Post Reading Questions Week Fourteen

The readings we did in class this week every author is trying to find solutions to fix the PIC. There was an article that I read and agreed with which was Abolitionist Alternatives. This article talks about how the author wants to get rid of the PIC and find other solutions not to incarcerate people. The PIC makes money off of how many people enter the prisons. It also ties in to racism and slavery. How it ties into racism and slavery the PIC incarcerates the people of color because most of them are in the drug war or immigrants. The PIC criminalizes immigrants and on the war on drugs. It’s the PIC ties into slavery because the immigrants and the people that are incarcerate for drugs are minorities that make supplies for the world and the inmates are getting paid less just like the salves back in the day or they aren’t getting paid at all.

Some of the solutions that the PIC can help the people that are involved in the war of drugs is to make program to help people is to create rehabs, and facilities to educate them. Also the PIC doesn’t have to incarcerate the immigrants why not send them back to their country and let their country give them consequences. One thing that really got to me is when student in high school even in middle school kids are getting arrested for the thing things. Schools nowadays are like prisons. I feel like if schools are treating kids criminals they will grow into and it harder for students to be successful in an environment like that.

My own experience I went to a school that the population of the school was white. That school we had so much freedom we barely had any cops on our campus. Once I transferred to Delano High that most of the community are Mexicans and Filipinos. The first day of school at Delano there was cops and cop cars everywhere. It was different. When I walked in.. There were two cops to enter the school. Most of the time the officers would stop the guys that aren’t wearing belts or wearing a color shirt and they would stop girls if there shorts were too short and they would check their purses. It was crazy to me. The school before I went to Delano High we had the privilege to go off campus to eat lunch but at Delano High we didn’t have that privilege the students that did the principle would check their records such as how good they are doing in class and they had the privilege to go off campus most the rest of the school we had to stay inside and eat.

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Post-Reading Questions-Week Thirteen

The motivation for incarcerating people is to stop crime on the streets that people are committing. I feel the system is doing that but also incarcerating people and putting them in the joint because the system makes money off one person. So the more people entering the system the more the system is getting.

Racial caste System means who’s in high more priority and who is on the bottom of the totem pole. In the prison system the people of color are considered second class status compared to the whites. People of color are labeled criminals even though they haven’t committed a crime they are classified and labeled in. Most people of color such as blacks and Latinos come from communities that lack education, poverty, and don’t offer a lot of opportunities. The population in the prison system there are more colored people being locked up than whites because the lack of resources that the colored people have and police officers patrol in communities that have blacks or Latinos in and have the high crime rate.

The industrial part of PIC is that they make supply such as furniture and distribute it to the outside world when the inmates make them. The PIC is a private company or business that hire inside the prison system and they pay them to make the supplies. Prison-Industrial Complex means it’s a private prison that is a company or business that makes supply goods, which hire in the prison the inmate that committed a minor crime. They would hire the inmates and pay them less than hire anyone else that they have to pay minimum wage. I don’t agree to this because they are locked up for a reason and that they shouldn’t get paid or have so much freedom in the prisons. Even though they are behind bars and they are limited to things they still have so much priority in there that they shouldn’t.  

Pre-Reading Questions Week 13

In my opinion Race and crime is connected because most of minorities’ come from poverty and neighborhoods called the “Ghetto” and cops are always there to monitor the neighborhood. I also feel like race also connects to crime because police officers are focusing on appearance and where there are more crime being committed in. Police officers tend to patrol and focus on high crime town and cities that have high minority population and are low income communities. In my opinion crime can happen everywhere. Crime just doesn’t happen in the ghetto it can happen in towns that are wealthy and are well off. They need to treat every community the same I get that low income can have more crime because its poor but it can happen in communities that have money.

The function of prisons in America is MONEY, POWER, and CONTROL. But I also feel that prisons also keep our country safe putting away those criminals and murders away. But again… I feel that our prison system is over impacted and we pay a lot of tax dollars to these companies. How I see it. And what I’ve heard from my family that prisoners have a lot of freedom. It’s who you know inside and what connections you have. Every time my cousins get released from the system they end up going back because they said its easier in there than out here when they are released.

Prison-Industrial Complex – the “industrial” part means it’s a private prison company and businesses that supplies goods. These businesses and companies can hire in the prison and can pay the prisoners less than they would a person that is not incarcerated.  These private prison industries incarcerated the prisons that committed minor crimes.

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Week Eleven Post-Reading Questions

In the film I learned a lot about hip hop and the culture and where it came from. One main interesting that I learned from the film that most rappers were talking about sex, drugs, women, and violence. As a consumer, I just listen to the beats and the rhythm. After I watched the film I put one of my rap songs on while I was listening to it, in today’s society most of music still talk about sex, drugs, and women not so much on violence. Comparing today’s music and the music back in my middle school years it has calmed down a little bit. This film didn’t change how I feel or think about hip hop. I feel hip hop/rap artistes job is to entertain the listeners and the consumers.

The filmmaker Burton Hurt made some arguments with this film.

The hyper-masculinity and violence present in hip-hop is part of the larger American culture that values and promotes violence. (Eths100f12.blogspot.com)
               I don’t agree. I don’t feel that people are going out in the world and shooting people but I do agree on the hyper-masculinity. The hip hop/rapper artists are a big role model on kids these days how they are dressed mostly young little boys. Do I feel that hip hop/rap artistes have a big role in kids I agree but to an extent.

 Hip-hop is both homophobic and homoerotic simultaneously. (Eths100f12.blogspot.com)

               Yes I agree. In the film when Busta Rhyme was getting interviewed and was question about gays, and lesbians he couldn’t even look the guy in the guy that was interviewing him or answer the question he just walked away. I also agree hip-hop/rap is homoerotic simultaneously because most artists that are promoting their music also when they are preforming their shirts come off and are greased up and showing off their body. It attracts both sex because women love to see muscle and buff men and guys also do to even though they don’t think they are but they are because most guys look how big they are and they want to be built as the artist.

 Music corporations, which are run by wealthy white men, are responsible for prioritizing the messages that hip-hop promotes. (Eths100f12.blogspot.com)

            It goes both ways. I don’t know where I stand because the artist makes their music and they choose what to rap or sing about. But again the music corporation has the right not to promote it. I don’t know where I stand on this argument.

 The genre of hip-hop is denigrating to women. (Eths100f12.blogspot.com)

          I agree that hip-hop/rap artist do put a bad name for women. Not all women just want shake their asses and are half naked. Women have the right to wear bikinis and show off their bodies but it’s not okay for men to touch women without their consent. I don’t care what the lyrics say in the music it’s just not okay. It’s disrespectful and men need to treat women like how they would treat their mothers.

 Hip-hop/rap music has its pros and cons. But am I going to stop listening to it, No I’m.

 

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Pre-Reading Questions Week Eleven

Hip Hop music’s purpose is about inspiration and motivation of someone life. In hip hop the person is telling the listener about their life but not in a book in a different way with music and rhythm. Hip Hop isn’t just entertainment of the person that is singing it or talking about it but the listeners such as I is entertainment. The music has a story but not all music is a story about the artist life. If you listen to the words and not the music or the rhythm it’s such a powerful story. Most of the artists of Hip Hop are black males and black females. But now it’s diverse in the hip hop industries and even rappers are diverse.  Hip Hop is a problem around the world some parents don’t let their children listen to it. My parents hated and it wasn’t allowed to be heard in my house. My dad thought it was provoked and it wasn’t music it was music that downgraded women. I don’t think it is. I think it’s just music and its entertainment and that’s all I hear.

Hip Hop has its pro and cons. The positive some artist talks about love and how its life and some people can relate and also some artist music can be motived. Athletes such as me listen to rap or hip hop to get me in the mood before my games. One song that I always listen to is “My Time” by Fabolous ft Jeremih. This song talks about how to go hard and how to live in every moment. It motives me and gets me in the mood. The cons about hip hop most artist talk about sex, girls calling them the B word or hoes, sluts, and tricks and parties and drinking. But I can understand it talks about all that but its entertainment and the music isn’t for everyone. Also the music videos most videos are provoked because there are females that are half dressed and naked and just dancing with the stuff coming out.

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Pre-Reading Questions Week Eleven

Pre-Reading Questions Week Eight

Learning Disabled (LD): A person that has significant learning problems in an academic area there are unknown factors about this disorder its affects the brain’s ability to receive information.

Mentally Retarded (MD): There are signs of symptoms’ of mental retardation that are all different behaviors. People, well most people that are mentally retarded don’t look like it. Mental retardation is politically incorrect; the term is intellectually mentally changed people to acquire later in life through brain injuries or diseases. Being mentally challenged can or many appear at any age.

Emotionally Disturbed (ED):  Serious emotional disturbance to those are from birth age of majority who are diagnosed with mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder.

Almost schools and districts have special education programs throughout the United States. By law, states have to provide special education programs for those children who have special needs; such as developmental disability, learning disability, emotional & behavioral disability etc.

My own experience I was diagnosed with ADHD (Attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder). I was diagnosed when I was a freshman in high school. I had no idea I had it when I was in high school or middle school. It doesn’t affect me as much when I was in middle school now because I was taking medicine for it but I stopped because I knew I was at an age that I can control it and I didn’t want to be on pills all my life. So I controlled it. Being around special needs children and adult’s race, gender, class can impact their lives. I’ve learned just being around them that these kids are really smart. My softball coach has a little brother that has down-syndrome, this little guy knows 4 different languages top of that he knows sign language. It’s just amazing. They are just so amazing to be around with. These kids have so much stuff going on in their lives but they are the happiest kids because they are just alive. It’s just amazing to be around them.

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Post-Reading Questions Week Seven

Domestic Violence can happen to anyone men or women; also in any kind of relationship heterosexual or homosexual relationship. It was a surprise to me that women can be the abuser towards their husbands I always thought it was the men that was doing the more abusing. This topic was very difficult for me because when I was growing up I’ve seen a lot of domestic violence in my household. Monday’s class Oct. 15^th when we were talking about domestic violence I thought I was strong enough to do it and show up on Wednesdays for the speaker but I couldn’t. Even though I didn’t go through it, it felt I did because I saw it and heard it. Being abused isn’t just being hit; the abuser may emotionally, mentally, and verbally be able to abuse you.

Being in a Domestic Violence relationship or marriage or any kind there are Hotlines and programs that can help. Language is a major role in these programs. Those women that speak English have more advantages to those women that speak another language such as Spanish. Women that speak another language than English have more of a disadvantage because most of the Hotline and programs there tellers are English speaking people. In my opinion Hotlines and programs need to change. Our country is very diverse. For example, being in the bay area there are a lot of Asians and most of those Asians families don’t know any English. If these programs are here to help Domestic Violence and help women or men they need people that speak another language than English. If these programs can’t provide people that speak another language than English; How are these programs helping? Women that speak another language they feel like they can seek for help with these programs.

I feel if anyone that is being abused they should seek for help and they should be able to come to these programs and hotlines and trust that they will get help and not get denied or can’t help because they can’t speak English.

My experienced growing up and seeing all the things I’ve seen makes me a stronger person today and help the people that are being abused. One thing that is really hard for those women or men that are being abused they have the density to go back to their relationships and hoping they change but it only changes for a couple of months then the abusing starts back again. One important thing I would tell the person that is being abused is to be strong and not go back because there is so much and bigger things in the world nobody should be downgraded or beaten for any reason.

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Post Reading-Question Week 6

Intersectionality is a methodology of studying "the relationships among multiple dimensions and modalities of social relationships and subject formations. The theory suggests—and seeks to examine how—various biological, social and cultural categories such as gender, race, class, ability, sexual orientation, and other axes of identity interact on multiple and often simultaneous levels, contributing to systematic social inequality.  Intersectionality holds that the classical conceptualizations of oppression within society, such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and religion-based bigotry, do not act independently of one another; instead, these forms of oppression interrelate, creating a system of oppression that reflects the "intersection" of multiple forms of discrimination.In the late 1960s and early 1970s in conjunction with the multiracial feminist movement. It came as part of a critique of radical feminism that had developed in the late 1960s known as the "re-visionist feminist theory." This re-visionist feminist theory "challenged the notion that 'gender' was the primary factor determining a woman's fate"The movement led by women of color disputed the idea that women were a homogeneous category sharing essentially the same life experiences. This argument stemmed from the realization that white middle-class women did not serve as an accurate representation of the feminist movement as a whole. Recognizing that the forms of oppression experienced by white middle-class women were different from those experienced by black, poor, or disabled women, feminists sought to understand the ways in which gender, race, and class combined to "determine the female destiny.  The term also has historical and theoretical links to the concept of "simultaneity" advanced during the 1970s by members of the Combahee River Collective, in Boston, Massachusetts. Members of this group articulated an awareness that their lives—and their forms of resistance to oppression—were profoundly shaped by the simultaneous influences of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Thus, the women of the Combahee River Collective advanced an understanding of African American experiences that challenged analyses emerging from Black and male-centered social movements; as well as those from mainstream White, middle-class, heterosexual feminists.

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Post-Reading Question Week 5

        In my opinion I don’t think this video is racist at all. “Shit white girls say…. To black girls” it’s true. Everything on this video what white girls say isn’t just to black girls they say it to everyone. No matter what the race is. I think she is trying to prove is her own race (black) says the same stuff what white girls say or any colored girls says. She’s just stating the facts.

       Racial inequality in the United States underlies a wide range of societal issues that affect the life chances of different groups disproportionately by race. In social science, racial inequality is typically analyzed as "imbalances in the distribution of power, economic resources, and opportunities. Racial inequalities have manifested in American society in ways ranging from racial disparities in wealth, poverty rates, housing patterns, educational opportunities, unemployment rates, and incarceration rates. Some claim that current racial inequalities in the U.S. have their roots in over 300 years of cultural, economic, physical, legal, and political discrimination based on race.

        Blacks and whites has been leveled, or is as close to being even as is practically possible.2 The increasing diversity of the nation's population and the success of many, but by no means all, immigrants are often interpreted as further proof that the continuing problems of African Americans are of their own making. Unfortunately, this misconception applies virtually across the board whether the discussion is employment, housing, education, or virtually any aspect of private or public life in the United States. Immigration is not the only factor, and may not be a particularly significant factor the extension of race beyond the binary of black and white has deflected attention away from the unique and unresolved problems of race African Americans.

 

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Post reading Week 4

          Privilege and right are defined and supported by laws, rules, customs, conventions and individual strength. Laws and rules are the instruments used by government to determine the social structure, the right to sell or gift property supports the privilege of the propertied class. Customs and convention are social determinants of structure, the privilege based on caste, religion or economic class. Individual capacity and personality strength also define social privilege the rights accruing to the strongest, wisest most skillful or most courageous individual.
          
           Privilege is a good first step to start thinking about our nation’s structural inequalities — if one can’t understand one’s own privileges, how can one combat structural problems such as poverty, racism and sexism? Even though these problems manifest themselves through institutions and laws, they are deeply personal and require acute awareness to be fixed. Although I may cringe at the conservative ideal of “taking personal responsibility” for righting the wrongs of structural inequality, I believe that a deep conversation must take place with one’s self in order to deal with the problems of privilege.
           
             The "Black Girl Dangerous" blog in my opinion just reading it is Reverse Racism. I don't care if you are white, purple, black, green, yellow or any colored person talking about a race is racism. It works both ways. It makes me so mad that people with color get so mad when a white person talks about a person with color. And its okay for a colored person to talk about a white person. NO!! NO its not okay! More often than not, reverse racism is in the form of giving special benefits or opportunities to people who belong to a group which has been under privaleged in the past. In effect, you are essentially committing a racist act by giving preference to one person over another because of their race, religion, or ethnicity, rather than their personal merit, skills, or knowledge. In my opinion if people everyone wants to be treated the same then they should act like it. People with color shouldn't be pulling the "oh you racist card." Its not okay!! Being racist works both ways.

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Pre-Reading Week 4

What I think privilege means is a special advantage or right that a person is born into or acquires during their lifetime. It’s not also available to everyone in society.  Privilege isn't a right, it’s something you earn. Like we have the right to speak. No one can stop us from speaking. If speaking was a privilege then it would mean someone of a higher power has the authority to make us not speak. Since social status is conferred in many different ways everything from race to geography to class; all people are both privileged and non-privileged in certain aspects of their life. Furthermore, since dynamics of social status are highly dependent on situation, a person can benefit from privilege in one situation while not benefiting from it in another. It is also possible to have a situation in which a person simultaneously is the beneficiary of privilege while also being the recipient of discrimination in an area which they do not benefit from privilege. For example -- Male privilege is a set of privileges that are given to men as a class due to their institutional power in relation to women as a class. While every man experiences privilege differently due to his own individual position in the social hierarchy, every man, by virtue of being read as male by society, benefits from male privilege.

White Privilege - describe certain unintentional benefits given to people of Caucasian descent. It is distinct from racism, as the recipients and even practitioners may be unaware that they are in a race-based system of decisions. Experts are divided over the presence and prevalence of white privilege in modern society; some believe it is a serious problem.

Structural inequality-concept that when a social structure is built take for example a workplace, it is already defined with its own set of inequality. In a workplace you have something along the lines of this: Owners are 'higher class' than managers, managers are 'higher' than workers.

Advantage/Disadvantage- Advantage is someone that has more power and more control. Some that has advantage to the upper hand. Disadvantage is when you don’t have any say don’t have any control. You are limited to do stuff.

Racism is the belief that a particular race is superior or inferior to another, that a person’s social and moral traits are predetermined by his or her inborn biological characteristics. In opinion privilege can be linked to racism just because back in the day colored people didn’t have a lot of privileges like the whites did. In today’s society some people don’t have a lot of privileges because of their race. For an example- in the South there are some parts that blacks can’t go because they get mistreated or don’t have the same privilege as the whites do. I’m not saying colored people have less privilege but there are limited people don’t see it or just don’t want to see it but it’s true. I’ve played for a coach one year that only played white girls most of the time I’m not being racist but it happened. The only colored people on the team was me and another Hawaiian girl and a half black half Asian girl and we only saw at least 1 inning per game.

Yes, colored people can be racist also. It just not the whites are racist. Anyone can be racist even lil kids are racist noaway days. There are people in the world who only hang out, have friend(s), date, or marry a certain person just because of their color. I know, someone out there might say "I have friends all races, and I have dated all different kinds of people", but there will be that one person or group of people you might not click with just because of their skin tone. To me, I feel that is racist!The only thing I can see wrong with a racist person is hurting another individuals feelings. The fear people should have is when a racist person used their beliefs into racism. Some one not getting hired because of their skin color, a bank not offering a loan because of someone skin color, a kid not receiving the proper education because of his or her skin tone, a realtor not showing a certain home (location) because of a person’s color, a person being pulled over by the police because of their skin color, and so on. Regardless of race, I believe majority of people are racist. It does not mean every one of us is mean, nasty, or unhappy person. What it does mean that people have racist thoughts to certain situations.

 

 

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Race and Ethnicity

 

Ethnicity is not just a person’s race. Ethnicity gives us room to change because we can reject our own and embrace another. You can move from one region to another and assimilate your beliefs, actions and customs to identify with that ethnic orientation. You cannot do the same with race. Race is your biologically engineered features. It can include skin color, skin tone, eye and hair color, as well as a tendency toward developing certain diseases. It is not something that can be changed or disguised. Race does not have customs or globally learned behavior. Going back to our three Caucasians, each could be cloned and placed in different cultures throughout the world that were primarily not Caucasian. While their behavior would change, their physical and biological features would not.

"Race" related physical variations found in humans have no real significance except for the social and cultural importance put on them by people. Race is a cultural term that Americans use to describe what a person's ancestry is, and that unfortunately brings with it many misconceptions and erroneous biological connotations. It was for some time common to divide people into three main races. Caucasian or the so-called white race, for example, native residents of Britain, France Germany. Natives of Uganda, Somalia, and Nigeria in Africa are considered Negroid or part of the black race. Koreans, Chinese, American Indians are all Mongoloid or members of the yellow race. The distinguishing characteristics of these races are based on their visibly observable traits such as skin color, hair form, and bone structure and body shape. We must keep in mind that the American system of categorizing groups of people on the basis of race, was developed by what was then a dominant white, European-descended population, and serves as a means to distinguish and control other "non-white" populations in various ways.

Most people have mistaken me as a Samoan or Hawaiian. They wouldn’t think I’m Filipino because I’m dark and built bigger than Filipinos. I’ve been raised around Filipino cultural but again I’ve been raised as American. My dad is white so I’ve been raised around two different cultures. My experiences being around two completely cultures are so different. On my mom’s side of the family we celebrate holidays completely different than on my dad’s side. I love it because I get to experience two different sides. On my mom’s side everyone all my aunts and uncles and all the elders speak Illcano so when we talk to them they would prefer all the kids to speak in our language it’s a respect thing.

 

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-          Ethnic studies is a contemporary perspectives to frame the ongoing process by which people of color are grouped and defined at the complex intersections of race, gender, class sexuality and nationality.  Ethnic studies are an enterprise that starts from the assumption that race and racism have been, and continue to be profoundly powerful social and cultural forces in America’s society.

-          Ethnic studies today is a course that draws from a variety of discipline such as literature, history, sociology, and cultural studies. It is unique because it focuses on different cultural not only on American’s but that understanding the experience of the various radicalized minorities. In my opinion ethnic studies will enhance the quality of life and freeing you’re from limiting, narrow perspectives and stereotyping.  It will help you from preparing for work and play in society such as ours with different backgrounds that increasingly will require the ability to negotiate across cultural boundaries and to respect differences. I think all students benefit from this course because it teaches and shows us different people in the world especially today’s society there are so many different cultures, backgrounds, and etc.

-          Today in Arizona, the governing board pulled the plug on its Mexican-American studies program which teachers say was designed to help middle school and high school student navigate in complex, multiethnic world. Some of the reasons that there is a debate over whether ethnic studies should be taught because they felt it was targeting that “promote the over throw of the U.S government” and "resentment toward a race or class of people."

-          It's true that teaching U.S. history and literature with an eye toward a minority experience can give students misgivings about the wisdom of the majority, past and present. But particularly in the Southwest, it's impossible to understand history without acknowledging the subjugation and marginalization of minority groups. Nor can one understand the greatness of the American experiment without seeing it as a 200-year-long struggle to overcome injustices and live up to the highest ideals of its founding documents. Surely one doesn't have to believe in the infallibility of white people to be pro-American.