What really made the Chi Omega picture and party offensive to me was how it is being constantly down played by other people. I constantly keep hearing and seeing people, mainly white people, saying that the picture was not that offensive, it's being over blown, and that people are too sensitive nowadays. This really upsets me. Of course to a white person, who almost never has to face racism or racially discrimination, would definitely think that this situation is being over blown and that people agree over reacting. Because if I was on the other side f the fence I'm not sure if I would hold the same views. That Chi Omega picture really disgusts me. It is stereotypical in every sense of the word and racially insensitive as well. It is one thing to dress up as Mexicans, which could be harmful, but they went as far as to make signs which states very racial insensitive things. I'm not even of Mexican descent and I was pretty upset about the picture. I could not believe that the girls in the sorority even had the heart to write the signs let alone publish a picture so hateful.

Another thing that offends me about the picture is how it is being down played by this University. This picture, that was published by Onward State earlier this week, has been up on the internet for at least a month and a half before it was removed. So it brings me to question, who made the uproar about the picture before it was even brought to everyone's attention. Its kind of sad and funny to me because over the past month, the Penn State student body has been responsible for getting two different student athletes from two separate schools suspended from their teams because they made "insensitive" jokes about the Penn State scandal. I have no idea who any of these students are and would not have no way of knowing what they tweet/tweeted via their twitter pages if it were not for Onward State, but that's not over reacting. But a picture that is "insensitive" in the same sense, some how managed to never be seen or mentioned for months. This deeply saddens and enrages me. And even though UPUA has since then tried to put forth efforts to try and spread racial awareness, and I applaud and thank them for that, I still do not think this will open up people's eyes to how much of a problem racism is.

I think what really offends me the most is how insensitive people are acting. I feel as though until you know what it is like to be discriminated against and hated against because if your race or heritage, then you should not try to disregard other people's feelings.

Me personally, I do not think that it is hard for black men to talk to white girls and vice versa and for white men to talk to black girls and vice versa. I feel like many people just do not do it. I feel like the reason why people do not talk to people of the opposite race is because they probably do not know how. I mean I would not know how to approach a white guy, and I even have trouble approaching black guys. I think because of our perceptions of one another, we find it hard to communicate with each other on a romantic level. For me, approaching a guy, no matter what race, is intimidating to me. I find it hard to ask a guy for his number or just to even say hi at a party or something. I think I would probably have a hard time approaching a white guy because I'm not familiar with how they communicate romantically. Of course, all my life I have hung around black guys and most of my best friends are black guys. So i always see how they react to girls trying to talk to them. I know how they would like a girl to approach them as well. I pretty much know a lot about my black guy friends when it comes to things like that. As for white guys, although I have a few white guy friends, I have never talked to them about girls or I never seen them even talk to girls. I think that white guys are more comfortable talking to girls a parties and they are a little more on the traditional side. I feel like white guys may be intimidated by black girls and scared to approach them just because of how they perceive us to be. Black girls are like more outgoing in what we say, how we feel, and dress versus the average white girl. As I said before, white guys are probably more comfortable approaching girls at parties or traditional settings, so the odds of them seeing a large amount of black girls at one of their parties is extremely low. As goes for white girls as well. I think with how times have changed, boys prefer a more assertive female anyways, versus a more shyer female or a less outgoing one. I think guys prefer now for a girl to display there interest more now. I believe that if we all just let go of our perceptions of one another, wit both race an gender, it would be easier for everybody to approach each other. After being in college for a little while now, these are just my observations.

In my opinion, stage three is the worst stage of them all. The transition to stage three is typically precipitated by an event or series of events that enforces a individual to acknowledge the personal impact of racism. Anger, confusion, and alienation are common emotions. Aware of rejection by whites, the individual begins to grapple with what it means to be a member of a group targeted by racism. Initial attempts to define one's racial/ ethnic identity may be based on internalized stereotypes about own group. In my perfect world, I wish racism did not exist. I feel like everyone should be treated equally and if we do decide to hate each other can it at least be for a legit reason instead if an inevitable reason such as skin color and ethnicity. Racism kills me to see more than seeing people poor. It is so asinine to me to see that people literally hate each other because of the sun. It annoys me to no end. This stage is the epitome of my annoyance. Trying to find where you belong ethnicity and racially should not be fueled by racism and hate. I believe that we should all be accepting of everybody, nobody should never feel like they do not belong or that they are inferior because of their ethnicity and skin color. Especially since we cannot help something like that. Racism, in my opinion should not have existed before and it really should not exist now. It's like racism has easily consumed all of our lives for years and years and we keep allowing it to be the reason why we cannot grow and become united. There are people who are biracial (President Barack Obama) and do not completely identify with either heritage bu they are automatically labeled as African American and are hated for it. There are also people who are not African but are black and they have to identify as African Americans, but white can choose whatever it is they want to be. It is not fair nor is it right. God created us all equally; regardless of a person differences especially their skin color. Even though, it is difficult for people to not view things that they are not familiar with as not normal. Too much time has passed where that excuse can not even be valid anymore. I think people should just look past this whole idea of race, ethnicity, and racial identity and simply get to know or accept the person behind the skin color. Once again God created us as equal and even if you do no believe in God, the Declaration of Independence even states that all "Men are created equal" and that includes everyone, regardless of color.

I think what makes homosexuality a "special" sin is because I think it is unclear as to whether it’s a sin or not. We know exactly what the seven deadly sins are and even though I have not read the entire Bible word for word, I have read it and I do not recall reading that people who are homosexual are damned to hell. We know that lying is a sin, adultery is a sin, and so on and so forth, but I have never personally read anything stating that if you are gay then you are sinning. Another thing that the Bible states is that we love thy brother. It does not state, love your brother unless he is gay. And since we are all children of God then that includes everyone, no matter their circumstance. Another reason why I think that homosexuality is a special sin is because the world today is more open, and almost everyone can say that they know someone who is gay or bisexual. Back then people could not think that, let alone say it. Many people who have these kinds of people in their lives may be their loved ones and they could not stand the thought of shunning them because of their sexuality. Another reason why I think being homosexual is a special is because God says love everyone and it is in no way, shape, or form our place to judge someone. We have to accept everyone, no matter what. And if God is the one who determines what happens to us in the afterlife then we should not have anything to say about what goes on in anybody else’s life since nobody is perfect. Another reason why I think homosexuality is a special sin is because you simply cannot help who you love. Love is extremely complicated and if we could choose who it was that we love and who loved us back then this world would be a completely different place. I honestly believe that love is given to you and you honestly can’t help who you love. It’s just like how you can’t help who you are related to. I think people are becoming more open and accepting to the fact that Gay people do exist and it is okay for people to love whomever they want. I feel like there is no way to stop life from happening, there are going to be different people and there are different people, so for shunning people because of who they love and telling them that they are going to hell is harsh and unfair. Nobody is perfect and nobody has the right to judge anyone no matter their circumstances.

I think that Will having the phone for four and half years doesn't really make a difference because he is just one person and regardless of if he does not buy phone there are still hundred of thousands of people, like myself who still purchase slave-made merchandise. I think slavery is frowned upon now because of how it used to be back then. Technical, what people consider slavery today is not really slavery. It's not forced slavery its voluntary slavery in a sense. Back then, people were forced to work for free and were beaten if they did not comply with their masters rules. Now people are being paid slave wages, but paid non the less, for their work. Even though I'm against the idea of slavery in any sense, I live in a country where slavery is against the law under any circumstance and we have laws like minimum wage set in place to assure that slavery will never be a problem. So no matter how many people boycott the next iPhone or the next slave-made item there is still going to buy he item so therefore there is always going to be a demand for it and which there has to be a supply as well. I also think that most people are simply not aware that their things could be made by slaves. I can honestly say that before Sam said anything I had no idea that there were more slaves now then their were back then and I had no idea that my precious iPhone 4S was even made by slaves. Not because I do not care but simply because I did not bother to seek out that kind of information and most people probably don't either. I think another reason why people do not really pay attention about to if they are purchasing slave made items because the amount of the things that we usually pay for these things are so expensive that you can hardly focus on who made it. Another reason why I think people don't care about buying slave made items is because everyone wants t "keep up with the Jones". Nobody wants to feel left out or not up to speed with what is going on around them and once Apple release the latest iPhone you are going to want to have one. Nobody wants to ever feel like they cannot fit in for any reason at all. Another reason why people don't care about slave made items is because everyone knows for sure that what they are buying is of great quality. For example, everyone knows that is you want the best smartphone then you should purchase a Apple phone seeing as though Apple is probably the best of is kind regardless of is slaves made it.

Some social implications that are prevalent for prejudice to exist is how we classify everything which is why everyone in not equal. For example, we classify people based on how much money they make; poor, middle class, and rich. While most of the people in the poor and middle class are black and those in the rich class are white we further widen the line of prejudice. Since racism already exists, we give people more opportunity to judge one another. It is an inevitable feeling that people with a lot of money would feel superior to people with less money than them. And people who are poor or not as rich feel inferior. So with racism, whites thought that blacks were inferior to them. So now with the separation of economical classes, white people (rich) can now judge black (poor and middle class) without having that racial stigma attached to them. Many people in situations that are in their situation because of things that they simply could not prevent. So judging them for it is not reasonable. Another social implication that effects prejudiced situations is how we classify our government system. For example most people who are democrat are a usually those who are poor or middle class and those who are republican are usually those who are rich. Once again white are rich and blacks are poor. In the 2012 presidential election, we have an black democrat president who is running against a white republican. So of course, this is causing plenty of uproar. Simply because many people don't want a middle class African American representing them. I know plenty of people who have the pockets of a democrat but have similar beliefs to that of a republican, and the fact that they feel like they have to vote with what they can afford is absurd. I think people should decide to vote for the candidates who have similar to views and morals as them, not based on their economical status. I also think that if you are running for anything, especially president, then you should be able to represent everyone efficiently, not just a specific group of people. There are many implication that are the reason why prejudice is prevalent and it is highly unfortunate. People do not realize how much we set our nation back when we judge people by silly things like economical class and skin color, or things that are almost out of our control. When you think about the United States, you think United, which we are far from. It seems like the only time when we are united and looked upon as equal is when we are going against other countries (i.e. Olympics, War).

I haven't necessarily experienced a situation where somebody could say I benefited from Affirmative Action because I feel like I worked hard for everything I had or have. But one example that of affirmative action that I have experienced is the EOP program at Penn State. From my understanding, the EOP program, which stands for Educational Opportunity Program, takes high school students who are apart of a minority group and help recruit them to colleges where they wouldn't normally get in to because of their economical or educational background. This program also awards students with scholarships to their university. I have a couple of friends in the program af they are the reason why I know so much about it. I think this is a clear example of affirmative action because these minority students have no chance of getting into Penn State and program pretty much awards them because they maybe need to fit a quota or just to appear as if they are not discriminatory. This program Is actually not even a great program. I know a lot of students who have failed because of the program. When the students first come to Penn State they have to take a semester full of remedial courses that are like 9th grade high school course while the rest of the students in their year are taking the proper gen. eds.. Once those courses are done these students have to quickly make the transitions from now remedial fall courses to harder courses in the spring. I know many EOP students who have suffered because of this and are no longer here because their grades were so horrible and they lost scholarships that they wouldn't be able to afford in the first place or they let their grades slip so much that they have dropped below degree seeking status. Even though the program may sound good in theory, but in all actuality the program holds its participants back. Instead of trying to encourage the students to not let their backgrounds affect them, they use their unfortunate backgrounds as a crutch. I feel like the program isn't fair because it basically rewards it students or not doing well in school and who usually won't be able to come to to this school and mean while the students who actually don't let anything in their background stop them from doing well, are the students who don't receive anything and they ultimately end up struggling. I believe that if everyone received equal opportunity to be here, then we would be able to easily see who deserves it or who is willing to work the hardest and turn their unfortunate situation into one that they can simply benefit from.

The events that led up to me becoming a Penn State student were probably the most important events in my life. It all started in 11th grade. I had no idea what college I wanted to attend at that moment but I knew that I was going to college. So from the very first day of 11th grade I began to work my butt of everyday until the last day of 11th grade. My hard work led me to get straight A's for each semster and pushed my GPA from a 2.80 to a solid 3.50. I couldn't have been more excited. So I began to think about what colleges I wanted to attend when 12th grade came around. I did what every high school student had done; took the SATs and began applying. Because I went to such a small high school, I knew that I wanted t attend a university that had thousands of students and lots of school spirit. As I began to research schools, the only person that I had knew that went to a university that matched my preferences was my friend Jackie. She had attended Xavier University. I began to research Xavier all the time and I got pretty good feedback. I applied, and in no time I received my acceptance letter. The next step was to visit. I visited the Cincinnati university on March 26 to March 27. When I returned home from the trip, I bean to apply to different universities. In applied to about 13 universities. Over the next month, the acceptances letter started pouring in. I began to visit all the school that were at the top of my interest list. One of the last schools I had visited was University of North Carolina at Charlotte. When I arrived in the city of Charlotte, it just felt like home. But when I got to the campus I knew that that was where I belonged. When I returned home, I anxiously awaited my acceptance letter. A few days later a letter arrived from the university. But t my dismay, it was an denial letter. My heart and chin fell to the floor immediately. I felt so heartbroken. The letter read that the reason why I wasn't accepted was because I didn't have enough credits. The law in North Carolina is that in order to attend a university in that state, a student must posses 3 credits in Math in which I only had 2 because I went to a school where 3 credits of science was the norm. I didn't know what to do I felt lost and defeated. At the end of April, just a few days after my denial letter from UNCC came, my acceptance letter from Penn State came. I talked to my teachers and thy all convinced me that Penn State was actually the better choice for me. I was so nonchalant about Penn State because I didn't think that I was even going to get in. When I visited this school for FTCAP, I knew immediately that I had made the best decision in my life. I think my determination to go to college and to go to the college of my needs is the reason why I am here today.

I think the racial slurs that Dr. Jones use in the video are so powerful and
hurtful towards black people because these were the type of terms that were and
are still used to make black people feel inferior to whites. Even though
slavery and the civil rights movement happened hundreds of years ago, it is
clear that racism still exist, and taking into account what black people have
been through, we have to assume that when people use those kind of words they
are doing it to be hateful and hurtful. I believe that the word holds so much
power because we were taught that these words were used to make blacks feel as
if they were worthless and to bring them down in the process. Knowing that a
member of my family had to endure such hate makes me feel sad and hurt. And
also knowing thy my ancestors fought for them to be considered on the same
level as whites, and to be considered equal so hurts me. So by people using
racial slurs against black people's today is definitely their way of being
malicious and hurtful. I feel like even though I didn't endure what my
ancestors have in the past, I still cringe at the thought, gesture, or saying
of anything racist. Even though some people might argue that some racial slurs
against blacks should not hurt us as much but I feel differently. This is
another way to try to bring us down. Even though I haven't experienced anything
outright racial towards me or to my face, I can gather my own feeling about how
that would make me feel. I feel like hating someone and treating them as if
they are inferior to you because of their skin color has to be one of the most
asinine things that I have ever heard of in my entire life. The reason why
people even have different skin colors is because they have to be able to
tolerate the sun, and the fact that science is the reason why people hate each
other because of something that can't prevented is simply absurd. I think if
people knew how dumb this was and that they could experience life in the other
persons shoes and see how people treated us then racism wouldn't even be an
issue. I feel like even though there is a lot of racism, I think it stems from
people not being able to identify with differences more than race. I think
people are not programmed to identify with things that are different from what
they are used to. Our experiences and how perceive them an the people around us
are what play factors into our lives.

One thing that I took away from Tuesday's class is that it extremely difficult to just simply look at a person and determine their ethnicity . I also realized how much I did not know about different ethnic groups, how they came to be, and how/why we classify races the way we do. As far as clicker questions, which I got a lot of them wrong, that was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. The entire time, I was thinking to myself , "This is Sam's class, he unlearns, so think outside the box". This quickly backfired. Every time the answer to the clicker question popped onto the screen I had realized that I had the wrong answer and didn't know how to even derive the correct answer. When Sam begin to tell the class what each person's ethnicity was, I grew more and more confused. I tried to search for the lesson behind what was going on, and I came to the conclusion that maybe Sam was trying to teach us that race does not matter because at the end of the day we are all just people. But as if class wasn't hard, I went home to take the Facial Recognition Survey on Angel, and that quickly beat out he difficulty of what went on in class and became the hardest thing I had ever had to do. The survey started off as asking about my ethnicity and I had no idea on how to answer the questions because of lack of information. The next part of the survey was where the difficulty level shot through the roof. Trying to figure out what each face was as far as their percentage of West African descent and their race was nothing short of difficult. I thought it was going to be a short survey but it just kept going and going. I took the survey seriously because I wanted to test myself about how much I know and can recognize different ethnic groups and races. On Thursday, in my SOC 119 weekly discussion, we talked about the survey. Everyone seemed to agree on how hard it was and how we all wished we could see the answers to the survey because we would have like to know which ones we got wrong or which ones we go right. All in all Tuesday's class was very difficult, but definitely interesting and eye opening. It gave me a better perspective about how ethnic groups came to be. I learned lot of things that I thought to be true or just simply didn't know about with ethnic groups. I guess in the end, in my opinion, we are all people just trying to find our way.