Pre reading questions for week six

If you change one of the straight white women’s characteristics to maybe queer or something else, then of course her structural position will also change. I mean, she maybe different, but she’s still white. So in my opinion, she would still hold power but not as much as straight white women or straight white men. In others words basically, I believe she would still get better advantages that the minorities. If you change queer white men into straight white men then there structural position will change to where they hold all the power. For me and this is just my opinion, it doesn’t really make a difference if you change of one the characteristics of the white men because whatever you do or change, they will always be on the top of the ladder. Same goes for straight black men. I believe that even if you change one of their characteristics to queer, something else, or still straight, they will still be seen as below of the food chain and will still be given a hard time from everyone else, especially the whites. They will still have to work hard to get where they want to be unlike the whites whose advantages are already given to them. I don’t really know what you mean by political organization, but I think white women don’t really have that much needs as black women because like I said before, white women, even if you change their structural position, they will still hold some little power while as the black women, if you change their structural position, they will get nothing. If we are talking about political organizing, then the black women need more equality and power as everyone else. They should have a say in whatever they want to do without being looked differently. I also think it applies for queer Asian men and straight Asian men. I mean they both come from the same group, but when it comes to political organizing, the queer Asian men get looked differently because they are not the same as the others. Basically, straight Asian men have more advantages than queer Asian men because those who are straight don’t have to be scared of maybe using the public restroom. Personally to me, I think if people are only granted advantages and disadvantages because of their race, then that would be discrimination. Everyone should be able to receive equal advantages not because of their ethnicity, but how hard they work. I don’t really understand what you mean by if someone has racial privilege but not ability privilege but I think that if someone has an advantage because of their race but doesn’t have the ability to do it, then it causes some unfairness and injustice I think. I don’t really know how to answer this question. For the “Age, Race, Class, and Sex: Women redefining difference”, my two questions are: are women receiving less disadvantages because of their gender? And how are the ways the women are challenging this type of problem in their society? For “La Guera”, my two questions are: does this reading have to do with women also? And does the title reference have to do with something about war? For “The Combahee River Collective Statement,” my two questions are: does this reading have to do with the Native Americans? And does this reading have to do with like the Native Americans’s opinions about how they feel about the situation?

 

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Post reading questions for week five

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva refers Color Blind Racism as ‘racism lite’ because he is saying that like instead of calling minorities these names such as niggers or chinks, it implies that they are behind and are not working hard enough as suppose to where God was the one who placed them in this crucial position. He also states that, “if two people who come from different racial groups get married, then it is looked as ‘problematic’ because of the location, children, and the burden it is placed the on the couple.” For me, I think the video is racist because well for me, it seems like here that she is generalizing or targeting what white girls are saying to black girls as suppose to you know talking about the different things white people say to black people. I also think that in a way its kind of racist because and this is just me, that she points out how some white girls can act not smart or in other words act as a dumb blond. But although I do believe that she didn’t mean to make the video seemed racist because I think she was just trying to show from her point of view what she has heard from maybe her friends or other people and she just wanted to share it and see if others have experienced it too. I think #5 about the one where people think Obama is Muslim is obviously CBR because to me, it’s the same way as how some people look at Arabs. When they hear the word Arabs or see someone that is Arab, they probably think of terrorist because of 911 and that’s what I believe is the same for Muslims. They have, to me that is, something against Muslims which is why they are saying that if Obama was secretly or maybe half Muslim, then he is unfit to be president. I also think its CBR because they are targeting Muslims as suppose to or compared to a different racial group. I mean if they said Obama was half white or something else half, then they would probably be on board with him being president. Like to me personally, I don’t think they should appoint a president because of whatever their race is, but what they can do to change or fix our country better. I think #10 is also obvious of CBR because again, they generalized Asian students plus strict, over-bearing moms. I mean anyone can be smart in school, it all depends on the individual and if they are willing to try and participate in school. The parents, especially the mom’s don’t really have anything to do with their kids getting good grades. I mean it does but usually students who do well in school are usually the ones who want to get an education and have a job in their future. This scenario to me is also like the stereotype, Asians are smart, which I hear almost often. #11 to me I find ambiguous because in a way it doesn’t seem racist but at the same time it’s not really. Like it wouldn’t hurt to have a White history month but it wouldn’t have the same impact or affect as it would for Black History month and Hispanic Heritage month because of the history they both went through. I also believe though if they did create a White History month, more people would probably celebrate it rather than the other two which would probably cause a lot of stir and debate. I think we study CBR in ethnic studies because it informs us that there are still some people who use CBR as an excuse to get away with things. Yes, I think it matters in pursuit of social justice because to acknowledge it would mean we are trying to fix the injustice or inequality there is in CBR and how unfair it is to minorities. I find all of this confusing because it’s a lot to take in so I’m a little bit lost but I think this is something really important to know in school because it informs us a lot about CBR and how its still used today.

 

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Pre reading questions for week five

I think racism still continues even though nobody or a few people identify themselves as racist because I believe and this is just me, that there are racism everywhere we go. It may or not be intentional, but racism is still taught in school such as the history of it in school books. Also, it may or not be intentional again, but I think there is racism in like movies and tv shows. For example, I haven’t really heard a lot about it and I don’t know if I’m right either, but I heard when the movie “princess and the frog” came out, there were issues about the princess being black and not white. I think when the commentators said that the election of Obama meant that racism doesn’t matter anymore in the United States was that he became the first ever black man to run for president and that him running for president actually showed the world something. They also believe that him running would possibly stop people from criticizing the United States as a racist country. Dr. Apollon argues that the election of Obama doesn’t mean that “racism is dead” because he states that, “Any racism is more than overcoming the hateful words. It’s about stopping the teaching of racism, the treatment of immigrants, and etc.” If I was talking to one of my friends about white privilege and they said that they don’t see color, they see people individually, I would ask them to clarify what they mean and maybe elaborate it more so maybe I could kind of get their point instead of maybe having a debate over it because to me, that statement has like two meanings behind it. Like I believe the first meaning could be where she is talking about how she doesn’t see racism in people at all but rather how a person treats her with like respect and how hard they work. On the other hand and this is just me again and I don’t know if this makes sense either, but I believe she could also be talking about how she’s blinded by a person’s color. Like even though she might see a person individually, she might treat them a little bit differently based on maybe their gender, their wealth, or status in society. So basically in other words, her statement could be racist. I would define diversity as having many choices or possibilities and I believe that it relates to structural privilege and social justice because I believe that by having structural privilege, you have a choice of working hard to get where you want and same goes for social justice. There are many varieties of getting social justice; it mainly depends on an individual and how much they want it.

 

Words: 462

Posts reading questions for week 4

During the exercise, the privileges and disadvantages that stood out to me where when you said if our parents ever told us we are beautiful, smart, and are able to chase our dreams, family having or owning 50 books, using a public restroom without having any thoughts of fear in them, walking alone at night, and having to skip meals because your family could not afford it. All of those I found to be pretty interesting because it lead and showed me the advantages and disadvantages that I had and didn’t have it. It also lead me to believe that there are certain advantages that I take for granted because I have those privileges while others do not. Although I did find the family owning 50 books and family having to skip meals because they not afford it to be troublesome because they applied to me. Back then, my family, especially from my dad’s side, could not afford to buy books for themselves let alone sometimes buy lunch at school and I know some relatives before who had a hard time feeding their family because they just could not afford it. I think the idea of structural privilege challenges the notion of meritocracy because meritocracy is a group of people or individuals who work hard and are rewarded by it rather than by their status in society or by power and if someone let’s say gets a better promotion at work then you because of their wealth or by their gender, then not only is it unfair, but it puts those who work really hard on the bottom of the food chain and those who didn’t on the top. Like I don’t really know how to describe it but I think the idea of structural idea makes people work harder. Like you said about the analogy of the video game, those who have the most materials or weapons start off easy compared to those who don’t have anything and have to work hard to get them. I think Jon Scalzi’s posts about “Straight White Male” and the analogy he uses helps understand structural privilege because in his blog, he explains how in the video game or in real life, straight white men have a better chance of gaining access to parts of the map as suppose to those who aren’t straight or who aren’t men. For example, he says “if you choose a to be a player who is a gay minority female, then that’s hardcore” because you get less privileges then the men and have to work a little bit harder than them. I think this is similar to the McIntosh piece because in some ways, both the reading and the blog talk about the advantages of what it’s like to be white.

 

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Pre reading questions for week 4

To me, privilege is the same exact thing as having your own right; you are given the opportunity to do something by your own free will or choice. I don’t know if this counts as a privilege to other people in different societies but I think one of it is the privilege to practice your own belief, culture, or religion. Everyone has the right to practice it and not be told by the government or the authorities you can’t do this and that. I also think an example of privilege would be maybe the privilege to vote or like the privilege to sign up for the army. I think white privilege means the whites have their own set of rules or rights that they can do while others cannot. I think we talk about white privilege in ethnic studies because in some ways the things they can do and others cannot is racism. I believe structural inequality means the type of structure or government we have or had in the past was unfair and cruel. Others could do this and that, while others were unable to because maybe of their social status in government or they just didn’t have that much power, money, or labor. I think we talk about structural inequality in ethnic studies because like I said before with white privilege, it has something to do with racism. Advantage and disadvantage means like the same thing as pro and cons. Advantage means like having a positive or up side effect of something while disadvantage means having a negative and down side effect of something. I think we will talk about the advantage and disadvantage in ethnic studies because it probably has to do with white privilege, structural inequality, and racism and mostly the disadvantage it has towards the other racial groups and the advantage it has towards the white people. I would define racism as not being able to do something based on their color, gender, culture, belief, religion, etc. I also think it means not being liked for all of those same reasons too. I think my definition of privilege has somewhat something to do racism because I defined privilege as something to do with maybe your religion or belief and if someone doesn’t like you because of that, I think that counts as racism. Yes, I believe people of color can be racist because anyone can be racist. If you say no then I doubt that because everyone has their own good or bad opinions about other people. I think the white people have the most advantage in the U.S society because they are the most recognized. They hold the most power and if we were to say cause maybe some trouble against them, it would cause a major fight between them and the other groups. I think Lipsitz means by this quote is that the definition of racism changes over time because many people give their own definition and meaning to racism to the point where it leads confusion to some people in different eras. I think in the colonial America and I don’t know if this is right or not but I believe that racism was bad during that time. Not many had a say in their lives and the white people mostly had power and control. During the 20^th century and today, I still believe there is still racism out there but not as bad as it was before. Like the government today gives more people, besides the white, more rights and freedom then they had when they didn’t have any power at all.

 

 

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Post reading questions for week 3

I think what Hattman is arguing is that we should remove the invisible line between race and ethnicity from the census but also take action and change the many and different ways ethnic privilege has been defined by ethnicity against race. I’m not technically sure if this is what she is arguing about but if she is, I would have to agree because we, as citizens or non citizens of the United States, have a responsibility to be able to check what we are on the census without having there be some sort of debate over it. I thought this was a land of opportunity not a land where there is still discrimination based on someone’s race. For example, today Latino’s are still not added on the census and that’s not fair at all. Furthermore and this is just me, I believe that by having this huge connection of ethnic privilege and ethnicity against race, it creates maybe some oppression from other people because they are not getting what they need and want from the government. If my friend asked me to fill out number 8 and 9 on the census I would check that I am not of a Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish Origin for the first question and check Filipino for the second question. Although it was very easy for me to answer those questions it may be hard for others because their race is not there which I find odd because that just means in my opinion that whoever made the census forgot or did not want to add that race. I don’t know if that was the 2000 census or not but even today, every race should be up there and every one should be comfortable checking that box. Flores’ describes the demographic approach as by numerical count and the census while he describes the analytical approach by maybe having shared experience or labels. The last approach, the imaginary, he describes it has having a colonial relationship or having shared memories. It’s important we look at the community in these three ways because I believe that if we don’t do a numerical count or have the census, we would not be able to know what types of group there are in the U.S. We would not be able to know how many whites, black, Hispanics, Asians, etc. there are living here. By having the analytical approach, we wouldn’t really know what names to call these types of groups. For instance immigration is given labels to people who have crossed the border line. We have the imaginary approach because without it, we would not be able to share the same experience that we had back home with other people who are the same ethnicity as you. I think the census reflects racial categories in the U.S by showing us the many types of race and ethnicity there are and if for example someone’s race or ethnicity isn’t there it creates some sort of debate and fight over it. On the other hand, I believe it creates racial category in the U.S by adding more race and ethnicity. If the people who ever created the census decided to add more groups into the category, people might think they favor this group over the other.

 

Words: 546

Post reading questions for week 2

If I had to come up with my own definition of race and ethnicity, I would say that both are similar. They both deal with like where someone comes from and where like they originated from but what differentiates them is that I would say that race has more something to do with a person’s appearance. Honestly, my understandings of race and ethnicity somewhat changed from my pre-reading response. Like I’m still confused between the two of them but, I did learn that races aren’t something that was created naturally or forcefully. They were created because of how we see and classify other people. In other words I guess when we think a certain group is important or different than the others, we start to criticize or analyze them by giving them a certain meaning or definition, thus creating the word race. Also, from my understanding from the reading, I learned that ethnicity has more something to do with an individual and how they seem themselves as in their group while race I believe refers to everyone in a single group. Lastly, I’ve also read that ethnicity, like race, originated from us. That we can give the word itself an identity but it mainly depends on how we see us or other people. Since race and ethnicity have many meanings in this country, I believe it causes confusion because not everyone sees the same point of view as someone else. In other words, it all depends on the individual and how their opinion differs from another person’s view. Because of this, I believe this is the reason why there are still some debate on what the real meaning is behind race and ethnicity. Since no one can really agree on what the real definition is between the two, every one starts creating their own meaning which leads to confusion between race and ethnicity. Yes, I believe everyone has the right to self-identity their own race and ethnicity because no one should tell a person that “they can’t have the same skin color as them” or “they can’t be from the same culture.” I mean it’s not exactly their fault how they were born or like how they both have the same ancestry. Every individual has the right to be the person that they want to be without being judged. Honestly, I don’t really know if this counts as a link between biology and race but some people think that because I’m Asian, I’m smart. Like to me, I feel like this is more like a stereotype than something else. Like just because I’m Asian doesn’t mean I’m smart. Intelligence has nothing to do with someone’s race but how determine they are when it comes to during their homework or winning a competition.

 

 

 

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