Welcome to this blog which I have set up for this class, Sociology 240. We will be using this site throughout this semester for a variety of individual and group activities, beginning with the one described below. I will also use this blog to post occasional lecture notes if I get behind in class. And, finally, this blog will be used for whatever extra credit opportunities I may offer you. Although I will usually let you know in class if I have posted something you need to check out, you should get in the habit of checking the blog a couple times a week anyway. I hope and trust that you will find this blog to be a valuable additional tool in exploring the realm of race and ethnic relations.
FIRST INDIVIDUAL EXERCISE:
I want each of you to briefly describe any one incident in the news (local, national, or international) that you can recall which touches on some race and ethnic relations issue. In addition to your brief description, tell in what respect you believe the incident is pertinent to race and ethnic relations and also state your own view or position on this incident. I am only looking for a couple paragraphs at most, which you should post as a comment on this blog. Please do so no later than WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 14TH. This exercise is worth 5 activity points.
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In most recent memory, a race and ethnic relations issue that comes to mind is that of electing Barack Obama as President of the United States in 2008. This monumental event not only served as an historic step towards the elimination of racism in our country but also highlighed how far we still have to go in our quest to erradicate it from our society.
This issue is pertinent to race and ethnic relations because it was not too long ago in history that the prospect of having an African American in a government leadership position was inconceivable.
In my opinion, this has emphasised the progress still to be made in regards to a country without racism moreso than it has shown the progress that has been made. When Obama ran for president, the fact that he was of mixed race was not stressed as much as the fact that he was black. The ignorance about Obama's race with which many voters went into the polls may have effected their casting decision. I feel like Obama's policies should have been at the forefront of the media coverage of his campaign rather than the reporting that was done about how many African Americans and minorites would vote for him based on his race. I didn't follow the race extremely closely because I wasn't yet old enough to vote (a bad excuse I know) but that is how I beleive the Presidential race of 2008 is pertinent to race and ethnic relations.
“Murfreesboro Mosque Controversy Sparks Islamophobia, Threats And Vandalism”
Murfreesboro, a small town just south of Nashville, Tennessee, has recently played home to “Islamophobia” after a mosque received government building approval in May of 2010. Locals immediately responded negatively showing how fear of another terrorist attack has influenced the treatment of middle-eastern ethnicities. A series of hate crimes ensued including the vandalism of a sign advertising the new mosque on the building site. Soon after the original vandalism, construction equipment was set on fire and there was threat of a bomb going off in the current Muslim worship place on September 11. Even the local newspaper, “The Rutherford Reader” described Islam as “defiling” and “dehumanizing”. The editor refused to give a response when asked about the quote but soon after published another article speaking negatively of Muslims.
“Muslims are not in America to assimilate. They are here to change our system … Our preachers should go beyond telling us more than ‘we must love our enemies.’ That is simply passing the buck. They should be getting every Christian ready and armed with the Word of God and an understanding of the Quran and Hadith, to defeat those who are out to destroy Christianity, and our American way of life.” (Rutherford Reader)
Ross, Janell. "Murfreesboro Mosque Controversy Sparks Islamophobia, Threats And
Vandalism." Islamophobia Today. Huffington Post, 12 Sept. 2011. Web. 12
Sept. 2011. .
This event is pertinent to race and ethnic relations because it shows how different races and ethnicities can be discriminated against and documents the reactions of the prejudiced group. This allows us to look at the situation as a third party observer and discuss the events and determine what they mean and why they happened.
I disagree with the reaction of the “Islamophobics” in Murfreesboro however I see that fear of a terrorist attack can cause people to discriminate out of anxiety and lack of knowledge.
In a random Google search, I found a local newspaper report concerning negative racial incidents at an intermediate school in Pennsylvania. At this school, students were calling other students "the N-word" on a weekly basis. Also, written vandalism througout the school included hate-filled, racial slurs.
I chose this article to comment on because these same incidents happened at my high school. This issue of racism in schools is pertinent to race and ethnic relations because schools are the first place that I believe racial issues need to be addressed. In the private homes, parents and guardians are free to teach their children hate and racism. But the education system has the power to combat this.
It was reported that in this school, the students that made these racist comments were punished, but the incidents were not formally recorded and the incident was considered over after the punishment. This, in my opinion, is a major problem and reflection of why there is still so much tension among the races. First, the root of the problem is being ignored on a formal level. Second, instead of just punishing these children, who, taking their young age into acount, clearly are only reflecting their guardians opinions, taking the time to address the root of the racial problem and educating the students on the basis of race. I think that the education system has not only an incredible opportunity that it is not taking to change racial views in society, but also an immense responsibilty to being to do this very thing.
There was an incident that was published in the New York Times about a black family in Jackson, Mississippi suing a group of white teenagers because they believe that they killed their son because he was black. The family’s lawyer put out the statement saying, “We want to send a message to people who want to use race as a reason to target someone,” said Morris Dees, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who joined Winston Thompson III, the family’s lawyer, in filing the suit. And later flat out states that these groups of boys went after the black man just because he was black. The lawsuit filed against these young men stated that the group of white young men had an evening filled with drinking and then decided to drive 16 miles from their largely white suburban county to Jackson to harass Black people, where they found James C. Anderson robbed, beat, and then ran over him with a pickup truck.
I believe that this incident was based on pure racism. Some people might say that that these young men would have done the same, to any individual they say that night because they were out looking for trouble. However, you do see more hate crimes in Mississippi which is why I believe this act of crime was race driven.
My first though when I read this assignment was of a story I had read from when I was younger about a father in Alabama who stormed into a gym to threaten African American basketball players who had been talking to his daughter. From what I can remember the girl in question was a number of years younger than the high school boys, however, most believed that the father's objections were purely racial.
In my opinion, the father who faced no punishment was out of line. If he had an objection to his daughters actions he should have handled it privately in the closed doors of his own home. Actions such as going to a school and making a scene only increase racial tensions America.
I grew up in rural South Carolina outside of Charleston and have seen these situations unfold over and over again. It is the culture where i grew up that the races should not mix and for the most part people do not mix. I have even seen white girl's be harassed and their possessions vandalized over an interracial relationship they engaged in. Personally I feel that people should do whatever will make them happy and if you do not want to enter into that type of relationship then don't. Regardless of what your feelings on interracial relationships are I feel that everyone must learn to accept them and let people live how they want to live.
A Congresswoman by the name of Maxine Waters is in the headlines as being a very vocal critic of President Obama. She has been voicing her opinions not only about the president, but about the Tea Party as well and how she feels that they can "go to Hell." Waters feels that President Obama has been overlooking his African American constituents and ignoring the needs of the black population of the United States.
I feel that it is very ignorant for this woman to stand up and make such a big deal about the president not focusing all of his attentions on one ethnic group. Not only is it not his responsibility to fend for just one group, but there are much bigger issues going on in the world than solely those that are in the world of Black America. This is not to say that there aren't issues that need to be addressed and that the African American community does not need some attention, but to criticize the president for not putting all of his attention there simply because he is half African just seems very ignorant to me. Nobody ever made a huge deal because White presidents didn't put more emphasis on the fate of the African American (well, except for Kanye West who made it clear to everyone that George Bush hates black people), and if they did, it wasn't in such a great manner as to make it public headlines.
I just feel like people need to stop focusing on race issues as far as Obama's presidency goes, he may be (half) Black man, but he is also the President of the United States and has to make decisions for everybody in this "melting pot" that we live in.
On August 18th, President Obama issued Executive order 13583 titled : "A Coordinated Government-Wide Initiative to promote Diversity and Inclusion in the Federal Workforce." Restated, Obama bascially issued an order requiring federal departments of agencies to increase hiring and promotion of nonwhite minorities. Advocates of racial/ethnic affirmative action highly favored this order viewing it as a tremendous leap forward and a serious call to arms for agencies to act promptly and accordingly.However, the article offered an opposing, somewhat disturbing view voicing that diversity has been about granting economic rewards through force and guilt for years.The article stated that executing such order would : diminish the importance of merit, character traits for good employees, and create an enlarged and less accountable government.Therefore, as a result of having to follow such an order, the federal bureaucracy would be more committed to racial payback.
The topic at hand is definitley pertinent to race and ethnic relations simply because it's basically a mandate "forcing" federal agencies to hire and promote more minorities. Why should this issue have to seemingly be forced? Why is it that the issue of race and ethnicity, or identity per se, even contributes such a detrimental factor towards the consideration of whom should be hired for an open position? Furthermore, why is hiring minorities such an overlying factor to be debated if the issue of racism doesn't still exist amongst our society?
I can't even begin to grasp the logic behind trying to give an accountable answer for the questions I've brought forth, and I'm not sure that I really want to. It is sad that a simple plan to create a more diverse government raises so many specualtions. If an individual has worked hard enough to potentially qualify themselves for a deserving position, why is it that race generally makes the decision of who fills the spot? Why continue to create a society in which the minorities continually struggle while those considered "inferior" simply remain inferior?
In addition, President Obama's order was referred to as a "first step", but what was Bill Clinton's attempts to fulfill federal workforce diversity considered?
As Americans, we may often think that we have a monopoly (unwanted of course) on bad race relations. However, this is not the case. In Africa, even today, there are bitter disputes over land rights between the “civilized” population and the Bushmen, and in Hong Kong, a city often thought of as completely modern, has had its bouts with racial discrimination.
Recently, in the former Eastern Bloc, group of Roma gypsies have shown their retaliation of ongoing discrimination by attacking a group of white men. 20 Romas viciously attacked 6 Czechs leaving a bar, although no one was killed, serious injuries were inflicted, and the attackers could face up to 12 years because of their “racially motivated” crime. While certainly not the way to treat a problem, it is easy to empathize with the gypsies, whose nomadic way of life has always set them apart from others.
There was a article in my local newspaper in 2010 about a fight at a basketball game due to race.
This is related to race and ethnics because it was a game between a all white team and a all black team.The black team won and where called derogatory names while leaving then it turned into a all out brawl right before they went out the gym.
My thoughts on this where total disbelief.I say this because i feel as major steps still are needed to be taken with the race and ethnics in the US.I feel as though the team had no other option other than fighting because they had already won the game so they where leaving peacefully. Then they were harrassed and called names what where they suppose to do? I feel that if I was in that situation it would be the same outcome for me.This is only my opinion on this situation about race and ethnics at this game
One story that has been in the news for the last few days that touches race relations is the accusations of profiling by airport security and TSA agents in almost 50 cases, against minority airline passengers on the recent anniversary of 9/11. Almost all of these individuals reported being strip searched, questioned and briefly handcuffed and jailed before being released with no charges against them. The FBI and TSA , while having apologized to these individuals, claims that the only reason that these individuals were detained is not because the agencies themselves targeted them but rather because other passengers on each of the flights in question had claimed that these individuals were engaging in “suspicious behavior,” and therefore had to detain these individuals according to protocol.
Assuming that the FBI and TSA are not simply attempting to cover up the issue of profiling within their agencies, this issue highlights the xenophobia and racism that still occurs, not only against Arab-Americans, but also among individuals of Jewish and Indian decent among others, who were among those targeted over the weekend, since 9/11. This raises the question of whether laws that are currently in place might be hypersensitive, prone to infringe on one’s rights, and, at the same time, makes one wonder how 9/11 has changed race relations between many “White Americans” and, not only Arab-Americans, but any person who appears to be foreign or different.
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