I thought it was funny in the first chapter of the Ronald Takaki book when he is riding in the cab and the driver asks him how long he has lived in America and Takaki replies by saying all his life. This has happened to me so many times. I was born in South Korea and adopted when I was about six months old so I have spent just about my entire life here in America. I get so many other sorts of questions from people. Just last Thanksgiving a women I work with looked to me and said, "do you parents ever make your kind of food for thanksgiving?" I looked at her confused for a second because I did not know what she meant. When I realized she what she was asking I just said no. I have never actually eaten Korean food in my entire life. I also have hadpeople ask me if I'm going back home (meaning Korea) for the holidays, people have commented on my excellent english and I have even gotten some questions concerning my parents. Many people think that just because I'm Korean, my parents are. They are actually German. I also get a lot of comments about how I must be good at math or good with computers. I just find it funny to see how people often assume so many things about you just based on your race.

Item From Fox News

I was in the lounge the other day getting some reading done and one of the TVs happened to be turned to Fox News. They ran down a few stories and the last one caught my ear. The anchor said (translated as close as I can recall), "In the wake of the Obama presidency, do minority children now have an excuse to not fail?"

I don't expect a lot out of Fox News; The have a base and they pander to it. But I had to wonder why this stuck in my head. I believe the main reason is the blatant use of racism to try and hook a surfing viewer. As a white man, am I supposed to stop when I hear them ask that question and say "Yeah! Those [insert your favorite racial slur]s don't have any excuse now! Let's see what their excuses are now!"

It reminds me of our reading and how labels were used to make an entire people into savages. Only in this case, its painting them as lazy people who are all this time refused to succeed. But now there's a black president watch out because now all you lazy colored people have to start working harder.

Instead of celebratingthis historic milestone they've turned it into a way to divide us.

What are your thoughts?

Expectations for Class Blogging

{{Expectations for contributions to our blog:
a. Please remember that this is our blog
b. Let us respect and encourage each other to contribute to the discussion
c. Our blog is not about competing for attention
d. Let us evaluate all thoughts—questions, thinking-out-loud, and research based presentations
e. We must focus on the issue raised and not the individual who expresses the thought—because we must honor individual expressions
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i. Lets us be conscious about “group think” (Groupthink is a type of thought exhibited by group members who try to minimize conflict and reach consensus without critically testing, analyzing, and evaluating ideas. Individual creativity, uniqueness, and independent thinking are lost in the pursuit of group cohesiveness, as are the advantages of reasonable balance in choice and thought that might normally be obtained by making decisions as a group. The term was coined in 1952 by William H. Whyte in Fortune…. ref. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group-think)
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