en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/3077411 Comments by psudlh http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170471355 Your statement is so true, "You cannot really agree or disagree with a certain argument, unless you take time to see both sides...." Too often, people go flyin' off with knee-jerk reactions to situations or circumstances without really thinking about the root cause. An applicant not being selected for a position needs to really examine the whole scenario and not just react with his/her emotions. I lost out on an opportunity because one of the other applicants had a dad who was a "life member" of the organization...life member meaning he had made a rather large and impressive financial donation to the organization. Yes, I was frustrated because I felt it unfair; however, later on I learned that the hired individual also had an associates degree which I did not have at that time. So, yeah, on the surface it looked like that person was only chosen because their dad gave a $10,000 donation--and I'm sure that still did play a part in it. But certainly the educational thing was a factor as well. In the end, I'm glad I didn't go off running around bantering like an idiot in reaction to the situation. In this case, I definitely would have had egg on my face. Thu, 7 Jul 2011 00:26:28 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170471355 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment169810371 07/04/11. You know, I just have to chuckle when Prof. Sam ends an informative lecture with, “…so we don’t spout off our mouths without knowing all the facts.” In general, people understand about 0.1% of affirmative action (AA). I’m a labor studies major so I’ve taken five or six classes that have included lessons on AA. I learned from those classes that AA isn’t as simple as “That black woman got my job [I’m ranting as a white man here—no offense to you white males] because she’s black and unqualified and I’m white and qualified but they have to meet their quotas for affirmative action!” I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard a man blame his misfortune on AA. And why is he calling it “his job” anyway? It wasn’t his. It was vacant. What he should be doing is reflecting on himself, his attitude, and his personality and concluding that maybe the black woman had some additional qualification—perhaps some unique work experience—that gave her an edge over him. Why does he automatically think that he’s better qualified than she is? Would he be stomping around like this if he lost out to another white man? Why is it different? It shouldn’t be. It’s not about picking the minority out of fear of retaliation in the form of a discrimination lawsuit; it’s still about picking the best-qualified candidate for the job and making sure that a man isn’t hired for a management position just because it’s typically considered a man’s job to manage and a woman’s job to answer phones. And Prof. Sam is correct that AA can only be connected to a small percentage of all the millions of jobs out there. Hiring people is not easy. It requires a neutral mind, one that can tune out the sexism of careers in order to avoid being discriminatory. What I mean by that is just like Sam’s example where he was looking for an assistant and had in his mind that women are great for this type of work so he chose applications from women to be interviewed. That’s sexism because men can be just as effective as assistants but we don’t typically think of them in that type of work. Let’s face it: a male secretary must be gay, right? Wrong. But that’s how we’re all conditioned to think from an early age. Little Johnny gets a policeman’s hat and badge to wear for dress-up play while little Susie gets a nurse’s uniform. All of this gives us preconceived notions of who should do what jobs so sexual discrimination is an easy trap to step into during the hiring process. By following the guidelines for AA, one can avoid the trap. Nepotism is interesting. Go back to that white man who insisted that AA gave his job to a black woman. Let's suppose that the department manager is his cousin and he "put in a good word for him" with the hiring manager. Would this white guy believe it unfair or discriminatory if he had been selected instead of the qualified black woman just because his cousin pulled some strings? Tue, 5 Jul 2011 02:41:16 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment169810371 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment168863605 I'm so amused by your story and you have a lot of good points. You are also right on with the English language. I was an English major but I still don't get some of the twists we have -- like knife and knives, or mouse and mice --- and then there's words that don't change at all for plural -- deer and deer... who sat down and decided all these strange ways to use words? It's no wonder English is difficult to learn. I found French much easier to learn because it's so straightforward. Anyway - I guess that's all off-topic and unrelated to this lesson. No doubt, your parents faced a lot of adversity upon arriving in America with not being able to read signs, newspapers, documents, or instructions -- and then not being able to communicate verbally. That must have been very frustrating for them. What did they do for employment during their first 10 years here before they became somewhat familiar with English? Sat, 2 Jul 2011 01:20:43 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment168863605 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment168859700 07/01/2011. Again…on immigration…a real eye opener. First, illegal immigration: The big business machine determines how many of what kind get to pass over our borders illegally just to accommodate the needs of free market capitalism. This is ludicrous. But even more ludicrous is how a majority of Americans ---some of which are pretty smart—actually fall into the trap of running around, yelling and screaming and waving signs and American flags in protest of illegal immigrants as though something is truly going to be done about it. While they’re screaming, they’re not watching what’s really happening. All the activists may as well find something better to do with their time and roast marshmallows over their burning signs because it’s all been predetermined that those illegal immigrants are staying for as long as they’re needed to pick pears, peaches, and strawberries or sew clothes together. That’s become evident since all it would take to eliminate the situation is for the authorities to gather them all up and send them back. The authorities obviously know where they are since they’re letting them in. So why aren’t they gathering them up? Oh, yeah, that’s right – big business sent a directive to the government that the illegal immigrants must stay or they’ll withdraw all their financial support from the elected officials. But, my fellow classmates, with regard to the situation where illegal immigrants are sleeping on the streets and depending on people like Jorge to feed them: do you agree that if big businesses are creating this situation, that they should be held responsible for the care of the illegal immigrants? Okay – that’s my rant. Now, legal immigration. My first question is, “Who are we to demonize immigrants and tell them they’re not welcome here when all of us—with exception of the Native Americans—are descendants of immigrants ourselves?” Is that hypocrisy at its best? Talk about people in glass houses! So, is this a “we were here first” mentality? I’m just trying to make sense of this because I don’t get it. America is not a sandbox that only a specific neighborhood is allowed to play in. While I do see the inherent problem with adding more people to the welfare rolls since unemployment is so high right now, that situation won’t last. Our economy goes through regular feast-famine cycles. It’s the nature of the beast. We’re in a famine stage now, but when we emerge from it and the economy expands and prosperity returns, most of those on the welfare roll will find jobs and that includes the legal immigrants---and they'll pay taxes. More workers, more taxes, more money for government operations. Can we expect that all the yelling and screaming about immigration will cease because everyone will be prospering again? Probably -- it's amazing how a little more money quiets some people down. Sat, 2 Jul 2011 01:06:49 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment168859700 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment167400925 Prof. Sam had a very strong point on the subject of gay couples adopting children. There are a vast number of unplanned/unwanted pregnancies each year—isn’t the statistic something like 2,000,000 abortions annually in the United States? That’s sickening. And the single teen moms that opt to keep their children do not always provide the most loving environments because they find they are not equipped to handle the stress and commitment to a child. This situation doesn’t happen with gay couples because they cannot “accidentally” make a baby for obvious reasons. Any children they would adopt or conceive through artificial means would be planned and wanted and loved. What did you guys think about the statistics on people saying they wanted diversity in their neighborhoods? Is your home (realizing many of you live on campus) neighborhood diverse or, if not, do you feel it would welcome diversity? I understand why immigrants – especially new immigrants – would want to settle in areas where they have a “support system” of others with the same cultural background. But I would hope that, once they’ve adjusted to life in America, they would feel comfortable moving into a neighborhood where there were many different cultures represented. I guess this is one of those things that we all have to work towards in this drive for peace and tolerance among all the various peoples in our “salad/melting pot” known as America. Tue, 28 Jun 2011 02:51:16 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment167400925 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment167392377 I found all the statistics about multiculturalism fascinating. Until we got to this lesson, really until I got into this class, I had not really thought about whether or not my neighborhood is diverse or even if I had a preference for one or against one. I’m a Republican – not sure if I’d put myself in the conservative Republican group or not – but I am comfortable with diversity in my neighborhood. There isn’t much just yet because it’s an old, established neighborhood where the majority of residents are in the houses they built themselves back in 1940 or 1950. But, because they are now aged 80+, they’re dying off or moving into nursing homes and retirement communities and so they sell their houses and open up our neighborhood to new residents. This is how we got our house. So far on my block, there’s an African-American family from Detroit next to me and a Chinese family about four houses up across the street. We have block party-style cookouts in our yards and it’s great to get to know our neighbors. It would be interesting to get more diversity at the picnic table, but that will be a slow movement considering how many original residents still live here and are healthy in their old age. Prof. Sam is correct in stating that America is a multicultural nation. While I don’t feel that any immigrant should have to leave their customs and cultures behind at the border, I do agree that they should learn English rather than all of our media having to be provided in 20 different languages. That’s not being anti-multicultural (if I can make up a word). The same expectation exists anywhere. If I were to suddenly decide I want move permanently to Indonesia, I would expect to have to learn Javanese or Bahasa or whatever the language would be where I settled. I would not expect Jakarta or Bandung governments and businesses to reprint all of their labels, pamphlets, manuals, and forms in English just to accommodate me (I realize English is the most common foreign language there but this is just for illustration). I need to learn to communicate with them because I’m the newbie – but that doesn’t mean I have to leave my American customs and cultural aspects behind. The scale on which amalgamation and assimilation sit is a difficult one to balance. Both are necessary in order for all Americans to feel at home. For the LGBT portion of the lesson, I gained some perspective. While my religious moral convictions are in conflict with LGBTs, I do not condemn, dislike, or avoid them either. The perspective I gained was realizing that I was one of those people that felt that sometimes gays flaunt their gay-ness. But Prof. Sam is right. They do not flaunt it; it’s just that it’s unusual and unexpected so I notice it more. Stupidly, I never put all that together. Women and men dancing or strutting around provocatively is way more of a “flaunt” than two males or two females holding hands. I’m glad that I’ve gotten beyond that viewpoint. Tue, 28 Jun 2011 02:26:04 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment167392377 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165617188 Is it a bad thing if a black or brown person feels more comfortable with white people than with people that have the same appearance as they do? I suppose it depends upon the reasons underlying that feeling of being comfortable. Prof. Sam gave us a lot to think about on this. For instance, if a person is conditioned from toddler-hood on up to accept all things white and reject all things African or Negro, then their state of feeling at ease with white people is based on denial of who and what they were born as and this makes the answer to the question be a firm YES. Incidentally, this person would enter stage 1 at the moment that they came to this realization. Another bad reason might be if the person was trying to disassociate with their own culture later on in life because they develop a hatred for their own group. A positive reason for the black or brown person to feel more comfortable with non-black people might be that theyre choosing white people who have worked through all their stages over non-white people that are stuck stage 2 or stage 3 because they themselves have worked through their stages. What if they just want to be happy and they believe white people are happy so they choose to assimilate to white people and hope that their happiness is contagious? I thought portion that brought in the Dead Prez tune was interesting—but what was even more interesting was finding out that this guy is singing a song about how white schools can’t teach black people anything (at least not anything he believes they should care about or want to know about) when he in fact graduated from a non-HBU facility himself! If he really felt the way his words portrayed him, why didn’t he drop out of the Univ of FL (I think that’s where Prof said he went) and then enroll in a well-established HBU? He could have used his own experience to encourage other black students to enroll in the university that they believe will benefit them the most. He blew it. And it’s bad that young kids are listening to this and believing that this performer is living what he’s singing so they identify with him and his foul-mouthed negativity and it’s all lies. Even worse, it’s going to perpetuate the general opinion that white people don’t care about the learning experience of anyone that is not white…and that couldn’t be further from the truth. In my opinion, this performer is doing a good job of enforcing the “keep the wagons circled” mentality and keeping the white people in their own disintegration stage. Thu, 23 Jun 2011 00:35:07 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165617188 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165539419 I have a different thought on the baby doll thing. These children appeared to be somewhere between two and five years old – their age group may have been given but I don’t recall it. Anyway, at this age, the children may not be identifying with the black/white thing as a skin color, but rather a good/bad or clean/dirty association. At this stage of development, children don’t routinely pick their friends based on their skin color, hair type, or shape of their eyes--unless they are raised in a very prejudiced environment that specifically indoctrinates them to only accept a specific type of person as a friend. From their environment (tv, books, movies, conversation) they can learn that light is good and dark is bad – not relative to skin color, but relative to everyday situations. Kids are afraid of the dark; they can't see and so feel threatened and vulnerable because there may be monsters. Do you know any who are afraid of the light? And with clean and dirty. If those children just recall seeing dirt on a white shirt and then mom cleans it and it goes away, then maybe they understand the preference to clean over dirty aspects of dark and light. Unless children are exposed and educated about people differences at an early age, they have no idea what makes things the way they are so their imaginations just try to make sense of it for them. Okay – I promised myself I would not share this story publicly – but here it is. This is my own story and it’s 100% true. When I was four years old, I saw my first black person ever. I was out at the mall with my mom and encountered a black family. Confused about their appearance, I asked my mom, “Are those Hershey bar people?” My mom would probably have preferred that the floor open up and swallow us at that moment, but she told me that God makes people with different colors of skin to make the world pretty and interesting. So, when I got to Kindergarten and had my first black classmate, I already knew that she was different because she was made pretty. Her skin wasn’t chocolate and she wasn’t dirty and God didn’t leave her in the oven too long. So, I would like to know if the person conducting that survey asked the children first what they knew about black and white or light and dark before asking them to choose a doll. Wed, 22 Jun 2011 20:50:50 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165539419 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164389437 Hi. I enjoyed reading your post, partly because I can relate to much of what you wrote as I have felt the same emotions and hesitations. This class has been beneficial to me. First, it helped me realize that I was carrying a level of guilt for being part of the “king of the mountain” race. I always felt bad knowing what we did to the Native Americans, then the slavery, and then herding the Japanese Americans into little secure camps during the War. What I didn’t realize was that I was harboring guilt that wouldn’t allow me to open up to people. Maybe because I didn’t feel worthy in some way. I’m not sure. But then Prof. Sam didn’t just leave us all there to wallow and figure it out for ourselves. He went on to help me walk through that and realize that just by realizing and accepting that all the terrible stuff happened, I have moved forward and there’s no need to carry a heavy heart about all of it. Actually, until Prof. Sam did his demonstration standing on the desk, I had never considered how we (the whites) got to where we are. And those twins!! That ‘s sickening that their family would raise them with such opinions and beliefs and it’s even more sickening that there are people out there supporting this kind of programming of children. It’s people with attitudes like the family of those girls that perpetuate the very conditions this class seeks to enlighten and correct. Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:12:39 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164389437 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164031104 Never thought about the fact that my house is sitting on land that once was owned by Native Americans. Now they’re all forced to live on just a portion of land when at one time they had it all. Yes, I feel bad about that. Guilt is actually part of the healing process that helps us get over all the unfair and unjust actions that have been taken against other people groups. We cannot fully comprehend all the wrongs that went on if we don’t experience the guilt that this realization brings with it. But guilt isn’t something that we need to hold onto because it eventually becomes patronizing to the victims or it becomes a roadblock to the person feeling guilty so that they cannot move forward and make peace with what’s happened and let it go. But there are people that don’t want it to go away. They want white people to go on feeling guilty and responsible for all the inequalities that exist. This kind of attitude is actually just as bad for the black and brown people as it is for the white people because everyone loses when no one is allowed to move forward and progress toward finding common ground. This evidently leads to white people trying to avoid offending other races to make themselves acceptable. But if that doesn’t work and they keep being confronted by people from other races, they cannot move on so they become angry and grow tired of the confrontations and end up reversing back to not wanting to deal with the situation. So, in the United States, it seems like the white people have been in the king of the mountain position and beaten down all other groups in order to get what they want and keep others from stopping them. I wonder, what’s it like in countries where black or brown people are in charge? Do they plow over each other in order to be in charge? Do they discriminate against new groups of people from other races that move into their territory? Here it’s white supremacy. Is there a country that has black supremacy or one that has brown supremacy? If not, this really says something about the tendencies of white people. It’s a bit unsettling. And I always use washcloths. I think it’s gross to not use a washcloth. Sat, 18 Jun 2011 22:06:23 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164031104 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment162990223 Hi. I have a thought. The beginning of your posting the “white people rarely talk about their own race” part, got me thinking more about that same puzzlement – and that brought me to a possible answer. What if the reason white people don’t talk about their own race is because they consider themselves the “norm” – the “original” – the “commoner” – because they outnumber the other races? I’m not talking about white supremacy (don’t get me started on the wicked white nationalist sisters), I guess I’m going from Prof. Richards’ comments about “what we’re used to” and “what we’re exposed to.” My parents didn’t’ condition me to automatically feel “normal” because of my whiteness…so where did that come from? We aren’t the original people here anyway – the American Indian was already set up here. So, why do we tend to feel that we “own” America and everyone else is just a guest? Wed, 15 Jun 2011 22:30:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment162990223 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment162986054 06/15/2011. Why have I not ever thought of my “whiteness” before? When I visit another country, I don’t think “I’m a white woman in Asia.” When I’m in a crowd, I don’t think about myself being white. I may look around me and notice the different races, cultures, or ethnicities that appear to be represented in a crowd, but I don’t do it with an “us” and “them” attitude. I do it with amazement that so many different people can exist in one land. Am I in the category of pre-awakening? Where am I? I’m confused about my “awareness” now. I always thought that because I recognize races, cultures, and ethnicities as variations of people meant that I’ve accepted them all as just being people. After this lecture, I’m wondering if instead I’m just oblivious—that I ignore race and see only people because I don’t want to see the races. If I’m doing that, why? And is that a bad thing? I’m not uncomfortable being with different people. Is it because I am also aware of how much some people have to struggle just to survive in this society? My daughter has youth group on Wednesday nights and, since it’s only an hour but it takes about 15 minutes to get there, I usually take my text books with me and read in the car. So, I’m sitting in my car and there’s a family at the church’s playground, their boys were on the swings. As more and more church people showed up and parked (because of Wednesday night service), I heard the father telling his family that they must hurry and leave now. The mom herded the boys to the very worn-out minivan. On his way out of the parking lot, he stopped at my car to ask me about the place where we were. I explained to him that this was a church campus and the building near the playground was the youth group’s meeting center. He told me that he brings his boys to play there because they have nowhere else to play. Where they live is crowded and no yard and the playground is free. His English was broken, but I understood him with no difficulty. He was a brown-skinned man about 30 years old, dressed in a janitorial-type uniform. He’s struggling to support a family and just wants his boys to have a little free fun. I felt very white and very privileged sitting there in my SUV with $300 worth of college text books on my passenger seat. The most troubling aspect of this story is that I’m not sure that I would have seen him that way if I hadn’t taken this class. Thank you, Prof. Richards, for giving me a better lens through which to see those around me. Wed, 15 Jun 2011 22:09:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment162986054 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160816981 I don't live in Silver Springs, but I like Washington so I go there when I can. I would have liked to have seen that show. You are right about the trailer parks -- there's a few of those around here and all races are represented in the households. Well, you're partially correct about my family. I was born into a working class family. My dad was a truck parts salesman and my mom was a salesperson in a mall store (they're both still alive, just retired now--I'm old remember?) We struggled. There were times when my brother and I would give dad all of our money that we had saved from our birthday gifts just so he could make the house payment. We struggled, but it was a loving environment and it was stable in that both parents were present; financially, we were unstable. I'm actually the first to break out of the low-paying job trap and I'm the first to complete college. How about you? Are you the first to finish college in your family and break the chain of minimum wage survival? Thu, 9 Jun 2011 02:22:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160816981 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160508905 Darrell, I have to confess. I didn’t realize I was judging a situation unfairly. I will now admit that when I drive down through Silver Springs, MD, there’s a huge area where the roads are in terrible condition, the houses are dilapidated, and the neighborhoods just look dirty. I looked around and wondered, “Why are these black people choosing to live this way?” I saw it as a free choice. The hundreds of black families that live in that area chose to move there and chose to not take care of their properties. The thought hadn’t occurred to me that they are in fact victims of a bigger scheme. They probably don’t own those properties. Slum lords do and it’s the slum lords that are not caring for the properties. And since it’s a slum neighborhood, there aren’t enough taxes to keep the streets and sidewalks in good repair. And the reason the black families are living there in the first place is because white people are in charge of the money and the jobs and the education and the prosperity and they certainly aren’t going to do anything that might jeopardize that situation. It’s sick. The whole situation is sick. It makes me sick to be a white person and be somehow associated with this junk. I’m guilty by association. I have advantages because you have disadvantages. It’s just not right. You’re are correct when you point out that we can’t always blame history for our problems and bad conditions; but unfortunately, this isn’t history when the stats are from the recent decade. Wed, 8 Jun 2011 03:27:15 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160508905 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160505548 06/07/2011. Isn’t it funny—well maybe more amusing than funny—so isn’t it amusing that white people first came to America so they could worship God freely, without discrimination—and God is love. So the Bible instructs us all to love one-another and, just so we’re clear, this is the God that these white people wanted to worship and follow and model their behavior after. Yet, descendants of those same white people would become some of the cruelest and most hateful, discriminatory people to walk on this soil. How did that happen? What went wrong with the “perfect” society to be established? So, a few hundred years later, descendants of this God-fearing group of white people would be slave owners. Then, when whites finally decided to set things right, they only did just enough to make it “appear” to be right. Whites still dominated the blacks, just in different ways. It’s almost like some whites said to each other, “Okay, so we now have to accept that the black people are going to work in the same places, live in the same areas, and go to the same schools as us. But, we can still control what places and jobs they work in, what kind of housing they live in, and the quality of the schools they have access to.” Thanks to this lesson, I find myself analyzing everyday situations just to see if they are designed to keep other groups from prospering to the point of assuming control of the mountain. I find it difficult to wrap my head around the idea that enough other white people would go along with this way of thinking to the point that it’s as pervasive in our society today as those disturbing statistics portray it to be. A version of this class should be taught to every elementary-age student; maybe that would put an end to racism, discrimination, and domination and all people could share America amiably. I totally get Prof. Sam’s allusion to the invisible strings that guide and direct what we choose to do and choose not to do. For the most part, I have to think that we’re a more civilized society because of those strings. Rather than strings, though, I believe it’s a conscience or a filter system that we all have. My conscience tells me to respect others’ feelings so I’m careful not to blurt out hurtful words when I’m angry or to exhibit some kind of behavior that might cause someone discomfort. My filter system helps me by detecting when one person is being disrespectful to another individual and so I step in and attempt to redirect their thoughts into seeing it from another perspective. Having limits and influences directing our supposedly free choices doesn’t seem like such a bad thing. Wed, 8 Jun 2011 03:08:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160505548 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159790428 I never considered that there was a financial reason for blacks to gravitate toward basketball either. I just thought that the guys enjoyed the sport and their height and build seemed to be perfect for excelling in basketball. The statistics on education and income across races were very eye-opening. But even more interesting than the gaps between the groups were the reasons for those gaps. Something needs to happen to fix the disparity in public education. We’ve entrusted the government to oversee the education of our children. We pay taxes to fund it. Why are our governments allowing school districts in low-income areas to struggle and fail the children depending on them? Mon, 6 Jun 2011 01:45:58 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159790428 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment158697776 06/02/2011 Having a daughter presently in high school, I receive reports on how well our school district does its job of teaching students what the state and the feds deem they should know and at the levels they should know it. I’ve been getting these reports since she was in elementary school—I believe they started as part of the No Child Left Behind program. Our reports show that kids with lower standardized test scores are also on the free/reduced lunch program and their parents may be receiving some type of public assistance. I sat and pondered this: Why would receiving public assistance translate into lower school performance? Don’t all kids want to do well in school? Are these “bad” kids? So I spent some time – a lot of time actually – reading reports that are available through the USDE’s website which specifically tried to identify the reasons for disparity in performance among students. The answer was simple and had nothing to do with the kids’ abilities. Families that live within the range of poverty to lower middle class simply cannot afford to provide their children with the same resources and tools as those in income levels above that range. For example, not all families can afford to have a computer or can afford $100 a month for cable and Internet service. Consequently, their children cannot benefit from having educational television programming nor can they learn their way around operating a computer. Their only exposure to science, history, or a computer might come at school—unless they also live in a low-income school district that only has a dozen computers to be shared by 300 students or maybe no computers at all. The “birds of a feather” tendency forms and shapes communities. I can see this in my own region where there are middle-to-upper class neighborhoods and lower-class neighborhoods. School districts depending on the property taxes of the $200,000 - $400,000 homes are able to provide more to their students than the districts supported by the taxes on mobile home parks and old, dilapidated duplexes. Personally, I don’t believe that public schools should be supported by property taxes—at least not directly. A better process might be that property taxes are paid to the state so that it’s all pooled together and then divided up among all the state’s schools by population attending. It doesn’t seem fair that my daughter should have a better public education than a student in another district just 15 miles away. That’s what private schools are for—privileged education. Equality in public education could be a first step toward social equality. I believe that each generation should make choices that improve over the generation before; however, in the case of poverty, it seems the socio-structural aspects (i.e., school district tax support) do interfere with that goal. It’s appalling that a poor student with a high SAT score would be refused admission to grad school based on their family’s income. Fri, 3 Jun 2011 01:24:56 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment158697776 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158370334 Oh my goodness! I know EXACTLY how you feel. Never ever have I taken a moment to contemplate the possibility that the aggression that Arab Muslims feel toward the United States was “programmed” into them by their media much the same as our media is responsible for the “frantic panic” in the United States over misconstrued information. Contrast those videos that the Arab Muslims were feasting on about Christians taking over the world with the one Prof. Sam started with that was used to show Americans how Jihad was taking over the world. It’s the same propaganda, tailored to fit the situation and conditions, used to create unrest, paranoia, and suspicion. Thu, 2 Jun 2011 00:56:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158370334 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment157592886 05-30-11. My one-word reaction to lesson 3’s lecture: Wow. You know, I’m a shallow-minded self-absorbed person. That disturbs me. Prior to this lecture on ethnocentrism, I thought of myself as being able to see situations for what they really are about. I thought that because I never bought into the irrational propaganda that occasionally circulates and finds its way into my email inbox despite my spamblocker. So, while I don’t get my feathers ruffled over stupid things like whether or not companies are putting rapeseed oil in my food, I did stupidly accept the general belief that all Arab Muslims who hate America do so because of its freedoms, its power, and its Christian practices—the real ones, not the ones shown in the lectures where our toddlers are being programmed to seek and destroy for Jesus. I also accepted the general understanding that the insurgency was a group of the most violent, intransigent freedom- and civil rights-haters in all of the Middle East and they had to be destroyed because they were destroying their own people as well as anyone else that didn’t agree with them. So, I am shallow-minded. I accepted what I heard without bothering to verify it for myself. I won’t accept the claims about rapeseed oil preserving my organs like formaldehyde as being true, but I accepted the claims about Arab Muslims and the insurgency as being true. Shame on me. And on top of that, I’m self-absorbed because I didn’t stop to think from the point of view of the “challenger,” to even consider that the same misinformation that circulates around the email system of the United States can also be found elsewhere and that it would be tailored to the threats that are relative to those other countries or regions of the world. What we end up with is a small group of people—maybe even one single individual person—who entertain and ponder irrational thoughts triggered by fear or misconceptions which resulted from seeing some piece of information or some type of depiction, absent of all the facts. Once those thoughts have festered some, anger begins to brew. Once anger reaches the boiling point, it’s up to them to take action to stop it. So they construct an email containing bits and pieces and maybe even a media clip as “proof” and use it to inform everyone of what’s happening or going to happen unless they do something about it, too. Now I understand why “they hate us.” Misinformation begets misconception. Misconception begets misinterpretation. Misinterpretation begets misjudgment. Misjudgment begets irrational thinking. Irrational thinking begets ethnocentrism. Mon, 30 May 2011 18:31:27 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment157592886 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment155803424 I found the slides on the “perfect white” cream very startling. I have worn makeup since I was in 8th grade and I’ve NEVER heard of these products! If I had ever come across anything like that in the stores, I would be ashamed. There’s nothing perfect about being white. There’s nothing perfect about being black, brown, yellow, tan, green, red, or purple either. We are truly blessed to have different people, different cultures, and different ethnicities because we all have so much to share with one another. It makes life more interesting. Like you, I would like for everyone that is obsessed with their looks to just stop the madness and realize what a perfectly beautiful creation they already are at birth. Wed, 25 May 2011 00:26:05 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment155803424