Interracial dating is stigmatized in our society, at least between black and white people. This brings me back to our conversation about the Chi Omega scandal we discussed yesterday. The outrage over the racial insensitivity portrayed by the girls, intentional or not, towards Mexican people stung a bit more than say a toga party would, because of the disconnect between the two parties. It is abnormal to see Greek people in a huff over toga parties, probably because of how engrained they are in our society. Over the past ten years, illegal immigration has been a hot topic that has driven Mexican and American cultures apart, both by ignorance and fear. Our cultures have clashed all too much in recent history, which causes us to scrutinize anything that may be construed as offensive.
The way I see this issue is a matter of “us and them.” Collectively, white people probably fear that their image or persona will be affected if they are to date outside their race. The fear or judgment from their peers may provide too much pressure to step outside their comfort zones. Just like my previous example about Mexican people, the wounds are still healing between whites and blacks from the civil rights movement. Many of our grandparents grew up in it, and I’m sure a lot have or still hold racist sentiments.
Through our experiences in class, we have learned that racism is still alive, especially institutionally. While it is not fair to say that all white people are racists, the prospect of coming under fire for dating someone who may not be fairly judged by those around us is scary. We don’t want our identities to be compromised so we ignore and shun the concept of interracial dating.
I am a white guy that is dating an Asian girl, and I often wondered if I was being judged in the early stages of our relationship. Over the past year, I’ve forgotten those concerns and truly gained an appreciation for her culture. I’d have to say I’ve gained more from her in this regard than from previous relationships within my race. I’ve definitely become more open minded to the diversity of those around us, and have gotten an appreciation for people with different lifestyles than mine.
I don’t see interracial dating as something that should be feared, but it definitely takes confidence to step out and give it a try. I’m unsure how prevalent it is in the United States, but it makes me happy to see interracial couples on College Ave. As racial tensions ease in the coming years, I can only see the number rising and people nationwide sharing cultures and experiences with those they never imagined.

It is very easy for us to say we ‘hate’ someone or something. As a pragmatic example I could say I hate the cast of Jersey Shore. Why though? Like we learned on Tuesday, ignorance breeds contempt. The cast of the show gets paid hefty sums of money to do many of the same activities we do in college for free. One dimension of hatred could very well stem from jealousy. In all reality, the members of the show could very well be good-hearted and kind people. The small vision we get into their lives is presented on television for an hour at a time, not giving us the full picture of who these people are. To further confound things, that hour is comprised of hours of cut and spliced footage taken from day to day. I’d bet a controversial reality show could be made about me if cameras surrounded me 24/7.

I’m sure I’ve said that I hate Ohio State in the past as well. Why? I was raised in a family full of Penn Staters who are all about our football culture. Aside from my Aunt Carol, I am close to nobody else associated with The Ohio State University. The football rivalry runs deep, and the only times we have any contact with the university is at football games. Clearly we want the home team to win, and have no problem shouting profanities and dehumanizing the opposition. We easily lose sight of the fact that the team is full of hard-working gentlemen who had to bust their asses just as hard as our athletes to get to the collegiate level. Their university is filled with students comparable to ours, who most likely dress very similar to us and share the same interests.

This example reminds me very much of our chats with Padrum. Thousands of miles away in a middle-eastern country (funny how we refer to Iran as eastern, as the denotation depends entirely upon how you orient the map you are looking at) Padrum watches the same shows as us, dresses like us, and follows our culture much the same. Without being alongside these people it is far too easy to judge them both unfairly and quickly. Ignorance and fear, especially in this example, lead to objectification and eventually hatred. I’m beginning to believe that we have more in common with our fellow man, no matter how far away, than we believe we do. At the end of the day we are all human, and by and large face similar difficulties in all of our lives. We owe it to ourselves to think twice about a situation before passing judgment and hatred.

After watching the man in the video give his time, money, and sweat of his brow away to his fellow men on the streets, it led me to step back and look at Christianity. A few years ago I fell out of love with Catholicism, the religion I was indoctrinated in at birth. There was plenty of hypocrisy, loathing, and negativity in my church that rubbed me the wrong way. It’s examples such as these that make me question who is the most like Jesus in their deeds. Seeing the man in the video with a clear heart and great intentions really restored my faith in people, and I wish that more would follow his example, instead of nitpicking on topics of abortion and materialism. All too often people lose sight of what’s morally right, and let their selfish tendencies take over. The video depicted the noble cause of a man who is very selfless. The little money he has from driving a bus goes to feeding near 30 people every night, and he even says he does not monitor his finances. There isn’t any self-interest or greed in his heart, only compassion for those in a situation similar to his. He gives a great deal of his energy to his cause, along with his family. This is more than 99% of my church could say they do. I would venture to say that a sizeable amount of my church was wealthier than him as well.

A next point that I would like to touch on is morality. I feel that people should do good deeds out of the kindness of their heart, instead of counting on them as a ticket to heaven. While this next example I will give has less to do about religion than it does politics, I feel it still applies. Paul Ryan, the recent vice presidential candidate, was caught staging a photo opportunity at a soup kitchen, where he forced his way in and pretended to wash dishes for five minutes. His intentions were self-centered and it was clear he did not have the interest of the needy in mind, only the intent to further his campaign goals. If you haven’t seen this yet, this link explains the situation in greater detail. http://www.businessinsider.com/paul-ryan-wash-dis.... It pains me to say that people like the man in the video are a minority in the world we live in today. I know that at least in my parish, food drives were less of a concern than monetary donations. I am unsure of where the money went, but I hope that it benefitted people in need as much as those who are hungry in the street.

When it comes to the issues of rape and pregnancy, it seems those in charge of creating the policies have never been close to the issue itself. I doubt any of their wives, daughters, sisters, or mothers have been raped. This is a case of white males exercising power over a situation they don’t quite understand. It is unfair, like Sam said, to go spouting one’s mouth off without any due consideration to those that have, and will be affected. If I were to put myself in a woman’s shoes for a second, and imagined if I were a victim of something as horrible as rape, that the last thing I would want to be concerned about is pregnancy. My body and mental well-being have already been violated and hurt, and to have lawmakers tell me I now need to have any child I conceive would be devastating. There must be obvious mental trauma that affects the both the mother and child of a rape. I’m unsure of the expected outcome of any anti-abortion legislation in the case of sexual assault.

One of the foremost solutions to this complex issue is instilling in our children, especially our boys, that forcing oneself upon a woman is unacceptable. I understand this is a huge undertaking, as it requires rewriting gender and sexual norms, which are instilled by parents from very early ages. I hope that in a generation these controversial and painful issues of rape and abortion dissipate due to proactive efforts by parents.

It is also important that we do not silence women who have fallen victim to such things. I think by trying to put power back into women’s hands that the likelihood of rape happening will fall. It is very unfortunate that women today need to walk around clutching their purses and carrying pepper spray, i.e. operating on a rape clock, because of the way our society is. I wish I had the answers to change such major roadblocks in our country, but I really don’t.

If my twelve-year-old sister had been raped and conceived a child, there is no doubt in my mind that I would want her to terminate her pregnancy. Having a child at that age would put a strain on her education, our parent’s livelihoods, and would also be a health risk and psychological reminder of a bad situation. The same applies to my mother; there is no inherent need for her to have another child at her age. This would present many challenges to her body’s well-being, and the fact that legislation would dictate that she must have the child gives no consideration to her peace of mind.

After seeing Khay’s mannerisms during Sam’s demonstrations, I find him more approachable than before. Seeing the TAs at the front of the class every day is somewhat intimidating, as they always are quiet and have serious looks on their faces. They’re authority figures in a sense, and without getting to know them it seems a little daunting to approach one.

In my discussion group, we had a conversation about the task where out of the three Asian boys, the girls selected the most attractive one. A girl in my section made the point that the TA who was selected time and time again, mostly because of his western appearance, is actually an international student who speaks broken English. This has little to do with his approachability, but adds to the point that appearances can be deceiving and judging a book by its cover is not a good representation of inner personality. She mentioned that he is from Hong Kong, and part of his style is due to the westernization of China.

After Sam displayed his example about optimal distance in job interviews, I could tell that Khay is just an average kid like the rest of us. He was goofy and handled the situation much like how I imagine I would. The way he spoke was friendly and not the least bit intimidating, and I can tell that not only him and I share a common thread, but just about everyone in lecture has a sociological mindset that connects us and can be used a conversation starter. One of the most important things I took from this class is that seeing the humanity in a person instead of their outward appearance is a much better judge of their character.

This question prompted another thought in my mind, in how easy it is to start a conversation with those sitting next to us in lecture. Whenever Sam poses a question and gives us time to discuss amongst ourselves, it is not out of the ordinary to open up a dialogue with a stranger. Our class provokes a lot of thoughts that run through our heads, and these brief excursions to express them to one another are often welcomed with open arms.

Eric also facilitated the factor of approachability, and he often does by putting funny pictures on the projector. This breaks the tension in class whenever emotions run high, and adds an extra dimension to the lecture that many others don’t offer. Everyone got a kick out of when Eric put up the picture of Two Chainz, including Khay. All of these little behavioral cues add a personality to the face that we often see in class, and makes not only Khay, but anyone else different than us more approachable.

It was interesting that when talked over by our discussion group, both people of color and those who are white agreed that the results of the video were expected. Clearly there are deeply ingrained ideas in our society that transcend racial boundaries. So how do we account for when our beliefs don’t match with our actions? This leads me to another question, what exactly is racism? When we think about this word, I, as a white kid, associate it with segregation, Jim Crow, the KKK, and violent relations during the civil rights era. I don’t think I, or many other people are getting the full picture. Through this class, myself, and many of my peers are beginning to notice the inborn prejudices and biases we hold against people of different races than us. While not as visible as it was fifty years ago, racism, whether it is blatant, institutionalized, or hidden behind closed doors, still exists. We are not far removed from the civil rights era, our grandparents, and possibly parents lived through it. These tough years of struggling for equality bred ignorance and contempt in our forefathers. It is sad to say it, but these feelings still exist among us today. Without proper education to remove this ignorance, we don’t notice our naiveté and propagate these unfounded beliefs. I sincerely appreciate how eye opening this video and class are. When we look back to the video and notice the clear cut differences in how the public reacted to a white kid versus a black kid, without fail the subject of the experiment answered as if they did not account for the race of the perpetrator when asked about their actions. This, of course, was said to save face and not appear as a racist, but this social experiment makes us ask why this happens. What is it about our socialization that leads us to associate blacks with crime but whites with innocence in a similar situation? Perhaps environment is a factor. It appeared entirely white people inhabited the park. Firstly, it may have seemed out of the ordinary to see a black kid in a questionable situation. The upbringing of those who questioned his actions had to have some white bias, seeing how often they turned the other cheek to the white kid. Our continuing fight towards equality amongst all races forces people to repress their biases against fellow men of different origin, but that doesn’t change their judgment in a situation where they are quickly reacting. Without time to process their subconscious thoughts and subvert their ingrown biases, the ugly, but ever persistent prejudices are still amongst them.

After framing affirmative action in the manner that we did in class, it has given me new perspective on the topic. Given the massive gaps in net worth, there are clearly factors and forces at work that separate black and white people in the workplace. To my knowledge, I have never been passed over for a job opportunity because of affirmative action, and this is the argument many white people will use against it.

Pat David, the head of diversity at my workplace, JPMorgan Chase, nicely sums up this issue. Her perspective is that affirmative action is not a matter of race or color; it instead is a matter of talent. The most talented prospective employees are the ones to be hired, not the ones who are most diverse. Talent comes from across the world, and even the office I work at in Delaware is highly multicultural. It takes some forward thinking to break down the walls of institutional racism.

After seeing the clear advantages white men exhibit over blacks and other races, it really threw my preconceived notions for a whirl. The feelings that affirmative action was impacting my chances of getting a job were gone. Seeing how institutionally oppressed black people are really hit me. The way Sam has put things in place these last few lectures, especially with the differences in racial income ladders also factors into this. More and more it has been setting in to me how no matter how black or Hispanic people may work, the scratching and clawing white people have done to gain positions of power will be near impossible to overcome in the near future. Until generations of level headed people have come and passed, these gaps will continue to exist. It’s going to take a large effort on the front of humankind to break down this oppression.

Something that really struck me were the numbers concerning hiring of whites and blacks with and without criminal records. I was blown away that white people with a criminal history got a call back more often then blacks with a clean record. Institutional racism is a roadblock in the way of true equality in the workplace. It seems affirmative action and this issue butt heads and come to no real solution. On top of that, I’m ashamed of the results of the study done where resumes were sent out with equal qualifications and different names. I would hope that if it came to me, I wouldn’t discriminate based on someone’s name. I agree with one point made in class today, however, that sometimes hiring based on qualifications isn’t always the best practice. I would want to make sure the prospective employee fits in with office culture and can be a synergistic part of the team.

Tammy’s story seems all too familiar to me. Growing up in small town suburban Pennsylvania I saw plenty of people stuck in the cycle of poverty. For many it’s all they ever knew. For Tammy, she grew up in a household with 22 children who probably had little chance to escape their class. Her son has the opportunity, through education and self-reliance, to better himself and climb out of hardship. Tammy’s negative attitude and non-understanding of his internal drive is tragic, and like Sam mentioned, reflects the crabs in a bucket metaphor. Whether it’s selfishness or ignorance of the betterment her son could make for himself, it hurts to see Tammy shun his aspirations. I applaud her son’s efforts to pursue education, and it seems he has a mature viewpoint on his social situation.

It seems too far-gone to try and help Tammy get out of the cycle of poverty. I think it would be best to make sense of her son’s situation to her. She has a very limited perspective as her interactions only occur in an isolated trailer or a Burger King. Showing her the tangible results of a college degree would, in my mind, add substance to her child’s struggle. I think that by sitting down with Tammy and showing her that it is possible to make her situation better, that she could find new hope in her children and be even more proud of their efforts to do more than live in poverty. Her pride as of now seems foolish and juvenile, as there is so much more to aspire to. Perhaps bringing up the anecdote that she lost sight of becoming a teacher would help her understand what her children are capable of. She could relate to that hunger and drive that she once felt, and see how her kids want to become something more.

Breaking her mindset would do wonders for her whole family. Her son has come very far considering how dedicated he is to his education in the absence of a father. The way he carries himself is commendable given his situation, and perhaps future generations of his family could make it to the middle or even upper class. I believe Tammy could gain fulfillment out of knowing her sons did more than “try.” It seems that she is averse to the idea of betterment and is jaded by her years in poverty. Sitting down with her and sharing these ideas could perhaps make her more open minded to ideas and doorways that she hadn’t seen, or refused to see previously.

I think an important distinction to make is that these numbers come from different racial groups in America. Meaning that these numbers come from American citizens, not international people. Here we can start to understand the disparity. Each racial group has their own individual circumstances that led to their place in the food chain of income. For example, many black people in America can trace their ancestry to the roots of slavery. This white oppression stifled may of the advancements of black people that could have led to a rise in their income numbers. While whites were making gains on the fronts of agriculture and technology, black people were left to play catch up. This one step ahead is a major reason why whites are cemented above blacks on the chart.

The circumstances of Hispanic people, or for this example, Latin Americans, are different as well. Many illegal immigrants made their way across borders seeking employment for general labor. The reasoning here is supply and demand. Assuming Mexico doesn’t offer well-paying jobs and has a somewhat oppressive government, its citizens would be prompted to find a place to work with better opportunity. Coming to America without a college education forces you into a low income bracket by and large.

Asian people tend to be highly educated when they come to America, or are actively pursuing an education whilst here. Their decision to move to the United States is much more voluntary and relaxed than blacks or Hispanics. Many of my TAs in classes of mine are pursuing PhDs and are recent immigrants. This makes them eligible for high paying jobs immediately after their qualifications are met. Instead of them being forced to come to America, or having a lack of education, Asians have a foot up on many other people by deciding to come here with qualifications already in hand, thus justifying their place on the income bracket.

White people have enjoyed, on average, a place at the top of the earnings chart for a long time. Now with Asians intensely focused on education, whites have become unseated as the mean highest earners in America. The reasoning behind the numbers for each of these races can be traced back to their circumstances. Whites have had years to establish themselves in this country, whilst stepping on the toes of black people during the 1800s. As they play catch up, many Asians took this opportunity to further their education and pursue fruitful opportunities in America, unseating us as the highest earners. Latin Americans, searching for new and better employment can find it by crossing the border, but their lack of resources, education, and support structures have them land in a lower place than the other races.

I’d love to learn about the way people live in Iran. It’s begun to sink in how little I know about foreign culture. I’ve never been outside of North America. I really would like to go in depth and ask Pedrum why he thinks Americans don’t know anything about Iranian culture. I suspect it has much to do with our media pandering the public with their own agendas. I’m always up for opening my mind to new cultures, and feel like it makes all of us well rounded. For one thing, I would like to see that video Pedrum was pushing so hard, which we didn’t have time for. I suspect it was a montage of sorts that depicted the Iranian way of life. From our brief conversation, I suspect life in the East is not much different than it is here. Even in that previous phrase I used there is some cultural bias. The countries defined as “Eastern” depend entirely upon how you orient your map.

I also would like to learn how much American culture has permeated Iran. It seems like our television shows are quite popular there, and I am also surprised how people half of the world away speak as much English as they do. From what appears as a scary place on our news channels, a five minute conversation with Pedrum dispelled a lot of rumors I and a lot of our classmates may have had. At the end of the day we are all human beings, and we owe it to ourselves to acquaint one another with our cultures. I also wish we had a little bit more time to talk with him. There were 700 of us who probably had at least one question they would like to ask. It’s a shame we had connection issues, because I think there was a lot to be offered from both sides of the computer.

I would really like to know how saturated Iran is with American culture, and why the opposite isn’t apparent at all. Why don’t we have a clear view of what Iran is like? How did American culture make its way into Iran? It would be great to sit down with Pedrum and have lunch, or even invite him into one of our discussion groups. On top of all of that, I would like to know how culturally aware he is. Does Pedrum know as much about other cultures as he does about ours? What sort of socialization has he gone through to become so conscious? What was his upbringing like, and what factors and forces shaped him into the person he is today? There is a myriad of questions that exist now that we’ve had a brief glimpse into his life.