The lecture about immigrants was definitely an eye opener to many people, including myself. When I think of immigrants, I normally picture Mexicans. I grew up in a very suburban area, where I typically saw Mexicans in the backyards of my neighbor’s houses cutting the lawns and fixing the landscape. And that’s normally the typical perception when people think of immigrants. We have people all around us that are complaining about how immigrants are taking our jobs, but people need to take a closer look at the jobs they are taking. Normally, they are jobs that we would never want to take. In beyond scorching weather, receiving hardily any pay, these workers are working in the worst conditions to do work that nobody would want to do. I know that when my dad makes me do work outside, I always wished that we could have hired someone else to do the work for us. When we saw the video at the end of Thursday’s class, a lot of different aspects of the movie really struck me. First, it was the kindness of the man that spends majority of his day and salary in order to help out immigrants that are homeless. The man said that his reward for all the work he does is simply seeing the smiles when he gives the immigrants their food, and for most of the immigrants, at around 9:30 it is their first meal they have eaten all day. The work for way below minimum wage, and most of the money they do earn they send back to theirs families back at home. A lot of people think poorly against Mexicans and think they are stealing our jobs and causing damage, but so many of them just came here seeking a better life for their families.
Another shocking story is when the guy at the front of the class told us his story about when he traveled across the borders to get to America. I’ve always know that getting across the border is a struggle, but I didn’t know the specifics as to how challenging and dangerous the venture can be.
We don’t even have the right to judge immigrants, when to Native Americas we are all immigrants. We question why they look down upon us, but at the same time we are being hypocrites because we look down upon other immigrants. We are all immigrants to this land, which is something that I never really thought of until Sam brought up the point in class. So in the end, many people have a negative perception on immigrants, which makes it necessary for us to take in different perspectives on the situation in order to gain a greater understanding of immigrants.

Nepotism. Sam gave us the definition, told us what it meant, and then asked us to raise our hand if anyone in the classroom has never benefited from it. Although I may sit and the middle section and I don’t have a full view of the classroom, I personally didn’t see one hand raised. Nepotism is something that everyones experienced, weather it was a small favor to a large one. I personally have benefited not only in the past from nepotism, but it actually happened very recently as well. When I went home for break, I applied all over the place in hopes for finding a job for the summer. Out of the many places I applied to, my application to one in particular differed from the others. The restaurant, a place called Nectar, is located a couple stores down from my grandfathers business. A lot of the members of my family work at the business, and they often eat at Nectar, not only for social gatherings, but business meetings as well. Nectar employees also park their cars at the business’s parking lot; so many of the employees at both places have become very close. When I picked up an application and was filling in the references section, my mom told me to put my uncle as my top reference. I was hesitant at first, but she was really convinced that it would increase my chances at getting the job. My mom also told me to tell my uncle that I applied to Nectar, so he might also be able to help me find a job. Even though I didn’t get the job, the fact that I was able to put my uncles name on my job application to possibly enhance my chances at potentially getting the job definitely displayed a case of nepotism.
It definitely made me uncomfortable to be putting his name down as a reference, but in the end it was a decision that i was finally convinced by my mom to do. In the end, I don’t think that I would say no to avoid nepotism. In this economy, getting ahead in life and job really does come down to the connections that you have. And although it can sometimes make me feel guilty, when it comes down to me getting a job in this rough economy, I’m not going to let my guilt stop me from making a living.

Growing up, politics was never really a topic that was heavily discussed in my family. My parents are really well informed, but they never passed on their political views onto me. I remember very clearly where I was when the towers were attacked. I was in fourth grade sitting on the United States carpet, when our teacher told us that an airplane has run into a building. At that young of an age, I had no idea what was going on, and had no idea what the tears coming out of my teachers eyes meant as they flowed down her face. When I went home that day and saw my mom balling, something I’ve never seen before, I knew that something was terribly wrong. As I’ve grown up in this war, I’ve still not become fully aware of everything that’s happened in the war on terrorism. However, my perception on the war has been very skewed because of the media. The news has greatly influenced my perception on this war. Seeing horrible videos of our soldiers being tortured, and hearing stories about our soldiers being brutally murdered, it was hard for me not to have a horrible perception on the war on terror. Without my parents explaining anything that was going on, my only option was to create my own viewpoint off of the limited materials that were shown to me.
However, this last class has definitely changed my perception on the war, and it was really remarkable that Sam was able to put us on the other side of everything that is happening. There is no changing the fact that what the terrorists are doing to soldiers is completely wrong, but what’s never shown to the media, and what was never shown to me, what was what our soldiers in America were doing to people living in the Middle East. When we were shown that video of the soldiers crushing the taxi’s driver’s car, which was the man’s only source of income, it was horrible to see the man actually laughing at the fact that he just completely destroyed someone’s possession. This class not only opened up my viewpoint to the war on terror but it’s also taught me something really important about something that could relate to a variety of issues. I definitely need to become more informed about the issues that surround me, and not only that, but I need to be myself on the opposite side of a situation so that I can understand both sides to a story.

In these harsh economic times, if you really want to make an effort to get a job, then learning another language might have to be a necessary component of your efforts. Living in a very multicultural world, it is nearly impossible and very unrealistic to think that everyone can speak English. Acquiring the ability to speak another language would not only help you for the specific job you wanted, but it would also help you in your outside surroundings as well.
For me personally, and especially during these hard times, I would choose learning another language in order to get a job. It would most definitely be hard, but if the job is something that you really have a passion for, then learning the language should be worth it. In high school and for a bit of grade school, I took Spanish classes. Apart from having a pretty good Spanish accent, I was pretty horrible at actually learning the language. But as I progressed and got older, learning Spanish became a lot more natural to speak, and I found it was beneficial to not only my grades in the class, but I also began to use it outside the classroom as well. When I went to Mexico, I got to practice my Spanish to the many different people living there, and they were all thoroughly impressed with my ability to speak Spanish. When we were walking down the streets and would walk by venders, what was impressive to me was the people that could talk to me in English. This ability to speak English to me was not only very impressive, but they were doing exactly what the video question is asking. This venders that are working their table need to be able to learn English in order to be able to communicate to all the tourists that could potentially be buying their goods. The same thing goes for an area in New York called Canal Street, where many people that don’t typically speak English must learn it in order to sell as many goods as possible.
But in the end I would definitely take up the opportunity to learn a new language. My younger cousin is already learning 2 other languages, Armenian and Japanese, and I envy her ability to have the capability to speak to my relatives in Japanese. Knowing the other language would only help you in your job, and provide you with a new way of communicating with other people.

My grandma emigrated here from Japan and then married my grandpa, who is completely Irish. Back then, this was a time where not only Japanese people were discriminated against because of the World War, but interracial relationships weren’t accepted as well. After what they have told me, I know that my grandma and grandpa’s marriage was not accepted, and even people in my grandpa’s immediate family didn’t talk to him because of the marriage. So at the start of their marriage their marriage was not easy. However after they had four kids and time started to pass, their close relatives became to accept the marriage, and look past that there skin tones differed. My grandma and grandpa were able to stick through the troubles that they faced with their relationship, and thank goodness they did or else I wouldn’t exist today! Love conquers all.
I think how my grandpa’s family members reacted to the interracial marriage is similar to the evolution of how people have reacted to interracial marriages. When interracial marriages first started occurring people were very against them. Not only were families not accepting of it, but also people around weren’t either. Although some people today are still against them, they have become much more accepted. For me personally, I am all for interracial relationships. If my grandparents hadn’t gotten married because of their different races, not only would have not been born, but I wouldn’t be the mix of ethnicities that I am today.
I think that interracial relationships are completely acceptable and what’s confusing is why people are not accepting of it. Loving and liking someone should not have to do with what someone looks like. It should be about how a person respects you, and the connection you have with them. I personally have never been in a relationship with someone of another ethnicity, but I know I wouldn’t have anything against it. I’ve been attracted to men of other races, and if the relationship worked out, I know that not only I would be happy, but my family as well. My family’s number one concern is that I’m happy with whomever I choose to be with. I think as time goes by, interracial relationships will something that will be fully accepted by everyone. And at that time when it is fully accepted, as Sam says, we are going to look back and wonder why we never accepted it in the first place.

I think that feeling guilty is too strong of a word to describe how I feel for being my specific race. When I feel guilty, it’s a feeling that leaves emptiness in my stomach. It’s a feeling I get when I mess up something that I was in my own control. Being white is something that I cannot control, so I can’t say that I’ve ever felt guilty for being white, but there are definitely other emotions that I’ve felt. I feel bad for how whites have acted towards other races in the past. I feel bad that I can walk through an airport worry free, while others get glares and looks when they walk through. In our break apart class, one of the students said that he has to wait for two hours when he travels to other countries so that his passport can be thoroughly checked. When I went to another country, I gave them my passport and got it back two seconds later.
The only thing that would make me feel guilty would be if I took advantage of the fact that I am white. In class, Sam mentioned that sometimes minorities take advantage of the fact that they are a minority. For example, a girl mentioned that she cut in front a huge group of people knowing that they would not say anything to her because she was part of a minority group. If I took advantage of opportunities just because of the face that I was white, then this is when I may or may not start feeling a slight bit of guilt.
I think something important is that I’m aware that my white skin does have an affect on how other people treat me. It stinks that just because I have a different amount of melanin in me, or my eyes aren’t almond shaped, it can make such an impact on how I am treated in comparison to others. I can’t really do much about the way that certain people treat others, but what I can do is try to make people understand that the differences we have from one another are so minimal. I’ve always treated people with respect, because that is how I was raised, but taking this class and seeing that the only things that make us different are such factors like our melanin levels, they are facts that help people put themselves into different perspectives and can hopefully eliminate how people are treated
PS- As crazy as Lady Gaga is, her song “Born This Way” have lyrics that I really think relate to a lot of the lessons that Sam has been teaching us.

(part 4) From selling bracelets to having bake sales, this money helped to relieve some areas from deep suffering. If my high school was able to make a small difference, it’s amazing to think what nationwide organizations can do. They not only help out small areas, but groups like these can make a huge difference, like passing petitions. Hopefully, if we pull our efforts together we’ll never have to see another video like the cocoa video we saw in class.

(part 3) Cocoa beans. It was beyond crazy that a cocoa bean could cause so much harm to so many innocent people. So after this video we all became brutally aware of how horrible people were being treated just so we can have chocolate to enjoy. But this awareness only takes us so far. Taking action is the next step, and its’ definitely the hardest. Even though we are aware, it doesn’t help if we don’t do anything with our awareness. And this isn’t something that everyone does, because it requires a tremendous amount of work. It’s amazing to the people that put forth that amount of effort, because they are the people that make a difference in the world. I’m not one to start up one of these amazing organizations, but I definitely love to take part in them. At my high school we had different types of sales that would benefit countries that were in poverty.

(part 2)I think it’s definitely obvious that we live differently from other countries, if we didn’t, then we wouldn’t travel abroad to experience the different cultures of different areas. However what was most shocking was when Sam explained to us the difference between how people in poverty live in comparison to how people in poverty live in other countries. When Sam told us that we live 97% better than the rest of the world, and I’m sure everyone in our class was shocked to hear that statistic. But these are the kinds of things that world needs to hear. It helps us to become more aware, and I think that awareness is key in these types of situations. I think a great example was when we watched the video about slavery going on for cocoa beans.

(part 1) My brother currently lives in a pretty scary part of Philadelphia; in fact his area was voted one of the top 25 most dangerous areas to live in. After driving through this area to go to visit him, it made me realize how fortunate I am that I was able to grow up in an area where I felt completely safe and didn’t need to worry about walking the streets alone. Then after taking into consideration that this area is better off than millions living in even lower poverty in other countries, it was a really crazy thing to consider.