I definitely agree with your point that we should not have to put our race on applications. It seems erroneous to me to tell someone what color you are, if it supposedly doesn't matter anyway. Everyone is supposed to hire people aside from race or ethnicity, so then why even discuss it? It's because it still does matter to people, but I wish we could just ban that question from forms for good, because it's not helping equality at all. Whether it's because someone isn't going to hire you because of your color, or they only want to hire you to look good because of your color, neither one is good. We should all just be looked at based on our skills and qualifications. I believe that if you work hard enough, you should be given opportunities and jobs and promotions - not because you look different or the same as everyone else there.

I have never put too much thought to affirmative action in my past, except for one instance. My family has long held a grudge against the issues of affirmative action, because my father was unfairly treated when applying for a job - twice. We are white, so my dad is a white male. He has been a volunteer firefighter for most of his life, and his goal was always to be a paid firefighter - particularly in Philadelphia. In order to be considered for this position, as people are always applying, an applicant has to take a sort of firefighter board test and score over a certain amount. This is similar to many jobs and professions which require a test to be considered. My dad got a nearly perfect score, and he most definitely was qualified. He seemed like he would be hired, but later found out that they gave the job to a black man. Somehow my dad found out that this man who got the job had only JUST passed the test. He was not near the almost perfect that my dad had scored, yet the black man was hired because they needed to hire more black people.

This is what Sam touched on in the lecture about less qualified people being hired over more qualified people. It's nothing but unfair. I am all for the idea of fairness and a diverse group of people working in the same place, but the idea that the black man was hired over my father even though he was less qualified is honestly scary (aside from being unfair). Firefighters are supposed to be as highly trained as possible. Their job is life and death every day, and one would assume that the most qualified person possible should be hired at any given time. It does not matter what color person is walking into a burning building or saving lives - it matters that they are competent enough to get the job done in this high-pressure situation.

This did not just happen once, but again to my father when he got a perfect score on the exam, yet was still not hired, though every part of his application pointed to the perfect candidate. It only makes sense that my father is now a bit cynical about these programs, because he was basically screwed over on multiple occasions that he certainly deserved an opportunity yet it was given to someone else. How can anyone think that this is fair? There are people out there who aren't working as hard, don't know the material as well, yet they get ahead of more experienced or qualified people.

While I definitely think parts of affirmative action make sense, it really isn't inherently fair. It may be trying to make things more fair for less privileged people, but it's not actually working for everyone at the same time.
I agree with what the three guys were saying at the end of the lecture about the importance of education being as fair as possible in the United States. I think it's incredibly unfair and education is the building block that pushes everyone forward to do well in every other area of life. Most of the times I see affirmative action put in place unfairly is when some who are less educated and qualified are given an opportunity over someone who is more educated. If every school had similar funding and similar educational opportunities in high school and before that, there would be less need for affirmative action based on education, because it would have already been working for years.

Thank you for ranting about something that SHOULD be ranted about! I talked in my comment about the man who makes angry, yelling videos online instead of actually educating himself on issues in this country and in the world. It makes me feel a lot better to read your thoughts and see that some people can learn about the world and make sense of it all. I wish more people could understand that they can't possibly know all there is to know about the way our government is run, and that their protesting and complaining about immigrants is hypocritical and close-minded.
We DO need immigrants in this country, because our own residents don't want to do the jobs like pear-picking that so many immigrants will gladly do. If we never let anyone in the country, we'd be forever secluded and closed off from the rest of the world, except for when we go on the internet. In which case, how do we know the videos they're seeing of the United States aren't just people like that angry ranting guy, who do not represent the majority of Americans and in fact make us look naive and unintelligent (not to mention hateful).
I also like your point about how we are almost all descendants of immigrants. That's a very important point to keep in mind when arguing immigration. We're all immigrants!

I must say that I cannot stop thinking about the ideas in this lecture, Though, I guess I say that about every lecture. But especially this week, whenever someone mentions the price of anything, or the way the government is run, I keep thinking about this country's need for immigrants. What Sam said about how we want immigrants only when we need them is very interesting to me. I never thought about our country really NEEDing immigrants, but I did often wonder why so many people have always been accepted into this country if there are so many issues with the amount of immigration here. The story about how much money the pear industry in California lost due to the arguments over immigrants and labor laws was especially eye-opening. It does make sense that they need someone to do manual labor. While there is a lot of new technology that has been taking jobs away from people, things like pear-picking will always require a real person to get the job done. Most Americans have an attitude that they want everything, but they don't want to do manual labor that is "beneath them," or so the Americans have acted in the public eye. However, if no Americans are willing to "stoop to that level" and take these jobs, then YES, we do need immigrants.

That video of the guy who rants on Youtube about issues like this absolutely infuriates me. I also can't get him out of my head. I have never been one to believe SO strongly in one thing that I disregard all other opinions other than my own. That man is clearly not very advanced, since all he can do is sit in front of his computer and complain about aspects of the country and government that he clearly can't know all of the facts about. Nothing gets me more than someone who is ignorant of the truth and thinks the exact opposite. I think everyone needs to try to see the different angles of a situation. It totally makes sense that the government hasn't gotten rid of immigrants and does not always do that much actively to find illegal immigrants when they easily could. They obviously know that if we have immigrants, we have workers, and those workers will work for less, which means our country makes more products and more money. These all align to make America the place that it is and has been for quite some time.

I'm really not sure how patriotic I'm feeling this Fourth of July weekend. I'm all for loving your country, but being in college has opened my eyes to a lot of harsh realities (or so they seem, as far as I know) about the politics and background of our country. There is so much that I do not agree with (though I know I don't understand every facet of the laws that I disagree with) and so many things I have learned about how other countries see us, that I wonder sometimes why people want to immigrate here at all.

I really think this may have been my favorite lecture of the class so far. I guess that means that I should probably take more classes on this subject, because I think it's fascinating all of the parallels that can be drawn from gay issues to other parts of life. I am so glad that Sam talked about all of these issues that I completely get... and yet I don't understand why many people don't see the truth in any of it. It's just mostly common sense to me, to let people be who they are, and just do your own thing. What's the point in making a big deal out of someone else's lifestyle? It just creates anxiety for yourself, and stress leads to all sorts of health problems.

But in my own life, I guess I have been a big supporter of gay rights because my best friend is a lesbian. The first person she ever came out to was me, which was in the beginning of high school, and I was there with her through all of the struggles that came with it. She wasn't really out until the end of high school/beginning of college, but just living every day knowing that about herself and knowing that she wasn't completely able to just be herself was difficult for me as well. I never understood how people could be so hurtful for something that won't affect them and that she can't help.

Much like with race, and how it doesn't make sense to me to hate someone simply because they were born with a different skin color. Not to quote Lady Gaga, but I believe that gay people were born that way, and cornering them into hiding it or feeling shame about it is not helping anyone. In the same way, putting people of color down because of their color is crazy. I also think that treating a straight person any better than a gay person is crazy, because they don't even have to do anything to justify being better - they are just naturally straight and therefore are considered the normal or better in some way. Honestly, I think that my gay friends are the most real and honest people I know, and I see that same kind of quality in people of color (in my experience) because they have had to fight for something to prove who they are.

In addition to everything that I believe about sexuality issues, I thought it was a very interesting thought that was brought up in lecture about gay couples adopting. I never really thought about it, but it makes sense that Sam says it would only help the world if more people were gay. While there would be a lot of other issues with taxes and details in that manner, it really wouldn't hurt to let more people get married and adopt kids that need homes. It would be crazy for a gay couple to go through all of the trouble of adoption if they weren't going to really want and love that child. There are too many straight people who are terrible parents and only have kids because of mistakes they've made. I think it's only fair for people who really care and want a child to get the chance to raise happy and healthy children. This would help shape the future, as well as the fact that gay couples can't have "accidents" as Sam put it, and the world's population is already growing too rapidly.

Overall, I'm sure I'll be thinking about this lecture for a long time. Certain parts will definitely stick with me and I know I won't be sleeping any time soon with all of these thoughts in my head. Oh, and I also wanted to add that I'm excited that New York passed the gay marriage law! I definitely agree with what Sam and others have said that the gay rights movement seems similar to the civil rights movement in many ways. A victory in New York is just one step of many, but I'm glad people are more accepting of gays today than they have ever been. :)

I cannot agree with you more. I wish more people subscribed to the beliefs that you wrote about, and that I also feel. I definitely commend the idea that if you do not like something, just don't do it. Whenever I say I have a pain in any part of my body when I do something, my dad always says "well, just don't do that thing then." I think that can be applied to this discussion as well, because it always astounds me how people are so bothered by what other people are doing.

I also like your point about how to argue the ideas that people have against gay marriage. I completely agree that there are plenty of straight people who get married and are disgraceful to the name of marriage. Celebrities are getting married left and right, and then subsequently divorced. And I think in all of that mess, the fact that people devote their time and energy into hating others and not wanting to let them have the opportunity of marriage is outrageous. Which also reminds me that the term hypocrite was used a lot in lecture...

I have to say that I really enjoyed your thoughts on how people sometimes try to "change" their race to fit in with the majority group. That's a really good point from the lecture that I kind of forgot about, and it's really interesting that some people will lie about what they are just to not have to deal with the added struggles that they might face if they were honest. That makes me feel sad about the world we live in...
But I also like your idea of doing the doll test with other races. It is so true that the media just puts these ideas into everyone's minds without them knowing. It is showing people from a young age that white is good and black is bad and that's awful. The black girl who said that the black doll was bad and the white one was good just broke my heart. I'm a journalism major, so I see that imbalance of the media constantly and it kills me that nothing is really being done about it. It's so minute that people don't even notice until it effects them directly.

I think it's really interesting what Sam was saying about how people of color can be homophobic. I don't understand how anyone can be homophobic, and especially when people are incredibly homophobic, to the point that they are entirely filled with hate. I think it's interesting that when Sam was trying to help white people relate to how colored people feel, he said it would be like if we were gay or lesbian, and they are the minority compared the majority of straight people.
I just think overall this is an interesting issue, because I have always wondered about it. I think most people who are homophobic have not been exposed to the ideas of acceptance, and especially have not been exposed to major issues or prejudices in their own life. I imagine most homophobes as being white, because I tend to see a lot of white people, like Chris Rock was saying, who act like everything is going to hell for white people, but it's not looking that way at all. They generally have things a lot better off than most people, and it makes me insane to see those people going out of their way to hate the minority group - whether it's gays or blacks or anything else. It's an interesting sociological idea that I have thought about a lot and still wish I could understand more.
I know that this is not exactly about the topic of people of color in the stages of racial identity, but I think it ties into everything as well. No matter what color someone is, I think the way they were raised and the atmosphere they grow up in shapes them the most. Therefore, if you are black or white or Asian or whatever else, and you were raised as the majority group and you have a thought process about yourself and your people that you are at the top, or just if you haven't experienced much prejudice against you, I think it's a lot easier to be hateful toward others. This is the case, I think with homophobia and the likes, but can also be turned around when talking about races that generally dislike one another. Though blacks generally HAVE experienced more prejudice and hate toward them, they are not always LESS likely to feel that way about other groups of races, such as white people, because they see them as the ones who put them in this position. Which is not entirely untrue.
I guess this whole thinking is kind of confusing and may not make much sense, but I kind of just worked this out in my head and am trying to make sense of it. If anyone else has any thoughts on how the race relations issues connect to homophobia, please feel free to comment!

I've also been thinking about the topic of when to use someone's race to describe a person, and when to leave it out. I think there were great guidelines in Sam's lecture, because I don't necessarily always feel comfortable when I decide to identify someone by race or not. I have been thinking about this every day since watching the lecture, and noticing constantly when people use racial identities and it is unnecessary. One of my family members literally told a story that was only to say that a black guy walked into the store and they could tell they were black due to their voice. I thought it was so strange that this was something to tell another person, but I am starting to understand that this is excitement for some people. It's different and new to talk about, and for whatever reason, people enjoy being able to identify people in the simplest terms possible. (I always like doing these blog posts because I get to think back on the lectures, so thanks for reminding me again about some important and interesting points!)

I am very interested in the idea of guilt that was discussed in the lecture this week. I talked about white guilt previously in another class dealing with this topic, but I think the main idea that I learned before was that guilt is not necessarily a good thing. I like the way that Sam taught it better, because he says that "feeling guilty is a natural accompaniment to understanding the wrongs that have happened to other people that are not white."

I also really thought about his example of how people, including me for sure, feel bad when they see an animal on the road that got hit by a car. I personally always feel really bad when I see that, and I guess it does align with the lecture and what Sam was teaching about how feeling the guilt is okay, and can be a good thing, but if we don't get past it, we can't move on. In that way, if I continued feeling awful about a dead animal in the road for the next week straight, I would never be able to get anything done like I usually can, because it would be such a bother to me.

It totally makes sense that white people, like me, usually tend to feel guilty. If you have a conscience, you tend to feel bad about things, even if it's something you CANNOT CONTROL, like the past oppression of other races, or the dead animal in the road. There's no way to avoid guilt completely, but we can learn from it and move forward, which is a very mature place to be in life, in my opinion.

One other thing that surprised me was the idea that apparently black people think white people smell like wet dogs when they get wet. I have never heard that in my entire life, and I do not use a washcloth when I bathe, but I never thought about that before. I don't think that means we are unclean, but we just have different practices, maybe? It's a strange topic, but I'll definitely think about it again, and maybe ask others if they think that is true.

Also wanted to make note of his comment about the fish never being exposed to the water if they are never out of the water. I think that's an awesome metaphor for how we can't be exposed to our race if we never get away from all people of that race. Great idea to keep in mind in this class.