I thought that both the videos and article by Tim Wise were really interesting to read, as I found myself agreeing with a lot of the things that he had to say about racism in the United States. His main point that I really agreed with is that the United States has made progress in becoming a more diverse, less racist country, but that racism still exists in the United States, and is a huge problem.
As I was writing this, I had planned to tie the first two quotes together. After reading all three of them again, I think they all relate to each other.
1."White families, on average, have a net worth that is II times the net worth of black families, according to a recent study; and this gap remains substantial even when only comparing families of like size. composition. education and income status."
The first quote is about how much more money white families have in comparison to black families in the exact same circumstances (same number of kids, same level of education, etc.). It's almost unbelievable to think that another human being could make less money doing the same exact job because of their skin color/gender, yet this is what continues to be the case.
2. "Very telling is the oft-heard comment by whites, "If had only been black I would have gotten into my first choice college."
The idea behind this quote is that many white people are off-put by affirmative action. They feel as though this benefits everyone but them. However, looking back at the first quote, it's important to realize that there are "white privileges" that they might not even realize they have. I definitely know that sometimes it's hard to see these privileges - I'm a college student paying to live in my first apartment away from home, so I know how it feels to think that you're going through a lot of the same struggles with money issues and the like, but it's important to realize that these privileges do exist and need to be dealt with.
My last quote is a bit lengthy, so please bear with me. I tried just choosing a few sentences from this, but I felt that the whole paragraph was important.
3. "The President attacked Michigan's policy of awarding 20 points (on a ISO-point evaluation scale) to undergraduate applicants who are members of under-represented minorities (which at U of M means blacks, Latinos and American Indians). To many whites such a "preference" is blatantly discriminatory. Bush failed to mention that greater numbers of points are awarded for other things that amount to preferences for whites to the exclusion of people of color.
For example,Michigan awards 20 points to any student from a low-income background, regardless of race. Since these points cannot be combined with those for minority status (in other words poor blacks don't get 40 points), in effect this is a preference for poor whites. Then Michigan awards 16 points to students who hail from the Upper Peninsula of the state: a rural, largely Isolated, and almost completely white area."
I think that this is a good quote to wrap up this blog with. As a general summary, this quote is showcasing that although affirmative action may come across as discriminatory against whites, this is not the case. Many white people also benefit from affirmative action; that's not the issue. The issue is that many white people are resentful of this, and continue to form misconceptions about the black community as a result.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Talking Points 5 - In the Service of What?
I really enjoyed reading this article. It was easy to relate to because it was about required service learning in schools, which we are doing in our FNED class right now. In addition, I was also required to complete 20 hours of community service in order to graduate high school. Because volunteer work and volunteering is a part of almost every high school, the concept of this article was not foreign to me.
"As is commonly the case with new policy initiatives, however, more attention has been focused on moving forward than on asking where we are headed."
It is easy to see flaws in the educational system, but often times principles and/or educators are likely put a quick fix on them, to fix errors one at a time as they rear. However, it is important to think further into the future, and to try and ask what the school system will be like in 5 or 10 years, and what we can do to ensure that it's a positive and open-minded environment.
"Mr. Johnson's curriculum included only minimal attention to any systematic analysis of the ills his students were helping to alleviate. Instead, his class focused on inculcating a sense of civic duty."
This was probably my favorite part from the article. Two classrooms were asked to do similar things - contribute to their community through community service. The first classroom, Mr. Johnson's, were allowed to volunteer at a location of their choosing. Many of them helped neighbors, family members, or volunteered at shelters. At first glance, this seems very noble, and it would appear that it would have a good impact on the kids. After reading about the second teacher, who actually had the students read and learn about homelessness, respond with their thoughts and feelings, and then raise money for homelessness relief, I realized that by only volunteering, students are not learning about the real issues. They don't get to examine how our culture, politics, and government are dealing (if they are at all) with these issues.
"After they returned, the students' perspectives on these elementary school children had changed. They were "surprised at the children's responsiveness and their attentiveness," they found the children to be "extremely polite and surprisingly friendly," and they discovered that they "listened well and had excellent behavior." One student wrote, "Everyone at the school had good manners, and I think more highly of [the neighborhood] now."
I think this is a really powerful quote, because it shows how we all have preconcieved notions that we have learned from our parents and the media. It is not often that people are willing to break out of their comfort zone, so I feel that by challenging students to witness and experience things first hand, and to then respond to these situations, it's very beneficial to the community.
"As is commonly the case with new policy initiatives, however, more attention has been focused on moving forward than on asking where we are headed."
It is easy to see flaws in the educational system, but often times principles and/or educators are likely put a quick fix on them, to fix errors one at a time as they rear. However, it is important to think further into the future, and to try and ask what the school system will be like in 5 or 10 years, and what we can do to ensure that it's a positive and open-minded environment.
"Mr. Johnson's curriculum included only minimal attention to any systematic analysis of the ills his students were helping to alleviate. Instead, his class focused on inculcating a sense of civic duty."
This was probably my favorite part from the article. Two classrooms were asked to do similar things - contribute to their community through community service. The first classroom, Mr. Johnson's, were allowed to volunteer at a location of their choosing. Many of them helped neighbors, family members, or volunteered at shelters. At first glance, this seems very noble, and it would appear that it would have a good impact on the kids. After reading about the second teacher, who actually had the students read and learn about homelessness, respond with their thoughts and feelings, and then raise money for homelessness relief, I realized that by only volunteering, students are not learning about the real issues. They don't get to examine how our culture, politics, and government are dealing (if they are at all) with these issues.
"After they returned, the students' perspectives on these elementary school children had changed. They were "surprised at the children's responsiveness and their attentiveness," they found the children to be "extremely polite and surprisingly friendly," and they discovered that they "listened well and had excellent behavior." One student wrote, "Everyone at the school had good manners, and I think more highly of [the neighborhood] now."
I think this is a really powerful quote, because it shows how we all have preconcieved notions that we have learned from our parents and the media. It is not often that people are willing to break out of their comfort zone, so I feel that by challenging students to witness and experience things first hand, and to then respond to these situations, it's very beneficial to the community.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Unlearning the Myths that Bind Us - Talking Points 4
"The newer cartoons -like Mulan, Aladdin, and Pocahontas - are subtler and take more sophistication to see through."
The context of this quote is that it is easier to spot racism, sexism, and stereotypes in older cartoons, movies, and stories than newer ones. I agree that this is definitely the case, at least in regards to children s entertainment. The fact is that these negative messages have not been taken out or "toned down" - they've just been presented in a more indirect, secretive way.
"Both young women wanted the race of the actors changed, but they didn't challenge the class or underlying gender equalities that also characterize the lives of Cinderella, Ariel the Mermaid, and Snow White."
I chose this quote for a couple of different reasons. First off, it's a great way to back up the argument that there is so much wrong with Disney movies/popular childrens movies. There aren't just issues regarding race, there is sexism, class separation, stereotyping, and violence. As children, we certainly don't catch on to these things the way we would if we watched a film like this today, but that doesn't change the fact that these are the things we were observing/forming opinions about at a young, impressionable age. Another reason that I chose it is because it really illustrates the fact that this is no easy fix. Disney can't put out one movie that features a lead African American princess and pretend that they've shed a new positive light on our culture.
"I realized these problems weren't just in cartoons. They were in everything - every magazine I picked up, every television show I watched, every billboard I passed by on the street."
This quote might as well have come from me. Before taking this course as well as my Perspectives on Africa class, I was a very passive movie go-er/consumer. I never picked up on any of these subtle yet heavy suggestions by the media. It wasn't until we started discussing things like this in my classes that I really became an active viewer and started to really see all of these things play out in my day to day life.
The context of this quote is that it is easier to spot racism, sexism, and stereotypes in older cartoons, movies, and stories than newer ones. I agree that this is definitely the case, at least in regards to children s entertainment. The fact is that these negative messages have not been taken out or "toned down" - they've just been presented in a more indirect, secretive way.
"Both young women wanted the race of the actors changed, but they didn't challenge the class or underlying gender equalities that also characterize the lives of Cinderella, Ariel the Mermaid, and Snow White."
I chose this quote for a couple of different reasons. First off, it's a great way to back up the argument that there is so much wrong with Disney movies/popular childrens movies. There aren't just issues regarding race, there is sexism, class separation, stereotyping, and violence. As children, we certainly don't catch on to these things the way we would if we watched a film like this today, but that doesn't change the fact that these are the things we were observing/forming opinions about at a young, impressionable age. Another reason that I chose it is because it really illustrates the fact that this is no easy fix. Disney can't put out one movie that features a lead African American princess and pretend that they've shed a new positive light on our culture.
"I realized these problems weren't just in cartoons. They were in everything - every magazine I picked up, every television show I watched, every billboard I passed by on the street."
This quote might as well have come from me. Before taking this course as well as my Perspectives on Africa class, I was a very passive movie go-er/consumer. I never picked up on any of these subtle yet heavy suggestions by the media. It wasn't until we started discussing things like this in my classes that I really became an active viewer and started to really see all of these things play out in my day to day life.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Carlson Talking Points
I apologize for the late blog. The link wasn't opening for me until after class this morning.
The article that these quotes come from is a piece titled "Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community" by Dennis Carlson. While reading this article, I found that I wasn't really shocked by much of the information provided. The discussion was mostly about how schools and education systems discriminate against the LGBT community, and how the topic of this community is only brought up in regards to the AIDS and HIV viruses. Some of the quotes that really helped me to understand the main points of the article were:
"Much as communist teachers were to be drummed out of the teaching corps because communism was "contagious." so gay teachers were to be fired because they too were understood as Contagious-and in the height of the McCarthy era in the late 1940s and early 1950s, homosexuality and communism were closely linked as threats to the "American way of life.""
I can't believe that homosexuality used to be, and disgustingly enough is still considered by some people to be a contagious disease that one human being can inflict upon another. It's like saying that a straight person can change a gay person's sexuality-it's just not a realistic possibility. It's not as if hanging out with an African American person will change my race, I don't see how sexuality is viewed any differently. It is a trait that you are born with, and it is not something that changes with time.
"These abuses get tolerated because gay teachers and students operate in an environment where they feel afraid to stand up for themselves, and because any discussion of gay people continues to be absent in the curriculum so that homophobia is not interrogated."
This quote really caught my attention because it reminded me of an English class I took in high school. The teacher was a lesbian, (which I only found out after I had graduated), but never once had us read any materials that regarded, were influenced by, or even included anything about the gay community. I wonder if this was because she didn't want to cause any controversy within the school, or if she just wasn't comfortable putting herself out there to be judged and scrutinized. Either way, I don't blame her because in white middle-class public schools, homosexuality is not an easy subject to bring up and have a civil discussion about.
"If, in popular culture. being straight meant being "normal:' that is, affirming (if not always practicing) bourgeois. traditional, repressive, monogamous, married sexuality, then being gay meant-by definition-the opposite."
This absolutely relates back to S.C.W.A.A.M.P because, unfortunately, the things that we as a culture value and accept as "normal" are the things that get taught in schools and are promoted in the media. I feel like we as a society have taken tremendous strides into becoming more open-minded and accepting, but I know that it will still be a long time before our prejudices and ignorance are things of the past.
The article that these quotes come from is a piece titled "Gayness, Multicultural Education, and Community" by Dennis Carlson. While reading this article, I found that I wasn't really shocked by much of the information provided. The discussion was mostly about how schools and education systems discriminate against the LGBT community, and how the topic of this community is only brought up in regards to the AIDS and HIV viruses. Some of the quotes that really helped me to understand the main points of the article were:
"Much as communist teachers were to be drummed out of the teaching corps because communism was "contagious." so gay teachers were to be fired because they too were understood as Contagious-and in the height of the McCarthy era in the late 1940s and early 1950s, homosexuality and communism were closely linked as threats to the "American way of life.""
I can't believe that homosexuality used to be, and disgustingly enough is still considered by some people to be a contagious disease that one human being can inflict upon another. It's like saying that a straight person can change a gay person's sexuality-it's just not a realistic possibility. It's not as if hanging out with an African American person will change my race, I don't see how sexuality is viewed any differently. It is a trait that you are born with, and it is not something that changes with time.
"These abuses get tolerated because gay teachers and students operate in an environment where they feel afraid to stand up for themselves, and because any discussion of gay people continues to be absent in the curriculum so that homophobia is not interrogated."
This quote really caught my attention because it reminded me of an English class I took in high school. The teacher was a lesbian, (which I only found out after I had graduated), but never once had us read any materials that regarded, were influenced by, or even included anything about the gay community. I wonder if this was because she didn't want to cause any controversy within the school, or if she just wasn't comfortable putting herself out there to be judged and scrutinized. Either way, I don't blame her because in white middle-class public schools, homosexuality is not an easy subject to bring up and have a civil discussion about.
"If, in popular culture. being straight meant being "normal:' that is, affirming (if not always practicing) bourgeois. traditional, repressive, monogamous, married sexuality, then being gay meant-by definition-the opposite."
This absolutely relates back to S.C.W.A.A.M.P because, unfortunately, the things that we as a culture value and accept as "normal" are the things that get taught in schools and are promoted in the media. I feel like we as a society have taken tremendous strides into becoming more open-minded and accepting, but I know that it will still be a long time before our prejudices and ignorance are things of the past.
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