Crazier Than The British House Of Commons Blog Post#8 Frank DiMaria

So, the class discussion was pretty intense, but with that said it was great. It was stressful but it was also wonderful to talk about these issues in a somewhat organized way, in an academic setting. There was something I was thinking about a lot though which I did say in the conversation. I think that Chris made some really good points about institutionalized racism and he’s true in a lot of what he said. I completely see where he’s coming from; in a lot of ways the white “dominant” group has held the power and money and work to protect it. I was just trying to highlight some exceptions and think about the other side. Perhaps I play the role of devils advocate too much, but at the same time a pretty great conversation was born. But, the thing I was pondering was the notion of age and experience. I am part of a younger generation of people who think and live differently. Therefore, I am going to address issue like the ones were talking about different from someone who is from an older generation, not just the “older” people in our class. If I had a talk about race with even say my grandfather, his views are going to be radically different than mine. I mean he lived through the Civil Rights movement and fought in Vietnam. He saw first hand things that I might never see in my life, which shaped they way he views race relations. In this way, thinking about experience is something to consider. But, at the same time I think of my own ideas about race. I am not saying that racism isn’t around but at the same time I feel like it’s not as prevalent in our generation as it would be, say at a time when there was segregation obviously. I feel like our generation is more open minded and liberal in a lot of ways, which is mainly a good thing. I mean, speaking to the younger people in the class, what do we worry about? We worry about getting jobs and a failing economy. I know for myself at least its what I worry about. I am not concerned as much with race relations as someone living through the Civil Rights movement would be. And not that I am not concerned in the sense that I don’t care about race problems, but rather they don’t play a huge role in my life. And something else I did want to say was I understand the Marger book is providing a depiction of the majority, but at the same time I believe it’s a good thing to consider the exception. I don’t hate the book; I just think everything we read in life should be taken with a grain of salt. I am sorry if any of my opinions came out the wrong way.