I believe society has such a negative view of immigrants and foreigners because of stereotypes and ignorance. Society has this untrue belief in their thoughts and understanding of Immigration. Most people believe that illegal aliens are sneaking into the country stealing jobs and using tax payers money. This is because people are uneducated about illegal aliens and the work they do. I remember when Sam was saying people believed that Aliens was stealing jobs that we would be looking for upon graduation. I'm sorry but I'm a history major with plans on going the peace corp and then getting a job as an historian, what reason would i have to be scared of immigrants stealing my job? As we seen in class Illegal Aliens take jobs that we do not wish to do. For example picking fruit, I am sorry this might seem ignorant but I do not plan on ever picking fruit for a living. I do not want those types of jobs so i have no problem giving them to immigrants. These are jobs most american citizens do not want. They do not want to pick fruit for less then minimuin wage. And the fact that they send their kids to public schools to get an education. Are you seriously mad about that? I would think the people agree that every one deserves an education. Oh you can say "yeah but not with my tax dollars." True, however Sam showed us that many illegal aliens actually pay taxes with out the benefit of the opportunity of filing taxes to get money back, which we american citizen have the chances and right to get back around tax season.

Another reason people tend to dislike immigrants is because they fear the unknown. We as people when confronted with the unknown try to suppress it. Even in Kanye West's mini video movie "Runaway Love" there is a scene where Kanye is talking to his phoenix, she turns to him and says "do you know what i hate most about your world? Anything that is different you try to change, you try to tear it down." This is true for our society, we try our best to have people assimilate to our culture. To become one of us we require them to speak our language to share our sense of morals, to practice our rituals. There is no room for their past, their history is not needed here. It sad but honestly this is how we act. So when we hear different accents and clothing or facial features we are uncomfortable because it is not like us, it is not what we are use to. We unconsciously began to fear it so we react with hatred instead of curiosity. I do not understand why but we do. I think secretly we fear that if we can not get them to take on our way of living they might force theirs on us. But i think it has to do with western European culture and how they have a history of conquering foreign places and making the residents into second class citizens if they even allow them to be citizens. Western European culture does not ask for getting to know other civilizations and attempting to figure out a way to live together in co existence. No western civilization has a more conquest view point. Where they just ride into other people cultures and steal they land, rape their women and girls, and kill any people who object. Also we make these things not a serious by joking and playing about them. If we have to use comedy to bring these things to light then thats one thing but we should be working on changing it.

This is not any excuse and i am not justifying the mistreatment of immigrants, foreigners or Illegal aliens however. I am just nearly pointing out the reasoning behind the mistreatment of immigrant people. Maybe if we as a people each decided to stop feeding into these dumb stereotypes that have been dis proven thought out this class this semester then the world would start being a even better place. It is one thing to wish for a change in the world, it is another then to make it. And the best way to make the world a better place is to start with yourself, become a better person. Like Micheal Jackson said start with the man (or women) in the mirror. And educate people on the things you learn, lead by example that is how people learn.

Honestly i set in this class last year however my thoughts on the Native Americans has changed since the first class. When i set in the class the first time I did not feel pity for the Native Americans. I was sadden by the things that has happened to them historically but I did not pity them. One I never felt that as a Black person I had anything to do with their misfortune and I felt as thought it has been a long enough time for them to get over that. I felt like maybe they should work together to pull them selves up. That Black people did not just take the abuse sitting down if they want rights and fairness they should do like blacks and march or something. But like they say "with age comes wisdom". I am not that naive or indifference girl anymore. I understand how History can greatly effect your future. I also learned how the government tends to keep people in certain positions without clearly stating that they are oppression people. I find the domestic violence rates on reseverations quite alarming. There really needs to be something done to stop this plus the high rate of alcoholic since they are a correlations. Even thought Blacks really don't have much to do with the extermination of the Native Indians however we need to help them out. Something has to be done. The funny thing about America is it does not try to right its wrong, it tries to hide it. These horrific pictures of killed Native Americans is something that I have never seen before this class. This is not taught in the history classes in grade school, junior high or High school. America tends to sweep its problems under the rug. However my History professor said that that is necessary to build nationalism is to remove the bad part of your country. It causes division between people and makes people lack faith in the government. The problem is that instead of fixing the problems so that everyone can have faith we push the problems away. So people don't focus on the bad however the bad never becomes good. I would have a much higher sense of Nationalism if my government showed me that it really cared for the people by helping to better the people not pretend to better us. They have been cheated out of their land and out of the status of being Americans. They have some of the lowest economics incomes and the lowest political Representative. This has to be change. Honestly if the Indians decided to struck back i would not be surprise. It is what is deserved, we can not change history but we can change the future.

Yes I do believe that putting my self in the shoes of a Middle Eastern had completely changed my views on the war. I had always knew that the war in Iraq had been about oil, that we had invaded Iraq with the intentions of taking their natural resources and control their oil supply for your own usage. Sam Richards had just confirmed that part of the lecture to me. However the part about the war being a religious thing to spread Christianity and basically being a crusade is something I had not thought about.That they are trying to force their religion on these people without out right saying it.

At first it was difficult placing myself in their shoes, I had to clear my head and try to view America as the bad guys. Not on purpose but from their side it does seem as thought America is wrong. If I was a Middle Eastern I would have been upset at the fact that because of some irrational radicals a whole nation declared war on us. We did not decide to attack America some bandits of criminals did. Honestly when I think of war I think of something like the civil war or world war. I think of trench warfare or soldiers marching towards each other on a battle field. However after viewing the videos and pictures in class today that is totally not how it is. There are soldiers marching through neighborhoods. There are tanks in the middle of communities and bombs being dropped in the cities. No wonder the people are apprehensive at the thought of American soldiers.

Sam even asked would we support the Terrorist . I answered no, and i was being honest. Even thought as a Middle Eastern I would want the terrorist out of the country too right along with the Americans. I believe that the terrorist are making it worst for us, the people. From the videos and pictures I seen as a Middle Eastern Americans are people who are ignorant and violent. They re act to things with violence so being violent towards them will not cause them to leave this country but to send for more troops. And with more troops come more guns, more bullets, more bombs and more innocent lives taken. I would actually prefer that we get an Army and a great leader who will work to re unite and find peace between the middle eastern counties. This way we can push the Americans out of our country and run it our way keeping our natural resources and income. This class really changed my view point on America as a whole. I use to think that this was the best country in the world. That you had religious freedom and that we only fought for the good of the world.

When Sam said people are harder on people of the own race I agreed. While at least in my case. I know I am more harder on other Black folks then white folks. That is because when a Black person is doing something degrading or is being ignorant it is looked at as a reflection of my race. When a Black person is doing something negative it causes the Black race as a whole to look bad. For example if a Black person is late to a meeting it is thought that the Black person is late because they are Black not because their alarm clock didn't go off.

Another example is Barack Obama. A lot of people voted for him because he was black and a lot of people did not vote for him because he was black. A lot of people did not want him in office because he was black. If Obama does an horrible job in office there will never be another black president or at least not right away. However if a white man is elected president and does a horrible job he does not have to worry about it being a negative back lash on his race. There will be another white man voted in office right after wards.

As to helping a person depending on they race. Sam said that colored people (minorities) are more likely to help any race no matter if they are alone or with a group of people. I agree personally i'm help anybody but thats it i'm going to help an person. Now a race of people? That is a different story. I am more likely to donate to a Black cause before I donate to an Asian cause. However I would help out an Asian mother of 4 at the same rate I would help a Black mother of 4. An individual would receive the same amount of help from me. However a group that is when I can honestly say I would be more reluctant to help.

I do not think it is because I do not care about other Races but because I believe that I have to look out for my race first. I know that we need the help. We could always use the help. I am going to make sure my people are all right before I begin to look out for another group. I can honestly say that I will make sure that my friends are fed before some random strangers. It is the same way to me for races. I will donate to a poor black school before I donate to a poor white school.

I don't think its selfish, i think it has to do with ignorance and personal beliefs. Its easy to say get on birth control, however a lot of people don't know how to properly use birth control. Their are people who come from schools, communities and homes where practicing safe sex is not talked about. Their are people who believe in things like "the first time you have sex you can't get pregnant" or "that if you count your strokes then she can't get pregnant." People actually believe these things (don't believe me, watch an episode of the TV show Maury). Also birth control is expensive and some people can't afford it. You can say "oh your health care pays for it". But then they have to be able to afford health care since it isn't free. Another thing is that once you have a child it subtracts from the amount of money you have. It costs 1 million dollars to raise a child from birth to 18 years of age. So once you have a child they amount of money you usually have will decline. You have to support you and the child, that makes it less money for you to be able to save. My mother has said that there was times when she would start saving money and then I would need new jeans, or my little sister would lose her glasses. Or my brother would out grow his sneakers. This means the money you would put to the side has to be given to unexpected child rearing expenses. Also it has to do with the welfare system. Welfare helps people with young children out. Welfare does not have programs that would help you better yourself as them claim. In new york city you are required to work a certain amount of hours a week and you can't substituted those hours for school. They also cut the money for school, so they no longer pay for schooling. Also the work your required to do is things like cleaning parks and high ways. Which doesn't have room for promotions. So after 5 years you have no skills or talents and they want to cut you off. Some people choose to have babies because they can't get a good paying job. Its a vicious cycle that keeps people down. Then you have to look at the fact that people have they own personal choices on abortions and birth control. Its against the catholic religion to use birth control, also abortions goes against religious and personal beliefs. Becoming pregnant is not something you can actually decide yes or no to. Yes you can alter the possibilities however you can not prevent pregnancy 100 percent (unless u choose to not have sex). Some people use birth control and still become pregnant then they have to decide wither or not to have the baby. Some people just cannot imagine having their pregnancy terminated. And doctors will say that its easier to get pregnant once you already been pregnant. So you have a baby then you get knocked up again and have another child. Then you have to pay for them.

Even thought I'm not of the redneck community I still want to answer this question. The confederation flag means a lot to me and my culture. I classify myself as a Black women in America. To me the Confederate flag stands for ignorance, racism and discrimination. As a child you learn things like, don't play with fire. "Fire is hot and it will burn you" is something you hear from your mother at a very young age. As you get older you learn things like "don't talk to strangers" or "treat people the way you like to be treated. While as a black child you usually learn that if your in a neighborhood that has confederate flags hanging up for display, that you should not be in that neighborhood after dark. Shoot you should not be in the neighborhood in the daylight, however at night that neighborhood is even dangerous.

Now I know sometimes Rednecks, like Blacks get a bad rap. They do have a negative stereotype that might not always be true. The history of Rednecks are from Scottish farmers, since they worked in the sun the back of the necks get red. They were poor people, who got hit hard by taxes. The word was switch from this to something derogatory, "poor white trash". I do not know what the connection between the flag and the Redneck Culture. And actually I looked it up and their is not any connection that can be found.

However the Professor Sam says it represents the what the south use to be. The time of prospering, before the rescission and civil war. He claims it has nothing to do with slavery or wanting to bring it back. However i would like to point out the fact that it does have to do with slavery. The south was rich because of slavery. They had the free labor that help produce the cash crops that made the south what it was. After the war the slaves were now free. Now plantations owners would have to give the slaves money to take care and work on the farms like they once were doing for free. Its impossible to go from free labor to having to pay for services and keep the same revenue.

However like i said earlier the Rednecks were POOR farmers. So they would not have to income that these plantation owners had. So what did they care about the economy? You can say they waved the flags in support of the South, which they loved. The way they made a lot of money was catching runaway slaves. Now that they were not run away slaves they could not get money from that. They begin to establish supremacy over Blacks by lynching. Things like the KKK was established, they used the Confederacy flag. So yes things like racism is linked to the confederacy flag, because my people was burnt, lynched, raped and beat up by people who wave this flag under the disguise of "bringing back the good old days". Another thing, these good old days were of Blacks being servants to Whites, of being objects to work and release sexual frustration onto. Those was "the good old days", so there is no way you can connect the confederate with the old days with out the connection of slavery.

The toughest thing about choosing characteristics for your race is being unbiased is impossible. Naturally you think of yourself in your highest honor. You always think of yourself as flawless. Before I could pick the characteristic for my race I have to pick a race. I would classify myself as a Black person not African American but Black American.
The characteristics I would give to black are one really held together. Black people face a lot of adversity in life. People are always degrading black people. We seem to have the shorter end of the stick when it comes to stereotypes. However black people always get through the problems we face. The Black women are least likely to commit suicide. Blacks have face racism and they keep trucking, keep moving on hoping for a better future.
Another characteristic I would give blacks is smooth. Blacks have a way of walking, and talking that just exclude confidents. The way black people dress is a big thing, blacks have our created our own fashion and music genres. Black people have taken words gave them new meaning and people follow along. When was the last time you heard someone use the word “swagger”. It was basically unheard of until blacks started using it again. And words like “Bad” which is usually a negative word has been transformed into a way to say a girl looks really cute. Black people are some of the highest consumers. They make trends every day without even trying.
However that gives me another characteristic to give blacks. Black people are very materialistic. As I said before blacks are one of the biggest consumers. They purchase a lot of items; a lot of black people fell like as soon as they get some money they have to purchase something to prove they have that money. As rapper Kanye West said in one of his songs “we trying to buy back our forty acres.” Black people like to look nice and clean.
Also I would give blacks the characteristics of being survivors. Black people have been enslaved by Whites, East Indians and Africans. However blacks have been able to pull through that. Today blacks are being tortumanted by the police and the government. However we keep on moving. Once I asked my mom what happen to blacks during the depression, blacks who lost they money? Did they kill themselves too?” My mom answered “Blacks have always been threw a depression, we just keep on surviving”. I feel like Black people have survived a lot. From Lynching to beatings to rape on the regular because of the color of their skin and they will continue to survive because that is what we do.

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