en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/1139533 Comments by bsa5057 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-8-lesson-14-affirmative-action__trashed/#IDComment85444570 I think part of what is happening about how people tend not to follow the commandments sometimes is because of how strict and controlling they might be for a person who is being born with an instinct and a nature for longing to be free. For example the issues of using God’s name in vain, and the other about how people are making the love and respect for God is second to their respect for some other issue or thing that is happening in their lives. As you mentioned: relationship, something they really admire, etc. And sometimes I find myself guilty of believing the person who is more serious about God, are more trustworthy. Thu, 8 Jul 2010 04:15:59 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-8-lesson-14-affirmative-action__trashed/#IDComment85444570 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-8-lesson-14-affirmative-action__trashed/#IDComment85442457 Affirmative action had always been something that I admired about America, and I believed it was something that helped maintain the rights of the people in America. My position regarding affirmative action and whether it should exist in a system or not is based on whether it helps to maintain the maximum attainable fairness or not. Affirmative action should stay since it maintains the right for the people who are most likely to not to get the job or the seat at the college they are applying to, either because of their color and their employer’s racism, or because of other things such as: nepotism, where people may earn a seat at a college or earn a job because of parental interference. This will benefit the non white people because most of the jobs that are in control of other jobs are not occupied by non white people, so it is predictable that white people can have access to jobs and other things such as university seats more than people of other colors. One other thing I would like to talk about is how nepotism is explained in the Shadowboxing with race. I believe that the issue of nepotism is one of the things that can be cancerous to the dreams of people, especially when I come from a country where not only nepotism exist, but it also extends to who are your cousins, your uncles, your friends, and your last name. As if the people in my country tried to pick anything that can be the criteria of how they can distinguish between people at work, except hard work. This not only happens at work, if you go to a governmental office trying to finish your papers let us say regarding the national ID card, or driver’s license. So long as you know the right people through your father, mother, cousin, nephew, friend, friend of a friend, or share the same last name, you can consider yourself a lucky person who will find getting what he or she wants from the government, in this case it is the driver’s license or the national ID, much easier than the rest, and even if the others see this, there is nothing they can do about it at all. I have seen many severe cases where nepotism have helped people who have barely worked their way to school to earn the best scholarships and land the best jobs and get the best exemptions from the government. I think this can be a negative effect of nepotism, but the cases provided in the book are cases where nepotism played a minor role. Yes I can agree that the money was not 100% earned by them, but what could they do, the factors that helped them were not under their control. Thu, 8 Jul 2010 04:07:39 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-8-lesson-14-affirmative-action__trashed/#IDComment85442457 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-13-immigration__trashed/#IDComment84807552 Well there had been many attempts to make English the official language of the United States, but the issue I believe you should consider is that the United States, unlike other countries, is a country of immigrants. People immigrated to this area, and English was brought to this land like Spanish, German, Hebrew and many other languages. And I don’t believe the first generation immigrants who came years before we were born were perfectly fluent in English. They spoke English with heavy accents that were influenced by their native tongues, so I think it must take time for these new people to get used to the language, and instead of criticizing why they do not sound American by their accent, I believe it is better to give them a chance to integrate and feel that the American people are welcoming them, which may ease this transition from their former culture and language to this new one. Mon, 5 Jul 2010 01:27:44 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-13-immigration__trashed/#IDComment84807552 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-13-immigration__trashed/#IDComment84805031 All my life, I have never fell for these extreme movements against the media and that we never get to know the truth. I never believed that we are always getting the truth 100% of the time, but I believed that those movements were a little more enthusiastic about it than they should be. That they usually distort and magnify the issue of our misinformation, and I have been gradually starting to question myself and see if I was wrong about what I think about this whole issue. I believe I was wrong, and that I am so extremely misinformed that I may need to spend a lifetime to replace the potentially wrong information with the right ones. I believe what we know about many disciplines and studies are following the agenda of the authors who did not take in consideration how bad it is to serve one’s own interest instead of preserving the truth. So President Andrew Jackson did all these savage crimes, and thought it was the right thing. I thought barbaric crimes were exclusively for Muslims throughout history. I no longer know whom to trust. From one side, I get to hear that the Westerners have committed violent crimes that nobody could ever approve of to access to the resources and land that they are on right now, and the other side tells me my people have always preferred violence and oppression as a way to expand their state. I have been switching teams for a while, condemning each party at a certain time of my life. But now, I do not really know what to think about the whole issue since I really do not know what is true and what is not. Another point that I found interesting was that when Professor Richards said that businesses control the American policies regarding immigration and who gets in and who does not. I think that businesses not only control the immigration policies, but nearly control all the policies and laws in the United States. What about universal healthcare and how insurance companies made the Republican party a “subsidiary of the insurance industry” as Congressman Anthony Weiner said about them. He also said that he cannot think of a single Republican who is not bought by corporations. I am not trying to dump on Republicans, and I am 100% sure that there are many politicians of other parties who are influenced by corporations, but what I am concerned about is how long will it take until the United States takes control of itself and diminish the power and influence of corporations on the government and the people. Why couldn’t the United States be like Canada or other countries where corporations are not as powerful as they are in the US. Mon, 5 Jul 2010 01:06:10 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-13-immigration__trashed/#IDComment84805031 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt__trashed/#IDComment83649568 I also think the same thing about how college students want to live in more diverse places than other people like high school graduates. My college experience, so far, allowed me to interact with people of other cultures, religions, and colors, from whom I have learned many things about how simple were the stereotypes we are spoon fed by the media. I also experienced living with people from other nationalities whom I know, if I did not go to college, there was no way I was going to meet someone from their area on the map. College has been a point of transformation for me. Thu, 1 Jul 2010 03:55:44 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt__trashed/#IDComment83649568 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt__trashed/#IDComment83643694 I could not agree more with Professor Richards and his points about how some are asking too much of immigrants when they want them to leave all their culture and all that they used to believe as their values, and adopt the American substitutes, but when they do, those immigrants find a group of people who do not like them. Now, the immigrant, will find himself in limbo, he is speaking a new language, adopting new values, eat and wear differently, and change his entire life, some even change their names, so that they can fit in the new environment they are in, only to find a person who is not going to accept them no matter what because of color, accent, or other reasons. I do not think that the American values and the beliefs and views that a person must believe in as part of being an American are things that are commonly rejected. I mean who does not want to live in a place where they will be free, where nobody is above the law, and a limited government that is not up in everything the person does. I believe many would dream about living in such place, and that is why it is universal, wherever I have travelled, they would say: “I dream about living in the US or Canada.” For the reasons I have mentioned, and as you discuss their dreams and what they think will happen when they go there, nobody ever mentioned living in the Indian, Nepalese, or Tunisian communities. Nearly everybody I have met who said he is interested in immigrating wanted to integrate and become just like the people who came before him, but the shock and the way they were treated by some people who were there before them made them reconsider. I heard many things like: “Nobody like your own people.” I do not blame them at all, to be honest. I mean do you expect me to completely transform in months to become a person who talks, walks, eats just like you, and while I am still in the process of doing so and as I am trying hard to replace whatever feelings I had for my country and switch my allegiance, as well as force myself to speak the language just like the locals, do things the locals do, even try to become interested in sports the locals are interested in, and while I am still in the process of doing so, I start seeing many people who do not want me, and will alienate me and call me immigrant or other names. They may feel uncomfortable around me and think I am not trustworthy, if this happens, I think it depends on how much the person loves the country he is in now, and how much he loved his dream. Thu, 1 Jul 2010 03:33:24 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-7-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt__trashed/#IDComment83643694 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-6-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color-stages-1-4__trashed/#IDComment81848311 I feel like I can understand what you were saying about not needing to find a group where you belong. Prior to coming to the US, being brown was not really something that I have ever thought about, it is just the color of almost everybody in my home country, so I have not worried about whether I am going to be accepted by other people of other colors like they accept people of their color, or that whether I should worry about finding a group of people of my own color whom I know they would at least accept me for my color, but now as I came to the US, I feel things have changed. Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:55:23 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-6-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color-stages-1-4__trashed/#IDComment81848311 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-6-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color-stages-1-4__trashed/#IDComment81846773 The part where Professor Richards talked about how isolation can lead to a mental illness was the most interesting to me. That is because I have seen several cases of mental illness that I believe happened because of the racial isolation, and how the media and society is structured to glorify one race while dump on the others. The first case, which was the most interesting, was the case of one of the people I knew back when I was in high school in my original country. That guy was even darker than me, and I know that my color is somewhere between black and white, but it is a little bit lighter than that person’s color, and I do not count myself white because I know that I am not, but that person is not seeing he is not white. He hates black people, he had ignorant stereotypes about people with skin tones darker than his, and these stereotypes get more negative and negative as the person gets darker. He classifies his himself as white because some who try to classify people by “race” for things like the census count Middle Easterners with Caucasians. Well, I know this does not make sense at all, and how come that person believes that he is white, but what makes sense to me is the relation between his hatred towards people who are not white, and his pathetic attempt at trying to be white. I believe that the reason behind both behaviors is insecurity. He is insecure and extremely uncomfortable with his color, while seeing the thing that he wanted but he will never be, and that it being white. This issue had driven the guy so crazy that he once told me he agrees with the Ku Klux Klan. Yes, a dark brown guy saying he thinks what the Ku Klux Klan believe in is right, an organization that believes that his race is lower than the white race, and he still believes they are right. I believe this was because he was blinded by his thoughts that he is white, that he really started living the dream, while forgetting that in real life, he is a brown person. I found his thoughts sick, and I have tried arguing with that person for countless times about his fantasies and his serious hatred, and the hope is lost. The other thing that is interesting about this isolation is that I noticed, almost every non-American society that I have visited, as I observed the people more and more, I noticed that almost in every society, there are people who are called white, regardless of their color. It is just their skin tone, and those people in many cases are viewed as beautiful, and they are more likely to have more money than others. Thu, 24 Jun 2010 03:46:08 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-6-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color-stages-1-4__trashed/#IDComment81846773 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-stages-3-4__trashed/#IDComment81167231 Well, first of all I am not white, and I completely agree with you on what you said about the “white guilt.” It is not your fault that some whites back then had slaves, and you were born into a white family, nor it is the black person’s fault that s/he was born to a black family. So this is why I think it is essential that blacks and whites should start from that point, and understand that if everyone will try to settle something that their ancestors did, like the two men who beat a 16-year old boy in Seattle, it will be impossible to move on, and blacks and whites will maintain the status quo, or maybe go back a little, instead of progressing Mon, 21 Jun 2010 03:02:50 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-stages-3-4__trashed/#IDComment81167231 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-stages-3-4__trashed/#IDComment81165808 I am not the type of person who would really care about other people’s thoughts. I think indifference is good sometimes, especially when somebody is expressing their thoughts, and these thoughts are not matching mine. I abhor all kinds of censorship and denying people their freedoms for any excuse whatever it is, but this issue of race supremacy is starting to tick me off. My issue is not with whites only. I do not know much about many cultures, but I believe in almost every culture, there are teachings given to the kids early that tell them that they are born special; hat they are better than some other group, or even worse, they are the best group. Now as I said earlier, I oppose all kinds of censorship and opinion control, but the nonsense of the universal argument that the race of somebody is better than the other is really annoying. I fail to understand what some people see in the color of their eyes. So the album was called: “Prussian Blue.” My question is, what is the big deal? Does this prove they are immune to cancer, or that they can see at night? No, and what is driving me crazy is that other cultures would have a similar attitude towards another unique physical feature, and the same people go to rallies that supports their agenda. I really fail to find excuses for the two girls for not realizing that what they are doing is ignorant. Or why would they claim they are superior over mere physical characteristics that are continuing to get worse and worse in shape as long as you age. What is the difference between a Latino or an Asian and a blond guy? I fail to find any difference other than that the obvious looks that can almost prove they are not white. I cannot understand what makes dividing the people, making enemies, and causing threats to you and others, worth it as long as you “preserve your race.” I find it funny that I talked solely about the anger I felt when I saw that clip, because I stopped the lecture after the clip was over and wrote about what made me angry, and then as I continued watching the lecture, Professor Richards talks about how anger can be caused by increasing awareness about racism. I have had long, heated discussions with many people: family members, friends, and strangers about the issue of racism. I found myself defending white people on one day, and black people on the other, and on another day I was defending Asians. It is really frustrating when you see that racism not only common in all groups of people, but that it is embedded in the brains of people, and it will be passed on to their successors. Mon, 21 Jun 2010 02:45:18 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-5-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-stages-3-4__trashed/#IDComment81165808 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79478431 What really opened my eyes to the issue of slavery was my maternal grandparents. They're not my biological grandparents, but they were slaves who belonged to my biological grandparents. In my country, slavery was abolished in 1960, later that year my biological grandmother died and while she was in her deathbed she asked my grandmother, who was already freed by law, to raise her kids if she dies. When I ask my grandparents why she agreed to raise my mom and her four siblings, even though she and her husband knew that black people in my country never work in jobs that pay well back then for they weren't allowed to read and write, and what made them sacrifice many things, including having kids of their own because five was more than enough given their income. My grandmother never gave me a clear answer, but one thing that was common in her answers was that she felt she was obliged to do so as she never knew anybody but her "masters." This story, and the other stories about how they were kidnapped and sold in markets to people who know they were abducted and sold to people who were not only okay with buying people and claiming them as their own, but they were also okay with the fact that they were abducted and taken against their own will. Thinking that some people thought it was okay disturbs me, and seeing the attitude and how the treatment of the "masters," who are my own blood shaped my grandparents makes me wonder how some people think. I hope this points out that the universality of this issue makes me think that it's worse than the holocaust. As I have said earlier, the holocaust was one of the most backwards crimes in history, but it is still a fact that many and almost the majority of the nations treated the Jews and non-Jews equally. I believe that there is nothing wrong with both Blacks and Jews talking about the struggles they had to cope with, but I still believe it is completely wrong that some people try to diminish or tell black people that they had enough of hearing about the adversities and the aftermath of slavery. Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:14:00 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79478431 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79388504 I found what you have written about slavery and how the shade of the color of one’s skin influences their lives later on. First of all I have nothing against Jews, but I really believe that the issue of slavery and the struggles and adversities that black people had to cope with because of the color of their skin were way tougher than what Jews suffered. I am not trying to diminish all the inhumane crimes that some people committed against Jews, and I condemn such unjustifiable crimes, but I think some make it sound like it was worse than what happened to blacks with slavery, which is not true. Thu, 10 Jun 2010 01:45:23 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79388504 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79386231 One of the interesting things the Professor brought up in this lesson was how chance and luck played the major role in allowing some nations to rise above others. This was something that I have never thought of before seeing it in the class, but I believed it was the way this world we live in is and it made sense to me right when the Professor talked about it. There are many examples for that, for instance: What if the Europeans waited another 100 years before exploring the areas we now known as North and South America? Isn’t it possible that if they waited another 100 years, the native tribes would have discovered some advanced military technologies, and weapons, or let us say a new battle strategies and tactics? Or maybe if the British waited a 100 years, it may have been enough for the German, the Spanish, to claim the lands that have more resources than others. If that happened, I think it is safe to think that instead of this English-speaking country of the United States, we may see some German or Spanish state in the Americas. And what I like the most about this thing is that most people do not realize it, like I did, and give most of the credit to their ancestors, or the incompetence of their ancestors enemies, and what is funny the most is that they may get extremely offended if one tried to explain the truth, and understand that you did that because you are jealous or mad that your folks did not achieve what their folks did. Another thing I would like to talk about is how some of the things that happened to us shape us the most. For example, the fact that we cannot choose who our parents are and where we are born. I agree with Professor Richards on this point 100%. For example, I do not think that I will be studying Sociology and talking about race issues and being so open about it if my father chose to accept the job offer in the center of my home country instead of the eastern province. Moving to the Eastern province caused me to see people from other culture and realize that if I wanted to learn more about this world and interact with other people, I must start learning English. Moving to the Eastern Province made it possible for my parents to send me to schools that prepared me for an English-based college program. My father accepted this offer before I was born, and if he accepted the other offer, I am sure that my surrounding environment in the strict religious center of my country would make me a different man than the one I am right now. Thu, 10 Jun 2010 01:22:55 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/06/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality__trashed/#IDComment79386231 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality__trashed/#IDComment78853215 June 6, 2010 I was amazed as well when I realized how we never incorporate the race factor and try to explain the differences between two people’s incomes or choices in life if they had the same color. I used to hear many people say at many times when they see a black person taking up a physically taxing sport as his or her career, or when a person of Asian descent joins the regional table tennis team, many would try to explain these choices as: “That’s what they are good at.” I do not think we would be hearing the same thing if two white or brown people decided to take table tennis or basketball. Mon, 7 Jun 2010 01:56:11 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality__trashed/#IDComment78853215 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality__trashed/#IDComment78852465 Sunday, June 6, 2010 I always believed that societies are structured in a way that makes some groups that share the same color at a disadvantage when it comes to incomes. What made me believe in that was observing how some people perceived black people in my home country, and their generalizations and stereotypes about this group. They always claimed that black people were: lazier, more suitable for work that demands physical strength rather than thinking. Now I can try to find the reasons why they thought this way, and talk about how terrible their thoughts are all day long, but I would like to focus on my observations regarding these generalizations. What I found out was that many black people in my country actually believe this, and so they enter the competition for work and salaries with the thoughts that they are at a disadvantage. Not all of them would believe the stereotypes by accepting what he or she hears about their group, but to observe what the group is doing in the job market and how the whole group is not making as much dough as the other groups, and that’s because of two reasons, at least those are what I believe are the reasons, the incompetence of the person regardless of his color, or that they believed the false information s/he were told and were repeated to them on and on so that they believe that they have less potential than others. What I have as evidence to support my claim that the reasons and explanations why the black people in my country earn less are all in their heads is that the people who immigrate to my country from places in Africa like Sudan, Ethiopia, Eretria, and other African countries and regions, and the generations that were born to the people who immigrated and did not integrate and become a part of the Saudi culture and embraced many of the myths regarding black people, tend to, on average, have incomes that are not much different than the incomes of other groups. They go to the best schools, study abroad, and this allows them to compete for better jobs than other people. I do not see the difference between the two groups of black people, except that one is more successful in their careers, and the other one is not, and I have failed many times when I tried to look for other reasons for this extreme difference in incomes of those two groups, other than that the society is structured in a way that can make a group of people believe things about themselves and other people that are not true, and then act and adjust themselves so that they are limited to what is said about them, and the people who are not aware or choose not to accept such generalizations and stereotypes, tend to thrive better in the competition for jobs. Mon, 7 Jun 2010 01:45:35 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality__trashed/#IDComment78852465 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism__trashed/#IDComment78313388 You are absolutely right my friend. The Media always pours fuel on the fire. I watch the O'Reilly Factor and the Glenn Beck show almost daily, and boy do they distort small things, and sometimes make up facts and add it to a certain story to make Arabs sound like they are cartoonishly evil. The same thing happens back home, but instead of the news show hosts, it's the clerics and religious leaders. You can read my reply to this article and read for yourself. They say too many ridiculous fables that some actually believe. But what can we really do, it sells, so it'll be here for a long time Thu, 3 Jun 2010 03:48:37 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism__trashed/#IDComment78313388 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism__trashed/#IDComment78312362 I know this is from lesson three, the one that we do not have a quiz on, but I wanted to point this thing out about Michael Jackson: I think I disagree with what Professor Richards said after he showed the video of Michael Jackson’s transformation. I believe changing his skin color was not a voluntary action, the cosmetic surgeries done on his nose are, but in 1993, he said in the Oprah Winfrey Show he was diagnosed with vitiligo and systemic lupus erythematosus in 1986. A friend of his stated that he wears his signature glove and what is called “skin camouflage” to hide it at its early stages, but then, it was possible that he underwent a de-pigmentation treatment for the unaffected parts of his skin when the disease started to affect more areas of his skin. The autopsy report confirms what he said, and it is also believed that his son inherited the disease. As for lesson four, so far I’ve never been so thrilled for a lecture in this course as I have been for this one when I read heard the first question. I know you probably know the way it is in the western world, so I will try to tell you how it is in the Middle East. First of all, the west is conspiring against us, they want to separate us from our values and teachings. They want us to learn English instead of Arabic, the language of our forefathers and our holy book. The establishment of the state of Israel and the unyielding aid from the dominant western countries is an extension to the crusades, and we must take Jerusalem and Palestine back. They are trying to trick us into establishing democratic systems so that they can find traitors who are willing to be in charge of our countries and serve them in exchange for money. Mtv, Viacom, and all the mainstream media is made so that they “invade us intellectually” and steer us from thinking about the future of our nation and how we are going to sustain our Arab and Islamic culture by offering us their sleazy women, mind numbing movies, and obscene and satanic songs. This way of thinking was extremely popular in the late 1980s and the early 1990s, and it is now in decline. Thanks to this ignorant ethnocentric propaganda, I just realized I have been living in a cave for the past 15 years. I used to believe that capitalism is some political ideology the evil western world have created to destroy my people. It is ridiculous, and I know in the west there are some who may preach something a little similar to that, but this was among the extremes that was quite popular in the 1990s Thu, 3 Jun 2010 03:39:34 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism__trashed/#IDComment78312362 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race__trashed/#IDComment78297386 I don’t know why, but it seems like this “whiter is better” stereotype is universal. Along with the negativity associated with people who have darker skin. Many people tried to justify or explain the negative stereotype that some have about black people, or even people who have a skin tone slightly darker than theirs, but I cannot find any explanation for why many all over the world, believe that lighter skinned people have it better than others. Another point I would like to comment on is that even though some say that Michael Jackson chose to change the color of his skin, he, and many other sources said that he had a skin condition called: Vitiligo, which can turn your skin to white at some point in your life. Thu, 3 Jun 2010 01:31:52 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race__trashed/#IDComment78297386 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race__trashed/#IDComment78296441 I thought it was funny when I read in the book about how the names and characteristics a certain group of people gives to other groups of people tells more about them, rather than the other groups they label. It was because it happened to me as I listened to Professor Richards telling us about Carl Linnaeus. I know from my Biology class back in secondary school that his extensive research and the binomial system of classifying species lead him to ennoblement. If a physician, a job almost universally held with high regards, and a noble man, both factors can suggest that he was one of the most educated and understanding man in his community, claims that other groups are known to do ridiculous things like anointing themselves with grease, or make some odd generalizations about some groups, I find it hard not to laugh at the ignorance of our ancestors. I can not imagine what the next generations will think of us when they realize that many of us fell for some stereotypes that were depicted in the media, or that we engaged in ferocious battles over differences between religions. I also found the migration pattern map interesting. I find it amazing how the struggle and the strife to adjust and survive had driven our ancestors from the homeland to scattered areas in this planet. They traveled thousands of miles through different weathers and terrain to find a place where they can live better. One thing that attracted my attention more than anything in that map was the path that some groups have taken, and eventually lead them to what we know now as the Americas. The people who migrated to the Americas have gone through one of the longest journeys, crossing all kinds of terrain, and experiencing the full spectrum of weathers. When I think about the genocide and the treatment the native Americans are being treated right now, I can not think of a group that had a luck worse than the Native Americans. I know all this happened in thousands of years and that it is not like the same people who migrated from Africa fought the European settlers, but I think about how neither the ones who fought the European settlers, nor their ancestors had better luck in their lives. The latter had gone through the adversity of migration and resettlement, and when they finally found the place to settle in, others who were more powerful came and claimed their land. As for when does Europe end and Asia begin, I have always been asking myself this question when I try to decide whether Russia was a part of Europe or Asia, or why is Kazakhstan chairing the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, while it is considered a central Asian country, and that it is always referred to as the dominant state in central Asia. Thu, 3 Jun 2010 01:23:13 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race__trashed/#IDComment78296441 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/intense-debate-registration-id__trashed/#IDComment76713561 Hi! Sat, 22 May 2010 22:58:41 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/05/intense-debate-registration-id__trashed/#IDComment76713561