were made in the article, I was especially appalled with number 10, mainly because it included so many things against the black population. For example, one piece of advice was to not go to a public event that would draw a large crowd of black people. If this event does get crowded with black people eventually, the author of the article advises his child to leave immediately. How disturbing is that? That involves such a high level of racism I almost can’t comprehend it. How would this author feel if the roles were reversed and he heard a black parent telling his black children to avoid events that will be populated with white people and to leave immediately if a large amount of whites showed up?
I think that the topic of race should definitely be something that families are open about and can talk freely about and share their opinions. However, I think a line has to be drawn at some point. In this case, I think it is not right to force your viewpoints of a certain racial group onto your child. Obviously, depending on the age of your child when you have this discussion, they are most likely going to adapt and pick up what their parents beliefs are. In their eyes, their parents are always right, when obviously in this case they are wrong. As someone else mentioned in their reply to this blog, it is a good idea to discover race on your own. I completely agree with this statement. I think that it is very important for people to come about their own opinion on race without any other person telling them what to think. Obviously, this seems almost impossible because in today’s world, societal and peer pressures are everywhere.

After reading this article, it makes perfect sense to think just like Sam; if this were a white man trying to pass this law it simply would not be passed. Not only would it not be passed, but I am willing to bet that it would be all over the media, how a white state representative is trying to pass a law that directly relates to the appearance of another racial group. This is because honestly, it does look racist; after all, it’s a white man trying to pass a law that targets the appearance of most black men. Of course, I think we have all seen our fair share of white guys wearing saggy pants as well, but I think that it’s known that white guys picked this up from black men, not vice versa. I think it would be really interesting to see what exactly would of happened if it was a white state representative trying to pass the law instead of a black one. I’m sure that other state representatives and lawmakers who were black would immediately shoot it down and the law would never have a chance of being passed. Not even just other lawmakers or representatives, I’m sure that people of black ancestry (particularly those who actually do wear saggy pants) would cause a ruckus. Is that fair? It isn’t, but it’s reality. It’s what our world has come to. The topic of racism is so deep that even in our law system, it is the greatest factor above all else. This obviously isn’t right, but how can it be fixed?
However, even though I stated before that I would be all in favor of this law being passed, I think it is a long shot that it will actually be enforced. I think that it is too difficult for police or officials or whoever is on the lookout to keep track of. And it’s not like wearing saggy pants is endangering anybody or posing any harm. I admit it’s gross and tacky, but is this really how police should be spending their time..being on the lookout for men in saggy pants instead of doing more important things? Just an idea, but maybe they should be working other cases, like missing children or crime like burglaries and murders. The fact that people in law enforcement would actually be paid to be on the lookout for saggy pants is kind of absurd. It definitely seems like a huge waste of money that could be spent elsewhere. How exactly would it even be determined how low someone’s pants have to be before they’re considered illegal? Its kind of hard to imagine this even being a real law, at first I thought it was a joke. It’s scary to think that with all the other pressing issues throughout our country, a law for banning saggy pants made its way to the top of the list.

I, myself, am a huge fan of the Hunger Games series. Enough of a fan that I could easily read each book in one day’s time. Although I was able to breeze through these books, I was still able to catch blatantly stated facts about the characters that some people, apparently, have missed. I didn’t know there was uproar about the character cast as Rue being black. I was even shocked to hear that people were complaining about other characters being black as well, such as Thresh and Cinna. In fact, the first time I heard of this was when I read the article on the World in Conversation website. After seeing this, I got angry, as I’m sure many others did as well.
First of all, maybe if these people think that they are such big fans, they should check to make sure they actually read the books first. As the article included, the author clearly stated that Rue and Thresh were dark-skinned. So why shouldn’t they cast black characters in the movie for these parts? The other character in the movie who was black, Cinna, wasn’t actually specified to have dark skin in the book, but even though he wasn’t specified to be black, was he specified to be white? No. So in this case, why should he automatically be a white person in the movie if it didn’t even say he was a white person in the book? As the article stated, he could easily have been cast as Latino or Asian too. This doesn’t make sense to me; it’s as if people who are complaining about the characters that were cast feel that everything and everyone should be white. Even if otherwise stated. What makes them think that the white race has superiority over all other races and cultures?
I think it’s sad to see that this type of racism still exists to this extent in our country. I know it’s something that can’t go away over night and no amount of racism is okay, but the fact that racism felt this widespread across the country over a movie (which is supposed to be something fun) is instead tainting the director’s reputation in choosing who he picked for the cast. Obviously, I think the director did nothing wrong, but so many people who are against his choices for the characters are appalled by his actions.
The fact that people are particularly mad about Rue’s character being black versus Thresh and Cinna’s is a whole other story. Is this because in the book Rue is made out to be an angel-like, innocent girl? Is it because the main character, Katniss, takes Rue under her wing and looks after her like it’s her little sister? Apparently, some viewers can’t stand the fact that a black girl is cast as an innocent, main character. Would they be as angry if she was cast in a role that was demeaning to her race, such as a thief or murderer? Chances are, they wouldn’t.

I think that it’s safe to say that the town I was born and raised in is the smallest town in the state of Pennsylvania. It’s so small that we only have one red light and it is completely normal to pass through the entire town without realizing you even entered in the first place. As well as being extremely small, it is a predominantly white. Living in a town this small for my whole life and then suddenly transitioning to a large university like Penn State has really opened my eyes to other racial groups. This is because where I’m from, there is only one black family that attends my school and lives nearby. Despite the fact that I come from a predominantly white town, I still consider myself completely open-minded to other races and cultures, much like the guy asking this blog question. I am not racist in any way and I don’t judge people of different races than my own. As he said, I’m comfortable with other races probably because of my open-mindedness, clearly not being of past experience with other races. Obviously, I’m not in stage 3 because of past experiences considering I barely had any interactions at all with people of other races before moving to State College.
However, I have a funny feeling that the majority of people who come from predominantly white towns are not in stage 3. I think that when most people who don’t have any interactions with people of other races throughout their life are thrown into situations where various races and cultures surround them, they will find that they are uncomfortable and possibly not accepting. This is simply because they are in a situation where they haven’t been before; they don’t know how to interact with them and they might not know what to say. Most likely, they are afraid that some of their comments can be mistaken as racism even if they’re not, so their words soon become guarded. The fact that they begin to guard what they’re saying proves that they are not comfortable with other races.
Also, I think that if a person is from a predominantly white town, their interactions with other racial groups probably relate to their town’s attitude toward race. This is just proving that depending on where you grow up and what your parents teach you, you will most likely grow up believing those same things. For example, the town I live in definitely is not racist and does not discriminate. My parents have raised me to accept everyone and be open to different things and people. However, if someone is from a predominantly white town where it always goes without saying that whites are better than other racial groups, those people will not be in stage 3 when they eventually do interact with other people. This is just because they were not raised in an environment where they accept other groups. To conclude, coming from a predominantly white town, I too find myself in stage 3. However, I unfortunately think that this is a rare occurrence.

I definitely agree that power and privilege are related, and I think that the majority of people share this opinion. However, I think that at the same time, the majority of people overlook the effects of power and privilege; many aren’t away of global discrimination, some people aren’t even aware or concerned at all of people of third world countries. I think that most people in the US are aware that they have it better off than the majority of people around the world. Still, nothing is being done to eliminate poverty, poor economic structures, and disease in poorer countries. Of course, it is not an easy task. It’s not something that will take one simple solution; rather it will take a lot of complex solutions. But how do we tackle the fact that people of power and privilege hold so much power in the entire world? I, myself, have no idea how to answer this question.
Before class, I never would have considered myself to be a “rich” American. When Sam pointed out the fact that since all of us soc119 students are merely sitting in his classroom proves that we are all of wealthy status. I think it’s sad to realize how much better off I am than the majority of people in our country, let alone the world. It’s not as if I have thousands of dollars in my account, and I can’t spend seemingly endless money..I have to watch my costs. In no way do I consider myself wealthy. But then I am forced to compare myself to those who are worse off, and I become ashamed. How did I, along with the rest of US citizens (at least most of them) not realize exactly how easy we have it while others throughout the world are disease-stricken and dying on a daily basis? And worse, maybe some people do realize this. Maybe some people are extremely powerful and come from an extremely rich family. Possibly they realize all the third world countries are struggling and the problems that they themselves are creating in those particular countries. Yet, they do nothing to contribute..why? Again, I couldn’t answer this question.
I think that it is really important that people of power and privilege don’t hold the most power. Just because they hold the most power doesn’t mean they are doing any good in the world, and also, they inhibit economic stimulation when they try to help. By this, I mean that they give them surplus amounts of farm goods from the US at a cheap price. Since these people are receiving these goods, they do not make their own by themselves. This prevents their economy from getting a jumpstart and it pushes them further into distress. To conclude, I think that power and privilege is an extremely crucial factor is global racism. However, I think that it will be extremely hard to overcome this factor and rid the world of racism altogether.

Racial discrimination is everywhere, and seemingly unavoidable. For such a common issue, doesn’t it seem odd that we as a society cannot figure out how to put a stop to the one thing that causes the majority of the problems in our world today? Obviously, racial discrimination has a huge history and is rooted very deep in our past. It isn’t the type of issue that can be fixed over night. Someone doesn’t wake up one morning and realize that they finally figured out how to stop it. In fact, I actually believe that there is no way to fix this issue. Don’t get me wrong, as much as I would love it to be fixed (think of how much better off our world would be), I truly believe that it is such a large issue that has poisoned a small portion of every single person’s mind, therefore it is nearly impossible to erase completely. And yes, I do think that the issue of racial discrimination takes up a space in every single person’s mind to some extent. Some people may try to deny this and say that they have never racially discriminated openly. And maybe they haven’t, but have they had racist thoughts? Or have they changed the way they acted or have they guarded the words they speak depending on the people they are around? Chances are yes. This proves that racial discrimination is in their minds. For example, Sam in class proved how white supremacy is everywhere. Even when we don’t realize it, it is always lurking in the background and may cause us to either watch what we say or be careful of our acts. In class, he asked a white girl to point out the darkest skinned person in the room. Her reaction was understandable, she felt uncomfortable doing so. Until Sam brought this up, however, I didn’t realize that the reason of her discomfort was because she didn’t want to seem racist and she didn’t want to show any sort of racial discrimination or white supremacy. Even when we are unaware, racial discrimination always leaks into our minds. Because of this, how is it possible for us to rid the world completely of racial discrimination? How do we get this topic out of our minds when it unconsciously continues to work itself to the surface? It may seem easier than done; people should accept everyone. But taking one look around the world at different countries, religions, and cultures, proves that some people are so deep rooted in their beliefs that the simple matter of accepting others who are different than them seems absurd.
I do not consider myself racist whatsoever, and I have no problem talking and associating with people who are different than myself. Possibly I’m wrong about saying there isn’t a true fix to racial discrimination. Obviously, I hope I am wrong because getting rid of this issue would make the world such a better place. If it is possible to fix this, then I believe that the first step should be educating people about race and making people more aware of how much race affects them and their thoughts and actions. Maybe then racial discrimination could turn into a thing of the past and the whole world would be better off.

Personally, I am not a huge sports fan. The only sport that I semi-enjoy watching is football. And it seems to me that football is largely interracial because there are many blacks as well as many whites on the teams. However, just because I’m not a huge sports fan doesn’t mean that I don’t share the common opinion that certain racial groups excel at some sports when compared to other racial groups. For example, I think that it is easy to say that the majority of people would argue that blacks are better at basketball than white people. As said in class, many people may wonder why blacks can jump higher than whites. Is this true? And if it is true, is this what makes them better at playing basketball than other racial groups? I don’t really know the true answer, and I don’t think anyone does, but I do believe that some racial groups excel at some things more than others simply because of their culture and their background. For example, maybe some families favor a certain sport compared to others. At family functions or during free time they will choose to play basketball versus football. In this case, it is a no-brainer when deciding that the kids from this family are going to excel at basketball and not football. This is simply because they were exposed to more basketball playing time, and practice, in some sense, makes perfect. Possibly, this could hold true for whole groups and races of people, not just families. What I mean by this is that maybe people of African descent favor basketball over any other sport. So could this explain why they excel at basketball? If the only sport parents play is basketball, then the chances that the only sport the kids of that family play is basketball would increase. Eventually, this trend would be passed down generations and generations until eventually the common opinion of this particular racial group exceling at this sport would come about. However, this isn’t to say that ALL blacks are better at basketball. Maybe some can’t make a shot to save their life. In this case, maybe the inclination to choose basketball over any other sport skipped a generation.
In class, Sam called down two girls, one of African descent and one of Korean descent. He explained how if you compare Korean’s leg length to the leg length of people of African descent, you would find that the Koreans would have shorter legs. Of course, it may be a small amount and barely noticeable at all, but when taking into consideration racing events (such as the Olympics), every little centimeter that makes your legs longer will give you an increased chance of placing higher up on the podium. In this case, genetics play a role in certain races dominating at a particular sport. I guess after thinking about this topic, I would have to agree that certain races actually do excel at certain sports compared to other races.

In my opinion, this is a very difficult topic to comment on for people who, like me, are white. As white people, we never had someone refer to us as a different race. For us, it’s obvious that we are white; we’re not black or Asian. However, for the majority of Hispanics, Koreans, Chinese and blacks, it is all too often that they are recognized as part of a race other than their own. When this happens, most get offended. I can understand why some would take offense to being mistakenly put into a category of a race different than their own; they just want to known for their own race and nationality. After all, they are just proud of their background. At the same time, I think it is kind of unfair that some people get so upset. I honestly would not be able to distinguish different Asians from one another and I also wouldn’t be able to distinguish a true black person from someone who isn’t black but has the same exact skin color. When Sam showed the video in class of all the different types of Asians, it opened my eyes and made me realize that there are so many different races that I never knew about. So if I was to accidentally call someone Asian but they’re actually not, or vice versa, it would be an honest mistake. I wouldn’t be trying to offend anyone.
In this blog video, the question of why some blacks don’t like to associate with other blacks was raised. An example of people with a Dominican heritage was used. As I said before, these people are just trying to stay true to who they are. I can only imagine how frustrating it would be to have someone continuously call you something that you are not.
I think that the reason this topic is even brought up has to do with the fact that most people (mainly whites) just don’t care enough to be educated in all the different types of races. Because of this, they don’t know enough to distinguish the true race of every person that they meet. However, I think that blacks and Asians might not realize that all too often some white people aren’t classified with their true heritage either. Using the girl from class with two black parents as an example, it is safe to say that no one thought she did have two black parents until she said. Before she told her true heritage, an assumption was already made about her. These assumptions are made with all sorts of people everyday. Maybe a white person with pale skin is thought to be Irish, but in all actuality they are German. In order to fix these occurrences, I think that all people of every race should try to become more cultured and learn about races other than their own so possibly there would be less of a chance of them mistakenly referring to someone as being of a race that they aren’t actually part of.