This is an interesting question but I feel as if my parents would be much more accepting if I brought home an African American girlfriend instead of a boyfriend. My situation is interesting because interracial relationships have been a part of my life already. Both my older sister and younger sister are dating black guys and it has really only been my dad that has had a problem with it. My older sister has always dated black guys since I can remember. She has pretty much had two serious boyfriends and both have been black. This caused a lot of controversy with my dad because he is very “old school” Italian. He wants my sister to just find a nice Italian boy instead of black guys all the time. Does this make my dad racist? Yeah it does to a certain extent. He has nothing against these black boyfriends of my sisters but he is just afraid of what other people think when they are seen together. He thinks that everyone has this pre-conceived notion of all black men being “ghetto” and dangerous. This obviously is not the case at all and both of my sister’s boyfriends have been great guys with a lot going for them. I have gotten very close with my sister’s boyfriend and have tried to get my dad to accept the relationship on numerous occasions, because I figure if he sees that I am close with the guy and have accepted him as worthy for my sister than he should too. I love that my sister has found someone that she cares about enough to fight for. She has been through a lot of criticism and negative situations but they are still together today. Even with all this criticism towards interracial relationships, I still think that my parents would be more upset if my sister brought home a girlfriend or if I brought home a boyfriend. This is just how we brought up in a Christian household, never experiencing any kind of homosexual relationships in our family at all. I think it would be difficult for my dad to fully accept myself coming out of the closet. Even today in society I think that it is much more “acceptable” to be in an interracial relationship instead of a homosexual relationship. My own personal beliefs are that you can date whoever you want to date. It does not matter if they are black or gay, if you love them and want to be with them than people should be willing to accept that. Today with our generation I think that this is the general conception towards this question but with our parents generation it is definitely different. People like my dad are stuck in their old ways of thinking about things and it is hard for them to just start thinking differently at this point in your life.

Thinking about the question of who you would save from drowning is really difficult but it also depends on so many different factors. My initial reaction to the question was that I would definitely save my child, what kind of person are you if you don’t save your own child? But than again, what kind of person are you if you don’t save your mother? Or significant other? You obviously love all three of these people and it would not be an easy choice. Someone brought up a good point that even if I did try to save my mother, she might not even let me and would urge me to save my child and to let her drown. Would every mother have this reaction? It is kind of hard to make that judgement call, especially right in the middle of such a strenuous situation. Even if your mom told you not to save her, would you listen? This is the woman who brought you into the world, and you are just going to let her drown? Than there is the issue with whether or not you would save your child. A couple of questions come to mind, like how old is this child? Does that even matter? Whether it is an annoying teenager who does nothing but defy you and disrespect you or if it’s an innocent little toddler with so much more life to live. I would think that most people would still choose to save their kid. I for one would no doubt in my mind save my child, no matter what kind of relationship I have with them, based solely on the fact that they have so much more life to live and that it would be unfair to let them drown without experiencing everything that you have experienced. Letting your wife or significant other drown would be a really hard thing to do, but if you really think about it, they can be replaced. Unless you are so madly and perfectly in love with them and would be miserable everyday for the rest of your life without them, than you might consider saving them. This idea of being able to replace someone is interesting, because really your mother is the only one that you can’t “replace”. You only get one mother in this world, but you can always have other kids or other wives. I for one just hope to never have to be in this situation because I may say one thing now and another tomorrow. But you really don’t know what you would do until you are right their in the situation, watching all three of these loved ones drown in front of your eyes. It’s a tough call to make, and it’s really a lose-lose situation.

This is definitely an interesting and yet controversial topic. The fact that a state felt it was necessary to ban people from wearing pants too low is very comical if nothing else. Why do people think that this look is a ‘good look’? I think it is completely ridiculous that this saggy pants phenomenon came to be such a wide spread problem. What is interesting about this problem is obviously because people associate this baggy pants epidemic to people of color, more specifically youth African Americans. People say that they do this so that they can appear different from everyone else? They are already different from everyone else though, wearing your pants below your waist is just dumb and gives off a terrible appearance. No one is going to take you seriously in the real world if you are introducing yourself to someone and your belt is on your thighs. Alabama definitely has the right idea here with passing this law. They don’t need to worry about any racial type of controversy because even white youth are starting to wear their pants low. It really comes down to being a rebellion type look. Fashion has always moved in that direction for the teen generation. Teens want to look different and look a certain way to piss off their parents. What better way than to wear your pants below your butt? I would say that this is more a rebellious social fashion statement, more so than a racist stereotype problem. What is interesting is that the statesman that wrote this law and proposed it was African American. This is either because he just wants his son to stop doing it or he genuinely thinks that it is an appalling and even unhealthy fashion look. Nobody wants to see your underwear in public. It is called underwear for a reason, and it’s because it is supposed to be under your pants, not peaking out and saying hi. It really does not matter if the statesman that passed this was black or white, but I do believe that it would have been more of a racial issue had the statesman been white. People would have been saying that he was just being racist because it is clearly an African American fashion style. It is impossible to avoid these kinds of stereotypes, they are all around us and will continue to be. Viewing this from a different position, it is kind of ridiculous that time would be wasted on passing a law like this when there are a lot more pressing issues out there. It is also kind of a surprise that Alabama has been the only state to pass this law. Why Alabama more than a different state down south, or with a high African American population. I guess the people of Alabama were just tired of seeing underwear out in public.

I think everyone is racist to a certain extent. You can say all you want to say that you’re not but in truth we all have racist thoughts and whether or not we share those thoughts is completely up to you. If you’re watching a track race and all of the sprint runners are black, you can’t help but to have some thoughts about that. Are these thoughts even negative though? Most people generally believe that being racist is always a negative thing, and it usually is. I was pretty shocked after reading the Hunger Games article about these “fans” being disappointed because the main characters were black. That is absolutely ridiculous. If you are a true fan of the book, and all this hype that has surrounded it; you would have paid attention to how the author describes the characters, and that is by saying that they have dark skin. We all form visions in our mind of the characters that we read about, and yes often times we might see the movie and be disappointed because they look differently than how we first envisioned them. I have never even thought to be disappointed because the main characters were portrayed as black, when they were supposed to be in the first place. These fans are saying that “it ruined the movie” or that they can’t believe that made all the good characters black. These people actually believe that black is evil and white is good. This is definitely racist and definitely disappointing to read all these dumb tweets from people who don’t even know what they are talking about. It is crazy to think that all these people loved the book and read the book almost religiously, completely engrossing themselves into the main character of Rue and falling in love with their own image of that character. As soon as they see that character portrayed differently on the movie screen, they start to say these terribly racist remarks. It is really pathetic to think that there are people that actually get upset over things like this. This whole idea of people being driven by a certain “political correctness” of racism definitely exists. What we choose to say in public about race might be completely different from what we are actually thinking and saying privately. I think a lot of the time people are afraid to really say what they want to say because they are afraid of what people would think of them. No one wants to be thought of as racist, and when you do say something racist, one usually tries to cover it up right away. These people tweeting racist remarks about the disappointment of the main character in the Hunger Games being black are being very blunt about what they think. Do they even realize that they are being racist?

Not being a person of color, it is obviously difficult for me to relate to them on a lot of levels. I do think that there are both positives and negatives to being introduced to racial identity at a young age. If we are looking at the positives, I think that it is important to identify yourself with those that you love. At a young age growing up, your family is the most important thing to you, so why not identify yourself with them right away? I’m sure that a lot of children of color growing up don’t even realize that they are different until they are told or experience some kind of incident. I feel as if it is the family’s responsibility to teach their young children that they are different. There is a downside to this though because how are you really going to tell your child that they are different from most of the other kids at their school. It is a fine line between what is right and what is wrong. What’s wrong, is that America has become so fixated on labeling people into certain groups. It is a part of our history and always will be. We lack a certain national identity because of all these different “groups.” In fact it’s hard to say you are really truly “American” until you go abroad. I grew up in a pretty racially and culturally mixed neighborhood and never really thought twice about if it was okay to be friends with black kids or Hispanic kids. I was going to be friends with whoever I wanted to be friends with. I think the best thing to do with the younger generations is to allow them to think what they want to think. We should not hide this racial identity issue from them until they are confronted with an awkward situation where they are unsure how to act. I thought that they doll exercise was a perfect example of how corrupted many children of color’s minds are at such a young age. When asked which is the evil doll, most of them chose the colored doll, and then followed by a question asking which doll looks like them; they hesitate and choose the same doll. What these children have been taught is that they are different, not accepted, “evil”. It is up to the family that they are raised in to prevent these kind of thoughts. But this is obviously easier said than done. An interesting scenario is with interracial marriages, and when your child is borderline black or white. The parents need to raise them to understand that they are still considered black in America, even though one of their parents is white. They can do all they want to self-identify as something else, but as long as America uses skin color to group people into these different racial identities, they will always appear black to America.

I think when you are talking about war, the topic will always be controversial. From my personal experience I feel like most people don’t even know what they are talking about when it comes to the war in Iraq. They assume things and hate on the entire Muslim community as a whole just because that’s what they think they should be doing. I have two cousins in the army, one cousin in the navy, and the youngest brother of my cousins just joined the Air Force. I have learned a lot from talking to them and hearing their experiences and from what I understand the general feeling towards Muslims in the army is that they are misunderstood. Not everyone in Iraq is a terrorist, in fact the ratio of terrorists to not is much in the favor of innocent people. Like we discuseed in class, the army is given orders and they are expected to follow those orders no matter what. I found it really inspiring hearing from the three Iraq War veterans that talked in front of the class. To hear that they are involved with trying to raise awareness for the Muslim communities and that kids were waving at them and blowing them kisses as they drove through the streets, really opens up your eyes to what it must really be like over there. The twitter feed at the beginning of class is a great example of these arrogant kids who are just saying things to stir up controversy. I am willing to bet the majority of kids in our class don’t even know ten facts about the so called War on Terrorism. It’s the sad truth that we as the American public are so poorly educated about what actually is going on over there. Unless you know someone that is a soldier or involved in some way, you are left in the dark and are forced to listen to the ridiculously liberal newscasters on Fox or CNN. Sam is not a close minded person, and he says over and over again that he is just trying to get us to think. If kids still don’t understand that he is not this anti-war, liberal maniac than they need to pay a little more attention. The ideas that Sam is presenting in class about the war is just to raise our awareness level. You can consider yourself anti-war all you want, but the reality of it is that there is a war going on; and it’s probably not going to stop any time soon. If you drive a car and fill your car up at gas stations, you are essentially supporting the war. The fact of the matter is, we need oil because of the society that we have built for ourselves relying so much on it.

I am definitely very satisfied thus far with the topics that we have covered this semester. One thing that I believe should be covered more is the generational divide with racism. I think we lightly discussed it and have mentioned it but I think it is extremely important to the overall discussion about race. My generation obviously feels differently than our parents generation or even our grandparents. As an art history major the best way I can show an example of this is by comparing two African American artists, Betyee Saar and Kara Walker. Walker uses this notion of push and pull in her work. She makes you want to be the black heroin and makes you want to kill her. The use of the silhouette is very important to her work because that is what gives it its ambiguity. The viewer cannot see everything that is going on but they can see just enough. Walker uses this wonderful shock effect in her work that gets people to really think about the image, making the viewer immediately attracted to the work and at the same time repelled by the work. The intricate paper cutout silhouettes look innocent at first glance but this is quickly juxtaposed with the often ugly, uncomfortable subject matter behind the work. A lot of people hate Kara Walker’s work and her successes, Betye Saar being one of them. Saar feels as if Walker’s work is somewhat celebrating black stereotypes by showing images of mammies, pickaninnies and sambos. Over and over again the black is portrayed as the victim, tending to white slave owner’s needs. It is said that Walker’s art is done to accommodate the white art world, it is what white people want to see and this is what Betye Saar does not agree with. There is definitely a generational gap between Kara Walker and Betye Saar; and this is clearly seen with Saar’s comments towards Walker. Back in the time when Betye Saar was Kara Walker’s age, time was completely different. The public since then has developed and started to move away from the terrible aspects of racism and black stereotypes. What upset Betye Saar so much is that she believed Walker’s art was just embracing these stereotypes and saying that it is okay for the white community to revisit the awful history that African Americans had to go through. I believe above all that there is definitely a generational divide with this controversial topic. Older African Americans, like Betye Saar feel that images of mammies, pickaninnies and sambos are evil and promote racism. Younger generations, like Kara Walker, believe that all images are unstable projections, subject to change. Helman’s concept of time shows us that time is a linear, progressive thing and that generations to come will continue to pass over older generations in new and different ways.

When talking about this physical attractiveness topic, I think that it really comes down to who you are; basically whether you are good looking or not. I think the topic of physical attractiveness when trying to get a job or join a certain organization is very interesting. No matter what you might think, this kind of discrimination definitely exists and is definitely unfair in a lot of ways. It doesn’t surprise me that in Korea you are required to include a photo with your resume, I’m sure that it is like this with a lot of places. Is it fair to exclude somebody because they are physically unattractive? My personal view towards this is kind of split. Looking at the example of joining a fraternity is a great way to understand this kind of discrimination based on physical attractiveness. Obviously when I am rushing kids for my fraternity I am looking for good-looking guys that will represent our fraternity well. Why would I want an ugly kid wearing our letters on campus and representing us in a negative way? When rushing a fraternity or joining any other type of organization, physical appearance is definitely important. It’s all about first impressions, and if that first impression is negative in my mind, than I immediately will write you off as not someone that I want in my organization. I would rather have a good looking guy wearing our letters on campus representing us in a positive way. If it came down to two kids, one ugly but all around a much better guy, versus a good looking guy that doesn’t get along well with any of the guys; we will obviously go with the kid that gets along with the brothers better. We aren’t cynical, egotistical guys that are just going to pick all good looking kids that aren’t good guys in general. Out in the real world, this is definitely the case as well. But most of the time you aren’t meeting people in person, and if you have two resumes that are exactly the same but one kid is better looking than the other; why would you not go with the client that is physically more attractive? It is in our nature to be attracted towards better looking things and/or people. Taking care of yourself and having good personal hygiene goes a long way. Not all people are blessed with that perfect bone structure or perfect hair, but if you don’t take care of yourself hygiene-wise, it’s going to reflect negatively on you in life. Whether it is in Korea, a fraternity, or just applying for a job at McDonalds, you are constantly being judged on your appearance whether you like it or not. This is just the world that we live in today and there is really nothing that we can do to change it.

I definitely agree with the fact that most kids believe in what they believe in because that is what their parents believed in. I myself have always considered myself a Christian just because I grew up with my parents forcing me to go to church and Sunday school. Once I hit a certain age, I stopped going to church and for what other reason than that I just felt differently towards religion. Once you reach a certain age you start to notice different perspectives of religion but you still don’t know the otherside. I think it is difficult to see the otherside to things sometimes, especially with religion. Sam talks about the bible kind of being a not legitimate thing and I agree to a certain extent. Religious historical texts, like the bible, are all written from one perspective. I think that most people that consider themselves Atheists have never even opened a bible. So why do they not believe in God, why are they not a creationist? They haven’t even given that religion a chance. Why am I not Jewish? Or Muslim? It’s because of how I was brought up, I never saw those sides of religion. I don’t necessarily disagree with their views and ideals but do I believe in them? Everyone has a certain faith towards something. Even if you’re an Atheist, you still believe in something. You believe in yourself and you believe in something. You have to believe in something, how else can you answer the simple yet complicated questions of Why are we here? What is life? When did life start? I personally think that to consider yourself an Atheist, and most people that do, you are just being ignorant and are just unsure about what you want to believe. But that’s okay, you don’t need to be sure but you do need to have some kind of faith. Creationists might say that Atheists don’t necessarily need to read the bible, but I think they need to give some kind of religion a chance. I wouldn’t consider myself an Atheist but I also wouldn’t consider myself a Creationist at this point. I believe in a lot of different things and I believe in letting yourself believe in whatever you want to believe in. Don’t let other people influence you and persuade you one way or the other. I think growing up, going to church and listening to pastors preach about the bible, was an interesting experience but I don’t like the idea of him telling me what I should believe in. Are we really what are parents are though, just because we believe in the same religion as them? It’s a tough topic to really understand and appreciate sometimes.

I think it is interesting that Will considers himself black just because he looks black. When in fact, he is actually mixed white and black. If I were his white mother I would definitely have something to say about the situation. His mother is clearly not black, and the only reason that he is black is because of genetics and his father being very dark. So I guess Will’s father’s genetics kind of outweighed his mother’s white genetics. Looking at Will and ignoring his black skin color, you can definitely see a lot of his mother’s white features; whether it’s in the eyes or the nose, those white features are present. So again, just because Will’s skin is black, doesn’t mean that all his features are black. In fact his features look more white then black, and the only black aspect of him is his skin color. Will says that he considers himself black because of his skin color and that his mom doesn’t mind at all. There are a lot of cases with children having one black parent and one white parent and most of the time the black skin traits seem to overshadow the white. Is it a fair assessment to go up to any fair-skinned black person and assume that one of their parents is white? Will is not necessarily a “fair-skinned” black person though, in fact if I were to just meet Will on the street I would definitely assume that both his parents were black. This is just how the human mind works. We see a certain skin complexion and we jump to conclusions right away. He looks black, she looks white. We don’t stop and think that maybe this person is a lot like me in ways I can’t see plainly. It is amazing to think that if you dig deep enough in someone’s lineage and ancestry you can probably find men/women with the opposite skin color. For example, I know that my family comes from southern Italy, a region that is known for very dark-skinned Italians. Dark-skinned not necessarily meaning black, but just a very dark tan for a white person. But why aren’t dark-skinned southern Italians considered black when their skin is probably darker then a majority of fair-skinned African Americans, or “blacks”. I think that a majority of the time people will look at someone’s skin color and that’s how they will categorize what race they are. They won’t pay attention to facial features or cultural background because these are not as obvious. Will considers himself to be black because that’s how he grew up, with people assuming that he was just black. Why go to the trouble of trying to convince someone that you are actually mixed white and black, when all they can see is your dark black skin.