I agree with you that the Oprah video was very shocking. It was unbelievable to see the differences in schools that are located so close to each other. It was incredible to see how much more of an advantage the students had who attended the rich school. I think that it is so important in this country that we get our education system up to par across the map. We need to make sure that every school is up to standards to that everyone can get an equal opportunity. This is one of the main reasons why we have affirmative action in the first place.

I learned a lot in this weeks lecture on affirmative action. I thought it was very interesting because I must admit that my views on affirmative action were a little different than they are now that I watched the lecture. I used to by some what against affirmative action because I just thought that it should be the best person that gets the job every time, which I still do think. However, my view has changed in that I think that I now think that affirmative action is very necessary because of nepotism. I had never really thought of nepotism as a similar thing to affirmative action, but the two things are very similar. Nepotism is a huge way that people in this country are given an unfair advantage, and white people are the most likely to benefit from nepotism. This is because their are more white people in positions of power to help someone through nepotism. This is why affirmative action is necessary. Because so many white people are getting a head start through nepotism, there needs to be a way for some minorities to also get an advantage. Although I think that affirmative action is necessary, I think that it is just a small way of solving a big problem that needs to be fixed. We need to fix the root of the problem and make it so that there actually is equal opportunity without affirmative action, but for now this is the best we can do. I am a white male and I have to admit that the internship I have right now is through nepotism. My dad is friends with one of the executives at the company and he helped me get the position. There is a very good chance that I would not have gotten it without nepotism. This brings me to another interesting point from the lecture. Nepotism goes unnoticed and is not talked about because people just think that it is fine because they are so good that they would have gotten ahead anyways. I thought the the stats he showed us on percentage of people who said they follow the ten commandments and what percentage of them think other people do as well. It is so interesting how people think that they are always better than most people. Everybody thinks that they are better than average. I think that affirmative action is a temporary solution to a much bigger problem that we as society are going to need to fix. Although it will be extremely difficult to completely fix racial issues that exist in the world. It is something that we need to strive for. Affirmative action is a very good start but in my opinion we are going to need to do a lot more than that.

I also thought that I knew a lot about immigration before watching this lecture. I too did not really consider the fact that it was an issue that is dictated by businesses and not politicians. Free market capitalism needs illegal immigrants in order to properly operate. We need people to come here from other countries to do some of the jobs that most Americans are not willing to do. I agree with you that every racial group, at some point, has the "low life" finger pointed at them. White immigrants also delt with racism, the difference is that white people decided that once they got on top of the mountain, that they were not going to get off of it

I thought that this weeks lecture on immigration was very interesting. It is true that immigration is a serious topic of conflict in the United States. People are always arguing about illegal immigration in the United States. One part of the lecture that I thought was really interesting and pretty funny was the Part with the clip of Glenn Beck. I have always thought that Glenn Beck is completely crazy. I always find humor in watching him doing anything. I think that this weeks lecture was really interesting because I think that my view on illegal immigration was wrong before I watched it. I always knew that illegal immigrants were a good thing for the United States overall, however I did not ever think about the fact that it is business that determines the Illegal Immigration policies. It makes complete sense that Illegal immigrants can be a very good thing for business. Illegal immigrants are willing to do bad jobs for much less money than Americans are willing to do. This helps businesses become more efficient for less money. I always thought that the root of the problem was a political problem between the democrats and the republicans. It wasn't until now that I learned that it is actually businesses that cause most of the problem. Another part of the lecture that I found to be enjoyable was the part about the racist guy going on a rant about illegal immigration. We have already seen another video of this guy earlier in the semester. I thought that his rant was incredibly ignorant, and also kind of funny. It is people like this that makes many people in the world hate the United States. One part of this that I thought was a little disturbing was the comments that were written about that rant. It is pretty unbelievable that multiple people actually responded positively to this video. It just goes to show that racism is a serious problem in the United States. I also thought that the cartoons that he showed us on illegal immigration with Native Americans and the pilgrims were very amusing. It is very true that Native Americans have every right to be upset with all immigrants, including all of us. They were here first living their lives in peace until we came here and stole everything from them. I also thought it was very interesting how professor Richards pointed out the fact that people from all cultures write their history books in a way that is more favorable to their people. This is why so many Americans tend to ignore the fact that we stole our land from the Native Americans. I thought this weeks lecture was very interesting because it helped me gain more knowledge on immigrationg

I agree with you that those stats that he showed us on republicans and democrats were very interesting. That being said, I also agree that he could have presented the other side as well. I feel like a lot of this lecture was him trying to persuade his own political beliefs onto us. Although I did agree with a lot of the things he was saying, I think he definitely could have not made it such a one sided discussion. I thought that it was very interesting when he told us about the assignment where he told his students to tell their parents that they are dating a person outside of their own race. I definitely believe that there are so many people who try and act like they are accepting of everyone until their son or daughter gets involved with one of these other people.

I thought that both of the lectures this week were very interesting. Both of them were very informative and eye opening. I really thought the part of the beginning of the lecture on multiculturalism that showed all of the statistics on which types of people wanted to live in diverse areas was incredibly interesting. I would have figured that democrats would have been more willing to live with other races more so than republicans. One of the statistics that i found to also be really interesting in this part of the lecture was the fact that people who seldom attend weekly church service are more likely to want to be among diversity than people who do attend church regularly. At first this was a big surprise to me, but then I started to think about it. It is true what professor Richards said about church being the least diverse hour of the week. I know that everyone in my church is white like me. I just thought it was really interesting because people who go to church are usually the same people who always say that they are accepting and loving of all people. This is obviously not true in pretty much every religion so after I thought about it, this statistic seemed to make a lot more sense. Another part of this lecture that I really thought was interesting and something that I strongly agree with is when professor Richards said that people should start to learn how to speak chines. I went to china this year for a week and It is definitely something that I wish I knew how to speak. It is very obvious that China is catching up to the Unites States and is going to be a big factor in all aspects of business in the future. Everywhere you look in China they are building things. There are huge buildings being built everywhere because of how fast their business world is growing. This was a part of the lecture that I really agreed with. I also thought the part of the lecture where he showed us the image of the planes taking off and landing all over the world was very cool. It made it very easy to see just how much the world is globalizing. I also found the lecture on the LGBT to be very interesting as well. I agree with Professor Richards that it would be very difficult to be in the closet, maybe even as difficult as being black for the many reasons that he pointed out. It would be so difficult to have to decide when it was ok and when it was not ok to act gay. This would make it very hard to ever feel fully comfortable around other people who you do not know are gay. I really enjoyed these lectures and look forward to the next ones.

I also thought it was very interesting to learn that white people, black people, and all other minorities, transition through the different stages at different speeds. I agree with you also that I thought the most eye opening part of the lecture was the video about the little black girls and the two dolls. I thought it was incredibly sad to see that these children were so young and thought bad about themselves because of their skin color. It is very upsetting that our society has made it the case where stereotypes are so bad that people start to realize them and take offense to them at such a young age

I thought this weeks lecture was very interesting because I hadn't ever really put that much thought into how it feels for black people when they initially realize that they are in the minority. I am white so i thought it was very interesting to think about what that must be like for black people. I also liked this lecture because we already talked about this for white people and I thought it was very cool to try and make comparisons for realizing your race as a white person compared to realizing your race as a black person. One part of the lecture that really got my attention was when he showed us the video on the black children being asked questions. The little black children were given two dolls, one black and one white, and they were asked questions about them. These questions were questions like, which one is bad? and which one is beautiful? most of the children picked the white doll as the good one and the white doll as the beautiful one. I thought that this was a very sad video. It is amazing how society can affect these children so young in life for them to feel like they are bad or ugly just because that is what they think because of society. this just goes to show that we have a serious problem with the way people face racial discrimination, even at such a young age. Another part of the lecture that I found to be very interesting was the part when professor Richards said that he had encountered many Asian people who identify themselves as white. Even though when i initially heard that I thought "how could someone who is Asian think that they are white?" But then when I thought about it I realized that If you are surrounded by basically all white people and you come from a family that never discusses race, then you probably never really would have thought about it growing up. This is kind of similar to what professor Richards was saying about children who are adopted by a family of a different race. He said that the child will most likely be better off in life if his family talks about and embraces the child's race. I thought the part of the lecture about the stages for black people was also very cool. I thought it really made sense when he said that black people almost always advance out of the first stage before white people. This is because they are the minority, so they realize this faster than white people realize that they are not the minority. I thought the story that he told us about the little black girl who came home from pre-school saying that someone called her dirty because her skin was dark. That type of experience would very rarely, if ever, happen to a white child at such a young age.

I agree that this class has taught me that race is much deeper than I originally thought. It is more than just black, brown, or white. I also thought that the video about the two white nationalist girls was very sad because it is such a shame that these girls were taught this without ever really being taught anything else. It will be very difficult for them when they grow up and are exposed to the real world. They will have a very tough time fitting in to society because of their childhood. I thought that the part about racial identifiers was very interesting. I have also found myself in similar situations to you and your friend. I thought that this weeks lecture was very interesting.

I thought this second lecture on white people was very interesting. I really liked the part of the lecture when he talked about racial identifiers. Racial identifiers are times when it is acceptable and not acceptable to discuss or mention someones race. It is true that I sometimes find myself in a position where I want to say something about race to get my point across but sometimes don't because I feel uncomfortable mentioning it. This is something that happens to people who are in the second stage for the most part. I also thought that it was very interesting when he talked about the third stage. To most students in this class who went into the class in the second stage, this class has probably moved many of them into the third stage. Another part of this lecture that I thought was very unbelievable was the video we watched on the the two girls who are white nationalists. At the start of the video it appeared that they were just normal girls who sing, but then I found out that the girls were singing songs about white supremacy. I thought that this video was very incredible and disturbing. It is too bad that these girls were born into their family because it seems like they really have no choice on what to believe. Their parents are white nationalists and they are home schooled so they really don't have a choice because they are not exposed to that many other people. Another part of the lecture that I thought was really interesting was the part about guilt. It is true that guilt is a much bigger part of life than most people think. Guilt is a huge part of Christianity and Judaism. This is one of the main reasons why I don't like religion at all. One of the major points of it is to behave in certain ways and do certain old traditions or you will upset God. Not following what God wants from people is one of the main reasons why religious people feel guilt. People still feel guilt for many different reasons, but religion is definitely one of the main causes of guilt. I thought it was interesting when he said that you cannot advance through all of the stages without feeling many feelings and emotions, guilt being one of them. It is normal for white people to feel guilty about their race, however most people do not think that they are guilty because they have a different view of what guilt is. Another thing that he said that i found interesting is that guilt is a natural accompaniment to understand the wrongs that have happened to people of color. You need to feel guilt if you ever want to get through the stages and accept your position in race. Also, guilt can help give us a better understanding of race. I thought this lecture was another very interesting one.