One more River to Cross-Charles Lawrence
Whites Swim in Racial preferences- Tim Wise
In the article by Tim wise he argues that think that affirmative action always is connected with minorities and people of color, but in actuality there has always been affirmative action programs for whites for hundreds of years.
In the article by Charles Lawrence argues that Brown vs. the board of education was a great stride in the U.S. the court still kept making alternative ways to make sure that blacks were considered inferior. The article went more beyond education it was about how african americans were discriminated in all realms of American Society.
"Yet few whites have ever though of our position as resulting from racial preferences. Indeed, we pride ourselves on our hard work and ambition, as if somehow we invented the concepts"
White privilege has existed for many years and white people have always benefited from it. This relates back to Delpit and the codes of power. Many people who have white privilege don't realize that they benefit from it, and when they are questioned they become defensive and don't want to see the real existence. As the article showed white people benefited from many different things. For examplee the part about in the 1930's to 1960's how 15 million white families benefited from FHA loans, but people of color denied these programs. To have this privilege a group of people must be excluded as seen here. The blacks were denied loans, but 15 million white families were able to get the loans.
"In short, segregation American-style, like South African apartheid, has only one purpose: to create and maintain a permanent lower class or subcaste defined as race. ...They are kept separate because the separation labels or classifeies blacks as inferior beings."
Through all the court cases they were able to tip toe around the 14th amendment and other amendments that were supposed to help blacks become citizens and have rights. For example the case Plessy vs. Ferguson with separate but equal although it was supposed to keep things fair that didn't happen. Schools that were white had better teachers, facilities, etc while schools that were of color were run down overcrowded and didn't have enough staff. By doing the separate but equal clause it prevented blacks from having a good education and kept up the message that government was saying that you aren't good enough.
"Equality of education is not enough. There can be no equality under a segregated system. The American negro is not a dominant minority; therefore he must fight for complete elimination of segregation as his ultimate goal."
The victory that Brown vs the board of education was a step in the right direction for people of color, but there was still many other battles that had to be fought so that segregation would be completely gone. There was still separate facilities, taxes when voting, etc. Having schools unsegregated in schools is good, but like the article stated whats the point if they are raised in an environment where there isn't segregation and as soon as they leave taht school again they are back in a segregated society. Even if someone went to a good school that was diverse and segregation wasnt there they would still face discrimination in the workplace, on the streets in voting etc. To make a better environment for all the african american segregation has to be wiped clean oout of government,politics,schools etc.
I thought that this reading was interesting, but at the same time boring. The reading had good points and kept my attention ,but at times reading the court case and going on and dragging bored me a little. This goes well with the text that was assigned with this one by Tim wise because his article shows how the white people benefit from white privilege and this article shows the negative impact of white privilege on how it shows a group that they are inferior and can't succeed. Out of the two readings the article by Tim Wise was more interesting to read. This one was too, but after reading the same thing i became a little bored.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
career commitmment essay
booo im trying to figure how to start this lol. i want to do it right ahhh this is tough
Monday, March 16, 2009
Talking Points 5
Joseph kahne and Joel Westheimer
Kahne argues that service learning has two approaches one is when you do a charity or fundraiser for a specific cause the other is going into the community and interacting to do service learning. By working in the community you are actually interacting with people and the experience is a fuller one. By just doing a charity you aren’t getting full experience if you aren’t working with the community. In the article it demonstrates this with the two classes. The first group of kids did errands for doctors, preparing survival kits for the homeless. This is an act of generosity and giving of ones time, but they are doing it more behind the scenes and don’t really know who the people they are doing this for. The second class the kids examined homelessness and brought in speakers and made plans to help the homeless. This group actually worked in the community and worked with people from homeless shelters to help aid the homeless.
When I was a freshman I went and did Habitat for humanity. What I did was go to Orlando, Florida and I was there for a week and worked in the community. The work we did was in a section of Orlando where the houses were not kept up on and the people in the area had financial issues. Many of us went and did different things some did babysitting, others worked in stores, others worked on houses. I worked on a specific person’s house. During the week people would go with there groups they were put in and work on the houses. We would paint the houses, clean the yard, fix the fences etc. Through the week though we interacted with the people who lived in the houses and by doing service learning like this it allowed us to connect to the people we were doing this for. Many of the people that we met were very nice and were so appreciative of the work that we were doing. It is very easy to just send money to something and that is your good deed, but by working in the community you get hands on experience and see the people who you are dealing with. When I did this I enjoyed it very much and I was sad to see the week go by so fast. By working in an area too it allows you to break down the stereotypes and negative appearances that people put on areas and places. If someone tried to work in the ghetto people would automatically assume that if they went there that they would get shot or robbed. When people go into these areas though and work to build a better community that isn’t going to happen and many of the people who live there are just like everyone else and are probably nice. People would rather just send something or make a care package as an easy way out so they don’t have to put in the extra effort and go work in the community that needs help.
Kahne argues that service learning has two approaches one is when you do a charity or fundraiser for a specific cause the other is going into the community and interacting to do service learning. By working in the community you are actually interacting with people and the experience is a fuller one. By just doing a charity you aren’t getting full experience if you aren’t working with the community. In the article it demonstrates this with the two classes. The first group of kids did errands for doctors, preparing survival kits for the homeless. This is an act of generosity and giving of ones time, but they are doing it more behind the scenes and don’t really know who the people they are doing this for. The second class the kids examined homelessness and brought in speakers and made plans to help the homeless. This group actually worked in the community and worked with people from homeless shelters to help aid the homeless.
When I was a freshman I went and did Habitat for humanity. What I did was go to Orlando, Florida and I was there for a week and worked in the community. The work we did was in a section of Orlando where the houses were not kept up on and the people in the area had financial issues. Many of us went and did different things some did babysitting, others worked in stores, others worked on houses. I worked on a specific person’s house. During the week people would go with there groups they were put in and work on the houses. We would paint the houses, clean the yard, fix the fences etc. Through the week though we interacted with the people who lived in the houses and by doing service learning like this it allowed us to connect to the people we were doing this for. Many of the people that we met were very nice and were so appreciative of the work that we were doing. It is very easy to just send money to something and that is your good deed, but by working in the community you get hands on experience and see the people who you are dealing with. When I did this I enjoyed it very much and I was sad to see the week go by so fast. By working in an area too it allows you to break down the stereotypes and negative appearances that people put on areas and places. If someone tried to work in the ghetto people would automatically assume that if they went there that they would get shot or robbed. When people go into these areas though and work to build a better community that isn’t going to happen and many of the people who live there are just like everyone else and are probably nice. People would rather just send something or make a care package as an easy way out so they don’t have to put in the extra effort and go work in the community that needs help.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Talking Points IV
Linda Christensen
Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us
The author argues that mass media defines what makes up our children’s thought process and that their standards and ideas come from these movies, music, etc that shape how they will be. For girl’s movies, magazines, and celebrities show them what is beautiful and what isn’t. For guys they are depicted as buff, wealthy, not so smart etc so these are followed.
“Then students start to notice patterns-like the absence of female characters in many of the older cartoons. When women do appear, they look like Jessica Rabbit or Playboy centerfolds-even in many of the new and improved children’s movies.”
Many girls today feel like they have to look up to these standards that are placed in front of them. Many of the celebrities that they see on television or in magazines are curvy, big boobs, have tans etc. You could say this leads girls to become aneorexic, bulimic, getting more plastic surgeries so that they can achieve this so called beauty that is displayed to them on TV.
“Have you ever seen a black person, an Asian, a Hispanic in a cartoon? Did they have a leading role or were they a savant? What do you think this is doing to your child’s mind?”
I felt this quote was very helpful because it shows that once again being white has its advantages because if you are white then you are beautiful, have a better life etc. If you’re a minority then you are a servant someone who is uneducated etc etc. Although some people might not see this as anything it is an issue. There could be girls or boys out there who feel insecure about themselves because they aren’t white and they feel that being dark skinned is considered ugly. Today though there has been a tendency towards a shift to having that tan color but it isn’t really tan it’s more of an orange. Many movies though like in Disney all the princesses aren’t dark skinned they are white have freckles etc. This sets a standard and that being dark skinned isn’t considered beautiful.
“For some the lesson doesn’t end in the classroom. Many who watched the cartoons before we start our study they say they can no longer enjoy them. Now instead of seeing a bunch of ducks in clothes, they see the racism, sexism, and violence that swim under the surface of the stories.”
I thought this was helpful because at like in Johnson how we just can’t hide and ignore the facts. These students looked farther and now that the information is in front of them they can’t look at what they used to think was funny and cute. It just isn’t in cartoons it’s in pretty much everything we see today movies, billboards, magazines, shows. There is a hidden message that is showing kids and teenagers how one must be or what is considered the right way. Through all these messages they have the same result they show some group of people being the correct way and others being the wrong whether it is race or gender.
I thought this article was very good, but tough at the same time. Most of these cartoons and movies we were raised on and nobody would ever think that racism, sexism would ever be in there. When I was little I wouldn’t have ever thought that Peter Pan would have bad messages in it. When we are children we still have our innocence and don’t realize these deep messages, when we get older though and look back we see the depictions of people and how there is a lot of messages in there that are negative.
I related this article to something I learned before in my sociology class. On the show Jackass it has guys doing stupid stunts and hurting themselves. Although this does have humor to it, there is a stereotype that does develop. It shows guys as stupid and acting ridicolous and doing dangerous stunts. Many young kids watch this and many of them act like this and immitate this behavior.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXNXhIAgxTk
Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us
The author argues that mass media defines what makes up our children’s thought process and that their standards and ideas come from these movies, music, etc that shape how they will be. For girl’s movies, magazines, and celebrities show them what is beautiful and what isn’t. For guys they are depicted as buff, wealthy, not so smart etc so these are followed.
“Then students start to notice patterns-like the absence of female characters in many of the older cartoons. When women do appear, they look like Jessica Rabbit or Playboy centerfolds-even in many of the new and improved children’s movies.”
Many girls today feel like they have to look up to these standards that are placed in front of them. Many of the celebrities that they see on television or in magazines are curvy, big boobs, have tans etc. You could say this leads girls to become aneorexic, bulimic, getting more plastic surgeries so that they can achieve this so called beauty that is displayed to them on TV.
“Have you ever seen a black person, an Asian, a Hispanic in a cartoon? Did they have a leading role or were they a savant? What do you think this is doing to your child’s mind?”
I felt this quote was very helpful because it shows that once again being white has its advantages because if you are white then you are beautiful, have a better life etc. If you’re a minority then you are a servant someone who is uneducated etc etc. Although some people might not see this as anything it is an issue. There could be girls or boys out there who feel insecure about themselves because they aren’t white and they feel that being dark skinned is considered ugly. Today though there has been a tendency towards a shift to having that tan color but it isn’t really tan it’s more of an orange. Many movies though like in Disney all the princesses aren’t dark skinned they are white have freckles etc. This sets a standard and that being dark skinned isn’t considered beautiful.
“For some the lesson doesn’t end in the classroom. Many who watched the cartoons before we start our study they say they can no longer enjoy them. Now instead of seeing a bunch of ducks in clothes, they see the racism, sexism, and violence that swim under the surface of the stories.”
I thought this was helpful because at like in Johnson how we just can’t hide and ignore the facts. These students looked farther and now that the information is in front of them they can’t look at what they used to think was funny and cute. It just isn’t in cartoons it’s in pretty much everything we see today movies, billboards, magazines, shows. There is a hidden message that is showing kids and teenagers how one must be or what is considered the right way. Through all these messages they have the same result they show some group of people being the correct way and others being the wrong whether it is race or gender.
I thought this article was very good, but tough at the same time. Most of these cartoons and movies we were raised on and nobody would ever think that racism, sexism would ever be in there. When I was little I wouldn’t have ever thought that Peter Pan would have bad messages in it. When we are children we still have our innocence and don’t realize these deep messages, when we get older though and look back we see the depictions of people and how there is a lot of messages in there that are negative.
I related this article to something I learned before in my sociology class. On the show Jackass it has guys doing stupid stunts and hurting themselves. Although this does have humor to it, there is a stereotype that does develop. It shows guys as stupid and acting ridicolous and doing dangerous stunts. Many young kids watch this and many of them act like this and immitate this behavior.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXNXhIAgxTk
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