Honestly, before taking this class and learning about all different experiences, I would have probably had a much different take on the topic of legal versus illegal immigration. In the borough of my town there are a lot of Mexican people that wait around to be picked up by local business owners for many types of work. There seems to be a growing number of the Mexican population, and when I was younger, I definitely did not understand WHY they were coming here and why when I go to certain places; the people working there could not understand and/or converse with me. However, I can honestly say that through discussion and mostly by reading the book, Crossing the BLVD, I got to see inside of what some people do to come to America.
It absolutely never crossed my mind that people gave up such high standing positions in society, whether it came to wealth or fame, just to come to America in order to have the rights that, as Americans, we feel everyone are entitled to. Two or three years ago I would have probably said, “Learn English before you come here,” or something along those lines, and as someone as regarded themselves as not racist, it kind of shocks me to think that that is a kind of racism. Maybe it isn’t me making a comment on skin color but it sure is offensive to that person’s culture, especially since what they are doing is essential to their freedom and quality of life. People give up careers as lawyers and engineers to drive cabs and work at other jobs that are regarded as not the best of careers just to be free!
So, in my mind, hard work is enough payment to come to America. Yes, it may frustrate you at times if you cannot communicate with someone, but you don’t know their situation, and to be completely honest we NEED immigrants to do jobs. Some people will say, our unemployment rate is still hovering around 10%, why can’t Americans use those jobs? Well, is the person you know that got laid off at as a banker at Lehman Brothers really going to take a job at McDonalds? I didn’t think so. We, as Americans, need to understand that what we have here is special, and people want that better life for their children. At one point, we were all immigrants, and people all had to work hard to earn their way. Hard work should be enough because honestly, it’s all someone should need. If they are willing to sacrifice so much just to give their families better lives, who are we to say that a piece of paper should validate that goal?

When reading this article, I would have to say that my initial reaction was shock on a variety of levels. First of all, I cannot believe that the overall number of schools teaching foreign languages has declined. While Spanish has stayed constant, this cannot seem as much of a shock because there are so many Hispanics in America, it would be stupid not to teach it in order for us to communicate with one another. However, America catches so much grief for not being global and appreciative of other countries. We go everywhere and expect people to just know English (I cannot say I have not gotten frustrated in similar situations), but now we are not making even slight efforts to know other countries’ languages? Even if most high school students do not come out being anywhere near fluent, it still helps to have a basic foundation. It at least shows an effort.

As far as schools increasing the amount of Mandarin being taught in the US, I think this is phenomenal, and it is about time that we stepped a little outside of our traditional “romantic” languages. By no means am I saying that the other languages are not important, but being able to converse with people in China is a huge step for American in quite a few ways. First of all, I think it just shows willingness to learn different cultures. Yes, France, Germany, and Russia all have cultures but America is a white country that stems from mostly European backgrounds. Asian culture is so much different and holds such new realms of opportunity. Second of all, learning Chinese in schools is a huge opportunity to further advance the US in an economic standpoint. China is the future. They have a huge population and the country itself holds such vast business opportunities for the future. All US businesses are looking to China for global expansion, so to have a new generation of American students learning the language will only help our communications with China.

Some students have posted their opposition to schools diverting resources to learning Chinese instead of other languages, but if Spanish has stayed constant, where do our priorities lie? France, Russia, Germany – while Americans may constantly go abroad there on vacations, the economies of these countries are fairly stable, have a lot of English-speaking residents working in big banks and multinational corporations, and do not hold as many growth opportunities. As for the “No Child Left Behind Act” taking resources away from languages because of math and science testing, that is America’s doing (I do think these subjects are more important than languages, though), and if China is paying teachers to come over here to expand their culture, why not accept it?

While the welfare system may have a ways to go in the terms of efficiency and how the standards on which it is allocated, I do not think we should eliminate it from the country altogether. There are some people in the United States that actually need welfare to survive and there are others that simply abuse the system. After reading some other blog posts about how welfare should be ended, I think it is very easy to simply say we don’t need welfare since WE don’t use it. Do some people abuse the system? Absolutely, but some people actually do need welfare to survive. Being someone that doesn’t receive welfare, it could be very easy for me to say that I do not think our country needs it. However, for every person that cheats the system, there are probably five more that actually benefits from welfare. Some people act like welfare is providing this perpetual stream of sizable income that is letting them live home in luxurious lives without working. This is not the case, and as Sam said, most of the people that receive welfare are children. How can someone justify taking away something that benefits people who don’t even have a say in their upbringing? Also, how can people make the generalization that if these children are raised on welfare, they will continue to take advantage of it for the rest of their lives? These are huge assumptions.
What our country really needs is a different way of allocating welfare or investigating the people that do receive it. Realistically, this may not be feasible in terms of costs and time, but if people see a problem with it, they must come up with a better solution than simply getting rid of it. Just recently, I heard of someone in my area that collected welfare because of the way they claimed their income, and this infuriated me. Here they are, a middle/upper-middle class family that is getting food stamps for their children’s lunches that they can absolutely afford and there are families that can barely afford basic living expenses. This example is why everyone assumes people take advantage of welfare. I don’t have a solution but there needs to be some kind of middle ground that can be reached upon in order to have a fair system that can still provide for the needs of the people that actually need help surviving. I don’t believe that it is okay for people to simply live off welfare but in our country’s current situation, there are people with bachelor’s and master’s degrees without jobs, so how can people without any higher level education expect to be employed somewhere that is paying enough to support themselves and a family? Nothing is ever going to be perfect, and people will always criticize things that aren’t benefiting them, but we should really sit back and look at the good welfare does for our country, rather than the bad.

Before watching this video, Sam warned us about how disturbing it was, and to be honest, he always says things like that so I didn’t know what to actually expect. When viewing the “Girls Like Me” video in class, it was one of those few experiences where I was so emotionally impacted that I did not even know how to react. Of course, racism, inequality and prejudice are all awful, and there are so many things in this class that we have seen and heard that were eye opening. However, what makes this video so different is the fact that it involves children.
The one moment that truly stuck out was when the little girl called chose the white doll as nice and the black one as bad and then had to agonize over the choice of which doll to pick up when asked which one was like her. It was heartbreaking. Where do such young children get ideas like this? I cannot even remember having a thought about race until many years after that. Of course, this is due to the fact that I am white, and as Sam has said many times, a black or brown person starts realizing things about race much earlier than a white person.
What it really must come down to, though, is the media. Let’s be honest… the media in the US is predominantly white. Just going back in my mind, I cannot remember the last black woman on the cover of Cosmo, other than Beyonce, in the past two years (there probably was but no one stands out). If all these children have seen growing up is white people and white children being seen as the “ideal” image then there is no question about where they get this mindset from. If you think about it, Disney, which is a company that exposes itself to this age demographic, came out with their first black princess this year in The Princess and the Frog. Sure, this is a great thing, but when you really think about it –it’s 2010! This may seem minor, but Disney princesses were such a big part of my childhood. I legitimately think I was about 5 of them for Halloween. There was Jasmine, who was supposed to be Arab, but nothing about her appearance or skin color suggested so because I only learned in high school that she was not white. So, if these little girls are dressing up as white princesses and only see white people in these glamorous roles, there is no question why they think white is “good,” and this is horrible.
Naturally, I think there are other factors that come into play such as: home environment and school environment, but children are a lot more perceptive than we give them credit for, so I think it really has been what they have seen of this world.

Of all the classes to miss, I, of course, missed the whole texting controversy. However, our discussion group talked about it a lot this week and I wish I had been there to experience this huge dilemma in our class. What is asked in this video is very similar to our discussion about the “rudeness” going both ways. Personally, if I had been there to see someone posting something with the “n-word” up there, I would have been very offended and uncomfortable. I understand everyone has their views but something so disrespectful and distasteful really offends me and also boggles my mind about how someone could use it so freely in this day in age.
While this comment was offensive, the point of race discussions also came up. If we are not uncomfortable, are we making any progress? Maybe not – but using racial slurs and blatant statements along the lines of white people are superior and black people are inferior. Why do people think this? What causes these beliefs? I obviously do not agree with these statements but I would like to know what makes peoples minds think like this. If we can start to understand each other or at least see each other’s points of view, then maybe we can make some progress.
Although I was obviously shocked and offended about the blatant racism against black people, I am white, and also was kind of offended about some of the things said against my race. I know there is no word that would offend me to the degree that the n-word would for a black person, though racist may come close. However, when talking about this issue, I overheard classmates saying that things such as “white people don’t deserve what they get” or that we have it easier. Yes, I may be white and I have not had to deal with the issue of my skin color much until now confronting issues in this class but by no means do I not deserve what I have worked so hard to accomplish, and I, too, have struggles. For the past sixteen years of my life, I have been working hard to obtain a great education, just like everyone at Penn State. However, with only about six weeks until graduation, I am jobless, and if it was my fault, I would attribute that to myself but I have seen people with worse grades, not as much involvement but with a parent that’s a banker or a CFA get my dream job because of who their parents were or their connections. It’s not racism, I know, but it’s certainly not fair. I know most black people don’t feel this way, just like most white people are not racist but I think both sides of the situation need to step back and look at what is being said before making overgeneralizations about one another.

Seeing this video and hearing Natalie Rudoulph’s story is truly inspiring as a female who is also very into sports. By no means am I the type of girl who would argue that women athletes should be paid the same as males or that women’s sports are just as exciting as men’s because to be quite honest, I don’t believe either of those things. However, I do think that women making strides into a male dominated atmosphere is absolutely huge for women, not just in sports but for this day in age. Although men and women are equal in this country today, there are still so many stereotypes that are held against women, just as they are held to other races and men as well. To this day, I still see and hear mean talk about how their future wives have to be willing to cook and clean, which I personally find comical in 2010 because in all honesty, the career path that I am headed towards will probably make me and equal, if not, higher income than people I have dated and my future husband.
Another stereotype – probably the one I feel most passionate about - is the one about women and sports. Growing up, I had Barbies like any other girl but I also played every sport in the book, and being the only girl in the neighborhood, I wasn’t playing house all the time. This atmosphere made me grow to absolutely love sports and everything about them, and I never thought there was anything weird about that. I would much rather argue about how much I hate Duke, the Red Sox, and the Eagles rather than which hair product is the best, but many people, even in 2010, say that its not “girly.” So, for a woman to play football and then go on to not only play but coach a group of teenage boys deserves a lot of attention and respect. While she may be just one of a few in this category, I have a feeling female presence in male sports will only continue to grow. Like anything, it isn’t normal now but in ten, fifteen years, I hope to be living in a world where a female football coach won’t be a news story. Rudoulph, without a doubt, will see more adversity in her coaching career than any other male high school coach. I truly hope that people will be able to see past the fact that she is a woman and not attribute her sex to every mistake she makes or every loss her team experiences. While this may happen, I hope that it doesn’t hinder any progress she will make because it wasn’t too long ago where it was unheard of for having black coaches coach a white team, and now a factor like that is not even recognized (at least by me) as being odd in the world of sports.

Usually, when looking at an issue, I can easily see both sides of the argument clearly and then see where my opinion falls. However, I personally do not see much of where this argument is even coming from.
The past four years I have spent at Penn State, I have gone to a significant amount of parties, only a small percentage of those being themed. I am trying to look back and recall if any of them were geared towards a certain race, namely black people as stated in the video. The only thing that remotely comes to mind that could be associated with rap culture, which as we know was started by black people, is the “gangsta” theme. However, I have absolutely never heard of anyone dressing up for one of these said socials and making fun of black people. Most of the time it is people wearing a football jersey or a white tank top and sagging their jeans or tilting a flat-brim hat to the side, and then the party proceeds as normal with drinking and maybe a little higher than normal amount of picture taking. Nothing seems racist to me about that.
What is more disconcerting is the fact that there are just as many theme parties not having to do with race AT ALL or quite a few having to do with familiar stereotypes towards white people, which as we have learned in this class – it is important to look at both sides of the issue. For example, there are some common theme parties like golf pros and tennis hoes or CEO hoes and office hoes that are circulated around the idea of a preppy/rich man (for the sake of the US culture, usually white) and a slutty girl. As a white person and a woman, this is not offensive at all – they are simply exaggerating preexisting stereotypes of our society.
Also, after “Jersey Shore” blew up on MTV, we saw countless poofs, blowouts, short dresses and tight male tank tops. Actually, on one night, five of my six roommates had different Jersey Shore parties to go to. Being half Italian and from New Jersey, I know this is not how everyone actually is, and while there is all this protest about the show, it is entertainment, just like these parties. Aside from these examples, I must point out that race never even enters my mind, especially because a majority of the themes have to do with holidays, sports events, or something challenging/creative like “anything but clothes/cup/etc.” and think is far-fetched for someone to say white people are the ones mostly taking part in this activity that pokes fun at black people. What some must also remember is the percentage of white people at Penn State. While I don’t have an actual number, it is by far, much higher than any other race represented here. So obviously when you go out on any night, theme party, or not, there are going to be more white people, in general. I am all for eliminating racism in our society but to do so, I feel like we must look at what is really at issue and I don’t think that by dressing up and going to a party any college student thinks he or she is degrading another race.

Last week, our recitation group discussed the same issue about why it is always black versus white, and the reason that most of us agreed upon is the tense history between the two groups. In her video, Laurie addresses that slavery is not the main issue between us and that is the civil rights movement and while I see her point, I think that it is both and extends well beyond both of these issues.
The fact of the relationship between black and white people is it is always changing and always current. Slavery happened hundreds of years ago, but how many history classes have we had in our lives dedicated to it and the Civil War? Countless. We have African American History month and know the famous activists like Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X. There are hundreds of movies dedicated to the topic, and for most of us, we all have one that stands out. For me, it was seeing Remember the Titans for the first time and how mind boggling it was for me as a twelve year old to think that such racism still existed in 1971. Now, we have a black president and the hip-hop/rap culture has brought so much black culture into our society.
Now, think back to the last movie you saw about the relationship between white people and Asians, Indians, Native Americans, Latinos, or Middle Eastern people. I can’t think of one. To be honest, the only thing that comes to the top of my mind is Pocohontas and that movie was made probably over a decade ago and wasn’t even historically correct. The only other relationship that I think our generation has become semi-familiar with is the one between white people and Middle Eastern people, and this has not even had much positive change. After 9/11, our country went from people of the Middle East being just another race to one that has become targeted. Other than that, though, it always comes back to black and white. Blacks have also been really the only race to struggle in America to gain freedom. That being said, they are not the only race to face racism or treated differently. However, slavery and segregation predominantly pertained to blacks and whites were the one caused this. If one single thing like this had happened to another race, I feel like things would have been different. Although some may argue that white people taking in part of a genocide against Native Americans hundreds of years ago is just as bad or worse (which I agree with), the fact of the matter is that it was so long ago. Our grandparents couldn’t tell us about it, as they could about the civil rights movements, and our history books barely tell of this genocide at all. Growing up, you learn that the white people came over and were pilgrims, ate Thanksgiving dinner with the Native Americans after they taught the white people how to grow corn, and then that’s where it ends. So maybe it is the lack of a true history of other races in our country, but I truly always believe it will be black and white because of the deep tension in our roots from so many years of struggle in the past.

The words of this South Carolina politician are absolutely sickening. To think, people elected this official into office and that he actually has power. The problem with many politicians today is that they all have money, and most of them came from money, so they really don’t understand the other side of the spectrum. For Bauer to liken homeless people to animals is absolutely despicable. Like we have discussed the past few days in class, most people born into wealth will wind up wealthy, and most people that are poor will remain poor. While we will all do better than our parents, it is highly unlikely that I will end up a multi-billionaire. It is not a coincident that these patterns follow through in such cases as politics. The Bush family is a perfect example: Yale graduates, George Bush, Sr. was a President, followed by his son George W. Bush and his other son Jed being the governor of Florida.

Bauer uses the quote from his grandmother saying that you need to quit feeding the stray animals because they breed. So, is his real proposal to stop feeding the poor so they die off? Like Sam says, most of these people are children, and what choice do they have? Just as he had no choice to be born into a family that would eventually help him become Lieutenant Governor, these people had no choice to be poor just like you and me had no choice to be in the situation we were born into. Additionally, there is not much helping this situation today. When watching the Oprah clip the other day on the drastic differences between the two schools only thirty-five minutes from each other, it was shocking. It was an issue I never really thought of – I came from a great public school system with exceptional facilities and while our school wasn’t as new as the one pictured, many schools within five minutes of my house are just like that. However, if you drive forty minutes north to Newark or south to Trenton, it is a whole new world. In my mind, especially in high school when I was surrounded in such a bubble, that’s just how things were. I didn’t think that I deserved what I had more than they did but I don’t think I really understood how drastic our worlds really were.

Like Sam has said, it is not that the middle or upper class people don’t work for what they get but they have a much easier path of getting there, and there is a less likely chance of someone that grew up with absolutely nothing ending up, for instance, where most people that graduate from Penn State will end up – just like it is not likely that I will end up in the same place as someone from Harvard Business School or Wharton. It saddens me to know that there are so many people in the United States (and the world) that will never get to explore the potential that they have because of what kind of financial situation they are born into, and as for Bauer, an apology will never erase his harsh words, nor will it erase the fact that he actually had the nerve to even think such things in 2010, a year where we are supposed to be equal and bettering our nation.

After reading this article, it was almost refreshing to see the ration reactions from both parties on board. While the tefflin was just a religious piece, it was the flight attendant’s responsibility to be concerned. Personally, I have never seen this religious practice and may have been concerned myself. Post 9/11, everything is seen as a threat and personally, I’d rather more events like this happen than another terrible event resulting in thousands of deaths. What is more positive about this suspicion, as well, is that it is not another case of racial profiling where you hear about the innocent Arab man being called upon because he “looks like a terrorist.” This was a legitimate concern for the safety of other passengers and while it was due to unfamiliarity, I don’t think many people can say they would have been able to identify what the boy was actually doing.

Additionally, the responses back to the public from the boy’s grandmother and rabbi were also very commendable. There were no claims of being unfair or that the flight attendant was discriminating against their culture. In fact, the responses were full of understanding. Truthfully, the boy did absolutely nothing wrong, and it saddens me that he had to go through the process of being handcuffed and having a gun pointed at him at such a young age (or at all, for that matter). This just shows how little everyone really knows about one another’s cultures and how diverse our world really is. I have four Jewish roommates (none of which are conservative) and they all had no idea about this religious practice, nor would have been able to identify what the tefflin was if they had been on the plane.

It is even sadder that in this post 9/11 world that we have to assume that everyone has bad intentions, and what is worse is that we assume that anyone looks different from the typical, American look are the ones that are causing the chaos. What I think people do not understand is that not every terrorist is from al Qaeda and not everyone that is different from the norm is out to get America. I do understand we must ensure the safety of our nation, what is the cost at which we must do this? Are we going to alienate every single person and culture because they look and act different? After all, this is America – we are supposed to be a melting pot of cultures that is accepting of everyone. We were able to mix together Italians, Irish, Germans, English, etc, but how long will it take for us to integrate all cultures into the “American” culture because it’s 2010: how long will everyone have to wait until they are accepted?