Interracial Marriage

Today my mother told me about an interracial marriage that is going to happen in the summer, in which I will be attending. The marriage is between my mother's African American friend, Nancy, and her white partner, Greg. Greg is very influential, owns a hedge fund, and has a very nice house in Scarsdale, NY. Nancy owns a very prominent clothing store, in which all of my friends enjoy going to, and she does very well. The fact that both of their economic standings are similarly positive, makes me believe the marriage is due to true love. It makes me think the marriage is also based on the fact that both people do not see race or feelings of racism. There is no sign of the exchange hypothesis, in which one characteristic, such as race, is exchanged for economic standings.

It is always nice to hear about unions, such as interracial unions, that progress the world. This marriage is just another addition to the rates that have been increasing progressively of interracial marriage. it makes me happy to experience first hand the change of society toward views of African Americans and the acceptance of miscegenation. Loving v. Virginia sparked a huge social change, which I can say has been carried into the 20th century. The fact that my mother told me about the marriage without mentioning race shows that there is hope society can become more lenient and accepting of the mixing of races. I knew through knowing the people that this would be an interracial marriage, but it is of upmost importance to see this marriage as a happy union of two people, in love and equal. I am curious to see who attends the wedding, what music is played, and what everyone is wearing to see how cultural symbols and other social constructs and topics touched upon in class pertain to the real world!

Communication is Key

When I was eight years old, my family hired a live in housekeep to watch over me and my 2 younger siblings. Sandra was black and had not yet become a citizen of the United States yet. When I was in high school, around age 14, Sandra no longer lived with my family, but would come and clean the house around 3 to 5 times a week. After living with my family for twelve years, Sandra became one of us. I would one hundred percent call her part of my family. She watched as me, my brother and sister all grew up. She watched as I had my bar-mitzvah celebration and coming of age in the Jewish community, as well as watch me graduate from high school and encounter future college endeavors. Although black, never once did any member of my family ever judge her or treat her differently because of her skin family. She was one of us, she would even come and sit down at our family dinners sometimes too. However, this past week, my mom became weary as she noticed money missing from her wallet gradually each day. This seemed rather odd to her, as she questioned if maybe she was spending it, or gave some money to my siblings, or any possibility that she may have mishandled her money. Thinking, that this was all just some strange coincidence, my mom continued with her daily routines, until one day, after taking a shower, she watched as Sandra removed a 20 dollar bill from her wallet. My mom, as well as the rest of my family was appalled. She couldn't believe that anyone would take her money under her own roof, better yet someone who has become part of my family for the past twelve years.

All my life I have never once heard my mom utter a racist comment or though, but after this incident, my mom now has become extremely critical of people of color. She completely lost all trust, and constantly refers to Sandra, and worse, sometimes the entire black community as thieves and criminals. Now, we don't know the true motives behind why Sandra would ever take my parents money, and I do still truly believe there was a background story my family is unaware about, but this brought up a question for me now. Do we only give minorities one shot to make it right? Are they not allowed mistakes? Once one messes up, do we then resort back to racist or discriminatory beliefs? I think overall good communication is needed. Communication is always key within any relationship, and this is true of the black/white relationship or any minority relationship. If maybe we knew why Sandra needed extra money, or if she felt comfortable enough to explain her predicament, things could have ended better for all. Therefore, i think once communication can be established, we can hope for more equality as well.

Gender Construction

When people think of gender, it is usually about whether someone is male or female. However, in reality it is not as easy to discern between the two. In class we learned that gender is socially constructed along with race. In other words, the media tells society what it means, “to be a man” and what it means, “to be a woman.” Biologically, it is easy to differentiate from a man and women. In society, gender is imposed differently in different places, and what it means to be a man or women continually changes from time to time because people believe and interpret situations differently.

First, the old way of masculinity was a basic male gender role that had to be fulfilled and most people went along with it, while others were not happy. Now, they’re multiple masculinities. There are now competing ways of “being a man” in society. Thus, there is a hierarchy of masculinity, also known as hegemonic masculinity. The top is the dominant male who has the power and support. Yet even in the hegemonic masculinity, access to the ideal is racialized. Therefore, what a man can and cannot do depends on their race. Also, gender is not based on what you are, but by what you do. The media plays a vital part in translating these masculinities; for example, the media tells that black people walk like thugs. Lastly, gender is relevant to terrorism today because factors of masculinity and gender shame are reasons that predicted terrorists. In terrorists eyes it is reason for mass murder.

Television is a medium where many gender roles are displayed and embedded into the minds of audiences. When one watches a television show, for instance an action drama, the male is shown to be strong, aggressive, and independent. On the other hand, women are more likely to be seen graceful, elegant, and submissive. Yes, there are exceptions to this, but for the most part males are the dominant gender. In terms of different male races, there are many discrepancies.

Ethnic minorities did not reappear on television in the 1960’s, yet not all were equally portrayed. As minorities were given more roles, these roles were, for the most, on the lower end of masculinity. They were given minor or insignificant roles and they were also very stereotypical. The main problem, aside from under representing minorities, was that media chose to conceive the television world as middle to upper class prosperity. In other words, in relation to the majority of US population, programs depicted people in affluent situations. In addition, the media refused to deal with class and gender inequalities and the racial character of those inequalities. Consequently, by continuing to view these perspectives, it creates false impression of the real world outside of the television world. In the end, gender-role stereotypes will be kept.

Gender is not just biological, but a social construction. Masculinity has been socially constructed to form multiple forms of masculinity. Through the media, specifically the television, gender roles appear and become ingrained into society. All in all, American society is reaching a point where there is no fine line between what it means to “be a man or woman.”

Reflection

After taking this class, I think it has altered my opinions and thoughts in a lot of ways. First, I think the readings really opened my mind to issues that are going on in our country today that I didn't even realize were happening, or didn't realize the severity of it. Coming from a predominately upper class, white neighborhood, it never hit me how much inequality and how much I have taken for granted. I remember once thinking that a friend of mine from camp did not have free bus transportation to and from their school, and I thought that was crazy. What if your parents worked? How was one suppose to get school? It never in fact hit me that transportation was the least of some school districts worries. From these readings, I realized that many school districts are deprived of transportation, adequate school supplies, adequate classroom sizes and so much more. I also didn't make the connection that this was extremely race related and correlated. I was very much existing in a color blind world. I thought, since I was taught not to discriminate, that in fact I wasn't. But that is highly untrue, many of my beliefs and actions represented an unconscious act of discrimination, that after taking this class I plan on consciously changing. However, I do have fears that sometimes I have been or will be to conscious about not making someone feel uncomfortable that it back fires on me. But I believe that that is part of the process, by realizing what's appropriate and how to help when and where I can. This class has already greatly affected me. In my high school in New York, I was vice president of a community service class, and I have passed along some articles relating to inner city schools in New York City. I think my community service club can begin donating text books and other school supplies that may seem trivial but will in fact make a great difference for these schools. I hope as more people become educated and aware of topics like these, our society can strive for equality.

After watching the movie, "In Whose Honor", I began to ask myself a lot of questions. When watching, I understood the hardships and pain Charlene was going through as she felt as if her heritage and culture was being mocked and torn apart. Watching traditional dances and attire being used in an inappropriate fashion clearly caused her and her family a lot of heartache. However, I do believe that there are two sides and multiple interpretations of each scenario. Growing up, my high school's mascot was the "Braves". Throughout our school you could find pictures of the "Braves" Indian Head posted on hallways and enlarged completely on one side of the gymnasium. This logo was also marked on school shirts and other attire used for fundraisers and such. Being apart of my school district since I was in Kindergarten, I began to love and appreciate the "Braves". Throughout my entire schooling career, I never once thought of it as being offensive and disrespectful to the Indian culture. On the contrary, we were embracing the "Braves". The "Braves" head stood as a symbol of honor, strength and tradition in my school and we all took it very seriously. Eventually, the idea that this could be mocking certain students culture came to the school board, as our school was required to take a vote as to which mascot we would now like to represent our school. Huge outrage and discontent spread about the student body as people now were offended that others can think of the Braves being represented in this way. The Indian head was no co-opted to represent honor of our school. Yes, the meaning did change, however no negative connotations were involved.

I think this is a very sticky subject, because although the indian head was not used to represent traditional Indian American culture, it still represented honor and tradition for our school. The implications were not meant to offend anyone, if anything it was meant to make the entire school and student body proud. For situations like these, I at times think that others are being to sensitive. At least within my high school, no one mocked the indian head, no one made fun of it, in fact everything was quite to the contrary. It was revered and looked highly upon. After much discontent, my school district revoked any further advancements of changing our school mascot, but instead went from "Braves" to "Brave" to remove any connection to actual Indian American tribes. Although there is still discontent amongst a few, I think when there are two sides to an issue or debate there is always going to be discontent amongst a few, and it will be impossible to always make everyone happy.

Reflecting

What I have learned in this class will stay with me for the rest of my life and changed the way I look at the country. Although, I knew I would be learning new information I didn’t expect to take as much away from it as I have. I have always been taught to be open-minded and to be curious about other races, ethnicities, and cultures.

When I reached high school I asked my parents how they chose to live in New Rochelle. There were many factors that went into choosing where to live but something that stood out to me was that they wanted my brother and I to grow up in a diverse community. Both my parents had grown up in predominately White Jewish towns and wanted my brother and I to have a different experience. I have learned so much from growing up in New Rochelle and changed my outlook on life concerning oppression, racism and diversity. My high school encouraged learning about all the different cultures that are represented at our school and accepting everyone for who they are regardless of skin color. However, we never went into specifics and this class made me realized how everything is interconnected and contributes to oppression and privilege.

I have never thought of myself as being racists or feeling that I am more entitled to things because I am white but this class has made me rethink many actions I have taken or the way I view certain things. For example, a couple of weeks ago I was walking home from the library by myself very late at night when I was approaching a group of African American boys. I decided to cross the street because I was more comfortable not walking past anyone. As soon as I made it to the other side I thought, wait why exactly did I cross the street? Was it because they were African American, was it because they were boys, would I have done the same thing if it had been a different configuration of people. I came to the conclusion that regardless of who was standing on the corner I would have crossed the street because I am frightened easily when walking alone at night and feel safer when farther away from a group. But I was still worried that my action may have come across in the wrong way. I am more aware of actions I take that can come across in a negative way and want to change this.

Reading “What Can We Do” was a great capstone to the class. Now that we are more educated about these issues in America we need to be able to take what we learned and share and apply them. Some of the steps that Johnson suggested I found myself already partaking in which made me happy. For example I get very uncomfortable when people make derogatory jokes and always speak up about it. It was very helpful to see what other steps we can take to help our country reach equality, and I am most definitely going to try my hardest to implement them into my life. I really enjoyed this class and learned a lot.

Sports Media Racisim

Mass media contains intended messages to socialize society in a certain way. Sports is just another one of those areas where the media has a great impact on the publics’ perceptions. It does not necessarily mean that stereotypes in sports are valid or that people believe them, because they are not. However, the stereotypes remain and do not seem to be changing anytime soon. First, African Americans are the overwhelming majority in professional basketball and football. And surprisingly these are the only sports were people ask “What makes football or basketball players more inclined to get into fights?” Tt is not fair to only look at sports where African Americans are the majority, but it happens because most people think that black people dominate the most popular sports and thus think black people to be more violent. This is never asked in other sports, like baseball or hockey, where fights still occur in the sport, but the majority of players are not African American. Also, there are many more instances of violence from the rest of the United States that does not receive the attention that professional athletes do. This shows the media chooses the messages and stories they provide the public. Not surprisingly, it is the black athletes that are stereotyped in sports, not white athletes.

There are many possible reasons black people are stereotyped in this fashion. Firstly, because of the violence or contact in sports, it is bound to make the athlete more violent in real life, black or white. Yet, the percentage of athletes that commit violent acts in the public is nothing compared to the rest of the United States. Since athletes are role models, the public holds a higher standard from them. But that still does not excuse the stereotype that football and basketball players are more likely to get into fights or that black athletes are more likely to be violent. These are the most popular sports in the United States and media bias toward these sports is a fact. Ironically, the perceived arrest rate for the NBA and NFL is much lower than in comparison to what the media displays. In other words, violent acts or stories in the media are more likely to about black people over whites, even if white people commit more violent crimes. This goes for professional athletes too. The fact is the people who filter the media are mostly white and stereotypes come from the media, so it creates a bias. According to the book, as of the year 2000, 90 percent of the sports writers from newspapers are white. Thus, the stories writers present will most likely come form white people and in doing so they look at white people in a positive light, while black people in a negative light. Therefore, the media reinforces racial stereotyping because there is no equal representation in the media. For instance, more people remember violent stories where the perpetrator is black and the victim in white, such as when Latrell Spreewell attacked a white referee. Also, graduating rates do not help this perception of black people.

Only 14 percent of freshman athletes graduate in four years. However, the percentage is misleading. For football and basketball, players can leave for college before they graduate college. A lot of players will end up doing this because they need the money because they come from a poor background. Even so, people still discern them as people being dumb. In some cases this can be true, but it is not fair that black athletes do not have the same opportunities as white people. White people dominate mass media and whatever they deem necessary for the public to intake is not up to the control of the reader. The media is where people observe and learn stereotypes, and in this day and age, sports are all over the media, especially television. A sport might be majorly black, but the perceptions do not have to be positive. As stated earlier, football and basketball athletes are looked at as “violent” All in all, it is a shame that black athletes have to suffer the most from the media because they are shown in negative fashions more often then not.