I wouldn’t necessarily say that society “dislikes” immigrants, however they certainly get viewed in a much different light than the people who were born and raised in America. People tend to assume that since someone looks different than you do, speaks a different language or follows different customs isn’t as valuable to the community, and in turn get discriminated against.

I feel like the group of people who gets discriminated the most in terms of this debate is people who come from Mexico to America. They seem to always be the most oppressed and looked down upon when they get to America, sometimes rightfully so, others not at all. The main debate is always that the illegal immigrants are taking jobs away from people who were born here legally. Granted, most of those jobs are ones that nobody wants anyway, and from a business point of view, it saves a lot of money having people who will work for much lower wages than some other employees would.

People in America look at immigrants and see them trying to speak their own language and practicing their own cultures, and that pisses a lot of people off. It seems that people in America forget that our country is completely comprised of immigrants from all different countries. Just because a group of people wants to continue practicing their customs in our country doesn’t give us any right to discriminate against them. United States citizens all have ancestors, who immigrated here at some point in time, and it’s nothing but hypocritical to not let them practice any tradition they please.

Stereotypes are another huge fuel source that will keep the disdain towards immigrants going for a while. People assume that every Mexican is in our country illegally, every Asian is great at math, and the countless other stereotypes we encounter everyday. I tend to think that people think they can’t have Asian friends because “we have nothing in common, all they do is play video games and invent cool stuff,” or “this Mexican can’t hang out with us because he should be mowing our lawn.” These ignorant statements are one main reason that makes me believe the gap between immigrants and American citizens is far from being bridged. It seems like Americans need these stereotypes as a way to stay one rung up on the social ladder from the immigrants. We’re scared that people from other countries will come in, take over and do our jobs for half of the wage that we want to work for, and the simplest (as well as ignorant) way to do that is to bash on them, keeping them in their place.

All in all, the progress immigrants have made in America has been outstanding and hopefully there is no end in sight. We need to become more involved in helping them put their best foot forward instead of holding them back, because nobody will ever make progress unless they have help.

I found the lecture on Native American treatment in the United States to be fascinating. I consider myself a huge Dave Matthews fan and I can honestly say I had no idea that the song "Don't Drink The Water" was about the bullying of Native American Indians when the white people banished them from their land. The way the song was synced up with the horrific pictures of the mistreatment really made the strong lyrics even more powerful.

I have some Native American friends here at school and even in this Soc class and I was very interested in watching their faces and trying to gauge their opinions of the song, video, and statistics that were presented in class. The Native American girl I was sitting with during class seemed almost uninterested and shy, as if she was trying to hide in her seat. When we talked about it later she pretty much told me that she had heard all of the statistics before and it was old news. However, she (as well as me, and possibly everyone else in the class) had no idea that "Don't Drink The Water" was written that bluntly and almost mean to the Native Americans. I mainly watched the video during the class period, so I had to reread the lyrics when I got home. I've listened to that song hundreds of times before and never once realized the powerful message that was in the lyrics.

It was shocking and sad to see how bad the living situation was on the reservations for Native Americans after the white people invaded the country. I also found the parallels to the Holocaust to be riveting. It was pretty much the only other time an attempt was made to completely exterminate a population of people from this earth in recent history.

One of the previous blogs I read stated that the lecture would be more effective if it was done in a similar style to the Christian Invaders style. If Sam put us in the position of the Native Americans and described how the white people treated "us" after their unannounced arrival, the message would certainly hit home much more strongly. If the Christian Invader lecture can make us sympathize with the opponent in a long ass war then, I definitely think the message would have a bigger impact.

All and all, I thought the lecture was very informative and interesting. The "Don't Drink The Water" video was the most mind-blowing part. I also was glad to have the experienced the lecture with my Native American friend. Getting her perspectives and outlooks on the class and her experiences made the lecture that much more enjoyable. The End.

There are many factors that can influence a person’s decision to date outside their own race. People might worry about what their friends and family will think about the situation. People might be scared that certain barriers like language, family culture or religion may dictate the successfulness of the relationship.
In terms of dating, I don’t necessarily think that certain factors of my own race will determine whom I choose to date. I tend to notice the traits that other races have a lot more often then my own. For instance I, being a white man, personally find exotic and dark looking girls such as Brazilian and Spanish women to be much more attractive than black or Asian women.
I have never been in a relationship with anyone who wasn’t white however. Not saying I wouldn’t start a relationship with someone outside of my race, especially if the situation seemed too good to let slip by, I just haven’t seemed to find that person yet. I believe a lot of it has to do with my comfort level in relation to being around people of other races. I never thought about it until now but I guess the reason I’ve only dated girls who are white like me is because I am most comfortable in an environment that is mainly white. When I’m in a environment where I feel comfortable, it’s much easier to talk to girls socially and be myself, which in turn more than likely explains why I’ve been with so many white girls.
I think the media plays a big role in making the act of dating outside your race to be taboo in society, despite the statistic that interracial babies are the fastest growing population of children being born today. It is very rare to see interracial couples depicted on television and in movies.
To be completely honest, out of all the different races I do not think I see myself dating a black girl in the future. I have nothing against black people at all, but when it comes down to my specific “type” of girls that I get attracted to, it’s rare for me to find a black girl who I find fits that specific picture I have in my head. There are a couple exceptions to the rule, but they all happen to be celebrities so I have a hard time believing that that counts.
Hopefully as more and more people continue the trend of interracial dating, we can stop this reluctance and continue on our way to reaching the goal of racial colorblindness. It will be then, that our country will stop concentrating so much on the color of our skin and focus our attention to living peacefully together in America.

I definitely think that I benefit from white privilege more than I realize, and I also think that’s true for all white people. Whether you’re beneficiary or the person with the authority, being white probably influences the situation significantly and we never even realize it.
I recently experienced what I now look back on as a white privilege scenario, however I didn’t realize it until I brought it up in my SOC119 discussion group. A detective, who was accompanied by a uniformed police officer, knocked on my apartment door to ask my roommates and I about an assault that occurred on my floor. Apparently, some guy named Dave beat up a girl in the hallway and the cops had printed up a bunch of pictures of him to see if we could give any information. He told us the security guards claimed to have seen him leaving our apartment the night it occurred, however none of us knew him or have ever seen him before. The detective listened to what we had to say and then was about to leave when he commented on the smell of marijuana coming from our apartment. He also added that if he didn’t hear the flushing of the weed down the toilet that he was going to get a search warrant to come back to our apartment. We agreed and tried to be as cooperative as possible since it was obvious that we were guilty, lying to him would have only made the situation worse. I’m glad we did what we did because the detective thanked us for cooperating and said “if you didn’t, I was going to leave this officer here with you while I got the warrant myself.”

We pretended to flush the weed down the toilet and the cops left us alone. If they had actually searched our apartment, it would have revealed a cornucopia of incriminating evidence that more than likely would have landed my roommate and I in jail. I was so nervous and sketched out by the situation that it didn’t cross my mind, but the next Wednesday after the incident we discussed the topic of white privilege in my discussion group. I thought about the story and shared it with the class. As I was describing what was happening, I thought that if my roommates and I were black or any other race, the cops probably wouldn’t have let us slide so easily, if at all.

I’ve been in some trouble with the law in the past, and my parents have me on a “one strike” deal regarding my behavior and run ins with the cops. If the detective had searched my apartment, and arrested us, I would have been pulled out of school and more than likely would aimlessly shift through the rest of my life. Luckily for me and my white privilege, that didn’t happen.

Being white, I find that I am more reluctant to discuss my feelings about rahecial issues with other people because we are the majority. I can’t help feeling that if I am seen talking about white people compared to other races, no matter what the conversation ma be about, I will automatically be deemed a racist by others. Just the general tension that arises amongst other races is enough to make me keep even my most generally simpleminded opinions to myself.

This isn’t always the case, however. There are plenty of times when I’m with a group of fellow white people and we can have in-depth, open conversations about different issues involving race and cultures, without feeling bashful or ashamed whatsoever. I’m not sure that this means that white people don’t talk about racial issues as much, more like they don’t do it around town or in public places. Being part of the majority race in a very culturally diverse area can cast a pretty dim light on the white race as a whole, especially when seen talking about these issues, and seeing as how delicate the situation is, it’s usually best to keep the racial conversations to a minimum.

There are white people in the world who are completely racist, and will not deny it. There are white people who are racist, but will tell anyone who asks that they aren’t. This is certainly a form of cowardice, because if they’re scared voice their opinions in front of people because of the potential volatile reaction that may follow. Then there are white people who are genuinely not racist at all. They give everyone an equal opportunity to win their trust and friendship, regardless of race, color or culture.
No matter where you fall on the scale, it’s hard to voice you’re opinion on issues regarding racial discrimination because just by being white, you get classified under the slave owning, racist, majority category and automatically written off as an “ignorant asshole.”

I think white people shouldn’t shy away from political, racial, and sometimes awkward conversations because this stereotype of reluctance will never go away unless we can prove to the other cultures of the world that we don’t have to be the racist ignoramus’s that people think we are. This is also why the discussion group for Soc119 is so helpful. Being able to open up in a diversely racial group like that, and discuss issues regarding cultural differences like that is truly a new eye-opening experience that does wonders for my comfort level when talking about these topics.

If we can take the lessons we learn in discussion and apply them to everyday life there is no reason why we can’t squash this stereotype.

Racism exists in our world today, and will continue to exist because humanity will always need a system of classification for the people of the world for as long as we are alive, whether it be said in a derogatory manner or otherwise. People use differences in races as a means to describe the person they are talking about in conversation. “The Asian guy across the street…” or “The black guy on the hockey team….” Using terminology like this helps the audience differentiate who you may be talking about, while also painting a mental picture of what you happen to be describing in the story.

While relative “color blindness” is a goal to work toward, it’s not something I’m interested in associating with because I like learning different people’s cultures, so in a way I’m glad there are degrees of racism still in our world today. It’s very educational to immerse yourself in worldly cultures, especially while they still exist

If everyone had the same race, or there was no degree of racism whatsoever, humans would simply find a different means for classifying people, whether it be by height, weight, glasses, hair color, and so on. The existence of race and racism makes these classifications much easier on us, despite how inaccurate some racial profiling instances can be. Calling someone black, who doesn’t affiliate themselves as “black,” for the most part simply aides in the identification of an individual, rather then being intended to offend them in a derogatory way.

I honestly never even paid enough attention to the fact that Bruce Lee was beating up Japanese guys, or even knew that Bruce Lee was Chinese. I also don’t think it makes me racist to say that, or to say that I never researched where they were from because I always associate Karate and the martial arts culture to be affiliated with the “Asian culture,” whatever specific country that may be from. Maybe the people who grew up in that culture and consider themselves to be big Bruce Lee fans would consider a statement like that racist but for the vast majority of people, saying something like “Bruce Lee is the Asian guy who beats up other Asian guys.” would not be considered to be a racist statement.

Essentially, racism still exists in today’s society because people allow it to exist. Parent’s still raise children by passing on the same ideals and outlooks on the world as their parent’s did. The intensity of this issue changes as you move to different regions of the country, especially in the southern states of America. We have made numerous large steps in the process of ending racism, however the future doesn’t look bright for a world without any discrimination.

The main difference between white comedians and comedians of different races come down to the majority and minority rule that applies to everything in America. When white people who do stand up comedy touch on racial issues, especially when they are making fun of other races, it seems like they are sort of bullying the black and Asian people because they are outnumbered and more confident in front of the audience.

Personally, I love when black, Asian and comedians from other countries make fun of white people for numerous reasons. One reason is because it makes me feel more comfortable about situations in which white people make fun of other races. It’s healthy to laugh at yourself. It helps you to see the world in a different light and understand that some issues or situations aren’t as serious or stressful as we make them out to be, and that’s why people making fun of the white race will never offend me.

White people tend to have a reputation for ignorance and selfishness in America. It is for this reason that people tend to get more offended when whites make jokes about other races, especially Native Americans and blacks, considering the history with slavery and the stealing of land from the Native Americans. A lot of people still hold grudges against white people for what our ancestors did in the past, and these people are the ones who find themselves taking the most offense to white comedians, in the matters of talking about race.

There are certain comedians who have figured out the technique to win the audience over, allowing them to make whatever jokes they want, about whoever they want and still get a positive reaction to the material. These comedians, as seen by the Persian comedian in class, start off by making fun of himself and his heritage before moving on to comparisons about other races and ethnicities. This allows the comedian to ease his way into the more racier material by showing the crowd that he’s an “equal opportunity offender” if you will. Proving the ability to make fun of everyone to your audience, no matter what race you are, enables you to make jokes about whatever subject they want.

That being said, I always feel more comfortable watching foreign comedians rather than white ones, because it’s relieving knowing I won’t feel awkward being the white guy in the crowd watching a white comedian make black jokes. The worst feeling ever is sitting next to a black guy, while the white comedian makes black jokes. Even though you have no control over what he says on stage, it’s still the most fucking awkward situation ever to have to be one.

I think it’s impossible to be “just human.” Sure the idea of it sounds nice but that doesn’t change the fact that we all came from different places and embrace different cultures.

When you examine a culturally diverse place, such as Penn State, you are constantly forced into situations involving interaction with people from all over the world. There will always need to be some way of classifying the different people we meet on a daily basis, and most commonly, almost by default, it’s usually race.

Most of our daily interaction with people is with people of the same race that we consider ourselves to be. That being said, it stands to reason why people of a certain race always mention the race of the other person involved in a conversation. I don’t usually say “I met a girl in class today.” unless that girl is white. I would find it odd if I heard that phrase, and then later on discovered the speaker was referring to a black girl or an Asian girl. “I talked to this black girl today in class, and she said we have a quiz tomorrow.” sounds much more normal to me, for the sole reason of classification.

Obviously, it doesn’t matter what color the girl was, but for the sake of description and imagery creation, we tend to mention the races of people we meet, and that is why we “can’t just be human.” If someone told me they “asked a human for directions downtown” and didn’t elaborate on anything else, the only response I could think of would be “No shit, Sherlock! You met a human?!”

If we eliminate race, and are no longer black, white, yellow, or red, to strictly associate with being human, we might as well get rid of gender while we’re at it. The word human doesn’t indicate whether the person is a boy or a girl. So saying “No, she isn’t Indian, she’s human” is just like saying “She’s not a girl, IT’s a human.”

Humanity will always need a way of separating similar beings from different ones, and race may not always be the easiest (at least in terms of accuracy), but it is the fastest. Walking down the street, I’m not interested enough in the other person to inquire which of the numerous countries the Asian boy in front of me could be from, so we write them off as “Asian” and forget about it.

We brought up this particular topic in discussion group this week, and as a class determined that although it sounds ideal to be colorblind, it’s not practical at all. I don’t want to just be “human in a society of humans.” I want to investigate diverse settings and use it as a learning experience to peek inside other cultures and see the little differences in everyday life, and we have race to thank for that.

I found the exercise with the division of people by race to be, not only controversial but awkward both for the people being separated and the women with 4.0 gpa's. As i watched, I thought the girls were doing a great job of correctly filing the races in with those of the same back round (granted I was seated near the back of the classroom), but as Sam went down the line asking everyone where their back round stemmed from, the more the girls' predictions were wrong, the more tense the class became and the more awkward I felt sitting there witnessing it. I put myself in the girls’ shoes and wondered that if I had put a Mexican girl in a group of Indians, what would I say to her after realizing I was wrong? An apology is certainly acceptable, but shit, that’s awkward. Throw in the fact that the only reason I got put in this situation to begin with is because I have a perfect GPA and you’ve made me feel even worse. One white girl was placed with a different race as well (I can’t remember which) but for a white girl to look at another white girl and not recognize a similarity in race doesn’t do a whole lot for the argument that race is an issue to concern your life with

Also, how self conscious the people in the line must have felt knowing that 700+ students are sitting around watching you be incorrectly classified into races you've never dreamed of associating your heritage with. I couldn’t help but feel bad for the kids who weren’t put in the correct categories

That being said, the exercise did have its benefits. It taught us that since it's so hard to identify who belongs to what race, it's not worth getting all riled up about racial issues. Like Sam says: "We're all going to die." So what's the point of being racist and hating people who don't look like you, when you can't tell where their from to begin with and we're all going to end up dead in the end. It really put the whole world in perspective because I’m not sure I could have done any better than those two girls did classifying the sample of students, and my GPA is not anywhere close to a 4.0.

I hope to see more exercises like this in the future. They are great demonstrations of the science of sociology and a great life lesson in terms of interacting with students and ultimately coworkers of different races. The light hearted, joking manner of the classroom and comfort in speaking on sensitive issues is a terrific way to realize that we are all equal, no matter what we look like.

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