Media

The other day I had the TV on while I was sitting in room. I normally have the TV on just as background noise, but I rarely watch it. I was sitting there, reading for another class when it caught my attention and I began to watch it. It was a movie that was made I would say in the early 90s and it just about killed me to see what was happening. This black guy was running through some town because he was late for something and just happened to run into a white man standing in the middle of the sidewalk. The white man freaked out and claimed the black man was trying to take his things. The white man was a rich business man and had called the cops. While the black man was in the back seat of the cop car, the white man and the cop were talking. One of them, I'm not sure who, said something along the lines of "He's black, he learned to steal before he could walk." My jaw about hit the floor when I heard this. I could not believe that this was on public TV around supper time. How many families in America watch TV during dinner? I know mine always did. I realize that this was a movie and wasn't intended to hurt anyone, but this is why we get the stereotypes that we do. I know it makes for a "good movie" but was it necessary to say these things? I think that if our media didn't have the things in it that it does, we would be closer to being "equal" than we are.

Class today

I just wanted to comment on something that was said in class today. It was said that high school kids that yell things out the window of their cars at other races are not racist. That they were just doing it because of their friends and to look cool. I disagree with this. True they may not do it while they are alone, but that does not make it any less wrong! There are many crimes in history that would not have occured if there wasn't a group mentality present. The fact remains that they were still crimes. High school kids are a product of their enviorment and their families. They should have to face cosequences for their actions. It is not okay to hurt others with words or in any way. They should learn while they are young so they don't grow up to be big racists jerks with the power to really hurt others with their ignorance. We were all in high school at one time or the other and not all of us did this I am sure. It is just wrong.

Seth and I talked about this after class. We were talking about a UFC fight and the announcer said something like, "Jones is in the red shorts and Micheals is in the white shorts." then Joe Rogan said, "Or, Jones white and Micheals black. Why doesn't anyone say it like that?" The other announcer paused and said, "I don't know?" Now was Rogan being to forward or does it matter? Was it wrong for Rogan to identify the fighters like that?

What is not racism?

BEFORE YOU READ THINS YOU SHOULD TAKE A LOOK AT THAT ARTICLE AND THE COMMENTS IT PROVOKED.

Very interesting article.
Instead of trying to solve the race problem, maybe we should try to learn how to reduce it.
I think the next step to this movement is for everyone to start informing eachother.

What is racism? (looking for comments here)

If you can ask yourself what is racism, you can ask yourself, WHAT IS NOT RACISM?

People seem to be looking for racism and perhaps they are finding it because that it is what they are looking for.

The article said people are looking for racism and waiting to pull out their race card, so it makes me wonder... How many people are looking for racism on a day-to-day basis? My gut tells me this would have a profound increase on the very thing we are trying to eliminate.

With complex issue like racism, let us do what mathematicians do... Eliminate what it is not.

What do I think racism is not?.....
I don't think calling people that like trucks and guns "rednecks" is racist. They are just a group of kids that like guns and trucks... B.F.D... they are a group of friends with similar interests. Instead of taking offense, let us be careful about how we say things, but more importantly, let us be careful on how we interpret things. It does not mean that all people from a small town are "rednecks," or anything else. I just mean the person who wrote that comment noticed some people were potentially being racist. This comes back to what I was talking about with the symbols. What a symbol means to me may not mean the same thing to others, so we need to be aware of both sides of interpretations. Eliminating as much confusion/misunderstanding as possible will benefit us greatly.


I think that understanding what racism is not will reduce it as a whole. Not only that, but it will make this complex problem a little simpler. Once we can understand what racism is not, then we will all have a better idea on what it really is.

In other words, my approach is to minimize the definition of racism to the best of our ability. By doing this we will reduce it as a whole, increase our understanding and perhaps find a more practicle approach to eliminating racism once and for all. Maybe not in our life times, but maybe in our children's...

Does anyone know what I am talking about, or am I just crazy?
I would really appreciate your feedback.

What is racism?
What is not?
Is this a good idea or a bad one?

Please help!

Excellent Article on the Discussion of Race

Here is a really thought provoking op-ed piece by Leonard Pitts of the Miami Herald on why we as a society are lousy at discussing race in a meaningful way. Check it out and leave your thoughts. I'm going to chime in later with my thoughts.

Cartoon

I was watching the news last night and they showed the protesters that were protesting the cartoon that ran in the New York Post. It showed a police officer that had shot a chimp and another one said that they would have to find someone else to write the stimulus bill. The protesters were calling it racist and chanted shut down the Post. They said that the dead chimp was suppose to be the President. First of all, I did not tie the dead chimp to the President. It was obvious that the cartoon was portraying the chimp that attacked a person in Conn. earlier this week. I didn't see any of these protesters protesting when President Bush was made to be a monkey or bashed him. Where were they for that? It seems to me that they are saying that it is okay to bash white Presidents, but not other race Presidents. Who's the real racist here? It appears to me that people like the protesters are just looking for things to get pissed about and chant stupid stuff. The President is going to be bashed by cartoons no matter who they are. It comes with the job title. I say to the protesters get a life and go to work. If you don't have a job, then try looking for one. You apparently have the time.

I was watching the news the other night (on President's Day) and I saw something pretty interesting. There was a man, who was supposed to be Abraham Lincoln, giving a speech that Lincoln had given while in his presidency. The speech he was giving was drowned out by the loud voices of activists shouting out for Native American's lives and yelling about how they were disrespected and completely ruined during Lincoln's presidency. I am not sure what to think about this. I do not think that the people speaking against the speech were wrong in what they were doing, but it almost seemed disrespectful to the man giving the speech. He was just there to talk. He wasn't actually Abraham Lincoln. And he couldn't even speak because the noise around him was drowning him completely out. I understand that these people had a right and a reason to do what they did. But, I was a little taken back at the way they did it. Like I said, I don't think that it was wrong of them. But, they were punishing a man who was just reading off a piece of paper and happened to grow a beard to do it, he wasn't actually Abraham Lincoln.