This class was good at bringing up issues in society and even our personal lives. It was good to share and discuss those and try to actually research and engage in some of these issues.
However, I feel as if we barely touched on these issues. People were afraid to really say how they felt, and that took a toll on the learning process of the class. I also think a lot that was left out was personal experiences which led up to how we believe what we do. For instance, my parents taught me to be modest, so now I reflect that in how I dress, it's not necessarily because I'm self conscious.
Also, while we were discussing issues such as personal encounters of racism, I felt as if a lot of people go into a situation assuming they will be stereotyped or looked at funny. For instance, someone told a story about going into a store and treated poorly because of their race, while that is entirely possible, I hate to see people assume it is because of that. It could have just been because they were young, and young people typically don't have money.
I think part of racism and sexism stems from people who go into a situation thinking they are going to be stereotyped or judged.
The movie "Crash" does a good job of showing people being stereotyped, but thinking they are going to be stereotyped, making the situation worse.
We also mostly agreed that communication is a big step with racism and sexism. Here is a good article on that.
Pauline DeBron
For my project I got most of my information from my mom. She was very well informed on all of my sides of my family. Here is the information the best I could get, in chronological order.
The earliest information I have on anyone in our family tree goes back to George Stovall, born in (probably) Surrey County, England in 1555. He died in 1609/1610. His grandson, Bartholomew Stovall, was born in Surrey, England August 24, 1665, but died in Henrico/Powhaten County, Virginia, sometime before 1721. He was the earliest relative I could find that lived in the U.S. (before it was the U.S.)
I also had an ancestor named California (Callie) Shaw, born in 1849, the year of the gold rush. These names are from my maternal grandpa's mother's, mother's side.
One of the pictures that I have is of the Heinrich Bauerle family. Heinrich came to this country from Germany to meet his brother Wilhelm who was living in Nebraska. He arrived on Oct. 9, 1890. He was born in Bittenfeld, Germany July 30, 1874.
The Bauerle family is from my maternal Grandma's side, her name is Vivian. Herman is her father.
My grandma Vivian was born in Culver City, California, April 26, 1924. She met my grandpa in Mojave, California at a swimming pool. My grandpa was with his friend, Buddy Caldwell and my grandma was with her best friend Donna Ryan. Both of those friends are still alive and in contact with my grandma. It was a basic pick-up - guys out to meet girls.
On my grandpa's side, the earliest ancestor that I know of was Luther Bridges who worked on the railroad in Arkansas. He married Maggie Bridges and had 2 sons: Howard (my great-grandfather), who was born in Sapulpa, Oklahoma before it was a state, and Wayman.
My grandpa was born in Pittsburg Kansas Dec. 25, 1923, and died Jan. 22, 1998. His parents divorced when he was 6, he lived in L.A. with his mom till he was 13, moved to Fort Scott Kansas where he went to Jr. high, then Tulsa, where he went to high school. He joined the Navy at 17 in August 1941, just before Pearl Harbor. He worked as an airplane mechanic during WWII, and never was in any battles. But he was stationed on many of the Pacific Islands where there were battles, just after the battles. He was in Pearl Harbor, Guam, Midway Island.
I have a great-grandma Ruth who was born in Harrison, Arkansas. She was tall and thin and she said she could run faster than any of the boys.
My paternal grandpa's family came from Austria. The name was originally Dabraun, but family history says it was either changed on Ellis Island, or possibly by the woman he married, because she thought DeBron sounded more elite. Johann DeBron/Dabraun was a barber and came to the U.S. just before WWI, because he didn't want to fight for Austria. He had a history of soldiers in the family.
One story said there was a pile of dead bodies, and someone saw a hand sticking up and moving. They pulled out that person and he was still alive, lived, had children and descendants (including me). Hearsay from my dad, but it's an interesting story.
John/Johann DeBron came to California during the Depression, looking for work, and worked in the movie studios as a greensman, who worked with plants on the sets. John DeBron, Jr. (my grandfather) worked in the movie studios as a special effects worker, before the days of computerization, where they used spaghettios for splattered brains. No one has had contact with him for over 30 years though because he is not a good person. He married my grandma Mary, who is now married to John Dersch.
My mom and my dad met in high school. Actually, she knew my Aunt Annette (my dad’s sister) first. They were Candy Stripers (hospital volunteers) and were in Drill Team together. My mom started dating my dad when she was a senior in high school, and married him one and a half years later. They had 4 kids (including me) but divorced 16 years later.
Knowing this information pretty much puts me where most other causians are, they are white with European descendants. However, a lot of people from Oklahoma have Native American descendants and carry on that, but I however have none, so my Oklahoma heritage does not run very deep. It may be why I don't really feel that comfortable labled as a Southerner, because I am the first generation to live in Oklahoma.
I think the presentation over media coverage over women's sports was pretty informative. However, as a woman, I still think it's unrealistic to get complete equal coverage and that's fine with me.
The presenter brought up many good points. Some of these included that the amount of coverage is way more for men and the time given is plenty, especially on shows such as Sportscenter. It is probably true that girls need more coverage, and not the kind that refers to women' s ladylike tendencies. However, for coverage to be equal I think is not possible. For one, women don't play all major sports, such as football, which is extremely popular. Secondly, a lot of women play the sports that many people aren't interested in whether it is men or women playing, such as volleyball.
So as much as I would love to see more coverage of women's sports, I don't see it as ever being equal, due to the fact that women typically aren't genetically physcially durable as men.
This doesn't bother me because I know that women are valued in other areas that men will never be. Don't get me wrong though, girls should be valued for their sports skills, but just don't see it as everything should be equal.
Here's some examples of good women's sports I think should be covered more.
By Polly DeBron
At the end of the last class, we had a discussion about we learned from this class and our thoughts about issues overall. I think most of us agreed that this class has opened our eyes to more of what is going on in the world. Also, most of us agreed that something should still be done, but how and where is still up in the air.
Of course we can all take the little steps by telling someone to stop using certain words, or even listening more to what people have to say.
I think the biggest problem with racism, though, is the lack of understanding. If someone is from another culture, we don't understand that and therefore, are fearful of it. This has happened many times in U.S. history and still happens today. Many people don't understand muslims, for instance,or even the difference betweenuslims and many other Middle Eastern religions. Because of that, we group them all together. We lable it as bad because it is not what we believe. Sure there are radicals who are Muslims that fight and kill for their beliefs, but so does Christianity, it is just not broadcasted over the world news.
Racism stems from this lack of understanding, and lack of understanding is not something you can snap your fingers to and it will be gone. It will take time and a big effort to get past. That is why it will take a lot for racism to go away. I think a big start would be for schools to require multi-cultural classes, so students can get familiar with other cultures, religions, and races. After, being knowledgable, however, it will take people becoming tolerant of people who do not believe what they do. This is something that HAS to be done. There are hundreds of religions out there that think they are the one true religion, well they can't all be right, so people should just be content with what they believe and not try to convert the rest of the world.
Here is an article discussing if religion and racism are partners in crime.
Racism and Religion: Partners in crime?
These are just a few of the many popular religious symbols. All symbolizing something different for everyone who believes in them.
By Polly DeBron
As I have been working on my geneology project I've run into the issue of traditional gender roles. For instance, my mom intially was a stay at home mom, but eventually started a career. All the other women in my family have also followed the role of traditional stay at home mom.
I heard on the radio that Jennifer Lopez is starting a new reality TV series, involving her as ac career mom. This seems like it will have a postive impact on many women because it hopefully will show that women have options, they don't have to pick between being a mom and having a career.
Taking care of children is something that will always be with women, but now it is a constant struggle with many women of choosing between their career or being a mom. Some of society looks down on career moms, saying they don't give enough attention to their kids.
My sister is about to have a baby and she is struggling with decided when and if to go back to work after she has her kid. It will be a huge money cut, because she makes more than her husband, but they won't have to pay for childcare and she can actually be with her kid. It is a huge decision that many women have to face that I think society should respect more. It is not easy and I think influences like Jennifer Lopez's reality show should help with that.
About Jennifer Lopez's new reality series
By Polly DeBron
For Phil's presentation, he basically went over the stereotypes of men and how the media develops those stereotypes by using those to make men the victim of something. He showed that men are shown as a victim to many of the stereotypes for comedic purposes. His argument claims that these constant images of putting down men for comedic purposes is detrimental to men.
I personlly had a problem with this claim. Mostly because a lot of the stereotypes he went over that the media portrays, no one takes that seriously, and if it is detrimental, it is not as detrimental as MANY other images portrayed in the media.
For instance, a big theme he went over is that it is funny to kick men in the genitals. I don't think anyone, over the age of 5, really takes that to heart. If it were really detrimental, people would be kicking men in real life in the genitals, and I don't see that happening unless it is an accident. What I do think is more detrimental is the portrayal of skinny women in the media. Many women take that to heart and actually take it upon themselves be to skinnier, even if they are already skinny.
I also don't see a problem with men being a victim for comedic purposes. Women have to put up with the constant period jokes, the being emotional jokes, and many others. It doesn't bother me because it is not that detrimental to us. Yes we have periods and yes we cry some times, big deal, if people want to make fun of that then go ahead.
It is for these reasons why I think Phil's presentation wasn't that valid. What's worse? a movie of a toy airplane hitting a guy's genitals, makinig the audience laugh, but having no one actually acting on it. OR Showing a movie of how pretty and skinny a woman is, causing hundreds of women to go home and barf..... I think the answer is clear.
Media Influence on Women's Body Image.
Lisa Lampanelli
1) Focuses on stereotypes of pretty much all races. Used to portray everyday and sexual encounters.
2) Uses racial stereotypes, such as Hispanics and janitors and blacks as violent for humor purposes.
3) It was funny, mostly because she is so vulgar it surprises you. Plus she was talking to people in the audience, so it wasn't as if she was saying things behind people's backs.
Leah Kayajanian
1) Uses situations which most people have been in for humor, i.e. everyone has seen bathroom writings.
2) She discussed women's roles and rape as a topic as well as racial stereotypes.
3) Her routine was pretty funny, mostly because as college students we can relate to her scenarios.
Russell Peters
1) Used racial stereotypes
2) Discussed races such as Indian and Chinese and stereotyped them as bad laborers and very smart.
3) It was funny because he used really good accents that most of us have heard before and took the stereotypes and used them as a superhero, which was different and funny.
Mike Epps
1) Used education and parenting as a topic.
2) Suggested that certain races have different parenting styles and therefore continuing the stereotype.
3) Pretty funny, mainly because he made good gestures and sound effects.
Ellen DeGeneres
1) She touched on homosexuality, but also addressed people who go to comedy clubs, (the audience) so everyone could essentially relate to everyone.
2) She discussed what it means to be gay and how people think of gay people as well as homophobia.
3) She was funny because she is good at getting you into the story and its pretty funny to think about what is going on inside the audience's thoughts of gay people.
Stephen Colbert
1) Broadly uses politics and assumptions of conservativism and liberalism.
2) Relates to gay stereotypes and gender issues, (sexual harassment). Also there is mentioning of her being a black representative, although it wasn't used for humor.
3) It's Funny because he uses sarcasim and acting for humor and jokes. He doesn't have to tell jokes, he just impersonates someone who would be stereotypically conservative and/ or ignorant.
Katt Williams
1)Uses racial stereotypes, and touches on parenting and social activities.
2) Uses many stereotypes for humor, however, uses the 'N' word heavily and refers to Hispanics as Spanish people.
3) He was funny because the situations he was describing were funny and he gets riled up and uses funny gestures.
Dave Chapelle
1) Racial stereotypes
2) Referenced gender and racial issues of black men having big penises and white men being paranoid of having a smaller penis, but that they have all the power so it's ok.
3) It was minorly funny, but it wasn't that funny because it had very little context and background.
Chris Rock- old
1)Racism within races
2) Uses the 'N' word a lot to describe a stereotype
3) Although pretty vulgar, it is still pretty funny because of the way he tells his jokes.
Chris Rock-New
1) Uses stereotypes of financial differences between whites and blacks
2) Stereotypes why he thinks blacks are just rich and not wealthy and why whites are wealthy.
3) Pretty funny, mostly because I have seen a lot of rims which might cost more than the car itself.
Carlos Mencia
1) Racial Stereotypes
2) Discusses the stereotype of Asians being smart but bad drivers. Also pointed out that America always seems to be racist to one race or another, it just depends on whose turn it is.
3) Pretty funny because he does a good job of impersonations and stories.
George Carlin
1) How our society uses language to cover up things.
2) Broadly covers how America tries to make everything look better by changing language, which could relate to many gender and racial issues. Such as referring to a rape victim as unwilling sperm recipient.
3) Pretty funny, because I hear a lot of those phrases and I never thought of it the way he does.
----Polly DeBron
By Polly DeBron
During the Japanese prison camps presentation there was a very good point brought up that I think could not be discussed enough and that is the parallel between what is going on today with the war on terror and what has happened in the past.
It is easy to look back on history and say "that was wrong" because you know most of the information about it and can look at it from an outsiders point of view. However, it is hard to look at our society now and say "this is blatantly wrong." But why is it so hard to see the similarities of such horrific events when situations like the war on terror have happened many times throughout American history?
Look at it this way, Japanese began facing discrimination and horrible treatment by the federal government and the people after Pearl Harbor and the beginning of WWII. Are Middle Eastern people not facing the similar discrimination in airports after 9/11 and horrible treatment, say in Guantanamo Bay? How many innocent civilians have we killed in the Middle East? How many "suspected" terrorists have we tortured and even killed? The answer is too many, but the truth is we will never really know because just like 50 years ago, the government can hide information from the people, allowing us to blinding let tragedies happen right before our eyes
It is actually quite sad but if you look at history and today, there is always an excuse to persecute different races. For some reason, people (mostly government) seem to never be able to separate certain people's actions from a race, it is either all or nothing. A couple of current day examples are: we think of all immigrants as Mexicans who sneak in by climbing a fence to steal our jobs; we think of Middle Eastern people as radical Muslims who will do anything for their religion (i.e. bomb anything).
I think when we look back on today, just like we do of WWII and the Japanese prison camps, we will wonder how we ever let something so horrible happen right in front of us. This is why information and education can be so important. Ignorance is not bliss.
By Pauline DeBron
The good thing about the video is that no one ever gets to be so candid in real life. This means that issues were brought up and discussed that in a normal everyday situation would never be discussed. It was important to see the different perspectives on race and how it affects different people in different ways.
I definitely agree that race is still an issue in the United States and can have very negative impacts for people all around the country, however, to me, the video seemed put people into only two categories; whites and others.
To me this just doesn't help the issue of race by saying "The White man." It makes it seem as if all white people hold the same values, and come from the same background and heritage and just like this isn't true for any other person, it isn't true for people with light skin either. This was my main problem with the video. It made it seem as if all white people are oblivious to the problems involved with race.
Unlike most people with light skin, I have been a minority in a school. I have been to and lived in many different places, all with a different mix of people. It would really bother me if someone just labeled me as someone oblivious and ignorant, because I'm not.
I would also like to point out that now, it is not only minority races that feel pressed down by society it is also gay people. They face the same felt pressure of judgment and lack of freedom as people in a minority race seem to face.
So the verdict to me is there is something wrong with our society, but it's too hard to point fingers at who's doing the pressing down of people. Is it the government? Is it a high class people? Is it a race of people? Is it a value system? Any one of these could be a factor of why minorities feel pressed down as individuals so I would think twice about pointing fingers to a "race" which presses down people and think more about the system as a whole.
Here is a good link which discusses "The Color of Fear" http://www.cnn.com/US/9512/racial_reality/
Also, a good movie to watch which discusses issues of race and racial prejudice is Crash. http://imdb.com/title/tt0375679/ I really like this movie because it established common stereotypes and of people, but as the plot develops, allows for people to analyze their prejudices.
A lot of people keep talking about how Obama seems to have a cult following him. Some people say it is because of his race and some say it is because of his age but I say it is because he is a great person who could do great things for this county..... end of story. But I'm frustrated when people call it a "cult" because it makes it sound as if people worship him. To me it is just people finally getting excited about someone who is actually a great leader for this country. How can you not get excited about something like this....
This was an inspiring speech to me and I got really excited about it after I watched it. This speech says everything about why so many young people are so excited and supportive. However I must admit, some of his supporters may get too carried away. Like the Obama Girl.
Despite the fact that this video is pretty ridiculous and tacky for showing support of a candidate, it does show that young people are actually able to get excited about a President, which I think is a great thing.
Here is a better representation of great support among excited Americans who want things to change.
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on Response to Video by Pauline DeBron