Going back to the helping out immigrants, I would definitely help them out if they were in need and they came to me, or if I just saw something that needed to be done. The only factor in this would be that my family was taken care of first. I was always taught to help others because you never know when your going to need a helping hand and you are going to need something and someone else that you put down 5 days ago, will help you. Kind of like a pay it forward thing. Do something nice for someone, and in return, do something nice for someone in front of you. This will let a good deed be spread through out the world.

Everyone has this belief that the immigrants are coming here illegally and taking our hard earned jobs away from us, and taking away our houses that we want to buy and live in, and not paying taxes to live in this beautiful land that we have worked so hard to build up. They think that in doing this they are selfish and inconsiderate people. This is true in some cases, but granted; they are here and they don’t want to end up on the streets either. Most of them are just trying to make enough money for them to live comfortably on and send back to their families in the other countries that they came from that are going through rough times right now. Well, just trying to support their families in other words, regardless of the times. But they are not the jerks that everyone puts them out to be. They just want to live like everyone else.

I think that it was incredible what Muñoz did and is still doing for those immigrants. It is amazing that people still care for each other the way that they do in this day and age. I know that my family most of them came here illegally in the beginning and they went through some hardships as well. I know that I would try to help out those people in any way that I could, but on a salary of a bus driver living with my mom and wife, I am not sure that even I would go on having the time to make food like he does every day at 4am! I am not a selfish person but honestly, I know that I am not the only one that would answer this question in this way.

Well, honestly I don’t really see how it is more segregated now than it was in the 70’s. I don’t really see how schools are segregated now. But I think this has a lot to do with my definition of segregation.
Everyone is going to have their own opinion about everything and anything no matter what is going on. And people are going to be critical because that’s how we are. No one’s perfect. But aside from that, when I think of segregation I mostly think of separation. What I mean by that is like, separation of people as in blacks from whites and Chinese from Americans etc. The separation is not by choice by the way. The separation they had back then was only taught to them. The civil rights and everything happened in the 50’s. So it only makes sense that 20 years later, those people would be having kids, and thus passing on the information they obtained. As well as biased decisions and morals they were instilling in their kids minds.
Today however, people are not doing it by choice; they are doing it for their own reasons. They feel more comfortable around their own race, or those are the people they can relate to better not only because of skin color or eye shape, but beliefs, and experiences as well. You are not going to want to go up to a group of Russians and start talking up conversation in English if they are speaking Russian right? No, you’re not you either are going to join in with the same tongue, or just pass by because the words they are speaking is not making any sense to you at all.
All in all, it goes back to what and who your confortable with, this is ALL by choice. Acceptance is another thing totally. I don’t think that the world is segregated today quite frankly because of the way schools are. Look at PSU for example. There is Asians, blacks, whites, Mexicans……… anything you could possibly imagine her, and they all have a variety of friends. They all hang out with people they are comfortable with. Some may be of the same race, or they might not be. It all depends on the person and their personality. Not just the “society” today. We accept what we do for different reasons. You just have to let it be.

In this situation, reflecting on one of the other posts, and I’m not saying this to make you mad in any way, it is no one’s job to help others. But we do it because it’s the right thing to do. I also think that it is completely WRONG that you are putting McCain down because you are obviously an Obama fan, and you have no way of knowing what McCain would have done for this country because America didn’t give him a chance. So don’t judge, THANKS.
The thing is, don’t make promises that you cannot keep. The whole thing about Obama and making promises to the USA… is complete crap. If you look at him and lay out the pros and cons of president Obama’s election as president, He didn’t really keep many of his promises did he? I mean I agree with his running for president and wanting to be in the position that he is now, but he made so many promises that he just couldn’t possibly keep, and has still failed to do so. For example, I’m not sure about any of you, but I still have yet to see my 4000$ towards my schooling. There simply just isn’t enough currency in America to allow that to happen. Minding, that he said “4000 to each college student enrolled in 2010” Just saying.
I think that this is just another one of his cons of getting votes. I know that you have already guessed from my post, but I was and still am for McCain. I mean, the candidates for president this last term weren’t the best I’ll be honest. But realistically, McCain was the one that wasn’t making extravagant promises (i.e. let’s take everyone out of Iraq as soon as I’m elected) that he can’t logically keep. Obama is an excellent speaker, I’ll give him that but still. And it’s exactly as this guy says it. He is completely excluding the other poor countries that could use our help. I mean, look at Mexico right now, they’re killing each other for food and everything right now and they could use some help. I don’t care how mean their government is; don’t take it out on the people. Give the money to the PEOPLE because the government will only keep it for themselves. Just like all the rest of the poor countries do. When you take this into consideration… it just shows you how selfish he is in what he is doing. I mean, he has spent most of his presidency vacationing with his family…

To answer this question I immediately thought about the contrast between black and white. For no specific reason, just because we were just talking about this in my group earlier today. I think the difference is too well looked into personally. I mean, I don’t know about everyone else but I usually go into personality rather than color.
My friends have talked about whether they would or would not date black guys. That seems to be the biggest decision for people. Well the topic that causes the most controversy. When we talk about this, there are 2 factors that come into play. There are the BLACK people, and then there are the black people. The BLACK people are the people that have the skin color and the attitude. There are black people that have to talk like their un educated, and feel the need to call girls by everything other than their name such as “boo” or “shawty” these are the ones that is the “no” factor. Girls expect to be treated like a human being, not a toy. Then there are the black guys. These are the guys that have respect for their girls, themselves, and everyone they come in contact with. And are not genially concerned with “hooking up “with girls. They don’t just look at them as a notch on their bed posts but as a cool, and fun person to be with. They have a vocabulary and not just words jumbled together that you need to carefully analyze to try and pick out what they are trying to say. I know this sounds really racist but I’m just saying from experience so please don’t take it the wrong way.
All in all I believe that if your significant other is treating you with the respect that you deserve, and the attraction is there then things like color don’t matter. If there’s chemistry, you’ll be fine there is no judging a book by its cover there’s just personality and interests. If you hang out with only whites then that’s your decision, maybe you just get along with those people better than anyone else. Color aside. Maybe your friends just happen to be white. I don’t think people do this intentionally.

In response to the video we saw the other day in class about the babies, Not only was it disturbing, but it really got me thinking about this exact same question.
I have come to the conclusion that it is harder to learn things when you’re older. Especially when you have been exposed to something like that your whole life. If you grow up in a racist family that is all you’re going to know. Your mom calling colored people the “n” word, and noticing when Asians walk by. You are always going to be pointed out stuff like that. Rather as to if you were brought up in non-racist family, things such as black people and discrimination is not going to be a part of your everyday life. Having said that, it’s going to be harder to change that habit. What I think this guy is getting at in this question is what If a racist person say goes into another home and tries learning the opposite way? In this case, yes. It will be harder for them to adapt to the ways of the new household because it’s not a habit.( If you want to call it that)It’s hard to change something that you have known or done your whole life, once your accustomed to doing it for so many years.
Going along with the “what they grew up around” comment I proposed, I also believe it has to do with where you grow up. Your views and awareness of what is around you (or should I say who) is going to change. I, growing up in the suburbs, didn’t really come in contact with many people of color throughout my WHOLE life until I came to PSU. Now, every time I turn around, there’s a different race looking me in the face. My parents did an awesome job of making myself not oblivious to the world so it wasn’t really a surprise to me. But had they not done that, my thoughts when coming here might have been a little bit different. It would have been easier for my parents to keep me from this kind of thing coming from where I lived, rather than say, Philly or New York City. Where there’s a race everywhere.
I also would like to touch on the media. Everyone says it’s a big part which I agree with but only to a certain extent. When we watch a movie or read a cartoon, the “bad” guy is generally portrayed as black and the good guy as white. Take spy vs. spy for example. Or even the wizard of oz. Glenda the good witch is in a white while the wicked witch is dressed in black. I don’t think it has anything to do with what is taught to them specifically, but what they portray things as.

When Sam was talking about this in class and asked this question I honestly had to think for a while about the answer. I don’t think that guilty is really the right word for this. What people did back in those days, really had nothing to do with me right now. Their actions were their decisions and theirs alone. The way I see it is, why should I feel guilty for what I have right now when it wasn’t any of my ideas.
Yes, I feel bad for those who were unfortunate enough to be treated in this manner don’t get me wrong, but as the generation matured to what it is right now in my day and age, people realized their mistakes. They took what was being done and put it to rest. The only thing I see wrong at this point and time is those who think that people owe them something for what their ancestors have went through. I’ve met many people in my lifetime and college life here now. And there are those people that think for some reason that they were slaves, and treated like crap. NO it was not you; it was your ancestors that had this problem. Shame on the whites for being jerks, but you have no room to talk.
The only thing that I feel “guilty” about is those that cannot help where they are coming from. Well I guess the real word would be pity. I am very fortunate to have come from a middle class family in a nice area. It’s rural where I come from and we didn’t have a lot of money, but we were always able to make due. Sure there are things that I want, but with anyone, there’s always something that you want that there’s no way you’ll ever have. I feel sorry for those whose parents did not try hard enough for their children and families like mine did. But that should only give them more motivation to not make that same mistake. They should want to perspire and take care of the families that they will one day have

After yesterday’s class I had this same question on my mind. Tammy’s story really impacted me in a way that I’m not even sure I understand. It all goes back to her kid I guess. I mean it really bothered me that her child was taking a step back and looking at the situation that they were in and he was the only one that was able to see that the way they live was not normal. I see her view point in her son “not respecting her” but I think that she also needs to better the situation by listening to him and taking into consideration to maybe, comb her hair or change her pants before going out into public.
Tammy is proud. She is proud of the way she is raising her children. She psychologically doesn’t see any problem in the way that she is living or the way that she is presenting herself to her son’s friends or even the people at work. I know that If I showed up to work at either of my jobs looking like that, they would immediately send me home and tell me to never come to work looking like that again. I think that Tammy doesn’t really know the responsibilities of having a lot of children knowing where she came from. You guys heard it; she had / has 21 brothers and sisters. There is no way that her parents had time for either of them individually. They were all just little mouths to feed. I think that no one is taking into consideration the energy it requires as well as time it takes to have kids. You need time to listen to them and you need the energy to go to their soccer games, and stay up late at night to do something as small as helping them with their math homework. In that way, I think it is irresponsible of people in general to have a lot of kids. Not just theose of low economical classes. But I also am just going back on the whole responsibility thing. If you are too proud, (like Tammy) to accept help when you really need it. Then you shouldn’t be having a lot of kids. She is barely getting by with her income from BK and she has no time to even clean herself up. The other side is those with little income that sit on their buts all day collecting money from the government. Those people are the ones that bother me. If you don’t have the money, then use protection. Those are the irresponsible people, who don’t have the energy. There are so many families out there like Tammy that don’t accept help and need it a lot more than those that are collecting it. That is the real problem. I think that it is the government’s irresponsibility on this one that they don’t investigate for these situations more.

Yesterday in class was probably one of the most moving lectures that I have ever experienced. Not just in Soc119, but as a whole in my past semesters. No other professor has ever really made me think about things in the way that Sam has.
I mean, I have always known that there is slavery going on in the world today but I never really took the time to think about what those people are still going through. I subconsciously know, but I never really say "oh those poor people" because after the United States has gone through doing away with slavery, and the all men are created equal with the constitution; I guess I still figured it went for everyone. How can someone treat another human being with that much disrespect? I thought that all countries lived by this philosophy. Apparently, I was wrong.
Another thing that really bothers me is the slaves as a whole. I just want to know why they don't stand up for themselves. They try and run, and get away etc. But why not fight back? If there's all those slaves on that one plantation for coca for example, why don't they rally and fight their "master"? The ratio in my eyes, just says they will come out on top. And yes, I realize that they have no idea where they are. But I’m willing to bet that it wouldn’t be hard for them to figure it out once they take charge of the situation.
After saying that, please don’t take it the wrong way and say that I don’t care, because I do. No one should have to fight to maintain their life. I mean some chose to do so. Look at Rosa Parks. All it takes is one person to stand up for themselves and others will follow. People are just scared all the time and they don’t do what they really want to just because of the whole “what if” factor.
And yes, I believe the saying is true. I do believe that in a sense, we are eating his flesh because he worked so hard for nothing. And I think it’s ridiculous, and horrible that he has never tasted the satisfaction of chocolate. Even though he makes it every day. Well, maybe not makes it but works damn hard for it. It also makes me feel like crap. I know that most of us myself included are going to continue to eat chocolate, but it has definitely raised my awarance, and I will continue to look at food labels to make sure that EVERYONE is getting their penny’s worth.