Our talk about the Native Americans really affected me and stuck out to me this semester. I would say that it was the biggest thing I took away from this class. I honestly couldn't tell you why I was so affected by this subject because I have absolutely no relation with Native Americans. I am one hundred percent European American, and maybe that is why I was so affected by the things we talked about. It really opened up my eyes to hear (I can't remember his name) the guest speaker's stories and to listen to that song about the Europeans taking over the Native American land. The video showing all of the hardships that the Native Americans go through was also very eye opening for me. To hear these horror stories about how many Native Americans are now in poverty and so deep in poverty that they're committing suicide and always on edge and anxious that their relatives may be dying was so heart wrenching for me. It really hit me deep. To see the raw emotion of the guest speaker when he was telling his story about his family going out to sea to get fish to eat and having to deal with the deaths of these family members and then having his younger cousin kill herself because she couldn't deal with the pain was just so touching. I was crying with him while he was telling his story and like I said, I have no relation with the Native Americans. I think for me, I really took the time to think about what really happened to these people. I put myself in their shoes, like if a certain country of people would come into this country and take over without even taking all of us into consideration and what this country means to us and what we've done for this country, and just takes over and pushes us into poverty, I would be angry and hurt. This land was the land of the Native Americans. The Europeans came over and took charge pushing the Native Americans to live in reservations in poverty. We stripped them of their property, money, everything! They once owned this land and now they are struggling to even stay alive because we were selfish and took all of the land for ourselves. It definitely opened up my eyes to the fact that my ancestors pretty much stole this land and now we treat the Native Americans like they're nothing. It's appalling and it has definitely brought me to a point where I want to be more aware of what is going on in the world. I want to help the Native Americans, I want to give to those less fortunate than me because I am of the "rich" race and even though I am fighting for money at the moment, I am still better off than a lot of people in this world, and I want to do everything I can to help these people. I'm a big advocate for equality and it hurts me to see that there is such an inequality in the country that says in their constitution that they are reaching for equality, freedom, and happiness.

Interracial relationships used to be seen as completely taboo. Back before the civil rights movement and other events, whites and blacks weren't allowed to interact in any way. There were different schools, different neighborhoods, different everything for whites and blacks. If there were even mere friendships between whites and blacks, they were shunned or punished let alone intimate relationships. Since that time, we as a society have moved past the huge separation between the two, but there are still issues involving interracial couples. The interracial judgment comes with the generation. I know personally my Grandma would be appalled if any of her grandchildren brought home a black significant other. My grandma is very old school and pretty prejudiced. Because of society and my grandma influencing my father, he has the same views as my grandma on interracial couples. I have had multiple conversations with my dad that relate to interracial relationships and he seems to be more lenient about it than my grandma but he would still be completely against me bringing a black man home. I think this fogs my judgment as well. My family's support is definitely something that I look for when I'm in a serious relationship so I think in the back of my mind, I know that some members of my family would not approve of me dating a black man which I think is why I don't really feel comfortable approaching them or when they approach me. In my own views, I would have no problem dating a black man. I am a firm believer in equality and that no one should be treated differently just because of the color of their skin. There could be a very well-educated, humble, sweet black man out there that would treat me the way my dad would want me to be treated and all of the white guys could be complete assholes and I would never find the right guy because my dad would limit me to only the asshole white guys even though every guy turns out to be an asshole, to my dad, it's better than bringing home a black guy. It is really hard living with that because there are times where I find a black man attractive but I find myself holding back because I know that in the end it would never work out because some members of my family would just be too much against it, it would tear us apart. I never want to be put in the predicament where I have to choose between my family and my significant other because that is a sign that there will be a number of strains on each relationship and that never works out. Any amount of strain on a relationship continues to tear down the relationship until you can no longer handle the stress. I've learned from trying to keep a long distance relationship for about a year and a half that the struggles and the stress put onto the relationship from outside forces just weighs you down until eventually somebody breaks and you can no longer take all of the hurt and pain that these stressors are causing you. The same thing would happen to an interracial couple who's family does not support them. They would have too much hurt and pain in their relationship that it would just become too much for them to handle. It's sad that sometimes it is that way because I'm sure there are really great guys out there that I will never have the chance to meet because of who I come from and the beliefs of my family. I think the main issue as to why white girls won't approach black guys and vice-a-avers is because there is still a stigma behind interracial couples and some families just don't believe in interracial couples yet.

I want to start off with saying that I don't believe homosexuality is a choice. I am a firm believer in the whole idea and saying of "you can't help who you fall in love with". To me, your preference of who you find attractive is based off a feeling and feelings can't be controlled. You can try to control them all you want but in the end, you're going to end up with the same outcome. So in the aspect of homosexuality, you can tell yourself a million times that you are not attracted to the same sex, and for a while you may be able to put on a facade and have heterosexual relations, but in the end you will always have homosexual tendencies because that's just the way you're "wired" and your body is telling you that it can't handle pretending any longer.
As for the question of why people find comfort in saying that homosexuality is a choice, I think they believe that by saying homosexuality is a choice, they are justifying that it can be changed which gives them some sort of right to say homosexuality is wrong. I think it also allows for the people that do have those homosexual tendencies and don't want to admit it to have an excuse or reason to back them up. Say you're a guy and you are attracted to men but refuse to accept that, you will do and say anything you can to justify that you can and will be attracted to women. You might say homosexuality is a choice because you yourself made the choice to be heterosexual. I just think that people who choose to say that homosexuality is a choice are just trying to find a way to justify their own feelings. They're scared to admit that they may be attracted to the same sex so they say that it is a choice so that they can try to force themselves to be attracted to the opposite sex. They think that justifying these feelings will bring them comfort and that’s why so many people still say that homosexuality is a choice.
I am heterosexual. I haven’t had anyone super close to me come out to being homosexual. I have had a friend that is a lesbian and she has taken me to meet some of her LGBT friends. This being said, I have had some exposure to homosexuality but not much. I do know that my friend does not simply “choose” to be a lesbian. What she has said in response to “what makes you a lesbian?”, “why are you a lesbian?”, etc. is that she just likes girls. There’s really no other explanation except for the fact that she just likes girls. It’s just like when you’re asked why you like the person you like. The reasons are just that you are attracted to what they look like and what they do. This shows that who you become attracted to is not a choice. If it were a choice you would know exactly why you are attracted to them and you wouldn’t just say “because I like him/her. I like that he/she is driven, etc.” The characteristics that you name off are just more things that you are attracted to. You can’t explain why you are attracted to those things because it’s not a choice, it’s a feeling and it can’t be explained.

To be honest, I can be a pretty judgmental person when it comes to people's appearances. For example, last night I sat outside of Taco Bell on College Ave and judged all of the drunken people in Halloween costumes walking by. The extent of that judging was pretty much "what the hell are they supposed to be?" and "why would you think that was okay to wear in public?” To me, that doesn't seem to be very prejudiced but maybe it is and I just don't realize it because that's just what I know.
When I look at the people above, my first reaction is there are only black and white people and that the first two pictured look like they are friends. Why do I think they look like they're friends? They're dressed the same and exude the same presence/personality. I would think that the first two also both enjoy music a lot because they have headphones around their neck. The white girl seems a little shy and maybe a little uncomfortable by her body posture. She's standing with her arms crossed and she's actually leaning toward the white boy next to her. This is my counseling self chiming in but, the way she is standing could be a sign that she is uncomfortable with standing next to the black guy since she is leaning away from him. The white guy and the black guy seem to be pretty chill. They don't seem to be bothered by anyone or anything. According to what the black guy is wearing, I would assume that he likes New York athletics. The black guy in the black shirt also seems to be a little uncomfortable. It seems to be a different uncomfortable than the white girl though. The black guy seems to just be uncomfortable with the camera on him. He doesn’t seem to be uncomfortable with anyone around him unlike the white girl. Sam’s wife looks like she’s a pretty laid-back, happy-go-lucky kind of person by her facial expression. She’s smiling but it also looks like an internal laughter which shows that she is comfortable with herself and her surroundings.
When Eric asks “what are your beliefs based on their appearance?” I was pretty confused about how to answer. To base what you think about a person off of their appearance just isn’t something that I do. Obviously I go a little deeper than someone’s appearance and I look at their body posture and facial expressions as well as what they look like and what they are wearing to create my beliefs about someone. Even then, my beliefs are only surface level. There is no way you can know who a person is or what they are about just from looking at them. Maybe that was just the way I was brought up but I don’t understand how someone could possibly think someone is a bad person just by looking at them.

The biggest personal decision that I have made in my life thus far has definitely been the decision to come to Penn State. It was known to me that I was going to college after high school for as long as I can remember. It was never really talked about in my family, I just automatically knew that that's where I would be going. During my final years of high school, our counselor's recommended that we apply to three different schools for college. I ended up only applying to two because I had my mind set on the two that I applied for so I didn't want to pay the application fee for another school that I knew I would not accept if I would have gotten in. I applied to Slippery Rock which is a university near my hometown, and Penn State. I had toured Slippery Rock previously and fell in love with it. That was where I was set on going after having seen it. Once it came time to apply to schools, all of my friends were applying to Penn State and/or Pitt. I felt the need to apply to Penn State because everyone else was and I did want to have another option in case Slippery Rock fell through. I got the notification from Slippery Rock first saying that I was accepted and I was ecstatic. I still had to wait on the offer from Penn State though before I could make my final decision. I can remember it like it was yesterday. My dad brought the mail in and said "Amanda, there's something here from Penn State!" I jumped off of the couch and ran to the door where I found my dad holding a big envelope from Penn State. We all know that the big envelope means that you were accepted so my heart rate goes through the roof as I open the envelope. I read the note that says I am accepted into University Park Main Campus. I couldn't believe it. My mind was set on the fact that I was only going to be accepted into the Erie branch campus and I was going to be accepting Slippery Rock's offer. When I saw that I was accepted into main campus, I had a very, very, very hard decision ahead of me. I absolutely loved Slippery Rock and had my heart set on it since I was about 16, but then there was Penn State that was a very well known school and a very good school regarding academics. It was probably the hardest decision I ever had to make in my life. I bounced between the two of them for a really long time weighing the pros and cons of each. I ultimately made the decision to go to Penn State. Which brings me to what caused me to make that decision.
I think that my decision was based off of a mixture of free will and invisible strengths that shaped it. Of course my decision to go to college period was based off of the invisible shapings of my environment. Like I stated before, it was never really talked about in my family that I would be going to college, I just knew that's what I was going to do. As for what schools I applied for, it was definitely free will to apply to Slippery Rock and Penn State, but I think applying to Penn State entailed some environmental persuasion as well. I wasn't going to apply to Penn State if I didn't have to apply to more than one school nor if all of my friends weren't applying to "better" schools than me. Once I got the acceptance letters, I ultimately made the decision to go to Penn State. Some of that decision was my own free will. I did sit down and think about the pros and cons of each school and really took the time to consider each option. On the other hand, my best friend from high school was going to Penn State and most of my friends were going to other high end schools which I honestly think swayed my final decision. So in the end, I think my decision to go to Penn State was based off of a mixture of free will and environmental factors.

I think the quote by Franklin Graham is disgusting and disturbing. I understand why he might have felt the way he did while delivering this speech but no act of crime brings forth the right for someone to demean an entire race and culture all because of a few people. I do not understand how someone could be so closed-minded that they don't see that there are a million other people that had nothing to do with the attack that he is completely belittling. His quote also shows that he is incompetent about Christianity and other cultures. He says something about the Muslim God is not the same god as the Christian God or the Jewish God. Who does this guy think he is to be able to make such a bold move as to say the God’s we worship are different? There is no way to understand this higher being and what people believe in. We could all believe in a figment of our imaginations. This person could have never existed and we are all just making it up. On the other hand, we could all believe in the same God. We may just have different views of what He did and what we worship.
This quote just came off as completely ignorant to me. This quote shows that this man does not have the cultural competencies that he is claiming he has. This is a great example of why we will never have cultural equity. There are people in this world who are so closed-minded and only believe in their way of life and believe that their way of life is the only way to be. These people will continue to teach their children these beliefs and we will always have a significant amount of people hindering the move to become more equal. We have moved into an era where more things are more accepted but that does not change the fact that there will always be someone on the extreme end that will never open their mind to anything outside of what they know and what they were taught.
I understand we were in a crisis after the attacks of 9/11 and the men in charge were doing anything they could to try to find peace in our frantic lives. Demeaning an entire country because of a few crazy people, I think, was a little over the top. Since our country was in such disarray, we believed everything we were seeing and hearing because we wanted badly for things to be “normal” again. This is how so many Americans became scared of Iranians and really anyone from that area. We were told they were such bad people and we believed it because we were searching for anything that would give us hope and reassurance. I’ll admit I was skeptic of all Middle Eastern people after the attacks of 9/11. I also, would not step foot anywhere near an airplane. As I’ve grown and as I’ve been exposed to more and more culturally aware people and places, I have become more open to everyone and everything. This however, did not happen with everyone and to this day we still have Americans who fear Iranians and it’s all because of what one man said during a crisis. It’s such a shame.

In a world full of culture and diversity, we have to acknowledge everything that is different from us. I agree with Sam on the issue of making it known to ourselves that this person is different from us in order to eventually not even notice the difference anymore. Bringing up the wheelchair issue, you have to acknowledge that the person is in a wheelchair. If you just ignore it, you are closing your mind which then causes you to be afraid of looking at that person because every time you look at them you will think of the wheelchair. Acknowledging that someone is in a wheelchair can take you past that initial step of always looking at the wheelchair. Once you have overcome always noticing the wheelchair, you can actually get to know that person on a personal basis, and eventually the wheelchair plays no part in your mind when you are with that person. I think the best way to begin our journey to an equal opportunity, "see no color or disability" kind of world is to acknowledge our differences.
What I mean by a "see no color or disability" kind of world is that we are trying to become a country where there is one hundred percent equal opportunity for everybody in the country. We are trying to become a more culturally diverse country where we accept everyone and everything for who they are. This means to have open minds that everybody in this world is different and to embrace it. There are so many people in this world who are so close-minded and conservative that they are hindering our country to becoming what it was intended to become; A country of freedom, equality, and honor. If there was a way that we could work together to get these people to open up their minds just a little bit at a time, we would be well on our way of becoming the country our founding fathers have always wanted us to be. I guess the reason I fully support this idea of noticing the difference between people to be able to not notice it is because I am very open-minded and willing to learn about everyone's different cultures and lifestyles. Of course I still have some things to work on because there are times that I start to judge people before I even know them, but I have been working everyday to become less and less judgmental. Everyone has a back story and everyone is individually unique. If you spend the time to actually get to know the person's personality and look past their exterior make-up, you can really find someone amazing. My philosophy in life is to take chances, because you never know what you may find. I feel like this pertains to what Sam was saying about acknowledging the differences in order to overcome them. You have to get over what the person may look like and actually get to know them before you can judge them.

There are a few things I wanted to say during class on Thursday. The first is that I can understand where the African Americans are coming from when they get offended by white people using the term "colored people". Putting myself in their shoes, if I was an African American who had parents/grandparents/great grandparents who went through the time where "colored people" was a derogatory term against black people and a white person said to me "colored people", I would probably be offended at first, but then I would realize that that person is just stuck in the past and isn't educated on the black community. However, it is 2012 and different terms have come and gone. I realize there is a past there and there are deep wounds but to me, when I think of the term "colored people" I think of everyone who is not white. White is the absence of color therefore, anyone who is not white and has color to their skin is "colored". In the end I personally don't use that term, usually if I have to use a racial identifier I will say African, African American, Indian, Asian, etc.
Another point I wanted to make is that Sam talks in class a lot about white people not understanding or being educated about the other races. It's not just white people who are uneducated about other races. All of the different races in the world have at least one other race that they are not knowledgeable of. There are a lot of ignorant people in the world of all different races and that is because they were brought up very conservative and have a closed mind. They think the way they were taught is the way life is and they can't open up their minds to all of the amazing cultures in this world. I was one of those ignorant people. I was raised in an all-white household in a neighborhood where most of the crime was committed by African Americans and it still is today. So growing up, if I saw a black man who looked suspicious, I would get unnerved. I came to Penn State my freshman year of college and I joined a Sorority. I became very close with one of my sisters who I later found out was Jewish. I was never exposed to a Jewish person so I had no idea what her culture was like. It was great to get to know all of these new ways of thinking about life and I'm still learning things about her religion to this day and it's just amazing. I also had to go to one of the race relations talks on campus for one of my classes. It was the best experience of my life. It opened me up to so many different cultures and made me realize that I was stereotyping a lot. After opening my eyes and seeing there's more to this world than how I was brought up, I've come to realize that there is so much that I don't know about this world which is why I want to travel the world so much and experience these cultures first hand.