en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2443505 Comments by ccrenshaw90 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/how-has-your-opinion-changed-on-illegal-immigration-119-blog/#IDComment145178524 I am sure there are thousands of people who have lost their life in the process of trying to come to America for a better life. In our class Eric shared the story of how he and his family had to cross the border. He mentions being shot at several times and he was only 4. Imagine all the ones that didn’t make it. I have never had a problem with illegal immigration, that’s why I mentioned that the lecture didn’t change my views tremendously. But I’m glad that Sam spoke about us being illegal immigrants as well. I’m sure that changed many people perspectives. Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:10:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/how-has-your-opinion-changed-on-illegal-immigration-119-blog/#IDComment145178524 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/how-has-your-opinion-changed-on-illegal-immigration-119-blog/#IDComment145178452 . I think that’s ironic because so many of us turn up our noses at native Americans or Hispanics thinking we are better than them or that they don’t belong here.. but in reality, neither do we. I find it crazy how the Native Americans are some of the poorest people here in America when this was their land to begin with. We go about living our lives while they have to struggle to keep their culture alive in Americas today and it’s not fair. But the problem doesn’t only involve the Native Americans, they also include Hispanics. Primarily Mexicans because they have closer access to us via the border. So many of them are here to just to work and provide for their family, but we look at them and treat them as though they were criminals. So many people complain about them taking jobs, but the jobs that these Hispanics settle to do are ones that us spoiled “Americans” think we are too good to do, especially with they pay being extremely less than minimum wage. We sit here and aren’t grateful for our economy and what is readily available to us while there are other people around the world that would die to be here. Some actually do die. Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:10:20 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/how-has-your-opinion-changed-on-illegal-immigration-119-blog/#IDComment145178452 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/how-has-your-opinion-changed-on-illegal-immigration-119-blog/#IDComment145178347 My opinion on illegal immigration hasn’t changed tremendously but I do look at it differently. When we think of illegal immigration, the majority of us automatically think of Hispanics passing the boarder and such, but I think Sam’s whole objective of the illegal immigration discussion was not to get us to focus on how it’s affecting us today, but more of how we ourselves who claim to be “Americans” are immigrants. He asked a clicker question of who thinks they are an illegal immigrant and explained that the only people who are not technically immigrants are African Americans and Native Americans. He goes on to explain how back in the day the Native Americans were viewed and detailed as savages. However, bad actions they committed such as scalping was taught to them by the invaders. In the lecture Sam also explains how the White peoples ancestors where the ones that came to North America invaded the Natives territory and then dubbed it as their own and that’s the only reason they are here today. Fri, 22 Apr 2011 18:09:52 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/how-has-your-opinion-changed-on-illegal-immigration-119-blog/#IDComment145178347 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141066014 . I know I am not the only one who thought the war was solely on oil alone. Which I never agreed with in the first place because it’s not our oil to begin with. As previously stated I am against terrorism, I do not agree with the killing of Americans no more that I agree with killing of the middle eastern population. However, from that lecture and from me taking the time to put myself in their shoes for about an hour. I completely understand their actions. I don’t agree with them, but believe me, I understand. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 19:11:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141066014 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141065773 These people are supposed to be serving the Lord, yet what they are doing is so wrong. How do they think they are helping the Lord with these negative and deadly tactics? What really killed me was the army fatigued covered bibles and the weapons that had actual bible scriptures on them… I mean how foolish can these people be? Then they have these little children going to camps to become “warriors”. I am in no way against religion at all. My whole family identifies with being Christian but I myself don’t follow that path. I refrained from church awhile ago because the people in my church that were supposed to be all high and mighty were bigger sinners than me. Church was not about the Lord. It was about gossip and judgment and that is not what Christianity is supposed to be about. People have taking something so pure and twisted it into something so negative that it’s driving people away. But back to the question yes my perception of the war was completely altered and I truly believe it should just be ended, people are dying for no reason. I find it so crazy how all this stuff that concern and affects us as Americans and we are unaware of it. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 19:10:32 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141065773 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141065618 I’m so glad I attended class that day because Sam really opened my eyes to a lot of things. Not only about the war but on extremist, terrorist, and Christians. I believe this was the best class ever. Me putting myself in the shoes of a middle eastern I completely agree with what Sam said about not agreeing with terrorist coming over here to America and causing harm but I truly do understand. If it was me and I was back home and had family in the place these videos occurred I would have a deeply rooted hate for all Americans, regardless of if I knew them or not. Even if it was me over there and these Americans came over to tell me my religion was wrong, I would feel some type of way. I could not imagine someone from another country invading America just to come in and tell us that our religion was wrong. Who are we to do that to them? I already had a ideal about the oil being part of the war, but the converting of Islam was new to me. What really opened my eyes and got me thinking was that the extreme Christians are behind this. Who would of thought? Fri, 8 Apr 2011 19:09:49 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141065618 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/29/do-you-ever-feel-uncomfortable-around-two-or-more-people-speaking-another-language-119-blog/#IDComment139154684 There were also multiple times where after they had a conversation if it was funny and they were laughing she would explain to me what they were talking about and I would laugh to. There were even times when they both taught me how to say things in their language and I told them what something’s meant in English. So it was a mutual experience. So maybe if you know they person you won’t feel as uncomfortable but in any other situation you would. Fri, 1 Apr 2011 17:24:55 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/29/do-you-ever-feel-uncomfortable-around-two-or-more-people-speaking-another-language-119-blog/#IDComment139154684 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/29/do-you-ever-feel-uncomfortable-around-two-or-more-people-speaking-another-language-119-blog/#IDComment139154600 But it’s like as soon as you’re getting your nails, mainly your feet done, they stop speaking English. Though they may be discussing something else, you always have that thought in your mind of if they are talking about you and if so what are they talking about. It never fails. I can say that I have been in a situation where I wasn’t uncomfortable and that was last year when my roommate at the time who is now a very good friend of mines, best friend came to visit her from Turkey. My roommate speaks English but she doesn’t speak it very well and when her friend came to visit I soon learned that her friend barely spoke English at all so the only way my roommate could communicate with her was to speak Turkish. I was completely fine with that for the simple fact that I knew and trusted my roommate and knew she or her friend meant no harm. Fri, 1 Apr 2011 17:24:35 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/29/do-you-ever-feel-uncomfortable-around-two-or-more-people-speaking-another-language-119-blog/#IDComment139154600 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/29/do-you-ever-feel-uncomfortable-around-two-or-more-people-speaking-another-language-119-blog/#IDComment139154579 I think anyone would be uncomfortable being around a two or more people who speak another language, but then again it depends on the situation. In life we always want to have the upper hand on a situation meaning, if we are in a situation where we can’t understand what’s going on around us completely, we feel uncomfortable, sometimes threatened. However, as mentioned previously it all depends on the situation. For example Penn State, since this school is so diverse in cultures there will be multiple times during the day where you will encounter two or more people speaking their native language, but more than likely would think nothing of it. That situation would change if before you were by that group of people they were speaking English, but when you got close they changed up. Then you would pay attention and think to yourself why they stopped speaking English when you came around. A lot of females experience this uncomfortableness at the nail salon. Once you come in the salon, they welcome you in English, ask you what you need done…in English and tell you to go pick a color..in English Fri, 1 Apr 2011 17:24:27 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/29/do-you-ever-feel-uncomfortable-around-two-or-more-people-speaking-another-language-119-blog/#IDComment139154579 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/22/what-do-you-think-about-interracial-relationships-119-blog/#IDComment137490731 That may be true for some cases, for example in Atlanta the Hispanics are real Hispanics, the way they walk talk and dress all come from the Hispanic culture, so they differ from the Hispanics in New York. I also think you grow up to be attracted to people you are brought up around. Like if a child was mixed and brought up around two different races, they wouldn’t have a problem dating either of the two races because they would be comfortable. It probably wouldn’t be something so new. As opposed to me for example, a person who grew up around nothing but African Americans and only went to school with one White person my whole life until I got to Penn State. If I were to come up here and start liking a person of another ace, let alone start dating them it would be very weird for me. But as mentioned earlier, I have no problem if other people do it. My uncle married a white woman and everyone in my family really did not approve. Some even skipped the wedding, but me, I’m okay with it. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:02:16 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/22/what-do-you-think-about-interracial-relationships-119-blog/#IDComment137490731 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/22/what-do-you-think-about-interracial-relationships-119-blog/#IDComment137490628 I’m on the fence about interracial relationships. I say on the fence because I feel as though I don’t have a problem if somebody else does it, but I personally wouldn’t do it myself and there are multiple reasons why. The first one being my family. It may sound bad but truthfully I know my parents would not be very open to me dating outside my race. Not to say that later on down the line they won’t accept it, but I would catch a lot of hell for it at first and that is something I would much rather avoid. Another factor being I’m honestly not attracted to males of another race. When I was growing up in New York I went to school with a lot of Hispanics who grew up in the African American Culture, so they walked, talked and dressed like us. However, my parent still wouldn’t approve. A lot of my friends and family dated Hispanics in school but I never liked them and I don’t know if that’s because I was brought up not to or if I’m really just not attracted to any other race. I brought up the fact that these Hispanics were brought up in my culture to get rid of the excuse that people don’t date outside their race because the cultures are different. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 14:01:43 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/22/what-do-you-think-about-interracial-relationships-119-blog/#IDComment137490628 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/have-you-ever-felt-guilt-from-being-of-a-certain-race-119-blog/#IDComment135906388 Another example would be the language we use towards one another and how we act. If you really look at it, most of the crimes: burglary, murder etc… is done by us. Everybody who claims to be gang affiliated, Bloods and Crips, they are mostly African American. So its like how can you get mad when someone judges you negatively when everything your doing is proving them right? Even in college today. Like I go to White and Black parties. I have White and Black friends and I can tell you that every single Black party I attended, it was shut down or people left because of a fight or a person not knowing how to act. Every single time. And it’s like why? Why can’t we just act right for once. And I’m not saying this is always the case or its all Black people because it’s not. I’m speaking from what I know and have experienced personally. So this is just my opinion. So to answer the original question, yes. Sometimes I do feel negatively about being African American and it is because some do things that set us back every day. We all need to push forward and act right. Treat each other with respect and maybe others will start respecting us. Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:45:10 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/have-you-ever-felt-guilt-from-being-of-a-certain-race-119-blog/#IDComment135906388 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/have-you-ever-felt-guilt-from-being-of-a-certain-race-119-blog/#IDComment135906347 I wouldn’t necessarily say that I feel guilt for being African American but sometimes I do feel bad, or not bad more like ashamed about it and I will tell you why. The times I feel bad or ashamed about being African American is when someone does something that make all of the negative stereotypes that are connected to us appear true, which does nothing more than make us look bad as a whole. That just gives the other races mainly the white people ever more reason to look down on us and treat us like they do and it really bothers and embarrasses me. I have multiple examples. The way some dress. In high school dudes literally walk around with their pants all the way down its crazy, but then want to complain when they get sent home from school. Not only high school but grown men who dress like that to maybe a job interview and when they don’t get the job they complain and say it had to do with them being black. We are quick to use that as an excuse when something doesn’t go as planned. I’m not going to say that this is never the case because there are racist people out there that discriminate, but sometimes we bring it on ourselves. Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:44:55 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/have-you-ever-felt-guilt-from-being-of-a-certain-race-119-blog/#IDComment135906347 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/02/do-people-feel-guilt-about-their-current-positions-when-knowing-about-the-disadvantages-of-the-freed-slaves-119-blog/#IDComment134844713 Black people are the minority and we will forever be treated as so. Still today we are treated differently and hampered in life due to disadvantages and I think that’s something a white person will never understand because they don’t have to go through it, they have the advantages in this world. I can say that I feel some type of way about the slavery that is still going on today. When Sam showed us the documentary about the chocolate and the process of actually getting it ,it made me feel bad about eating chocolate but its not necessarily a guilty feeling, its just a bad feeling and I only feel it when I’m about to eat chocolate. So sometimes I question myself about judging white people for not caring about slavery because I’ve seen the video of current slavery and I don’t know how to feel about it. I think its because I live in America so I feel as though anything going on outside of American doesn’t concern me unless it has a direct affect on me and I do feel guilty for thinking and feeling like that. Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:56:43 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/02/do-people-feel-guilt-about-their-current-positions-when-knowing-about-the-disadvantages-of-the-freed-slaves-119-blog/#IDComment134844713 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/02/do-people-feel-guilt-about-their-current-positions-when-knowing-about-the-disadvantages-of-the-freed-slaves-119-blog/#IDComment134844664 I wouldn’t say that I feel guilt about my current situation and the disadvantages freed slaves had but then again I’m not White. I personally don’t feel as though the white people should feel guilty either; it’s not really their fault, they had no control over what their ancestors did and how they chose to treat the freed slaves. However I do think something about white people who believe that that’s the way the slaves should have been treated. I think I feel more compassion than guilt because though I didn’t suffer all the discrimination myself, I know that someone somewhere in my family did and it kind of hurts. When I see, hear and read about all the things African Americans had to endure when they were slaves and free it really gets under my skin and though it seems wrong it makes you view white people differently because you always have this thought in your mind about how they feel about what happened to us. Like do they care? Or do they feel like that was supposed to happen? Or is it no big deal because its in the past now and we all have the same rights? Because we may all have the same rights, but this world is not an equal one. Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:56:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/02/do-people-feel-guilt-about-their-current-positions-when-knowing-about-the-disadvantages-of-the-freed-slaves-119-blog/#IDComment134844664 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/how-do-you-feel-about-the-poor-white-society-and-who-are-you-more-likely-to-help-119-blog/#IDComment130667114 That statement actually goes for the whole White society; I have no deep rooted sorry feelings toward or for them. I feel the same way about the people of my race. My family members I mentioned I honestly feel like they are in that situation because they chose to be. That’s my honest opinion. Most of the females decided to drop out and get pregnant and the males decided to drop out and be in the streets. I know for a fact not one had to do that. I’m not saying they had to graduate and go to a prestigious university but I am saying they didn’t have to go the route they chose so I feel no pity toward them either. I can’t speak for the whole Black community but I can speak for the black people I know. Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:50:35 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/how-do-you-feel-about-the-poor-white-society-and-who-are-you-more-likely-to-help-119-blog/#IDComment130667114 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/how-do-you-feel-about-the-poor-white-society-and-who-are-you-more-likely-to-help-119-blog/#IDComment130667074 . All these years I subconsciously placed all Whites in this category to a point where I guess I believed White people can’t be poor. Or if a White person is poor, then they must really not be trying too hard to better themselves. So my second time watching the video in class yesterday I wasn’t as emotionally disturbed. I kind of looked at it as it is what it is. Just cause a person is White doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be allowed to struggle in life. As I mentioned earlier her life is the majority of my families’ lives but you don’t see anyone making a documentary about them. Another thing is Tammy was raised poor and she said herself that her father would be proud of her regardless. Tammy also mentioned that she didn’t want to get welfare which is sort of a situation where it’s to each is own. You can’t help someone that doesn’t want to be helped. I’m not saying Tammy deserves the life she is currently living but I am saying that I don’t feel as sorry for her as most people would. Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:50:23 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/how-do-you-feel-about-the-poor-white-society-and-who-are-you-more-likely-to-help-119-blog/#IDComment130667074 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/how-do-you-feel-about-the-poor-white-society-and-who-are-you-more-likely-to-help-119-blog/#IDComment130667022 That was actually my second time watching the video of Tammy. I had previously seen it in my other Soc class freshman year. At first it caught me off guard and I was kind of shocked and I felt a lot of compassion for her. I sat and thought to myself why won’t anyone help her, after this video someone ought to reach out. However that was only one of my thoughts, I had to think about my own kind for a minute and realized I have family members that are basically just like Tammy. No they don’t live in a urban trailer park area, but its close enough and as far as having multiple kids and being a single parent with a minimum wage job… that’s kind of average to me. That’s about 2/3rd’s of my family alone. So I had to ask myself why was I so shocked to see Tammy live this way and honestly it’s because she was White. It’s crazy. Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:50:04 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/how-do-you-feel-about-the-poor-white-society-and-who-are-you-more-likely-to-help-119-blog/#IDComment130667022 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/do-arrests-of-different-races-occur-more-due-to-racism-or-more-police-in-urban-areas-119-blog/#IDComment128847467 . That does nothing but make these cops more likely to go out and do it again. With all that being said no I do not think the entire police force is racist it depends on the cop. I do believe the act of placing more police in urban areas is racist but in all honesty it is needed. I hate to talk about my own kind but more crimes do happen among the African American community so you can’t necessarily point fingers and blame cops because at the end of the day, they’re just doing their job. Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:54:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/do-arrests-of-different-races-occur-more-due-to-racism-or-more-police-in-urban-areas-119-blog/#IDComment128847467 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/do-arrests-of-different-races-occur-more-due-to-racism-or-more-police-in-urban-areas-119-blog/#IDComment128847274 . Cops purposefully make it their duty to ride around in “hoods” which to me is racist because it is unequal treatment. You are not going to see police just randomly driving through the suburbs because they are mainly occupied by whites. Like white people don’t commit crimes or something. It’s really hard to say that an entire police force is racist, but I can say that most police are. That’s me speaking from personal experience and facts. I can say that in my lifetime whenever I see something about police beating someone or of them going above and beyond to “stop” a person that person is African American. Every single time, it never fails. I have never seen a white person on the news or internet saying he was brutally beaten by the cops and I honestly doubt I ever will. I am not sure as to why this is but I do know that it needs to stop. Not only that, but the cops after even being caught on tape committing these heinous acts are not punished as they should be Fri, 18 Feb 2011 16:53:31 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/do-arrests-of-different-races-occur-more-due-to-racism-or-more-police-in-urban-areas-119-blog/#IDComment128847274