I did know that businesses helped shape immigration but I was still surprised at seeing how much they affect it. I found it interesting how the US citizens like to see rich and educated immigrants to come here and how US business want poorer workers to come. I feel this causes the problem with the current immigration trends. Even when the government intervenes it doesn’t help the situation. I feel that the government needs to come down harder on companies that underpay immigrants and basically harbor fugitives. The problem is the money companies save in labor over time is much greater than the fines they can possibly get for having the illegal immigrants working for them. Anytime something is driven by greed and money, like immigration, then it is hard to combat and that can be seen by our current struggle with illegal immigration. I feel that the more business that continue with this attitude actually hurt illegal immigrants because it makes immigrants look like they are steeling jobs, even if the job is undesirable. I feel that if more companies stray away from the use of immigrants, even if it means a loss of profit, the better off more people will be.

I feel that this number is skewed by factors many people may not take into account. Although this is a high number I feel there will be some collateral damage. I know many Iraq War veterans and I feel that today’s war is a lot like the one in Vietnam as it becomes hard to know who you are fighting against because they do not wear uniforms. This is where I feel civilians are being killed because many of the areas that we are fighting in are low income and the neighborhoods are bad to begin with. If a civilian in this area carries a weapon as protection it makes it even harder to know who is a “bad” guy and who isn’t. I feel it would be like if a war would be fought in an area like Newark, New Jersey where it’s a high crime area many people in the bad areas of these areas may carry a weapon as protection. If foreign soldiers were to fight in areas like this and our soldiers didn’t have uniforms I feel the same problem would incur. It’s hard to justify any civilian death but sometimes it is a necessary evil of war. If a high profile target is venerable for attack many times it has to be decided to take action even if civilians will be killed. As for an acceptable number there is no way to really put a number on it. Ideally the goal is to have no casualties of civilians but I feel that this will never happen. I feel that the military is trying to solve this but it becomes harder when we aren’t facing countries that have a military that let you know who they are.

Personally I think Sam uses the videos as an icebreaker into subjects. It loosens up the class and provides better conversation. The videos he shows often times sound racist but often times just open the eyes to topics. Chris Rock is the best at doing this, especially the video Sam showed about the Native Americans. I feel that not only does it loosen up the class it also gets them to share their opinions because they may be offended by the video. This allows the class to open up and also enables them to remember the class easier. The funny videos make it easy to remember what the discussion was about and allow the class to remember it for discussion groups. Another thing I feel it does is gives a break in the lecture while still staying on the race topic. I feel that these videos are helpful in keeping the attention of the class and spark the discussion at the end of class. Also these videos bring up many questions for the end of class, the blogs, and discussion groups. Another thing that Sam actually brought up in class is the fact that the comedians may “call out” certain people and that allows people that may be a bit prejudice to realize how ridiculous some of the stereotypes that exist are. Another thing Sam does is gets videos from comedians of different races and that allows the class to see the viewpoint from all different races. This allows people of all races to also see some stereotypes that may put on their race. Overall I feel that these videos are used as a catalyst for the rst of the class. Often times they are followed by a clicker question that allows everyone to see where the rest of the class stands on certain issues.

Personally I think it is a combination of both. I come from a small town that has one cop that polices both my town and two adjacent towns. The population in the three towns is very white; there are only a handful of minorities. There has been a recent string of drug charges and involved in all of it there was about 50% white and 50% black. The reason these charges were brought up is because of a meth lab exploded and the state and federal authorities got involved. Now it is kind of unlucky for the percentages that the meth lab that exploded was 50% ran by minorities. I know that there are more crimes committed by white people in my community but they go unnoticed because of the lack of police in my area. Now turn that around where there is a big city with a larger police force. Often times the highest crime areas are the lower class areas and often times most of the population is mostly minority groups. So when there are more police they see the smaller crimes that would be missed by a smaller police force. Personally this I feel has is a large reason that the numbers are so skewed. Now racism also plays a large role in this as well. When a minority moves into a mostly white neighborhood and the police force is all white racism, intentional or not, will take place. Especially in my small town where most of the towns, myself included, personally know the only cop it is easier for crime to go unnoticed. Lets say a drug deal happens, if the cop sees two white kids that he knows he likely won’t suspect a drug deal and would probably just wave and continue on. Now replace the two white kids with two minorities that only lived in the area for a short time, immediately the cop will be suspicious and probably question the two. Is the cop intentionally being racist? I don’t think so because you are less likely to suspect a person you know than someone who is new to the area. Now I also think there is intentional racism but that isn’t as widespread as the unintentional racism. I think another problem in smaller mostly white areas is politics. When judges, sheriffs, and police are elected in a mostly white area they will gain more support by throwing the book at a minority that fits the “ghetto” stereotype than they would by punishing a white kid that looks like he is from a sitcom. So the numbers I feel are skewed due to police issues, racism (both intentional and unintentional), and a broken political system where right and wrong is overshadowed by approval ratings and votes.

When I think about that I wonder what does it mean. Another common phase I have heard is about black kid. This phrase is that someone is the “whitest black kid.” This phrase has always has made me wonder and I feel that labels like that and “Wigger” come about two ways. First way is to someone acts nothing like a stereotypical person of that race. A prime example of this is when a black teenager doesn’t listen to rap music, dresses well, and is educated. It has always disturbed me that these terms are in place because if the example above is a white black guy what does that imply that a regular black person is? The second way I think these labels come to be is when someone of a certain race acts like another races stereotype. The white kid who wears baggy cloths, listen to rap music, and use a lot of slang are immediately labeled as a white kid acting black. Maybe the most notable example of this is Tiger Woods. Because Tiger is a professional golfer he is labeled a white black guy. This is because golf is typically a white sport. This along with the country club view of the sport gives him this label. I think a main reason that these labels continue to be used is the media in America. Because the news typically only shows bad news a lot of news around minorities will continue to give them a constant bad stereotype. So after seeing all these bad stories and then here about a successful minority immediately as a society we have to give them a name that differentiates them from the bad minorities. This is troubling because when this is done many no longer see the successful minorities like they are minorities but they look at them like they are white. When this happens I feel that this only further exasperates stereotypes. As for why minorities are never called out for acting like another minority groups is because of the media. There have been many movies that have tackled this issue by making it comical. One prime example of this is the movie “Undercover Brother” where Eddie Griffin’s character infiltrates an office by acting like a white guy. In this he uses several white stereotypes. So I think that this is something that has primarily caused by the media in the US.

119. I personally do not think that you are racist. You aren’t thinking that you can accomplish more because you are white but because you have more of an opportunity. The fact of the matter is almost all major breakthroughs in medicine, science, etc. are made in developed countries such as the US. I do agree that it is a thin line between what you are saying and racism. Its like saying if you went to a private high school that you would have a better chance to go to a prestigious college than a person that went to a public inter-city school. Even though there is a large majority of African-Americans and other minorities in the public school you wouldn’t say that you have an opportunity to study at a better institution than a minority because of your skin color. You would have this opportunity because you are put in more favorable circumstances. I truly believe that there is too much emphasis put on racism in situations that aren’t meant to be racist at all. The question is would you have the same opinion if you had just visited a under developed country that had a mostly white population? From listening to your story I believe that the race of the people you seen wasn’t a determining factor in what you said. Of course you have to realize that you also have a better chance to affect the world in a negative way than a person in a developing country for the same reasons. So clearly it is all a personal perspective to where your ideas lie on the line of racism. Personally I don’t think that what your saying sounds racist but to someone else it may sound like a “white power” self indulgent idea. Another thing to look at is how you look at yourself as a person. If you are very confident and driven as an individual you may think that you have a better chance to have a positive impact on the world than someone who has had the same opportunities as yourself. Once again this doesn’t have anything against the person you are comparing yourself to but it says more about what you think about yourself. A lesson to be learned from your story is to make the best of what you have. So if you are given more and better opportunities than someone else, regardless of race, then you have more pressure to not mess up the opportunity you have. So there is a thin line between what you are saying and racism but as long as you don’t think better of yourself because of your race I don’t think you will cross that line.

Soc119