It didn’t seem to me like the white kids sugarcoated the message more than any of the other kids. In fact I think that if anyone sugar coated the information it was the first student. She was the one who had heard the racial slur used, and that is something that you would typically remember. It was very clear that she didn’t feel comfortable repeating that phrase, so she just said that they said a racial slur. After that point however I don’t think that it was sugarcoated at all. Everyone forgets things that they hear, especially in stressful situations like that. Imagine that you were standing in front of a room of seven hundred people, and you were asked to recite a story that you had heard once back to someone else, I’m sure that you would be really nervous and forget things as well. I think that this is just a fact of the way that information changes when a story is told verbally. I do agree with you in saying that overtime the story did become much less offensive and egregious, but I do not think that it was because people of any race purposefully made it so. In fact I would think that the opposite would have happened.
If I was a white kid in front of a room full of people of all different races, and I heard a story about other white people being racist, I would be sure to include every single detail that I could remember in order to separate myself from the students in the story. I wouldn’t want myself to be grouped with them by not telling the story accurately, and I definitely would not leave out racist things that the white students did to protect them, or the “white race” as a whole.
When we did this activity I did not see any difference in how people told the story, I think that everyone told it as I would expect a person standing at the front of such a large class to tell it, nervously. It was a very interesting demonstration of how people’s individual filters affect the way that they convey an event that happens. An example of this is when the first student did not explicitly say the racial slur that was in the story. It is a shame that this is almost always has an effect on how people recount accounts of events, because our judicial system relies so heavily on the testimony of witness, each of whom have their own set of filters and prejudices. If we were able to get beyond our prejudices and give accurate testimony then we would be able to ensure that only guilty people go to court. Unfortunately from both the example in class, and the fact that you were paying special attention to what the “white kids” were saying and how it differed from what you thought they should be saying, we can clearly see that these prejudices are still alive and well.

Before class I didn’t really have a well-developed opinion on illegal immigration, unfortunately this is still pretty much the same now. Before class I thought that illegal immigration was wrong, and that we should find ways to slow it. I didn’t understand why this subject was even a debate, because after all, the name kind of shows that it’s wrong. If people are coming to this country illegally then why do people think that this is ok? There are proper ways for people to come into this country, and there are improper ones. I know that our country doesn’t allow everyone who wants to come in, but that is the same with every other country around the world. The U.S. is a global leader in many fields, even in a time when we are striving to redefine our national identity. Because we are leaders we have many resources available to our citizens that others want to access. I have absolutely no problem with extending help to foreign nations, and to help those nations develop their infrastructure and businesses. I do not think that people should be allowed to come to the U.S. and use our resources (like health care and education) without helping to pay for those services. I feel that illegal immigrants using these resources is nothing less than theft, and their crimes should be handled in the same way that other thieves are punished.
With that said, I do not think that we should simply shut the door on those who are seeking to make a better life for themselves. I think that the U.S. should rather open up more opportunities for immigrants to legally enter our nation. This would allow for more people to try to make a living for themselves, and it would also allow for a more efficient allocation of resources. With more people entering the nation legally, less would be coming in illegally. This would allow us to reduce the size of the boarder guard, and spend the money that is being used there elsewhere. It would also allow us to tax the income of the immigrants, who previously had been working under-the-table. Although this may put a strain on businesses who would need to pay their employees a fair wage, and therefore would raise the price of many goods, I still think that it is the better route to take.
After class I realized that illegal immigration would never stop, but my opinion of it did not change at all. Illegal immigration is illegal, bottom line, and I think that those who enter this country illegally should be handled as criminals. I do not see the point in allowing people to come into this country and steal our services, and when they are caught not punish them. If immigrants want to be in this country, they should do it legally, and if they don’t then they should be treated as criminals.

There are a lot of times that I feel uncomfortable being around people who are speaking a different language. For some reason whenever I’m around people who are speaking another language it makes me very self-conscious, and I always think that they are talking about me for some reason. I know that 99% of the time people who speak other languages aren’t talking about me, or anything concerning me at all, but I’ve people who speak other languages have told me that they talk about other people. These stories have always made me feel uneasy. People who speak different languages have told me that they walk around the mall and just talk about people they see, and say really mean things just for the fun of it since others can’t understand what they are saying. I think that it may also go beyond the stories for me though, because I had a foreign roommate last year. He was seemed to always be on skype speaking in his native language. A lot of times they would say something and laugh, and then look over at me. Maybe it was just me being paranoid, but I always thought that he was talking about me. I feel like this is probably a really common thing though, to be self conscious in situations like these. If I were to go to another country where they didn’t understand the language that I was speaking, I would expect that they would feel the same way that I do. I think it is just a normal human reaction, and doesn’t have anything to do with discomfort with another race or culture. To me it just comes down feeling insecure around things that I don’t understand, and being feeling uncomfortable in unfamiliar circumstances. I don’t typically find myself surrounded by people who are speaking different languages, so when I am it always feels weird.

The fact that this is an issue is evidence that racism is still alive and well in our country. If we had conquered racism then there would be no problem with someone wanting to give a scholarship to white men. Even white people may feel uncomfortable with this scholarship because, as was pointed out in the video, give a scholarship to white men makes us think of white supremacy groups. That scholarships for white males makes people uncomfortable is a very clear example of the racism in our society. The age of “political correctness” has helped to bring “white guilt” into the Caucasian population’s mindset, and made them uncomfortable accepting that a scholarship, which is offered to every other race, should be offered to their own. There is nothing wrong with this scholarship, and it is only a step in the right direction that it is being made. I think that there should be as many scholarships for being white as there are for being Black, Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern, or any other racial subgroup. Until that day we can only hope for more equality in scholarships and education.

I think that people can only use the ignorance card once. If someone is truly ignorant of an issue then I would say that it is acceptable for them not to take action against it. But this excuse should only be used once, because if someone says that they don’t know about an issue and that is why they don’t act, the person who informed them of the issue should educate them on the issue. People may choose not to act for many reasons, but ignorance should only be acceptable once. Since we all now know about the issues of slavery around the world we may no longer excuse our inaction because of ignorance.
This may be the key to solving a lot of the world’s issues because often people don’t act simply because they are ignorant of the problems at hand. Through education we can solve many of the world’s issues because often simple awareness is the key to making many of the issues facing our world disappear. Through education we can mobilize the people to be passionate about making the world a better place. We can see how powerful education is in solving issues with the “green” movement. When the public became educated about the issues of global warming, the destruction of our environment, and the potential hazards from them in the future our society began to make changes to address the issues. When the public became interested in the issue companies began making changes, they began addressing the issues so that they could meet the public’s demands. I feel that through education we can begin to slowly solve issues facing the world. I do not think that it will happen over night, but in time problems may be solved.
Not everyone will be persuaded to make changes in their lives through education, and some may feel that they cannot help because they have issues of their own, but there will inevitably be some people who decide to help. Issues such as slavery will not be ended in one fell swoop, but rather by saving one life at a time. Change happens slowly over time, but through education we can help to direct the change in ways that help others.

I believe that we do have a responsibility to fix the issues of inequality. Before we learned about what the different ways that inequality pervades our society we could have simply excused our inaction because of ignorance. But once we have the knowledge of the issues we have the responsibility to act. As citizens we need to work hard to help our society progress, otherwise our issues will simply compound upon themselves and reach levels that are unmanageable. If we decide to act however we can change the world. There are many people in society who think that our generation is lazy, and that we are apathetic about social issues. How can we blame them though? We need to step up to the plate and show the world what we can do, and show them that we can take on difficult tasks and come out victorious. It would be too easy to say that “I can’t make a difference” or to turn a blind eye on the issues because we did not experience them ourselves. Past civil reformers have faced much greater adversity that we have, and yet they persevered through no matter what the costs. We can also learn a lesson from the crisis in Egypt. In the article that Sam posted on the website it said that the nation came together to protect different sects who were being treated unequally because “attacks on them were attacks on Egypt as a whole.” Their unity allowed them to overthrow a dictatorship, and to help bring change to Egypt. Many sacrificed their lives to conquer an issue much greater than our own. I do not think that what we face is too much to handle. Everyone can help by the simple way of spreading the word about inequality, and helping to work towards a more equal United States. Although it will take a long time to reach equality, and maybe nothing will ever be exactly equal, we still have the responsibility to work towards the future and never allow our society to stop progressing towards utopia.

I will never forget everything that my parents, teachers, coaches, and everyone else in my life have done for me, but I have also worked very hard to achieve the position that I am in today. I do not believe that I was accepted to Penn State because of my parents. I worked very hard in school in order to be able to go to a prestigious school like Penn State. While I was given many advantages by going to a good school, I also took advantage of all of those opportunities by choice. I dedicated myself to my school work so that I would learn as much as possible, and that is a decision that I have continued in college. Being presented opportunities doesn’t get you very far in life if you do not take the initiative to seize those opportunities and run with them. Although I had many advantages, I believe that where I am in life is due equally to the choices that I have made, and the hard work that I have put into becoming a better person with every passing day.

I have been very lucky with my position in life. I was born into a loving family, who lived in a great school district, in a closely knit neighborhood, and I was given every opportunity in life to succeed. Although my parents are divorced, they both worked very hard so that I could have a “normal” life. My dad is a manager at a mortgage company, and my mom is an elementary school teacher. I have no doubt that I would not be where I am today if it were not for them, and for all of the opportunities that they provided for me throughout my life. My dad saved money my whole life so that he could pay for college for me, after he experienced the hardships of having to pay for all of his college education himself. My mom put aside a career for many years so that she could stay at home with us, and be there for us when we got off of the school bus. To do this she ran a day care out of our home, and made huge sacrifices in her personal and financial life to be home with us.

I believe that we all need to work together in order to stop these stereotypes. We cannot simply sit idly by and allow racism to continue to pervade our society but rather we must raise our voices to tell others that racism is unacceptable. By sitting idly by we are giving our consent to say and do atrocious things. Unfortunately it is sometimes difficult to speak up, and so it continues. So next time you hear something racist, raise your voice and let others know that it is unacceptable! Be the change that you want to see in the world.

I believe that this has a much larger influence in the working world than it does in the world of sports. These excuses may be present, but they have no real effect. If there are those who are ignorant enough to believe that “blacks are lazy” then they will be much less likely to hire a person of color. Likewise, when we have politicians who make comments such as “they would be doing calculus on the way to the stadium” it is hard to see a time when we will no longer use racial stereotypes. As long as these stereotypes are in use we will not be able to leave the issue of race out of the equation for employment, athletics, relationships, and many other fields of life.