I agree with you when you said that inequality will not ever be solved. It is too easy, and too many ways in which it can be done. I don’t see anything wrong with helping your fellow man. It goes back to Sam Richards “King of the Mountain” analogy that when you get to the top, you help your own get there too, whether it be children, friends, or just people in general. I guess that is a form of Affirmative Action or nepotism, and if that is an example of it, then somehow as Sam Richards said, we are all victims of it. We are all products of someone’s hand out, and I guess I have no choice but to accept it.

Affirmative action has been a subject with many misconceptions in the world. I knew from research that those who most benefited from AA were white females. People think that it only helps and refer to African-Americans or other people of color. If it is done right, no one knows whether or not they are the product of affirmative action. Am I a product since I am here at Penn State, I don’t know possibly. But I liked Sam Richards point about his wife, and if his wife benefits he still benefits.

The video about the two schools are very common. I see it every day in my hometown of Philadelphia. I went to a Catholic School that had a building to a public school that was made up of trailers connected to each other by a red boardwalk. That was instantly a shock to me. However my brother who went to the Haverford School for Boys had a school with even more than my public school and more than my Catholic School. My sister’s life was reverse from mine, starting in public school then going into catholic school, and I am sure that it was culture shock.

Now did Affirmative Action or Nepotism get us there, I don’t know and we may never know ourselves, but I am sure that people of other races who look at us and where we are today would try to downgrade our success by saying it was only through affirmative action. Sam Richards made a point that people always say if you work hard enough. I always push that on my little cousins that if you work hard enough you will succeed, because I have worked hard.

I do know that there confounding variables that will affect someone’s progress. Glass ceilings that they can’t pass due to the environment, but if you knock hard enough, the glass will eventually break.
I do not think that I deserve what I get if it’s something that I want, but I do believe that I deserve it if I worked hard enough and I feel as though I earned it. Now I do consider myself to be a pretty honest guy, but I am not saying I am more honest than most, so I am fair in making judgments in my own performance and level of rewards that should follow.

The comic strip with the escalator and the winding road is how I was told to view the world growing up. White people have an easy pass, but you (I) have to work ten times to one million times harder than they do in order to just make it on their level, but now I say I have to work hard in order to make it on any level. My goal isn’t to outshine someone else, but to outshine people initiation thoughts of my capabilities.

Once again this is an issue in which I have had many people speak on, but I tend to stay away from. My political stance on the issue is let them be. I understand everyone is concerned about the jobs and the immigrants taking them; however they are the janitorial, domestic services, and other below blue collar jobs as you said that no American wants to do. Honestly most Americans have a stick so far up their behinds that their pride won’t let them do those jobs. Maybe it is because I am young I don’t see the true effects of having illegal immigrants or immigrants in general and what they do to the economy, but at this time I am not worried about them.

I enjoyed starting the lecture off with the comic strips. Though some people would see them as “funnies” they mean so much more. Immigrants did fall on the shorelines of America and “discovered” the new world. There is a reason why we call the people who were already on the land “natives.” I read a story called the Trail of Tears and it really goes deep into the experiences of the Native Americans and what they went through, being deceived and forced to relocate. The quote from Andrew Jackson that Sam Richards had read in lecture really disturbed me, but it does support what I was saying about the book I had previously mentioned. From the quote alone from the President of the United States to say this really makes me believe the stories in the book more.

I found the video extremely amusing; I couldn’t help but smile the whole time. Though they are serious issues, it just amazing to see how poorly executed and how unhelpful they were. Good intent though.

I am still a little confused about refugee policy and immigration policy. But it was interesting to see, and almost a shock to see that most immigrants with advanced degrees are African. But no matter the degree as Sam Richards said, immigrants are demonized. Congo the dog story was sad to hear, but it was good that he Mr. Rivera was still able to get reparation for the attack. The sad part was that people didn’t want to kill the dog, when I believe they would have if the person was a citizen.

The rant video was a shock; however it is what people think every day especially those who don’t know much about immigration. I don’t know much about it, so I tend not to speak on the subject. I know if I were to speak on the matter, I could make it sound as though I know what I am talking about; just as he did and that is why he got the responses that he did.

Immigration is a really touching subject that no one wants to think about. But when Sam Richards was explaining immigration and political views on capitalism, I am sure that many of the students who believed in capitalism found their views contradicting, because they knew not of what they actually stood for. Once again there are subjects that I don’t know about and tend not to place my two cents in the conversation, but I suspect from the murmurs and faces of the students, their belief about economy and immigration was change.

“Riff raff” I first heard that in the movie Aladdin, when the guards were chasing Aladdin and Aboo. It was very appealing to see how quickly the views of immigration change overtime. With the views of the cartoons most of them bashed but then praised immigrants. They marked immigrants as helpful people at one point, but not loyal, and potential terrorist. This I found interesting with the views of “Uncle Sam.”

I always feel some type of way when people talk down about foreigners. I know that sometimes I may make comments if I get really pissed off, but I stop and think how hard it may be for them to learn English. I know how hard it is for me to learn Spanish, so what makes me think it’s not the same for them. I agree that there are many benefits to learning more than one language. It opens a whole new world, and you will be more acceptable of different cultures. Money is a plus, but also travels. Communication and opportunities that are closed to those who only know one language opens for those who know many. I’ve tried to learn a new language, and I as well do plan for my children to learn another language. It will only benefit them in their future, and the earlier the better.

I have never heard of “salad bowl” to define the mixture of ethnicity, cultures, and so forth. A melting pot is the most common; it is a part of America’s history. I myself prefer to live in a diverse community too. I believe that one can learn more and be more social equipped if they are exposed to the many differences in the world early on in life. The world is a melting pot, and one will not be surrounded by one race all their life. I have to disagree with the problems with multiculturalism. I don’t really see any major affects except for possibly losing one’s own culture. I embrace other cultures but I don’t think that I may ever forget my own.

That is where the phrase “never forget where you came from” comes into play. As I embrace other cultures
The questions from the slide that the class had answered were very interesting. I have never heard of “amalgamation.” I thought that a melting pot was the combination of many cultures under one umbrella. This would mean that we have Asians, White, Black, Brown, Hispanic, Red, and Green all living together under one umbrella. The umbrella would be America. I didn’t think that it was a completely new group. So I am guessing that it would be if Asian and Blacks mix, to create a new group of Blackian or Asack. I guess what I was thinking was “salad bowl” or integration instead of melting pot.

When it comes to the gay marriage, I do accept it, but I do not believe that they should be given full marriage rights. Domestic Partners seem to be enough, but some people just can’t accept it. I don’t think that it is a problem, but people of the LGBTQ community get offended that it isn’t called a marriage. I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. I believe this and this is my stance as a bisexual male myself. Domestic Partnership is fine, the need to be called and recognized as a marriage is not needed.

The religious aspect was very interesting to me. I grew up in a Christian household, and I was at one time a Christian. I am no longer Christian because I didn’t feel right living a lifestyle that that contradicted my beliefs. I felt as though I was disrespecting that religions god by, dancing, singing in the choir, and partaking in its festivities, while every day I am pretty much slapping god in the face with my lifestyle. It is just disrespectful to any religion. I also felt uncomfortable with constantly being told that I am going to hell, for something that I can’t help.

If there was a book about the rules and regulation on race, it would be so much easier not to offend. Since there isn’t, it’s good that we have classes and professor such as Sam Richards who helps people first understand the identity of their race. By understanding your race, you will be able to prevent the possibility of being deemed races especially if you are white. The race card is easily played by people of color but it is a bad thing if white people identify that the race card is being played. White people though they are “king of the mountain” in society, it seems as though the mountain on which they stand is made out of eggshells.

When Sam Richards was speaking about adopting children into a family culture that is different from their own and the different experiences that one may have depending whether or not the difference in culture is spoken about really stood out to me. My family, in particular my grandmother has adopted, and or foster over ten children during her life (she is still alive), and it was had when the children began to express interest in their biological parents. Most of the children my grandmother adopted, the parents had abandoned them and left no trace, we have no knowledge of family history, medical or even educational abilities. I can only try to imagine a child not knowing of their heritage while growing up, finally realize that they are different, and feeling lost. In my experience with my adopted family members, some of the children began to act out, and it was hard, and we couldn’t really understand or help them. All we could do is try and help blindly.

“For Black and Hispanic students, the higher your grades, the less popular you are measuring popularity,” I find this statement is very true and disturbing because it is true. Growing up when I was in Catholic school high grades was a norm. I wanted to have A’s all the time and I was popular. I was well-liked and everyone I hung out with was too because of their grades. It was acceptable and everyone wanted to hang out with you, however when I transferred to the public school, I continued my strive to achieve high scores I was taunted, talked about, and laughed for being an over-achiever. I was the nerd.

The video “A Girl Like Me” was interesting. It shows how at a young age, race is influenced into people at a young age. There has been a time when I considered bleaching my skin in order to be lighter. I am not that dark, I am probably the color of a general brown Crayola crayon. Til this day I wash with bleach once or twice a month, it isn’t for the goal to brighten my skin, but in order to get rid of a tan (which makes me darker) so I would remain the skin tone that I am.

Wow, is all I can say about the video “accents.” I was wondering if people actually did research about things of that nature, and Sam Richards confirmed. I would like to conduct a research like that of my own. I didn’t think that racism was that blatant, but this really makes me think. I lived in Pennypacker my freshman year, and it was really diverse. In Housing there is a name for PennyPacker, and a deliberate reason why it is very diverse, and the most diverse of dorms in East and of Campus. I can’t remember the title at this time, but there is a reason why PennyPacker is the way it is.

What was also shocking about the video and it also made me think, was when the one of the Presidential candidates was a white supremacist. I can only imagine how the United States would be if he was elected president. I do not entirely blame the twins from the video for what they stand for and what they do, because they are a product of their environment, and of what their parents had taught them. The parents kept them away from the reality of the world, by homeschooling them, and you see the effects of that from the Hitler question. You are right that it is not only whites that need not to be labeled as racist. Those of color can be labeled that as well. they may not be labeled as such in their immediate communities, however in the corporate world, or any place outside of the comfort community, they can also be deemed racist.

If treating everyone equally is the first rule of being white, I think that rule should be taught to everyone not just white people. I was raised to judge people by their character and not the color of their skin, but as I grew up the media, my neighborhood, people I associated with quickly changed that perspective, and I being naive abandon the teachings of my mother. It had become a norm to judge others, and planning life stories about people by the color of their skin and clothes they might be wearing at the time. The video made me upset especially when the Hitler question was brought up. The twins just seem ignorant not by choice but because of their parents. They don’t have a grasp of reality or history. I think knowing when to use racial identifiers is a type of political correctness. It just knows when to be appropriate and how to be appropriate.

The Red House video was hilarious to me. It was just unnecessary as Sam Richards pointed out before the viewing. It does strengthen his point about stating race when it isn’t necessary. Sometimes doing this makes the situation or conversation awkward, this is when one may experience the “awkward silence” moment. The guilt question that Sam asked was a very interesting one. I know I may have felt guilty for doing something wrong, but the guilt he seems to be speaking of is a guilt that is inherited. It’s not a guilt that you develop on your own. The example of feeling guilty for being white is where I draw this from. It is known that historically that those of the white race have benefited from the take over and use of the labor of others and dominance of the other races and because of it over the time of history guilt has become a part of their nature.

A lot of what he was speaking about is things that I have read in the book “Making Peace between our Colors.” I must admit that when it seems like the white person in the in the room is having an epiphany about racial discrimination I have not accepted it. I didn’t believe it to be sincere or that it is possible for the “white man” to fully understand the day to day experiences that people of color face every day of their lives. The question that he posed about “it’s about time white people…” is something that I have heard people of my racial background say many of times. If I was around blacks, Africans, Hispanics, Asian or even Latinos I have heard those words uttered in many different ways and each time they present good historical examples of why white people deserve to be in the situation that they are in. I think whether or not they deserve it, it is not cool to proud yourself off of someone else misery. White people have done it in the past, and if we of color do it today, then we are no better than they are.