This letter was really inspirational to me. Before this class, I had never thought about inmates as anyone other than bad people in a place they should be away from all the good people in the world. But this letter as well as hearing Sam talk about his experiences with the lifers has really changed my perspective. I give so much credit to these people who have changed their lives around and think it is so interesting how different their outlook on live is now. I am not condemning the crimes they have committed but I am very impressed to hear of such compassion and caring these humans are capable of.

It think it is really difficult for Americans to feel something about people that are not close to them. It hits home when it is someone you know or even when it occurs in your own country. But when disasters happen to other people all over the world it is difficult to mourn someone you feel you have no connection to. I am not saying this is fair or ok, but it is the way it works. In a country of such fast paced lives it is difficult to just stop for a minute and think about the other people in the world, even if something as terrible as the earthquake in Haiti happens.

I understand where you are coming from in saying that a lot of the immigrants do not have the money to do it legally. I do not think this is an excuse though for people to be allowed to immigrate illegally. I personally do not believe that illegal immigrants should be allowed in the country, but I do understand that them being here is inevitable. Our country needs them in the workforce and I believe there is no right answer to this problem. Right now, whether you immigrate legally is based on how much money you have. Although this is unfair, what else would it be based on? You cannot just open your borders to tons of foreigners who bring nothing to the country. This may not seem fair in selecting people based on how much money they have rather than how hard they will work but there is no way to measure someone’s drive. I think this is a way more complex issue than people think and there really is no simple answer.
I think this issue is really interesting how people have such strong views on illegal immigrants in this country. How can people really criticize others who are just trying to better their lives when that is exactly how we ended up in America? If any the Mexicans were stronger than our country they would come and take it over. But the fact is we are the stronger ones which is why we get to say who stays here and who does not. It certainly is not fair that this is the way it works. I am ethnocentric in that I believe I live in the greatest country in the world. Why wouldn’t people want to come live here and who are we to tell them they can’t? There has to be some kind of boundaries though. There are only so many people that can fit in this country and it would not be very fair to take all of the American’s jobs away because of the immigrants. I can definitely understand why people hire illegal immigrants and I think it is essential for our country to succeed by hiring these people for much lower wages.
I think people are way too quick to criticize the system that we already have without having a better way of doing it. I personally cannot think of a better way of doing it so I do not think I have much room to criticize. Yes, it would be nice to choose the people that get into this country based on how hard they work but I really see no way of fairly deciding who works hard and who does not.

I think it is a shame that people are perceived and looked at in a certain way because of huge figures like Osama bin Laden. These Muslims will never really be looked at as equal when living in this country because there is such a negative image of them because of past experiences. I cannot really blame people for not looking at them the same because of what has happened in this country. It sucks that because one person does awful things that anyone like him is looked at the same way. Everyone is different and just because your Muslim does not make you a bad person.

I think the end goal is to really open everyone’s eyes to the fact that these issues are going on throughout the world, instead of just ignoring them. If no one really knows about these issues, they can never be fixed. I think the major goal of this race relation’s class was for everyone to think differently then they normally do in the past. I know that throughout this class I have changed my views on many issues just because I saw them in a new light. Everything is not as simple as I thought and this class really helped me realize that.

I completely agree with everything that Sam said in class. It really opened my eyes to look at the war in a different way than I ever have. I think this war is insane and should be stopped right away. How do any of the political leaders in this country find it ok and even think it is the fair thing to do to go into a country, take over, kill innocent people. and steal their oil. They act like we deserve it over everyone else when in fact we deserve nothing. We are completely oblivious to how controlling this country really is and it is clear that we think we can get whatever we want. This makes me wonder if there will be a day when someone invades our country, kills our people and takes something that is ours. I am pretty sure our government would not let anyone do this to us, let alone think it was fair.
I also was one of the people to raise my hand when Sam asked who would join the insurgent against the Americans. There is no way I would be ok with anyone coming in trying to steal anything because they are more powerful. We just think we can abuse anyone and get away with it. I think one day our country is going to pay for all the damage being done and I think our political leaders need to stop this abuse. Although I have great pride in my country and may be ethnocentric in that I believe America is the best place in the world, I do not agree with a lot of what my country does. This also kind of relates to how we just came in and took over the land of the Native Americans. Just because we were more powerful then them, we basically ruined all of their people. Now we live in guilt for doing this to them, but yet we won’t do anything about it. If we keep just doing things because we are so powerful, one of these days someone will become more powerful than us and give us a taste of our own medicine.
I completely feel ashamed and awful for what is happening to the innocent people over in the Middle East just because our army is there. I have the utmost respect for all the soldiers fighting this war, but I do not agree with it. Our government needs to reevaluate their decisions and the outcomes and stop doing things like this. I really loved this lecture and I thought that Sam did an amazing job at opening peoples eyes on this issue. I know my eyes were definitely opened.

I do not think the point of this class was to change anyone’s opinion about any topic. It is more about making you think and challenging your beliefs. Sam has said numerous times that his goal is to make us think. And let me tell you this is the first class that I can truly say has made me think about things I never thought I would. It has influenced me so much because before, I thought I knew everything. This has really opened my eyes to so many different topics, not even only about race, but just about life.

I believe that Sam talked in class about how affirmative action has little affect on everyone. I do not know how this really applies to the workforce because I doubt people would hire anyone not completely qualified for the job. They will just happen to be of different race, but I highly doubt they will higher a doctor who is under qualified. They will just work harder to find a person of different ethnic background and just as good qualifications for the job. If someone is applying to be a doctor, they have gone through all of the tests and schooling to be capable to perform surgeries and do the tasks professionally. It is not like people are just going to go hire random people with different ethnicities off the street to abide by affirmative action. I do not think that affirmative action hinders enough whites from the schooling they want and deserve and the jobs they want to make this a major issue. Whites have stopped African Americans from going to school and getting certain jobs for a lot of American history. I believe this is a way bigger issue to solve than affirmative action. Affirmative action is looked at in such a negative way when people really do not even understand its real affects.
Now talking about nepotism, I feel that this is a bigger issue than affirmative action. This is because when dealing with nepotism, you will have cases when a person completely unskilled and unqualified for a certain job is hired, whereas with affirmative action they are at least qualified for the job. I could say I think nepotism is horrible and should be stopped, but that would be very hypocritical of me. If my parents have any way of getting me a job through connections you better believe I will take it. But then again, I am an eighteen year old looking for summer jobs. I think nepotism is ok in some circumstances, but once you start to deal with huge jobs that require many years of learning and many difficult tests, these places have no place for nepotism. It is completely unfair to allow someone a top job opportunity who is less qualified because you have family relations. I do not think there is any way to really stop nepotism or even contain it, but I believe that the bosses will suffer from their decisions. If someone picks their sister for a huge job and she proves under qualified and incompetent, it hurts the boss and company. I do not think many companies can afford mistakes like this, especially in this economy. Nepotism is done everywhere and I am sure most people have experienced it in some point in their years of jobs.

This video really surprised me. I felt very oblivious to the fact that black kids would pick the white dolls. Growing up in a mostly white community I was very sheltered from any other races. I think the fact that the girls with lighter skin are portrayed by most blacks as the prettier ones has a lot to do with why they picked the white doll. I don’t think Disney has enough impact to truly affect these children, but what they hear and learn from their parents makes a big difference. I found it really awful that the last girl struggled so hard with picking the doll that looked like her.

This entire class is aimed at basically making fun of every race so that we are all comfortable talking about all the stereotypes. If you cannot laugh at these kinds of ads and videos that Sam puts up in class, then you are missing the entire point of what he is trying to say. He is not trying to offend anyone. I took the ads as him trying to prove that what are people really looking for. If blacks dress like whites then why is it ok that they get made fun of for that. It should just be ok to wear whatever fits your personality, not always about race.