en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/765073 Comments by cjg16 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69960183 so i applaud this man for turning a situation that would cause a lot of us to spiral down into depression into something to better himself as a human being. hopefully everyone that has read this letter is inspired to set aside differences and give people another chance to prove themselves. we just might be surprised by what kind of people we are and who we are surrounded by. I love the phrase, “where there is a will, there is a way.” This man has found the will to be compassionate and understanding of not only himself, but also of others. His will has allowed himself the way to self discovery and compassion for others. Many people who are not in prison never find this for themselves. Perhaps we all need a time in our lives of darkness so we can come out with our true selves and the compassion to see others the way we ourselves want to be seen: as a human being. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:54:23 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69960183 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69960158 obviously it can happen and this letter proves that, i just wish that more people would see it that way as well. sometimes when something crappy happens to us we want revenge or someone to pay for what happened to a loved one. I know it's hard and i do not even know if i could do it, but we need to learn to forgive without wanting blood to feel at peace with what has happened. i think if i knew that the person that hurt someone i loved was in prison for an extended period of time i would feel more at ease than if they were sentenced to death. in prison, at least they can think about what they did and change for the better. on death row, i feel like they would just be thinking about their future...or lack there of. i would not wish that sort of torment on any human being. Hell, it is painful for me to think about my future after graduation so i cannot even imagine thinking about my death and all the things in the world i did not have a chance to try or do Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:54:10 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69960158 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69960127 This letter was really touching. It gave a different kind of perspective on life in prison. He mentions the misery that many might feel, but it is interesting to know that even in that sort of environment, people can and are changing for the better even though they may never be able to show the rest of the world what they have become. I am against the death penalty for that reason. Sending a person to death is not a punishment, it is another form of murder. Sending them to prison for an extended period of time or even their whole life isn't really punishment either, it is rehabilitaion. the individual is able to reflect on what happened and why it happened and really discover themselves and what kind of person they actually want to be. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:53:49 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69960127 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66406282 I thought it was interesting in this video that the British woman, when asked if she was offended by the game, said , "not at all". Being a woman myself, I have to say I am offended and actually kind of scared. Kids learn a lot when they do hands on activities when growing up. If they are playing a game where the object is to grope and rape women, what are we teaching the future? I don't want to hear about some court saga with a kid who raped a woman because he learned that was okay from a video game. Similarly, other video games with violence are also not my forte. I have a distinct memory of when i was 14 years old and I was at a friends house and her older brother challenged us to a video game: James Bond. I had seen most of the movies so I thought it would be like stealing jewels from a house or trying to save some damsel in distress. But instead what i got was my friends older brother blowing my characters head off every five minutes. The worse part was how giddy with joy he was at how easy of kill my friend and I were with this game. So what is that? we are teaching at early ages that killing people and violence is okay if it helps with our own personal goals? Personally, I think that's a load of crap and I have not played a video game like that since then. From this it might be assumed that i hate video games with a fiery passion. On the contrary, i have no problem with games that help to teach children. Like those math/reading/spelling games they have out now. those I like and maybe those are boring but at least i'm learning grammar and not what a grenade can do. I realize that there's different opinions all around the world about what is appropriate and what is not. So I don't want to attack Japan but I think they may need to add some extra filters to what kind of video games they are putting out onto the market. I think all video game producers should take a cue and improve video games so it's about more than just violence against other players or characters. I realize that video games about ponies trying to learn the alphabet would not sell as much as other violent video games, but maybe it is time that kids get away from the tv as well. Obesity is a growing problem, not only within the United States but also within other developed countries. Maybe if we ease out video games and make kids play outside again, we can reduce this new epidemic get back to what we should be doing...also known as living. Wed, 7 Apr 2010 15:30:53 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66406282 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65574420 So, do not forget who you are. Identify with what feels right to you. It doesn't matter what other people think you should be, it only matters what you think you should be. If you have lived your life thus far as identifying being Hispanic than you should keep going with that unless you find a different side to yourself through self-discovery. This class is meant to help us think critically about race and the world around us. Maybe this class is the beginnning to finding out who you really are on the inside and what it means to be a certain race and/or ethnicity. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 16:44:07 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65574420 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65574402 After my freshmen year in college, i started to realize this and while i am far from figuring myself out, I realized that while it's fine that identify with being Asian more than being something else, to keep that other half of me in mind. The worse thing you could do is to forget who you are and where you come from. your roots or background is what makes you, you. without that, what would have? one of the first questions people usually ask each other is, "so where are you from?" or "Whats your family like?" I can not imagine what its like for people to say i don't know to both those questions. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 16:43:57 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65574402 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65574355 This video question was interesting to me. I would have to say he should identify with what ever he feels the most comfortable with. In the video it sounds like he identifies more with the Hispanic community, which is awesome. Don't lose what you have, having that makes you unique. I am half Italian and half Chinese, but I like to identify with other Asians. Growing up my family and I would always go to visit my Grandma who lives in Chinatown in Manhattan. We'd visit with lots of relatives, celebrate Chinese New Year, etc. My Italian side, we went there for the major holidays but we never did anything 'Italian'. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 16:43:31 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65574355 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65574194 After my freshmen year in college, i started to realize this and while i am far from figuring myself out, I realized that while it's fine that identify with being Asian more than being something else, to keep that other half of me in mind. The worse thing you could do is to forget who you are and where you come from. your roots or background is what makes you, you. without that, what would have? one of the first questions people usually ask each other is, "so where are you from?" or "Whats your family like?" I can not imagine what its like for people to say i don't know to both those questions. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 16:42:28 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65574194 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65574168 Sure we would cook and eat a lot of pastas and other traditionally Italian foods, but that was about the extent of it. This is probably why my sisters and I distinguish them by saying: Chinese Grandma and Grandma. So while none of us can speak any dialect of Chinese, we still identify ourselves as Chinese and love to point our Asian glows when we drink (turning red). For this guy, I honestly think the best thing you can do for yourself is figure this one out on your own. No one likes being told what to do or who they are. The most gratifying experience is finding yourself and finally figuring out what it is in life you want to do and how far you can go. Once you figure that out, trying to identify with one group or another won't be as important to you anymore. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 16:42:16 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65574168 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65574138 This video question was interesting to me. I would have to say he should identify with what ever he feels the most comfortable with. In the video it sounds like he identifies more with the Hispanic community, which is awesome. Don't lose what you have, having that makes you unique. I am half Italian and half Chinese, but I like to identify with other Asians. Growing up my family and I would always go to visit my Grandma who lives in Chinatown in Manhattan. We'd visit with lots of relatives, celebrate Chinese New Year, etc. My Italian side, we went there for the major holidays but we never did anything 'Italian'. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 16:42:02 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65574138 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/flip-the-script-for-a-moment__trashed/#IDComment64242448 So when I go to Sam's class I am never really sure what to expect. And that is exactly why I like it. He brings up issues that yes are uncomfortable for people to deal with. But isn't going to school about experiencing new things and opening new doors? I say kudos to Sam for having the balls to talk about 'bleeding' in class. I am a woman and I am mature enough to listen to someone talking to me about something that has affected me since I was 13 years old. It is a natural part of life and believe it or not, we talk about naturally occuring phenomenon in classes all the time; why is this so different? If you are a woman and feel uncomfortable with something that goes on in your own body, it's a rejection of what makes you a woman. I embrace having my period because I realize I have the power to reproduce which is probably one of the most beautiful acts of nature. I realize, like the posts above mine say, that girls are brought up to repress any conversation that may come up about their periods because it would be 'inappropriate'. I'm going to say what my mom has said to me since my 18th birthday, "Its your life, your an adult now. Do whatever the hell you want." I truly believe that; every college student should be challenged. we all left home (or at least i did) to explore and rediscover myself. Not to play it safe and only talk about things in my comfort zone. If I can't handle hearing about something that occurs in my own body, than how in the world will I ever survive in the real world when I'll be confronted with ideas and topics that make me uncomfortable then? There is no need to attack Sam as a person, he is just trying to get us to think outside the box and to think about things that maybe we have never thought about before. Seriously boys, every month for a week I have to worry about my period (that is around 168 hours) and if you all can't handle it for an hour and fifteen minutes then there's a problem. I work in an environment where there are a lot of students around and i hear more vulgarity than I would wish on anyone and talking about periods is a picnic in the park compared to that. So good luck people and remember, just because it makes you uncomfortable doesn't mean others have to yield and stop talking about the real issues. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 20:04:08 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/flip-the-script-for-a-moment__trashed/#IDComment64242448 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-to-do-about-white-guilt__trashed/#IDComment63008908 I agree with most of the previous comments. I agree that in schools we should be taught more accurate information ( for example Native American history) but I also agree with a previous statement that this sort of information and details need to wait till at least middle school. Children do need to be taught about their history but to tell a child that the pilgrims were not friends with the Native Americans but actually massacred them, would be too traumatic. Instead, just maybe play down the whole grand friendship thing and make the story rated G until middle school and high school. I think a lot of schools gloss over the heart wrenching stories about American and world history. We learned about all the good things that happened, like the invention of the telephone. But all the negative things, are not explored as deeply. We watched a few videos here and there about the Holocaust, but I learned more from watching a special on TV about it than I did in school. I learned more about slavery in this class than I learned in high school and I've learned more about race relations in this class than in any other class I've taken in college or in previous schooling. It is sad that I haven't had the opportunity to learn about these tragic times in our history until my senior year of college. And to be honest, I had never felt any kind of white guilt until now because I was never really taught what has happened in my history. I have walked around on a Native American reservation, but I didn't feel guilt, I just felt bad. I did not fully understand the history of what happened to them and looking back I don't think I could have even grasped such a concept. Now, I would feel guilt. Hell, I feel guilty just thinking about it, but I don't want that guilt to hold me back in my own life. Knowing is one thing, but living with a constant feeling of guilt is no way to live at all. But being able to feel such an emotion is what makes me feel human and in touch with the world around me, both good and bad. So do history books need to be re-written? I think yes, they do because as it is now, everything is way too sugar coated. However, these rewrites should be done by a diverse number of authors and checked for validity because the last thing we need is history books being rewritten by biased authors and our children learning false history about their nation and the world that they live in. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 17:52:10 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-to-do-about-white-guilt__trashed/#IDComment63008908 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment61782718 Schools today are so ruled by tests, laws, exams, etc that the students have been forgotten. Without these students, these teachers would have no jobs. It should be their perogitvie to make sure that their students are not discriminated against. I know that that is not the norm, but in a perfect world, i would like to think it would be the teachers becoming role models instead of NASCAR drivers or fake hollywood actors. I hope this girl can find the courage to keep fighting for her rights and maybe the school will realize that cancelling this prom because of such a trivial issue was a mistake and will move on. Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:03:08 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment61782718 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment61782702 This is the kind of news that I never like to read about. Not only is this girl denied her prom, but she is also being made into the villain by school officials making an example out of her. I read in one of the above comments that they thought this kind of thing was from the past. It's somewhat pessimistic of me to say this, but I am honestly not surprised. People in this country are either stuck in the 19th century or too progressive for others to handle. There are few that are in the inbetween and those that are, are seldom heard over the bicker between the other two groups. I learned in high school that nothing should surprise me anymore because so many things can happen that no one thought possible. And as for the teacher who basically did nothing, that's not what a teacher should do. Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:02:58 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment61782702 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58905446 This article was very interesting to me. I think that similar events have happened a lot over the past few centuries. I can not think of any examples at the moment but it seems to be something that repeats itself throughout history. I found the last sentence kind of ironic when the casino owner wants the elder Native Americans to invest money even though he wants/needs business. There has to be a reason why a man would open a casino on a reservation. I'm not trying to stereotype, but honestly, why build a casino on a reservation where people struggle everyday to find work and to pay their bills? It just does not make sense to me, if you are going to build a casino, build it in Las Vegas. I wish people could understand that yeah, it's great that they now have work on that reservation, but its not fair that we know if the US government had known before; then they would not be living there at present date. I am glad they have this opportunity to maybe turn their lives around and to perhaps build up their own community. I hope people understand that everyone in history has had a chance to build up their lives and succeed in what they strive to achieve. Now it is this reservation in North Dakota's turn to reach their full potential. Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:17:13 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58905446 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58905476 This article was very interesting to me. I think that similar events have happened a lot over the past few centuries. I can not think of any examples at the moment but it seems to be something that repeats itself throughout history. I found the last sentence kind of ironic when the casino owner wants the elder Native Americans to invest money even though he wants/needs business. There has to be a reason why a man would open a casino on a reservation. I'm not trying to stereotype, but honestly, why build a casino on a reservation where people struggle everyday to find work and to pay their bills? It just does not make sense to me, if you are going to build a casino, build it in Las Vegas. I wish people could understand that yeah, it's great that they now have work on that reservation, but its not fair that we know if the US government had known before; then they would not be living there at present date. I am glad they have this opportunity to maybe turn their lives around and to perhaps build up their own community. I hope people understand that everyone in history has had a chance to build up their lives and succeed in what they strive to achieve. Now it is this reservation in North Dakota's turn to reach their full potential. Sat, 27 Feb 2010 02:17:13 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58905476 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-three__trashed/#IDComment57638170 And once that line ends, essentially that family will die out. So I don't know if it is the fear of the unknown or the fear that the family's name might die out that people are hell bent on the idea that bisexuality is confusion and can be grown out of or even cured of. But If people could put as much passion and money fighting this into other social problems, think of all that could be accomplished! It just amazes me how closed off some people can be. Instead of wishing for world peace, I wish for open mindedness. Because maybe if we are all willing to hear the other guy out, then maybe we could all live together peacefully and we would all be able to learn about one another's lifestyles and realize: wow, that person is so strong to go against the norm and live the way they want to live. Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:55:50 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-three__trashed/#IDComment57638170 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-three__trashed/#IDComment57638151 Bisexuality is not confusion it's a style of living and not some phase that a person goes through like some people think. The other day I watched an episode of MTV's "True Life" and the episode was about three individuals who were bisexual. One guy's mother told him it was only a phase and that some day he would grow out of it. That is crazy to me because my mom always tells me, "Just make sure you're happy and I will be happy too". I think some parents have such a problem with the thought of their child being in a gay or lesbian relationship because that rules out reproduction. They could adopt, but that wouldn't be the family's blood. I hear my grandma complaining all the time, "I had five children and all I got was four grandchildren, three from your mother and one from your uncle and only one of them is a boy." But in a way I see her point. The family name and line carries on through the children. Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:55:39 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-three__trashed/#IDComment57638151 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-three__trashed/#IDComment57638112 I think people say that because it is a defense mechanism. Personally, I have no problem with people doing what they want and living life so that they are happy. So to hear other people saying that the person must be confused, is kind of like a slap in the face of that person. Thats like if I was really in love with a guy and my best friend coming up to me and saying, "are you sure? maybe your emotions are messing with you". ouch. Throughout history, people say things to explain what it is they do not understand. So when hearing that an individual is bisexual, they are not really sure what to make of it because they may have never met anyone like that before. People need to understand that sometimes, in our society, the American dream is two men or two women in the house with the white picket fence. Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:55:22 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-three__trashed/#IDComment57638112 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-three__trashed/#IDComment57637990 Bisexuality is not confusion it's a style of living and not some phase that a person goes through like some people think. The other day I watched an episode of MTV's "True Life" and the episode was about three individuals who were bisexual. One guy's mother told him it was only a phase and that some day he would grow out of it. That is crazy to me because my mom always tells me, "Just make sure you're happy and I will be happy too". I think some parents have such a problem with the thought of their child being in a gay or lesbian relationship because that rules out reproduction. They could adopt, but that wouldn't be the family's blood. I hear my grandma complaining all the time, "I had five children and all I got was four grandchildren, three from your mother and one from your uncle and only one of them is a boy." But in a way I see her point. The family name and line carries on through the children. Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:54:14 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-three__trashed/#IDComment57637990