After hearing Dan Coyne explain how Myra is such a nice woman it makes me wonder why such bad things happen to nice innocent people. What made Myra deserve this illness? Myra’s story brings questions to my head such as, is illness something that is truly someone’s destiny that God chooses for us or is it just utter bad luck. It is true luck that Dan Coyne, a man so willing to donate a kidney to Myra, was actually a match for her. It was touching to see how generous Dan was. He is a very considerate man and the fact that he started to cry tears of joy after he found out he was a match is great proof of this. I thought the idea that Dan Coyne had to offer Myra his kidney was so touching and also creative. I cannot believe that many people like Dan Coyne exist in this world. I agree with Myra when she calls him an angel living on earth because he truly seems like an angel from God to me. When I think of angels these are the kinds of things I imagine them doing for any human. I have never heard a story of such generosity especially between two people who are in no way related. I think the video below this story of the little boy is also very touching. I cannot believe how maturely this boy talks at such a young age. I was also surprised to hear how readily and openly he shared his feelings. I have never heard a young child talk so seriously about a crush and I wasn’t aware they could experience such strong feelings for the opposite sex at that young of an age. The line at the end of the video was a very eye opening moment for me because it is so true. Children are color blind then when they grow up to read and see things on television this is when they develop racist attitudes. So in a sense, what I’m really saying is that I think we should all be more like children. Most young children accept each other regardless of their color, unless they grow up in extremely racist families and are taught prejudice behaviors at a young age. It’s sad that young children could teach educated adults a very good lesson that they have grown to forgot. We are all human and we are all equal. No man or woman is better than the other and people need to start realizing that and treating each other fairly. You should never look down on someone unless you are helping them up. If every child from now on stayed “color blind” throughout adulthood the world would be a much better and just place. Everyone would get along and no one would be judged just because of the color of their skin is different.

While sitting through this class I experienced a variety of unexpected emotions. When same was telling a story about the Chinese coming to America to steal our coal and use it for their own personal benefit it made me feel upset and useless, like things were out of my control and that we Americans were being treated unfairly. Then same continued to point out that Americans are in Iraq to take there oil and use it for our own good. It was not until then that I could truly view things as if I was a citizen in Iraq. It was like my world stopped for a moment and I could truly see things from a whole other perspective. During this class was the first time that I felt guilty for American soldiers being in Iraq to benefit our country. It sounded selfish to me and it made me feel that we had no right to be there. I know that each individual soldier that goes over to Iraq to “serve” our country is probably a good person that means well but what I also know is that our overall purpose of being in Iraq is unjust. I can openly admit that if a large group came to America from another country trying to teach me a new religion I would be scared and I would be wondering why they even cared what religion I practiced. I have realized throughout this one class period that whichever side you are on you only here the most negative news about your supposed enemy. I was shocked when I saw the news that the citizens of Iraq watched. I didn’t know that they feared Americans as much as we feared them. I was very surprised to see them tuning into the behavior of American radicals. There is one point that I can understand to why Christians think its right to try and teach Muslim children the way of Christians. I have heard many times that they think it is an honorable to kill yourself while bombing others. I have heard that they believe you get sent right to heaven if you are suicide bomber, and maybe Christians are just trying to prevent young Muslim children from committing suicide. I don’t truly know why Christians are trying to teach their religion in Iraq but after this class I realized it does feel like an invasion. Maybe if they realized how they are making all of the Iraqis feel they would stop trying to teach Muslims about Christianity. Also, I really don’t like how Sarah Palin refers to this war as a mission from God or how George Bush calls it a crusade. I think both of their comments make them appear dumb. Stealing someone’s oil is definitely not anywhere close to a religiously sanctioned military campaign.

The first emotion that I felt while reading this post was scared. While continuing to read the article I realized that this is such a foreign idea to me. Since I am way past elementary age I cannot imagine learning a foreign language at such a young age. The fact that being bilingual may be essential to succeed in the economic world is a scary thought. I believe that America is a free country but I don’t think other languages should begin to dominate our economy. The amount of schools that are teaching Chinese today is a big shock to me I would have never guessed that as many as 1,600 schools are teaching this language. It makes me think how I will fit in once all these children learning to speak one or two foreign languages come into the business world in which I work in. Will bilingual children be pushing elders out of there jobs once they are ready to find careers? I’m not comfortable with my future depending on my knowledge of a foreign language. Since I am older I do not have great faith that I will be able to learn a new language now. I feel that it is so much easier to learn a new language when you start at a young age opposed to starting to learn it in high school and college. As this article says, even after studying a language in high school for four years most teens can still not speak the studied language fluently. I feel that most teens will forget a majority of what they learned in there foreign language class in high school by the time they graduate from college. I myself have taken a Spanish class in high school for four years and I happened to really enjoy learning this language, yet most of my peers were not very fond of it and when they moved on to take Spanish in college they did not do well. While watching this video of the man teaching viewers to speak Chinese I realized that Chinese is taught differently then Spanish. It seems to me that Chinese is taught at a lot faster pace than Spanish is generally taught. I feel that Chinese classes teaches phrases at a time while Spanish focuses on single words at a time and then builds up into phrases. After watching both Spanish and Chinese lesson videos I noticed that the teachers are always very animated and hyper. I think this is because It is hard to get most people to stay interested in learning a language other than they’re own so they display these attitudes to attempt to keep viewers attention. Either way, if learning a new language is something I really need to do to have a career that I love I will just do it.

The Doll video was one of the saddest things I have ever seen. It almost brought me to tears while watching it. It is awful that something has been instilled in those children’s’ minds that makes them feel inferior or that they are not the “nice” one. It is awful how racist attitudes affect young children. This video just makes me feel that I wish things were different and that these children do not deserve the feelings that they have at such a young age, or ever. I feel that it is extremely important for children to be taught at a very young age that they are beautiful how they are and they should love the skin they are in. If it was my child participating in this video I would be devastated that they are feeling that they are the “bad” one. As a white person, it was extremely painful for me to watch this. I felt very upset and when the little boy was asked which one was the nice doll and picked up the white doll it made my stomach turn. When the little boy was asked why that doll was the nice doll and he responded with “cause he’s white”, those words burnt into me. I feel so many emotions while watching this video, especially anger because this world is a racist world and this video is great proof of that. I have never considered myself a racist by any means and I never knew that such young children were impacted by racism and its affects. This video has changed my point of view on the affects of racism and it has created a new anger in me. I just feel so awful that young innocent children are subject to racism when they did absolutely nothing wrong. I felt a sense of relief whenever the young children chose a doll of their own color; it was like I could breathe again. This video just makes me want to change racism but I know that if this could have been done it would have been done a long time ago. I cannot say the real reason why these children picked the white doll, maybe it is because if you search beauty on Google it is all white people, or maybe because white characters are more commonly seen on television, I don’t know but the world obviously needs to become a more diverse and accepting place. One race is not the right race, and no color is wrong. There isn’t a “right” kind of hair or a wrong shape of eye or nose. No one is perfect and no race can be portrayed as perfect. This video is proof that not everyone in the world thinks this way if these children have been influenced to think white is right.

I have never looked at things in this point of view that was talked about in this video. It was interested to hear this girl’s suggestion and I wonder if it would change anything, such as white guilt. I think if we did change our history books that it would still take decades for things to be noticeably different. Literature is not the only reason for our beliefs and feelings but also word of mouth is responsible. It may take quite a while for people to forget the past history between whites and blacks. I feel that if our textbooks were changed today those who experience white guilt would not stop feeling it but maybe their children would not ever have reason to begin to feel it. In regards to white guilt I can’t say I have strong feelings about it. I do not feel extremely guilty because I myself have not inflicted pain on the black race but I have uneasy feelings about them being discriminated against and I also feel nervous about ever offending someone of a different race because everyone prefers to be called something different. I feel that most of the time not everyone is not completely open in discussions about race because they are afraid that they’re language might be offensive to someone else or they might use terms that are not politically correct. Many may think that white people who are not open in race discussions are being so quiet because of white guilt but I think it is because they fear that they do not know how to speak in the correct and appropriate terms.
When Sam says, “And I respond to that by saying that most of these white people are missing the point of white guilt, that a deeply rooted shame for past history exists in most white people.” I cannot relate to this line because I do not feel that I hurt anyone or ruined anyone’s lives. I do not know who my ancestors were and if they were slave owners or if they were poor slaves themselves. If I found out that my ancestors were terrible people who enslaved many innocent black people then yes, I would feel extremely awful and disgusted with my family. In the terms of the Native Americans, I do feel bad about their land being stolen and blood being shed but I cannot go as far as saying I feel very guilty about it because I did not make any decisions that influenced a Native Americans life negatively just as I have not made any decisions that hurt an African American. I think true guilt comes from an interaction that you are completely involved in when your words, decisions, or actions have hurt another person and hindered their chances at success in this world. Feeling sympathetic or bad about what has happened in the past is not what I would describe as guilt.

Not to come off as sexist, because I have never thought myself to be so, but I have never considered a woman being a football coach. I also would like to say that by no means am I against a woman being a football coach. Natalie Randolph’s first impression on me was that she is very sweet and sincere. She seems to be very excited about her new endeavor and I feel that she can contribute a lot to the Calvin Coolidge high school football team. I was very surprised to hear that Coach Randolph’s football team immediately applauded when they heard that she was their new coach. I would expect the team to have confused looks on their faces and ask if she was serious. I am just assuming that they were well aware of this new installation before Natalie Randolph stood before her new team. Although it was not what I was expecting from her team, I am very glad that Natalie received such support and applause from the teenagers on her new team. Natalie looks so sweet and girl to me and I was so shocked to see her in a football uniform jumping up for the ball. This really makes me realize that you truly cannot judge a person by what they look like on the outside. I would have never expected Natalie Randolph to have the background that she does just by looking at a picture of her. It must make her football team feel more confident in her because not only does she know and love the game, she also had played tackle football before. Natalie Randolph seems to be a very easy going woman and I don’t think much can stop this woman from being successful. Phrases such as “that’s the way the cookie crumbles”, makes me think that Natalie accepts things as they are and can easily overcome the obstacles presented to her. Natalie does not seem one bit worried about her first game or about coaching the football team at all. I would not be surprised if other coaches were intimidated by her. I am sure some male coaches might be a little bit more upset if he lost to a football team with a woman coach opposed to a football team with a male coach. I feel this way because a male coach who does not know Natalie and her background may assume that she does not know the game as well as he. I firmly agree with Campbell Brown when she states in the last seconds of the video that Natalie Rudolph is downplaying the history of this whole scenario. I am not sure if Natalie is being very humble or if she truly does not think this is as exciting a moment for her as Campbell Brown does. I am glad that a woman has become a high school football coach because maybe this will decrease the sexism some women experience in the American culture.

I was so surprised at the amount of students that were openly expressing their rage. I respect the students that were open about their feelings and it is good to know that these students will not put up with racist acts regardless of which race they are towards. I think it is very important for a campuses climate to be very welcoming and hospitable towards every race. I think that UCSD is doing a good job working towards this welcoming environment and they have made it very obvious that racial and social injustices will not stand a chance in their community. I hope that Jiggaboo Jones realizes in the near future that it is not ok to encourage stereotypical themed parties. I am sure that the students’ outrage has shown him that it was very insulting.

Although this party was offending to many people I do not think this was the intention. I truly believe this party was sponsored by Jiggaboo Jones because he wanted to get his name out there and bring in money. No matter what the circumstances were this themed party was very unnecessary and insensitive. Also, this party was degrading to many African Americans because they all do not dress and act the way the students at this party were acting. I am sure African Americans do not appreciate the misrepresentation. I feel that it was not right for the students to take part in this party and feel that it was ok just because a black male was hosting it. It does not change the fact that this party was stereotypical towards all African Americans. I agree with David in the video that a two hour teach in is nowhere near enough time to speak to students about racial issues. Obviously, a whole semester or more could be spent on discussing racial issues.

I think it is wrong to judge to UCSD campus off of certain acts of particular students. I do feel hanging a noose is a very vulgar action and someone really crossed the line, but I am not making assumptions about the entire student body. I hope that the student responsible sincerely regrets his/her actions. When it comes to the Fraternity party, better known as the Compton cookout, I would completely understand if black people took offense to this. In discussion group we visited Jiggaboo Jones’ webpage, the man who sponsored the Compton cookout. Jiggaboo Jones is a black male who considers himself the number one N word. He actually stereotypes black males and I feel he shines a bad light on them. When I first heard about the Compton cookout I figured it was the idea of all white males and I thought it was very offensive and inappropriate. Once I realized this party was Jiggaboo Jones’ idea I felt less anger.

In my opinion this isn’t necessarily racist, well at least not the idea of it. I would like to make note that I do think the quote that Sam included from Moose was racist but I don’t think his plan is promoting to form this basketball league is promoting racism. I think that this is the type of situation that is racist just if you think it is. It is what you make of it. There is nothing wrong with forming an all American league, just as there is absolutely nothing wrong with forming an all African American or Asian league. Although I personally don’t think that this is a form of racism I can see how others might think it is. I also can understand how this might make other races mad because they feel excluded. To be honest, when I first started reading this I thought, Oh this is for the slower paced basketball players who usually can’t jump quite as high; white guys. I thought it was kind of degrading to white men actually. It sounded like white men can’t keep up with the current basketball league and that they need to move at a slower paced. Maybe they can’t keep up and maybe white men are slowly going to vanish from the professional basketball league. I’m giving Don Lewis the benefit of the doubt that he wants to create an environment for white men who are starting to feel excluded. In my head Moose is just creating a league where men can enjoy themselves and not be worried about being weeded out because their skills are not great enough. I am not quite sure about how I feel about paying for one of these tickets. I am pretty content with the professional basketball league that exists now and I think the pace of the game makes it exciting. I don’t think Don Lewis’ basketball league will be taken as seriously by the public at first if ever at all. I know that this is causing large controversy so maybe this league will never really be in full fledge action. I know that this league will be discriminated against if it does eventually exist. All in all I don’t think Don Lewis meant any harm but I did not appreciate some of his words. I just think he needs to filter his thoughts before they come out of his mouth. Maybe if he had promoted his plan in a different way and with different words it wouldn’t have been taken as racist. I think that if people think this is racist that they should just ignore it and not let it bother them because I really don’t think segregation was Don Lewis’ intentions.