This letter was definitely my favorite post put up on this blog. Although I heard Sam and Laurie mention about their visits with the inmates a few times in class, it is still only an outsider’s perspective. Being able to listen to this man’s feelings and thoughts through his own words really provides a better inside look into what some of these men are truly like.
I really don’t understand how so many people are shocked by the fact that this man can be compassionate and caring. Crimes are committed for a variety of reasons, and all are not committed out of pure malice for the entire human race. Even if it is committed based on malice towards one person, there is most likely a very long and deep story that goes along with it that most people would not be able to understand. People get into fights at bars, and getting angry towards people for no real reason. Men are stereotypically known to handle arguments with fights, but this doesn’t make them uncompassionate or bad people. I think the best example is the story that Sam told one day in class.
He was talking about the man who got into a fight with someone at a bar, and the other man happened to fall and his hit head. Since the internal bleeding in his brain was so excessive, it caused him to die. Now, honestly, a situation like this could happen to at least half of the men in State College. Many people have gotten into fights at bars, and although most walk away with some minor bumps and bruises, I guarantee that when the two people are fighting, they aren’t thinking to themselves “oh, well I’ll just punch him on this side of his face because otherwise I could possible rupture an artery and kill the man.”
Although I do feel that when a person commits murder the most just thing to do is to sentence them life in prison, I still feel remorse for many of those people. It is sad to me that the person did not think enough about their actions at the time to realize that killing a person would severely impact the rest of their life, as well as their family. Later on, no matter how much remorse or guilt they feel about the crime that was committed, their actions affected a lot of people who’s loved one was killed. Unfortunately, it is sad that actions can’t be taken back, but that is why people have to think before they do things, even though it might be hard with testosterone running through someone’s body.
Getting back to the man’s letter, I think that it is nice that lifers at least have each other for emotional support. Although they have been ripped away from their families and the people they love due to their actions, it is nice that they can still confide in others. I think that once people eventually come to the realization that they will never get out of prison, it will allow them to move forward and create a life in the situation that they are in. I believe that lifers can be happy just like everyone else, but I feel that it would take a lot of time for people to be fully happy. I also feel that for many lifers that realization will never come, and they will be unhappy until the day that they finally die.

I think that this girl brings up a very good point that people need to really think about. I feel that too often people assume that a few minority extremists are the majority, when in actuality- they aren’t. I think this doesn’t just go for Americans thinking about Muslim extremists, but people in other countries judging the Christian extremists from America who go on mission trips to try to convert others. From our point of view, it is easy to know that people who stand outside and preach about their Christian views and how all other people will go to hell, are in the minority. I know many Christians who get angry and extremely heated when they see people trying to forcefully convert others, and demean everyone else’s religions because they feel like they get grouped into that category of Christian extremists. Even for Christians, it is not really that bad because the worst that many extremists do is try to “save” others from going to Hell. However, Muslim people go through an entirely different story.
The actions of Muslim extremists happen to cause many casualties and the death of so many innocent families. The world trade center suicide flights will obviously cause more commotion and controversy than a Christian extremist trying to press their views on others. Even when looking at the video of the Christian soldiers in Iraq running over the civilian’s car and damaging their property because they were stealing, it wasn’t killing a person, it was just damaging their property. In no way am I saying that this is okay by any means, but nobody can deny the fact that the happenings on 9-11 are going to create much larger of a response from more people, than what Christian extremists or American soldiers have done in the past.
I have a lot of really close friends that are Muslim, and having heard their perspectives in the past, it is similar to that of the girl’s Husband who posted this video. I know a lot of them don’t really think it is fair that they get eyed at a local gas station just because they are darker skinned and follow Islam. Even though they are in no way paired to the bombings (in fact many of them could have been as equally as affected as everyone else), they were still ridiculed a lot during that time and looked down upon. I feel that this is so unfair, because many of them are Americans just like us. They are faithful to their country, yet they are looked down upon simply because of their beliefs.
I think what people need to start doing is to stop jumping to conclusions and become more educated on topics before they formulate opinions about others. I know the majority of people who think all Muslims are extremists know nothing about the religion. Even people who don’t think all Muslims are extremists, but still show some resentment to people who follow Allah in general, I think need to actually pick a book up on the religion and understand it better.

I think that the lecture on Thursday really helped me to put myself in the shoes of Muslim people in the Middle East. I thought that the points that Sam made were very strong, and the videos that he showed were also very striking. I think that it is difficult for people to see things from another point of view if we are not forced to do so. I think the war that we are fighting is really killing a lot of innocent people’s lives and it isn’t really fair.
I was extremely shocked by the American soldiers’ running over the civilian’s car because they had been stealing. I honestly think that doing things like that really make the situation worse. People begin to get angry, and it is no longer a war over oil, but a war of spite and anger. The worst problem is that military officials really have no ways of controlling it. There will always be some soldiers out there that will want to cause harm to innocent people because they are frustrated with their own situation. Just like Sam said, the minority may be causing the problems, but for Muslim people in the Middle East, that may be all they see. Whether it is in a newspaper article, or on the internet, the minority is blown up into the majority.
I think Sam made a good parallel when he compared it to Muslim extremists. All Muslim people are not terrorists. However, many of the suicide bombers and terrorists lately happen to be a few Muslim extremists who support Jihad, and causing harm to others who go against Islam (all for the sake of God). Therefore, many Americans see these people as the majority and automatically dub all Muslims as terrorists and people who are out to kill. I think that this is extremely unfortunate, and so sad. However, other than educating more people I don’t really understand how it is avoidable. If more people learned about the religion of Islam, and met more Muslim people, they would realize that they are not all extremists. It is the same with any other religion.
I have many friends who are Christian who are embarrassed to see people advocating Jesus Christ and the bible, and acting like they are saving people and saying that all other people will go to Hell. However, because I have many Christian friends who do not push their religion on others, and talk bad about other people, I would never make the assumption that all Christians are “invaders”, and trying to push their religion on others. However, for Muslim people in the Middle East who see short news viewings and postings on the internet about the “Christian Invaders”, it makes sense for why they would think that.
As far as Sam asking the question if we would rise up and kill American soldiers if we were Muslims in the Middle East, I completely agree. It is certainly not fair that we are over invading their country, for a natural substance just so that they don’t rise in power. I think that is extremely selfish, and we are killing innocent civilians who have no choice in the matter.

I think that the lecture on Thursday really helped me to put myself in the shoes of Muslim people in the Middle East. I thought that the points that Sam made were very strong, and the videos that he showed were also very striking. I think that it is difficult for people to see things from another point of view if we are not forced to do so. I think the war that we are fighting is really killing a lot of innocent people’s lives and it isn’t really fair.
I was extremely shocked by the American soldiers’ running over the civilian’s car because they had been stealing. I honestly think that doing things like that really make the situation worse. People begin to get angry, and it is no longer a war over oil, but a war of spite and anger. The worst problem is that military officials really have no ways of controlling it. There will always be some soldiers out there that will want to cause harm to innocent people because they are frustrated with their own situation. Just like Sam said, the minority may be causing the problems, but for Muslim people in the Middle East, that may be all they see. Whether it is in a newspaper article, or on the internet, the minority is blown up into the majority.
I think Sam made a good parallel when he compared it to Muslim extremists. All Muslim people are not terrorists. However, many of the suicide bombers and terrorists lately happen to be a few Muslim extremists who support Jihad, and causing harm to others who go against Islam (all for the sake of God). Therefore, many Americans see these people as the majority and automatically dub all Muslims as terrorists and people who are out to kill. I think that this is extremely unfortunate, and so sad. However, other than educating more people I don’t really understand how it is avoidable. If more people learned about the religion of Islam, and met more Muslim people, they would realize that they are not all extremists. It is the same with any other religion.
I have many friends who are Christian who are embarrassed to see people advocating Jesus Christ and the bible, and acting like they are saving people and saying that all other people will go to Hell. However, because I have many Christian friends who do not push their religion on others, and talk bad about other people, I would never make the assumption that all Christians are “invaders”, and trying to push their religion on others. However, for Muslim people in the Middle East who see short news viewings and postings on the internet about the “Christian Invaders”, it makes sense for why they would think that.
As far as Sam asking the question if we would rise up and kill American soldiers if we were Muslims in the Middle East, I completely agree. It is certainly not fair that we are over invading their country, for a natural substance just so that they don’t rise in power. I think that is extremely selfish, and we are killing innocent civilians who have no choice in the matter.

It is pretty apparent that the United States would never allow a game like this to be produced. However, through the computer, many people are getting a hold of these games regardless of where they are being made, so I think that it is important to understand why these games have been produced in the first place in order to attack the problem.
Yes, I think that these video games are really inappropriate and promoting sexual violence. However, like the two individuals from the video, I can see how people don’t really see how it is a big deal. Even looking at video games where graphic human deaths are involved, most people feel that they are okay because people can make the distinction between reality and virtual reality. However, even though some people can do this, many younger impressionable minds aren’t so easily convinced, and the distinction between reality and video games might not be so clear to them. This concept can also be applied to depicting rape in video games. Especially since rape is specifically targeted towards women, and very demeaning towards them, I feel it is an even bigger issue.
I think one of the most disturbing things from the video was that women were depicted as being in pain as they were being raped. The graphics in video games are becoming so life-like that I think it is getting harder to distinguish between characters in video games and people in real life.
The fact that this video game was created in Japan, really doesn’t surprise me. It reminds me of the brothels in Thailand that are having a huge problem with prostitution becoming such a mainstream part of society. I think part of the community acceptance of these video games is due to the fact that women are viewed as subordinate to men in many Eastern countries. However, the fact that the Japanese government is not speaking to CNN indicates that they know there is some underlying issue, and that there is in fact a problem with these rape video games. Hopefully it is just a matter of time that they address the issue and realize that these games are accepting violence towards females, and it is so bad for humanity.
Honestly, the ultimate thing to look at is that there is absolutely no need for people to have these video games. There is no benefit at all, and therefore, they should be done away with. There is a point where being inappropriate surpasses entertainment, and this is one case where it does. Unfortunately, the Japanese Government may have falsely told CNN that they realize there is a problem just to get them to go away. Truly, we will never really know if the problem is being looked into, or if it is just another way to make money (similar to the brothels). There needs to be a way that these video games will no longer be profitable- until then, it may be difficult for them to be eradicated for good.

Sam was definitely right when he said this would be one of the most shocking videos that we watched in class. When such a high majority of the children picked the white doll I was really surprised. I thought that it would be at least closer to fifty-fifty. However, then I started to think about possible reasons that the children would pick the white doll. The dolls that most kids have would be white, so I feel like as a child, everyone wants to be like everyone else. Nobody is really looking for individuality when they are younger. When one of the girl’s in class was talking about how she would pick a white doll over an Asian Barbie. I completely understand her point. There is usually only one ethnic Barbie per race, and most of the time she is dressed in an outfit that you don’t like, or she doesn’t really look that pretty. Ultimately, there are more white people in this country than any other race. Therefore, Barbie needs to cater to the majority of the population. You can’t really come out with many different ethnic Barbies because most people won’t by them. It isn’t practical.
Although some of the children may have picked the white doll for this reason, when the one girl said that the white one was nicer and prettier, I thought it was so sad. The worst part was when the older girl asked the little girl which one looked most like her. She had just stated the black doll was bad, and then she hesitated, and with such sadness on her face she picked up the black doll.
I’m not sure if it is parents or friends that are putting such ideas in these kids’ heads. However, I feel like this can be so traumatizing to their children, and cause them to have really low self-esteem. Being non-white myself, I understand what it is like to have the idea of white beauty being drilled into people’s heads. Ever since a young age, adults put the idea of lighter skin being beautiful into the minds of their children. Honestly, kids look up to their parents and elders, and when they are saying that other people are beautiful, it is really going to take a toll on their kids and make them feel unwanted and unattractive. I think this is probably the worst thing that parents could do to their children.
When the one girl spoke up in class and said how her one friend said “you’re pretty for a dark-skinner girl”, it really hit hard for me. I think it is awful that in so many cultures, true beauty has been depicted as having lighter skin. I’m really not sure where this idea came from, but I think one way to change that is for parents to talk to their kids from a very young age.
I think it is important for parents to enlighten their kids on racism. Specifically that people in the world are of different colors, but no one color is more beautiful than another. I think that if kids are brought up having a high self-esteem, then the idea of beauty will shift. However, I think this will be really difficult because the parents that are teaching their kids need to put aside their own insecurities. I hope that parents can do this for the well-being of their own children.

I think you made a very good point with this comment. I actually also observed this in class when the texts were being sent up on the screen. In response to the new texting response system in class, I don’t like it all. I think it is a huge waste of time, and I feel that we are all staring up onto a screen and watching the same short comments being thrown up into the screen, mixed in with a few rude, inappropriate comments. I think the system would be much better if everyone was linked to their specific comment with an anonymous user ID (like the blog responses), but that nobody would really know who anyone was. By doing this, the anonymity of the responses would still be there, but people would not have so much power to write whatever they please, including inappropriate comments to purposefully hurt other people’s feelings for no apparent reason. It is obvious that power can’t be given to the class because most of the students are unable to handle it. I am shocked that so many students would take advantage of the fact that these responses are completely anonymous and say rude things to other people. As Sam said in class, “if you can’t say the response to a person’s face, you shouldn’t be putting it up on the screen.” Also, even if a person could say such rude things to someone’s face, it’s a race relations class and people should be more respectful towards others.
Specifically in response to the fact that everyone seems to laugh when someone makes fun of a white person, vs. someone making fun of a black person and people getting really offended, I think it has to do with history. Honestly, the ‘N’ word has really strong negative connotations for a lot of people. It was used in an extremely derogatory way towards many black people during a really tough time in their lives when they were race was strongly oppressed. If white people had similar words that were used against them, I feel that the reactions would be just the same. When people make fun of Penn state girls wearing “uggs” or a white “bench warmer”, the words are used in more of a light-hearted way and are just simply poking playful fun.
I think another thing that people need to realize is that the majority of our class is white. Of course the majority of the class is going to feel comfortable within their skin and laugh at the things that they are being made fun of. However, when you are making fun of a minority group, or a smaller percentage of the class, it singles people out more. I remember the one comment stated in class: “loud ass black girls in the computer lab”. Honestly, who wouldn’t get offended by a comment like that? It is obviously meant to purposefully hurt someone’s feelings. Even if the comment was not directed towards black women, a person being extremely loud is not a phrase that has a good connotation tied to it.
I hope that the texting response system improves a little bit during classes because right now I think they are a huge waste of time, and really taking away from class because people are not taking it seriously.

After reading this article, I really started to think about what the school board is really going to accomplish here by cancelling the senior prom. Senior prom has been a tradition amongst American high schools for a long time, and giving an excuse as horrible as “distractions to the education process” is completely ridiculous. I’m sure a lot of the students at the high school in Mississippi are extremely angry at the board for cancelling such a memorable about for high school juniors and seniors. I feel bad for Constance because I’m sure most of the students are blaming this incidence on her, and possibly taking their anger and frustration out on her. However, they really should be supporting her choice to be a lesbian as fellow classmates, and work on the school board to re-initiate prom and allow her to come. However, in a small southern high school, if the school board was bold enough to cancel prom, I’m sure that many of the parents of the children at this high school have instilled anti-gay thoughts into their kid’s heads.
I don’t see why there is a point in hiding homosexuality. Technically, both of these girls could have come to the prom together, walked in separately, and carried on as they were dates. As far as one of the girl’s wearing a tuxedo, I could maybe see if the school board was old fashioned and trying to keep the prom traditions (man wearing tuxedo, woman wearing dress) that they wouldn’t allow the girl to wear a tuxedo. However, this is obviously not their reasoning because they felt that the solution would be to cancel the tradition of prom altogether. Personally, I feel that wardrobe should be up to each individual as long as they are not purposefully trying to offend another person (slander). Men do not have a monopoly on long, baggy shorts, ties, or tuxedos for that matter. Today, ties are actually being incorporated into many female outfits as a sign of fashion.
I think it is good that Ms McMillen has support from her family, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). People really need to stop living in the past, and come to terms with how much America has changed in terms of gay rights. It is necessary for all students to attend school. It is not like this girl is going to a church, and pushing her lesbianism against the beliefs of that church. It is very unfair for a school to discriminate against certain types of people, whether it is people of color, people with specific beliefs, or homosexuals. In the future, I think it should be a necessary requirement that people who are hired in high public positions (such as a school board) should be open-minded. Poor decisions like this should not being made and effecting innocent students. I hope that the pockets of anti-homosexuality are slowly eradicated throughout different parts of the United States, and I feel like they will be because in this case: the majority is ruling over minority.

I am actually really shocked after listening to this story. I am not sure if it was mentioned in the video and I just missed it, but I am curious to see where this incident occurred. Originally I was thinking that the workers and manager at that particular store were just in a racist area. However, despite where the incident occurred, the corporate official is the person who actually came and investigated and fired the woman. I am just surprised that after she was hired and working there for a few weeks, the official came and fired her. I think that is a pretty bold move on their part.
It is obvious that the statement made by Abercrombie & Fitch stating that they wanted to hire more diverse employees in order to understand the customers they were serving was solely for publicity‘s sake. I guess this video is just proof that despite how far we have come regarding discrimination and racism, it still exists today. I just feel like today the majority of racism is a little bit more hidden and less overt. However, everyone knows that it still exists.
I just don’t understand how they could have given this young girl guidelines on which hijab’s to wear while she was working, and despite her following protocol, they fired her because she wore them. The fact that they fired her on account of her wardrobe not fitting “Abercrombie and Fitch’s look policy” is absolutely ridiculous. They can’t even make the argument that less people would buy their clothes because a muslim person is the salesperson. Many muslim women, along with other races wear clothes from Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch. I think that Abercrombie and Fitch is one of those stores that already has a stereotypical role as being a store that caters to young, rich preppy kids. The only thing I am not surprised about in this story is the store that displayed their racist attitudes. If I could think of any store that would have fired a Muslim woman based on her Hijab, it would be a store like Hollister or Abercrombie & Fitch. I feel that since it seems to target a specific audience, the corporate members felt that a Muslim woman with a headscarf would actually deter from their profits rather than enhance them. However, it is very selfish of the company to allow people of different religions to buy their clothes in order to make a profit, but they discriminate against who can work there.
I would be interested in seeing if the company actually fired this woman because they are racist against Muslims, or if they actually feel that if she was working there they would lose money. When people go in to buy clothes at a store, especially one that already has an established name for itself, I doubt that anyone is looking at the people selling the clothes. I especially think it is sad that just because this woman is vocalizing her disparagement of the company and her unfair treatment, that she is facing death threats from people. I think that it was the right thing for Hani to file a complaint first before filing the law suit. I think she is working towards justice, and if people like her just sat around after they were treated unfairly, our society could not work towards eradicating the racism that still exists.

I never really thought much about the Native Americans that were unjustly thrown off their land until we discussed it many times in this class. I definitely think that it was unfair that so many innocent Native Americans were killed just to take over their land. I think that long ago, the white people that first came here really wanted to exploit others and flaunt their power. I don’t really understand how people could just kill others to take something that isn’t rightfully theirs and not feel guilty about it. That being said, I don’t feel like the descendents of these people should have to feel guilty for the mass genocide that their ancestors caused. Especially as a first generation American, and the fact that my parents came here a little over 20 years ago, I don’t feel any sort of responsibility or connection to this topic. However, there is a difference between feeling disconnected and not caring. I definitely care about this topic and feel for the Native Americans. Whether our ancestors lived in America or not, WE are all Americans, and we should all make it a priority to care for everyone who lives in this country and stand up for justice. We can’t do anything about the genocide that occurred in the past, but we can become more educated on the topic and help to try and compensate for their losses.
I do think it’s great that the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation (who has long been impoverished) is now bringing in money from the oil wells that have been drilled on their land. It is also nice that that the Native Americans are now able to get jobs which they were previously struggling to get. I can only imagine how nice it must be for the families that are benefitting straight from the drilling by getting paid. I think that it is a nice reward for their ill treatment. However, I definitely don’t think it makes up for it, but at least they are rising a little bit out of poverty. Although the money is a benefit, I think that it is also very bittersweet for them due to the health risks that come along with the drilling. After reading that article, I am not sure if many of the families will feel like it is worth the money once their family members are falling ill and dying from the toxic fumes. However, based on their extreme poverty, maybe they would prefer to live a more lucrative life for a shorter amount of time, then having to struggle.
Either way, I definitely agree with the article when it said that the world needs to reduce its necessity on non-renewable resources and put more effort into developing non-polluting alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and hydrogen. Once the non-renewable resources are depleted, if we haven’t worked on the maximizing the efficiency of other renewable resources, we will be in trouble when everyone will need to start using them.