What I think the speaker was trying to portray was that we all are not immersed in diversity as much as we may think. I know I am sometimes personally guilty of not being as diverse and accepting to new cultures as I should. Even though I attempt to be, I fall short. We often close our eyes to what is different mainly because we only do what we know. There is a common fear of the unknown therefore causing the unwilling. Being African American I know that when I came to Penn State I was in a total culture shock. Especially because of my upbringing in the inner city seeing so many whites was absolutely crazy to me. I don't thin I had ever seen so many people who didn't look like me in one place like it before move in day. Me and my brother were actually convinced we were in the wrong the wrong place.
But to answer the question what do I think of society based on the segregation due to diversity? I could go on all day on this topic. First and foremost I think American society is the most hypocritical, biased, and fake societies that exist on this earth. American society is so ignorant to other cultures. We force our norms of society on others, giving off the demeanor of “Our way or the highway”. But yet we expect everyone to like us and do things our way, like we're the only type of people here. Society is so messed up on various levels, and in my opinion society hasn't changed much since the 1960s if you ask me. So many lines have been created between colors and genders, now more popularly between sexual orientation. What's next? So much hate and arrogance in our society. I don't think I'll ever get it. How can we, all of us no matter what color, gender, or sexual orientation, hate another human being based on physical characteristics? Who are we to even JUDGE anyone? Schools are the most segregated places in society. And it starts so young. Think about when we were younger and we would have cliques, such as the “nerds”, the “jocks”, the “cheerleaders” etc... Unknowingly we put ourselves in these classes. Subliminal hate. It seems like college is a big popularity contest. Who do you know, what kind of clothes are you wearing, do you “fit in” with everyone else? I personally try to stay away from these stereotypes and classes and take every person for who they are no matter what they look like. Every one has one thing in common: we are human and as Sam would say “We're all gonna die one day anyway”.

All is fair in love and war. Right? To be honest, statistics like these don't really surprise me. It's kind of expected. Our soldiers, no matter how we look at it are trained to kill and complete a task by any means necessary. So the fact that they would say they would kill twenty nine civilians to get “one bad guy” only makes sense. To me that number is a little lower than I expected. To be get one bad guy they would probably let one hundred civilians at his expense. But for the price of war this is what we pay. Personally I think war is simply about money. That is all! Money makes this world we live in spin. I think it is the cause and basis to about 95% percent of our government's actions, let alone our own. War makes our country billions of dollars. Not to mention whatever we take from the countries we invade and plunder at our expense. It creates jobs in the United States, yes, but at what cost. We kill millions and are commonly known worldwide as the big bully. We constantly threaten other countries and force our norms and opinions upon them. We try to change a countries economy and government in order to benefit us. That's all its about. A big marketing plan to the the US at the top. We can be so greedy and we don't even know it. We elect these politicians and vote for these policies then try to justify it on the basis of our safety. What about the countries we pick owns safety and well being? Don't they want to live just like us?
What number would I pick? I would say zero for zero. I'm absolutely against war and everything it stands for. There is no reason why we really go to war. Others will argue that we do it for our safety, some will say that others attack us, and some will say its peace. What do I think? I think its all about money. We do it to make money and create money. I can't speak on behalf of other countries because I don't live there, but I do know what we do. Killing at the expense of ourselves. I think the US is the worst when it comes to war. Why do we do it? I don't think a single person can give me a good reason why we go to war. If you brought the best politician you could find he/she still probably couldn't tell me why we go to war. Our government constantly lies to US and say they really care, but they really don't. I think this is terrible, absolutely terrible.

I've learned over the years that the best way to deal with ignorance is to kill them with kindness. “Take the higher road” so to speak. I have been on the receiving end of racial slurs, on numerous occasions, and even have been discriminated because of the color of my skin. While I was living in South Carolina; me, my mom, and my sister went to a restaurant and refused service. The waitress literally told us they “don't serve our kind” at their restaurant. My mother told me to relax but I immediately became filled with anger. I've also been racially discriminated against before as well. When I came to Penn State I can vividly remember one night while walking back to my dorm some random person asked me if I had a tail. My first reaction was retaliate but I remained calm and just kept walking. As I said before I find the best way to deal with situations of ignorance are to be the bigger person and use as less violence as possible. I think often when people are not educated they act out of ignorance towards a situation, or event for the sake of the question at hand. I can say that I know a lot of people that would not take my path of righteousness, so to speak. I can honestly say that as an African American male just about everyone who has been involved in a racial event or has been discriminated against has reacted about nine ties out of ten in some form of violence. Do I feel its right? No. But I do think anytime someone feels disrespected as a person they have some grounds for justification. Im no judge or jury. But I think people, in general, forget to ask ourselves this question: What would we do if the shoe was on the other foot? Would we be the calm person or will we react and do what you feel is the right thing to do. Whether good or bad I think the main issue when topics like this are presented is education and realization. Knowledge always has and always will be power, in my opinion. If you don't know, chances are you will be ignorant towards someone or something based off any previous assumptions you may have. Its kind of just one of those things. Now, it is highly unlikely that someone can know everything about everyone. BUT that doesn't mean we can't start taking more time to learn more about one another. The world would be such a better place if we all were just a little more patient with each other. But because of the power struggle we create as human beings we will always have issues such as race and discrimination.

This is absolutely one of the most intense stories I have ever read in my life. Seeing people like R's story really open your eyes to the cruelty and hatred in the world. To think that things like this happen every single day make me personally just sit back and thank God for doing everything he has done for me. I'm a little more empathetic for this man and his story because I know more than one person from the neighborhood to encounter such a childhood and upbringing. I knew a girl, who currently is in prison serving a life sentence as well, who murdered her father when she was 18. Her father had been sexually and physically abusing her since she was 9 years old. I also know a guy, who is currently in state prison serving three life sentences, for murdering his mother, father, and older sister. They would lock him the basement for weeks along with sexual and physical abuse as well. Such torture and abuse are things that I never could really understand. How could a parent, who is supposed to love and care for their child, do such terrible things to their offspring? What possesses people to take advantage of a child who is completely unaware of abuse before it happens and do such vile things to them?! Why?! I absolutely despise rapist! I truly believe that rapist are the worst people to walk this earth. The effects of rape and abuse lead to so many psychological problems and truly affect a person's life forever. Jumping back to R's story. It makes you wonder: Can you really blame him for killing his parents? I know taking somebody's life is not legal and in many people's minds unethical on many levels, but if you were in his shoes could you honestly say you wouldn't have had the same actions or thoughts? I know me personally I think if I was in his shoes I would have done the same thing! And to be quite frank it wouldn't be much that could change my mind about it. I don't think I would be able to live with myself, let alone make it as long as he did without reacting in one way or the other. After I read this article it actually gave the feel of some kind of success story. It made me a feeling of satisfaction that he found some kind of salvation for himself even through times of adversity. Some may look at it and say “he didn't have to KILL his parents”, but I feel like you can't truly understand someone unless you've been in their shoes. I know I'm not judging him, not my job.

I don't think I've ever felt guilt from being a certain race. I'm African-American, black, brown, whatever you want to call me and I have been proud all my life. If you want my honest opinion the whole “race” thing and classifications we put ourselves into are one of the roots to all the problems we have in the world today. Everyone is worried about what that race is doing, or what color is she she, or what race is the “best”! Why?! I think everyone should be who they are no matter what race, color, or creed. But realistically, I know for sure the world will never reach the pinnacle of my dream. Hate and discrimination will always exist, mainly because its human nature. Every “race” wants to be the biggest, best, most powerful “race”. I know in class we talked about white guilt which is always a touchy subject. Generally speaking, white people start to see the disadvantages that minorities face and some of the privileges and advantages they have in certain areas and begin to feel guilty for being who they are. A wise man once told me “you can't change the past. It's done. But you can affect the future.” White people can't change what their ancestors did but they can do something to change thes stereotypes and break some of the barriers that exist today. Now I'm not going to say that some of the things that happened in history between whites and blacks aren't wrong. But I do think its a time where its time to move on. I don't know when and I won't even say that time is today but one day it will be time to move on. Guilt is a weak emotion and I think its only revoked behind truth. Meaning, you don't do something unless you mean it. Feeling guilty about it after the fact doesn't change the intentions you had when you did it. So I really don't think anyone should feel guilty about being the race they were born into. You can't change who you are no matter how much you want to, because that's the way you were born. And its one thing true about every single person walking this earth. You are going to die one day. No one is perfect and we all make mistakes but no need to feel guilty. Learn from the mistakes of others and move on to progress. Life is the longest thing we'll ever do so enjoy it. Don't dwell on the little things! Live your life and have fun because as far as I know you only get one time to do it.

So the question at hand here: is affirmative action “taking it too far” when it come to those who are not the minority? Truthfully, I think the manner in which the the questioner asked the question came off in a very ignorant and nonchalant way. It seems as if he is either uneducated or unaffected by the issue and feels as if its wrong because it doesn't necessarily influence him one way or the other. I think issues such as affirmative actually are often frowned upon by those who are not the minority. So before I give my spill on how I feel about the issue, I want to look at what kind of affirmative action we are talking about here. For this particular question we are referring to this formal definition: Affirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, sex, or national origin"[1] into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination. This means there are laws, and or policies, that are being taking into consideration to aid those underrepresented to counter the effects of history of discrimination. So theses policies are present because a racial group such as “whites”, for example, are the majority compared to “blacks”, again for example, to counter the effects of a HISTORY of discrimination. As we know from our skewed books and prior knowledge of racial issues between “whites” and “blacks” there are CENTURIES of oppression between these two racial groups.
Now I won't say that strides have not been made to help the issue of the basis for affirmative action. But I don't feel, by any means, that after 60 years or so is enough time to change the effects of the centuries of oppression! So do I think affirmative action is “taking it too far” when it comes to those who are not the minority? Absolutely not! As a minority, I personally don't ever think that the playing fields between the oppressor and oppressed will ever get the level scale that we all aspire. In my opinion, I think oppression is a vicious cycle, because history has taught us that the oppressed will oppress! Things such as affirmative action only exist because those underrepresented are looked over in important categories, such as work and education, that would lead to advancement for all. Sam has provided some of the many statistics that show the bias between ALL racial groups, and affirmative action is just one of those flashlights that shines light on these problems. Questions like these always have a double edged sword feeling to them because they can go either way. There are always points to be made from both sides.

I feel like Americans, especially our generation are some of the worst when it comes to making a decision or taking a stand on an issue or problem. The clicker questions are a prime example of how people, in general, answer difficult or challenging questions. They will answer one way usually the way the really feel, then change it to be right or try and justify their decisions with the opposite response to lighten the truth of how they really feel. I also think people are just plain afraid. To elaborate, I think people are afraid to offend and challenge each other on the touchy subjects and important problems that have been around for years that should be changed. We can take just about any problem or issue and present it to an audience ask it the first time, challenge them with evidence or views from the opposite side, and just about nine times out of ten the group will change their answer or opinion. Why? I think a part of it is human nature to be right, but I really think it stems from a root of ignorance that lives in everyone. All of us from the time we are children are all raised different; with a set of core beliefs that most of our parents/family instill in us to be the “right” belief system or way of living, and everything else is wrong. And with that we grow up often stuck in our ways and not open to the big picture or other beliefs. Then when someone challenges us or gives us another viewpoint we try and change it to make it seem as if we really feel that way or believe it. Ignorance, not intentional in most cases, but prevalent because of how we are as people. Everyone want to be the biggest and the best, and they want the same for their race/religion. Its similar to the king of the hill example that Sam did in lecture. We can't help it's just in us to want more. We as humans, in my opinion, have been at war with ourselves since the beginning of time. I think as people began to change we began to hate. Lighter people began to hate darker people; darker people began to hate lighter people. And from there I think its just going to become a cycle that won't stop until who knows when! There is an old saying that says “history always repeats itself”. I'm actually a believer. Just a few things that come to mind: war, slavery, crime (as a whole), and the list goes on. A lot of these thing are things that we should have learned from our ancestors and put a stop to, but many times we don't.

There are a lot of reason why home ownership has so many staggering gaps between racial groups. Most, if not all of the reasons for the gap is because of some time of fight or battle between two or more racial groups. For example, we can look at the stereotypical “black and white” feud. This “battle” if that's what we want to call it has been going on for years. We all know about talks of slavery, so on and so forth leading from the times of Civil Rights into modern day society. I will say as far as African Americans go for the gap, I believe they and Hispanics are among the highest for being the worse off to start on the “right path”. What I mean is that Hispanics and African Americans are the highest for the most likely to go to jail and not graduate from high school. That means brown people and Hispanics are not going to college and getting good jobs so they can afford these houses; they are going to jail. This could be just one of the factors. But we can also take into consideration that it is hard to classify people in their particular “categories”/ racial groups. Take a mixed person it would be hard to place them in one particular racial group because they are more than one. And we can consider that there may be more than the average number of people living in a certain household.
This question can go so many different ways there are so many different reasons for the major differences in the stats. So many contradictions and things that should be taken into consideration when looking at this topic in general. There are always exceptions to any argument. But if I had to narrow it down to one contributing factor to inequality in home ownership I would have to say it would be the access to money and education. Not to offend but generally speaking whites or Caucasians are usually better of as far as money and education than just about any other racial group out there. Like I said there are exceptions to an argument. There are wealthy Asians, African Americans, and Hispanics there are just not as many as their lighter counterparts. To own a home you need money, and I believe to get money (enough to afford a home and live comfortably) you need education.

I’m not a big fan of classifying people, or myself, for that matter. Everyone is different and can be classified as a thousand different things for a million different reasons. But for the sake of argument, if I had to choose a classification for myself I would address myself as an African American male. I would say that generally because I was born with my sex and color of my skin, in this particular case, at birth. These are two things I can’t necessarily change excluding the factors of surgery, skin creams, and other procedures that can be done to alter the human body. In the regards to the second part of the question, I do believe most, if not all, people places others, willing or unwilling, in a particular class. Most people are quick to judge and make assumptions about others knowing nothing. Let’s take for example what we were talking about in class. A person can look a certain way, be a certain color, even be from a certain country and still not be what others perceive them as. I think we are all guilty of classifying each other based on what we look like.
I’m a brother, son, friend, teammate, cousin, uncle, role model, student etc. and the list goes on. People are people no classification will ever be the definite or true stance, because everything is subject to change and has faults. Very few things on earth are perfect and in my opinion, us as people are far from it! I think we have a long way to go as far as coming together as one, and based on my views and personal beliefs I don’t think it will ever get better. Though we have made strides, its like the old cliche advice: when you take one step forward its like taking two steps back. I think if we ever want to make this world a better place we have start at the origin. That being the ones we look at in the mirror. Change starts from within. Classification is something I believe we have created out of ignorance. I think out of hatred originated from centuries before us all for different reasons, we as people have created walls for each other and put others in classes to be more superior than our counterparts. I think its human nature to survive. So we all want to have a sense of dominance and feel like we are the best. And i think this stems from our ancestors creating color barriers fro reasons unknown. But in the words of our Prof. Sam Richards: “Doesn’t really matter. We’re all gonna die anyway.”

I don’t think the question is “what do we WANT to know?” I think in a class like this; which in it we attempt to shine light on subjects not “politically correct” and often afraid to be brought up, I think the question is “what are we willing to accept/ learn/ tolerate?” In today’s world people can, and often are stuck in their ways and restricted to the confines of their own belief systems. A real sense of conformity has taken over not just America, but in my opinion is spreading worldwide. Everybody wants to dress a certain way or have a certain career. We even have learned from class that most people want to be a different color than they were at birth! This just goes to show one of the many extremes of social norms being accepted today. After all these years of quote on quote “society” we still have slavery?! I think problems like this exist because of human selfishness. And we are all GUILTY. I can’t find one person that could honestly say that they wanted to be poor or less off than they are for the sake of someone else. Everyone, including me, has their own set of beliefs and values that they have to decide if they want to change. Especially if we are talking about such a big stage as the world! I don’t think this world we live in will ever change because its survival of the fittest and the strong don’t survive. Society has forced us to do WHATEVER we have to do in order to get the “top”.
One thing I am interested in looking more into in this class is this topic of racism we keep discussing. Racism is something that has been around for centuries, and quite frankly I don’t think it will EVER go away. Its 2011 and people are still being dragged from the back of trucks like it’s the 40s. I think a lot of times we say one thing and turn around and believe something totally different. We say as people racism is bad. But what have we actually done about it? What big strides/ movements have been made to show progress on changing? And this doesn’t just apply to minorities. Whether it’s white on white, black on black, latino on latino, it’s ALL racism at the end of the day no matter how you try and justify it. I guess I just want to see how many minds change after the course. Will people actually open their eyes and minds to new ideas and beliefs OR will we just do as we have done so many times before and SAY one thing and BELIEVE another?