The question and answer portion of Tuesday’s class with the two Muslim women was not only eye opening, but very necessary. I feel as though in our society, even more specifically in our age group has a bad habit of assuming that Muslim woman are forced to wear a scarf. Also, as taboo as it may come off to be, it seems that a lot of people unaware of Muslim religion jump to the conclusion that with their scarf comes an sense of decreased freedom. Because most people know so little, they assume that the reason is because what Muslim women are “forced to do” is unjust or unfair. It was really nice to hear from the girls that spoke that the choice was truly theirs. Part of me questioned if their families would actually support them in the decision not to, if that is what they chose to do. However, it is very comparable to my life in decisions like, getting a tattoo, or skipping college. While these are all my decisions to freely make, my parents would not support me in them. What I am trying to say is that I would be curious to ask them if although it is their choice would their parents accept their decision to refrain from wearing the hijab.
The Muslim women who spoke in soc this week also did not seem judgmental towards western woman who dress differently. I wonder if they are truly accepting to the more provocative clothing of the western world. I think it is very respectable that these woman want to form relationships based on their true personalities. I do think that the modern western world is reliant on sexual appearance and as a college student it is apparent that men judge primarily on appearance.
Men our age don’t even seem to hide the fact that they will completely dismiss a girl if she does not meet their “standards”. While I am sure the same judgment happens towards men, I can only speak for my own gender. It does get hard sometimes feeling unwanted or unappreciated because I try to hold true to my own values. Because I am not willing to dress excessively slutty or throw my drunken self into random boys laps, they are quick to dismiss even talking to me. As much as us girls want to deny that we dress to impress the boys, we really can’t. And while it’s nice to have someone to dress up for, it’s the lengths that we go to that are out of control.
Connecting this to the topic of women’s dress in the western world vs. the Muslim community, I find it respectful as well as admirable that Muslim woman form relationships purely off of their personality. It would be nice to find men that have the ability to see a girl for the person she is instead of the reputation she has, or the outfit that she is wearing.

Throughout this semester there has been one particular thing that has been a constant in the back of my head. Every time I leave class thinking about whatever topic that we chatted about that day, and every time I get home with the same conclusion: there really is no answer. I do have an opinion on a lot of things that we discuss in class, but to be honest I refrain from voicing my opinion because I am afraid of the reactions. Sam was not kidding when he said that being white in this class would make me feel guilty. However, I cant help but ask myself isn’t there some kind of parallel here. A parallel to the feelings that black and brown people get from racist comments or remarks. Now I cannot speak for all white people, or all races, but to some extent we are all feeling some kind of wrong for being the color that we are. No I am not often discriminated against because of my skin color, but there are countless moments when I feel judged simply because I am white. I do not want to portray the feelings that I am in some way a victim, because I know that I am not. I understand the black, brown, middle-eastern, or Hispanic peoples, among many other races experience far worst feelings and much more pain from racist comments, but I do not think it is fair to prosecute innocents for those feelings. Maybe it is pansy that I am too scared to say this out loud in a class of 750 people, but I think that fact that I am writing it down is a start.
I guess the only way that I can think to relate this to a specific topic in class is with the demonstration that Sam used when he brought “mother”/“daughter” generations to the front of the class and asked if a great-granddaughter of a slave owner should feel guilt for what her ancestors did. Or if the later generations of a settler who stole land from a Native American should rightfully own that land, or give it back to the original owners. I am not in anyway condoning the wrongful acts of white settlers to Native Americans or those of white slave owners, but how is it fair that I am prosecuted against for these actions that I have no direct relation to, and no support for whatsoever.
I am not asking any minority to forget the wrongs that they had against their ancestors, but I ask them to take a step back and have a bit of perspective. I feel as though it is more important for us to become educated about the past to ensure that is doesn’t happen in the future, instead of using the past to dictate how we act in the present. At what point does justification turn to ignorance?

I feel like there is no real way to argue against the fact that the NBA is primarily dominated by people of African decent, and the NHL most consists of whites. However, I feel like the way that most people use this generalization is unnecessary and almost ignorant. When I first sat down to respond to this question, I thought back to class when we talked about the reason that one race dominates over another in academic success. It really struck a cord with me when Professor Richards set forth the idea that it had something to do with genetic makeup. He presented three different theories, if you will, as reasons that one race dominates over the other; socioeconomic status, psychological decisions, or genetically predetermined ability. I feel like the biggest factor in determining why a race is “superior “ over another in a particular subject is mostly due to environment. Where and how a person is raised, the values that a person was taught and the care they receive. On one hand all of these things are very circmstancial but this is precisely why I feel as though you cannot give just one reason that a person.
Racial division in sports is not anything that happens on purpose. It’s not like any of the rules of any of these games say that a certain race can or should be allowed to play over other races. It just happens naturally when these games start. Young athletes are put in these situations, and they choose to take the opportunity and run with it. They realize what it could reward them with in the future, so they go for it and don’t look back.
I bet blacks could dominate any of these sports if given the opportunity, but they do not have nearly the opportunity that whites have when it comes to most sports. Hockey, tennis, golf, little league baseball and lacrosse are generally pretty expensive sports. Good white quarterbacks have been trained through expensive systems, priming them to be successful in the NFL. The suburbs hold most of the pools where white kids swim. With this structure in place, the black people that can afford to excel in these sports, don’t simply because their culture is not really interested in a sport dominated by whites. We see a couple of black people that slipped through the cracks of these sports: Barry Bonds, Tiger Woods, the Williams sisters. Black people generally have the biological advantage to be more athletic, but white people generally have the resources…so, who wins? I just wish everybody would love everybody and opportunity would be equal, but then, hey, I would probably suck at sports compared to everyone else.

Honestly thinking back on these last couple months I truly have struggled with the right way to “support” people who have been effected by sexual abuse. I think most people’s first reaction to the scandal was shock and sadness. Its easy to hate anyone involved in the scandal just because that’s how everyone around you is acting, but being pushed into the middle of this scandal really opened my eyes. It is easy to tie a blue ribbon on your book bad or retweet some inspirational quotes to the victims, but what is that really doing for the victims?
Despite the overwhelming amount of students who pledged there allegiance to the victims on countless social networks, when it came down to actually doing something real for the victims the support was not so strong. I am not going to lie, I am guilty of the same offense, but when a friend of mine came told me that she would be doing a sort of dialogue to allow students a place to talk and learn about sexual abuse I decided to get a little more invested in the issue. I showed up to the event, at first just to be there for a friend, but left with a whole lot more on my mind. A total of three students showed up to the event, including myself. It broke my heart that a friend of mine went through the trouble to get professionals to speak, in order to help other students deal with the situation at hand, and no one even showed up. If only one tenth of the students who claimed to care about the victims had attended, the room would have been filled ten times over.
However, we still spent the time to talk with lawyers, therapists, and volunteers who had delt first hand with the issue and my mind was truly blown. I was starting to understand how the victims were really feeling. Unfortunately, after this event, I was not able to attend any other forums of fundraisers; partly because, like most important issues, after the initial outcry wears off.. so does the support. But the important thing to realize is that these issues do not go away.
When I think about what I can do to help the victims, I struggle to come up with a valuable solution. I can’t look a victim in the eye and tell them that I understand what they’re going through. I can’t start a support group or provide first hand advice to young kids. The one thing that I have realized I can do is listen. I think one of the most important thing to do in support of victims of sexual abuse it to provide them with a listening ear, and even a shoulder to cry on. If there was one thing I learned from the forum that I attended is that every event, situation, or run in with sexual abuse is different, and perhaps the first step to helping a victim is listening to what they have to say.

From a more general standpoint, the American dream can be explained as success, wealth, and prosperity. I don’t think that Americans perceive or pursue the American Dream in the same way as immigrants. Money and power is obviously a controlling factor in today’s society and most Americans are quick to any opportunity that will help them to either climb higher in social status, or gain greater wealth. Because of the greed and ill-willed ambition that clouds the judgment of many Americans, I think perhaps the largest difference in our perception of the American Dream, from that of an immigrant, is the presence of happiness. Because Americans are so anxious to “get rich or die trying”, we forget the privilege that it is to live in America. For many Americans, I do think that the American dream has lost its value. However, at the same time I believe that the reason we do not acknowledge the American Dream anymore is because it has also evolved from its original meaning. Originally the American dream was more simply, the cookie cutter dream. Americans striving for the dream wanted the white picket fence, stay at home mother, two kids and a dog playing in the yard. Now a days all anyone wants is enough money to be richer than the corporate executive living next door. In the past, the American Dream meant being able to live a comfortable life with the ones you love, and now it means possessing all the material things you want and more.
The immigrants that come to America seem to still possess a more tradition viewpoint of the American Dream. Foreigners coming to America strive to live a comfortable life. Most immigrants come to America from countries that have strict or very traditional cultures. Often these cultures restrict people from living their dream, and coming to America they have the freedom to live the life they want to live. Although they come to America with nothing sometimes, they crave the freedom that Americans take for granted. Because America is filled with so many different cultures and religions and peoples it is welcoming for immigrants and at the same time, they are not forced to confine to the culture of their own country.
Because of the excitement that immigrants have in assimilating into the United States, as well as the opportunity that they seek in America, it is understandable that whites will one day be a minority in America. YAY Immigrantion, is what I like to say. I don’t really see this as being a bad thing for the country. I think that a more racially diverse country will help to represent our country as the melting pot that we refer to ourselves as.