en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/767574 Comments by tbf5008 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69952730 It is a natural human reaction that you can relate to someone who is suffering and you try to help them. It is no different for these “lifers”. They are still people and have feelings regardless of what they may have done in the past. As someone who has had two different cousins in jail for various crimes, it hurts me to see when criminals are treated radically different than others because they did time. I know that my cousins are good people they just happened to screw up and make bad decisions with drugs and parole. But often time’s people look down on them or even me when I hang out with them because of that. It is interesting now because both of my cousins are out of jail and are doing better for themselves and finally people start to realize that they are just normal guys who made a mistake. This isn’t exactly the same as the lifers but it is similar in regards to how people look at them. Again, I am not saying that these people should be let out of prison for what they did, but it is naïve to think that they are not able to share the same emotions and feelings that all human beings do. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:52:56 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69952730 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69952682 You have to be willing to forgive people for their wrongdoings, even those who have wronged you. As difficult as this may be to do it makes all the difference in the world for being able to see people as they truly are. If you are not able to forgive there is no way that you could look at one of these “lifers” and appreciate their emotions, feelings, and connections for each other. When he describes the situation of the one inmate consoling the other when his son died even though they hated each other, I wasn’t surprised at all. If anyone outside of prison walls found out that an enemy’s son had died in a car crash you would do what you could to console them and help that person feel better. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:52:41 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69952682 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69952621 I think what this letter goes to show above all else is that these “lifers” are still people. Even though they’ve committed a murder and made mistakes in their lives, that by no means is reason they cannot show compassion and love. Surely, there are inmates who are not like the one who wrote this letter. I am not saying that these people should be let out of jail and I’m sure that they realize they must serve their punishment for their crime. But just because someone has committed a violent crime doesn’t mean that they cannot change their ways or feel simple human emotions such as compassion and love. As a Christian one of the biggest teachings in the church is forgiveness. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:52:24 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69952621 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/is-this-just-a-few-bad-apples__trashed/#IDComment64087710 This situation is pretty ridiculous. I think that it just goes to show that we haven't come as far in regards to equality as people think that we have. These congressmen clearly only were interested in the health care bill and similar political issues, when members of the crowd turned it into a race issue. Personal attacks at elected officials are not the way to express your disagreement. Yet time and time again nowadays this is what we see: Obama portrayed as the anti-Christ or McCain portrayed as a skeleton. People need to focus more on the political issues and not what someone looks like. Maybe it would be better if the political system worked like it did in the old days before television when you were not able to actually see the candidate, you just heard about their policies and ideas. There’s a right way to protest and a wrong way to protest and this is certainly the latter. There are things that I disagree with that both parties do but I don’t walk around calling them n***ers or f***ots. It’s simply wrong to do. It’s funny that most people think we’re so far past all of this kind of stuff. But let’s be honest, should it really surprise us this much? Listen to how people talk all over this campus alone. Most people are able to show enough respect and restraint but there are always those idiots, like the ones protesting in this article, who have no sense of censorship or respect. I don’t understand why it’s so difficult for people to hold up a sign stating their disagreement or their opinion and just yell that. There is no need to curse, insult, or spit at people who are simply voicing their opinions and what they want to do in their position. Just listen to what they say and then vote for the guy who you agree with. This whole negative advertising and negative protesting thing is annoying and stupid. This article also made me laugh about this new Tea Party movement. To me, the Tea Party seems like a bunch of people who are just pissed off at different things and have no sense of organization. It’s basically a group of pissed off people who don’t even agree on party platforms themselves. And this incident certainly does not help their movement whatsoever. If you’re trying to gain the support, let alone the respect, of people across the country, don’t protest in such a disrespectful way. How stupid can you be? Let’s go ahead and not only piss off the people who support the bill we’re arguing against, but let’s also do it in a way that makes Republicans say “what the f*** are those people thinking?” Thu, 25 Mar 2010 20:08:13 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/is-this-just-a-few-bad-apples__trashed/#IDComment64087710 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/this-is-getting-to-be-too-much__trashed/#IDComment61782177 If the hatred portrayed in the Facebook event description wasn't enough, the noose thing is entirely out of control. There is no reason why that student shouldn't be expelled once he/she is found. How stupid and ignorant can you be to still truly hate someone of a different race so much? That person should not only be expelled but once someone finds him/her they ought to teach him/her a lesson. You have to be seriously sick in the head to do something like that. It's bad enough that kids in the frats were disrespectful and took the party beyond what would have made it ok, but the whole noose thing is absolutely ridiculous. UCSD is going to have a tough time shaking this from the attention of the media, which sucks because it really shouldn't be a reflection on the school. It should only be a reflection of the few idiots who don't realize that no one should be treated differently just because they're black, white, blue, orange, or yellow. School officials should make everyone take some form of race relations class before they graduate in order to not only educate students about race, but to make a statement that it won't be tolerated. As for the frats that participated, I'm surprised that there isn't more investigation as to eliminating the UCSD chapters. As for the person who hung the noose, find them and expel them. It's surprising and disturbing to even hear a story like this because like most people, I thought that this stuff was almost non-existent anymore. Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:57:55 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/this-is-getting-to-be-too-much__trashed/#IDComment61782177 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/this-is-getting-to-be-too-much__trashed/#IDComment61782154 When I first heard about this story my reaction was different to what it is now. When it was brought up in our discussion group I originally thought that this was just a themed party that some fraternities were using to have fun. A lot of kids do various themed parties and I didn't think it was that big of a deal. But once we read the Facebook description of the party my opinion seriously changed. The way they described what students were supposed to wear and act took things way too far. The descriptions of a "ghetto" girl and how to "dress black" were disgusting and were clearly evident of a deeper hatred and/or misunderstanding towards black people. The fact that this school has very few black people as well probably only hurts this problem even more because rich kids in San Diego probably haven't even had few interactions with black people in their entire lives. If the party was just in the realm of trying to have fun and poke fun at how particular people dress (plenty of white people dress "ghetto") it wouldn't be as big of a deal but it appears that this party was aimed at insulting black people, not how a particular subculture dresses. Sat, 13 Mar 2010 01:57:37 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/this-is-getting-to-be-too-much__trashed/#IDComment61782154 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58697965 This situation is obviously not the norm, but it is good to read about. It is widely known that Native Americans living on reservations have struggled with poverty and unemployment. The discovery of oil is fantastic for these tribes living in North Dakota. It is also somewhat ironic that the Native Americans were forced to move to this land, and now it is providing them a great deal of new wealth. Good for them. I don't know a single person that wouldn't be happy for these people. It's the same as if someone found oil under the houses any of us our living in and we reaped benefits from that. It's simply luck and I'm glad it came for people who could have used the luck more than the rest of us. Hopefully this event stimulates the economy in the reservation and the state itself. As mentioned in the article, many job opportunities are presented through this such as drilling and transportation. The fact that tribe members are moving back to the area for the opportunities is great. Hopefully the new money is used and spent wisely and not spent lavishly putting tribe members back under the poverty line in a few short years. With a casino nearby this may prove to be more difficult for some but it is important to improving the stability of the tribe and the region. With a casino and this discovery of oil, the Three Affiliated Tribes should be well-off for the next few years. This is great not only for this tribe but for the economy in general. The search for domestic oil is needed to reduce our dependence on countries around the world and perhaps this is a start. This could unlock more untapped oil in that area of the country, or if not, still helps provide some oil, cash flow, and jobs. This is crucial for a people who have lived under the poverty line for a long time and seemingly never got a break. One comment in the article that I found interesting was the $60-70 million that the tribes get from the federal government each year. I'm not contesting the fact that this should be done due to forcing the tribe to move into the region and what not. However, I am curious as to what this money is spent on. The article mentioned that the new oil money was going to fund things such as roads, health care, and law enforcement. What are they spending $60-70 million per year on that they cannot form efficient law enforcement or maintain decent roads? Considering the tribes new economic position, I would be very interested to see on how they spend this new revenue with the money that comes in from the federal government. Thu, 25 Feb 2010 20:58:44 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58697965 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/avatar-and-the-white-mans-burden__trashed/#IDComment55373209 I've yet to see the movie Avatar but from what I read in the article I agree with Sam that Brooks is making a point that although it may not be correct, it is definitely worth thinking about. While reading the article thoughts popped through my head about movie after movie where the main character who saved the army, or culture, or the day was always a white person. I think this is something that has simply been ingrained in our culture over time and takes effort to break. When white people make a movie, it probably seems almost natural for them to cast a white person, and specifically white male, as the hero. It's very similar to the fish in the water analogy that Sam references. It's obviously a complicated subject as in movies there is often roles written for certain races. But there are surely roles that could be filled by either white or black people. However, the majority of the time it does seem that this role is filled by a white person. Off the top of my head I can only think of two roles in which a black person played the "hero" or a character of similar significance: Will Smith in Hancock and Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty. I realize that there are others, but the fact that only those two roles come to my mind at first shows that there is certainly a trend. Especially when I could run off at least a dozen prominent hero roles that white men have filled. I don't think that anyone is to fault for this. The movie industry is dominated by white people and it's almost natural to envision roles as one's own race. It's very similar to the way that many Christians perceive Jesus as being white. Jesus was born in the Middle East he clearly would not be white as he is often depicted. But as Sam pointed out, this is a common occurrence to portray religious figures or in this case heroes, as one's own race. If the movie industry were dominated by blacks or Asians, I would be willing to bet that the hero roles would be filled by black or Asian actors. Most of the movies that I'm referring to would be just as good if a black person or an Asian person filled the role of the hero. If a black Marine was the hero in the movie Avatar I'm not sure it would have affected the success of the movie. What I find even more interesting is the comments about the white hero coming to the rescue of the culture they encounter. A perfect example of this, as mentioned in Brooks' comments, is Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai. As I said above, I haven't seen Avatar but it seems as though the same thing happens. It is interesting that some people view it as white people saving another culture or coming in as some sort of messiah. My view of it is that the white person was cast as the lead role, main character, or hero. I don't see it as the white people are better than whatever culture or society they may encounter and need to save them. I think that is a little bit of a stretch of the imagination. But I do agree with the fact that it is interesting that white men very frequently fill the role of the hero. Thu, 4 Feb 2010 20:55:37 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/avatar-and-the-white-mans-burden__trashed/#IDComment55373209 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/racism-looks-pretty-good-on-this-side-of-the-atlantic__trashed/#IDComment54416257 This video is absolutely disgusting to say the least. In sports, often times remarks are made for the intention of getting under a player's skin in an attempt to throw that player off of his/her game. However, in the US, for the most part this is done "respectfully" and usually not with the issue of race. I had known for a while that European soccer fans were "hooligans" but had no idea about this ugly racism so widespread across much of Europe, not even just one or two countries. A part of the video I found particularly surprising was sometimes even their own fans yelled at them and also that some of the greatest players in the world were harassed, such as Henri. Refs, coaches, and even other players seem to just let it go with nothing to be said. Clearly something needs to be done, and the actions taken by FIFA before the 2006 World Cup may not have been enough. It didn't surprise me to hear that Europe has never had a Civil Rights movement and that blacks are few and far between in the continent. However, people still need to act with some form of decency whether attending a football game or not. Just because you are cheering at a sport doesn't give you the excuse to treat people with utter disrespect. As I said, getting under a player's skin is common. But the bananas being thrown, the monkey chants, and "Hail Hitler" hand gestures are simply ridiculous. These people should be ashamed of themselves because if they stepped out of that stadium none of them would have the guts to say something like that to one of those players face-to-face. Those fans make themselves look like cowardly and disgusting. And I thought that racism was bad in this country. Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:14:38 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/racism-looks-pretty-good-on-this-side-of-the-atlantic__trashed/#IDComment54416257 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-f__trashed/#IDComment54253099 Tom Fischer Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:00:21 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-f__trashed/#IDComment54253099