Response to the post of Miss Yochum

“So, if NYS was to tax New Yorkers buying goods on reservations they would not be violating any treaties—simply enforcing a law already in place. This would only be a violation of a treaty if NYS was to tax Native Americans for goods they purchase on their reservations, which NY has no intention of doing.”

The problem with this and the enforcing of this law is that the Native Americans themselves would have to collect the tax money. Being dependent sovereign nations, I believe that if anybody was going to collect the tax and use it, they should be them. If New York State wants to collect more taxes, then they should go ahead and try to figure out how to do it on their own rather than using someone else to do the “dirty work”. Besides New York State needs to realize that the tax problem they have is a result of excessive taxing to begin with, not the sales that take place with the reservation not being taxed. The whole thing has developed into a vicious cycle, where taxes go up to make more money for the state and people leave, the state loses money and then the state needs more money the taxes go up again. To even make the suggestion that taxing reservations would make anything but an insignificant impact on the overall issues surrounding the budget, is almost laughable if it were not so sad.

Hairspray

Well it's little siblings weekend here at Fredonia and my sister and I were watching the movie Hairspray when I got an idea for this post, then realized that it was due rather soon.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the movie it is about a young girl who is attempting to be a part of a television show during the 60's.  Though this is the main theme running through the movie there is one other theme that is just as prevalent, the subject of racism and integration.  Though we haven't finished the movie I have a pretty good idea of where it is going.  The group that runs the show is very racist and not for the integration of African Americans with their everyday lives, but on the flip side there is another group, the one that represents change in the show. Tracy, the main character, had the show take a step out of their boundaries and allow her to join their cast all because she is overweight.  Tracy begins change in the show and allows her thoughts to be heard in making "Negro Day" for the show become and everyday event.  One half of the cast is all for it, but there is a rich white woman who runs the show and is completely against it.  Her and her daughter try to sabotage every effort made by Tracy.  She even went as far as going to removing "Negro Day" all together.  A "march" was then put in place by Tracy and the members of those who supported her.   Many racist terms and phrases are used throughout the movie such as "Afrotastic" and "If we get any more white people up in here it's gonna be a suburb."  These small words that seem like nothing to us now had a big impact on society in the 60's.  I'm interested in who will win in the end, the change or the inability to change.  Seeing as we live in 2011 and we are still seeing change occur, I'm going to make an educated guess as to those who accept change will triumph.  I know in class we had a discussion of how some of us see change still happening while others see things staying the same.  I'm not positive how I feel about the subject, but my hopes are that we as a culture are moving toward change in accepting everyone and not having the racist thoughts that were once so prevalent in our society.

Ashley Miranda- Post 8

Jennifer Graham Post #8

African Americans

I didn't mean for the "age" thing to become such a hot topic. I just know its a lot different being a student the 2nd time around and seeing things from a different perspective having been in the working world.

Also I wanted to post a video that we watched last year in my Multieducational class from Bill Cosby about his perspective on African American youth in todays society. He brings a very different perspective of Ethnicity and Race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itWCvkK44lE

Jennifer Graham Post #7

Native Americans -

I don't know if this will make what I talked about in class better or worse but here goes. I was not surprised that Native Americans were at the bottom of the socioeconomic class. They have a lot that is still given to them. Do they deserve it for what was taken away from them, yes...however what are they giving back to the US?

People who have come here from other countries fight for what they want. They have worked their way up from poverty often times to make a name for themselves while Native Americans are still seen as having alcohol problems and poor health. The Indians who do best for themselves are the ones who distance themselves from the reservations and find a job.

Ota Benga

I recently came across an interesting thing online about a boy named Ota Benga. Ota Benga was a Congolese Mbubti pygmy that in 1906 was featured in a controversial human zoo exhibit at the Bronx Zoo. His display was intended to promote the concepts of human evolutiuon and scientific racism. The publics protests against the exhibit led to the end of the of Bengas participation at the zoo. He then lived in an orphanage and was pushed to be americanized. With the onset of World War I Bengas return to the Congo was impossible and he took his own life. I thought this was extrememly interesting because it was similar to the Sarah Baartman case. Its just another example of how someone was displayed like an animal in a zoo due to their different physical characteristics. It just seems so crazy that this was ever allowed to take place.
-Ryan Fleming blog#8

Age

I understand where Chris and Jenn were coming from when they said that because they are older they have more understanding of racial discrimination. But i am not sure that I 100% agree with that only because I believe everybody experiences things differently. Throughout life people will see things differently through their view point and another. I believe that the things we see and learn are solely due to how we were brought up and what we are taught as children can certainly change how we view certain situations in the future. The fact is we all live in different generations and in experience things differently. It is how we go about changing what we may of learned if it was wrong or adjusting to situations to make sure you don't include yourself in that generalization.


Pete Ferguson

Class, Race, and Poverty

In addressing the race versus class issue, I do not think a person can overlook one from the other. In the book it talks about African Americans living in more impoverished areas, and not having as many opportunities. A person could look at this and see more of a class issue, where a person is in the position that they are, is simply because they are poor. But I think a person should also look at the fact, that the reasons that many blacks are in an impoverished state, is because the ways they were treated in the past. If a black family has been impoverished for generations, it could’ve started during a time of discrimination, where they weren’t able to advance themselves. That it has continued through generations, and the current group is impoverished because of cultural issues. Where poverty becomes a way of life to certain groups, where it goes from generation to generation, that causes lacks of incentives.

Either way it is a fact that blacks are overall more poor then whites, and overall make less then whites. Which I do believe in many cases is a race issue. In 2007 a study was done on men who were 25 years or older and worked full time and what degree of education they had. In the study they compared white, black, Hispanic and Asians. No matter the education level of each group, the white group always made more. An example is for education less than 9th grade, whites made $40,000 and blacks made $27,239. Then with a master’s degree, whites made $98,932 and blacks made $65,146. I think this study alone shows that, although we have come a long way when it comes to issues of race, we still have a long way to go. And although everyone is suppose to have equal opportunities, it does not always play out that way.

Cassandra Paternosh Post #8

Misrepresentation in books

I agree that Native Americans are probably the group that is the most overlooked and misrepresented out of minority groups. When in class we discussed the issue about mascots, and how they misrepresent groups. I began to think about literature, and how misrepresented Indians are in it. Before my major now I was an early childhood major. I was in a childhood literature class, and one day we spent the day discussing banned books. One thing I remember discussing was bands about Native American works. How different groups are falsely represented in books. How certain groups are upset and appalled by how American Indians have been portrayed in books. So I decided to look into it just a little bit more, and was surprised by what I found. I came across a study/survey done by Elizabeth Birth. Then I found criticism about the books on her list.

Elizabeth Bird got top 10 lists of books from numerous people, many from teachers and students. She than posted a list of the top 100 children's books. I found on a blog where a women named Debbie Reese took certain books that had negative comments about Native American’s and posted some of those comments. Here are some examples: Number 94, which is a “Swallows and Amazons” by Arthur Ransom “Roger is "keeping a sharp lookout lest he should be shot by a savage with a poisoned arrow from behind a tree." Number 13 was “Bridge to Terabithia” by Katherine Paterson “There they came upon a display case holding a miniature scene of Indians disguised in buffalo skins scaring a herd of buffalo into stampeding over a cliff to their death with more Indians waiting below to butcher and skin them” Number 17 was “Maniac Magee” by Jerry Spinelli “what he imagines: "the blacks sweeping across Hector one steaming summer night; torches, chains, blades, guns, war cries; marauding, looking, overrunning the West End; climbing in through smashed windows, doors, looking for whites, bloodthirsty for whites, like Indians in the old days, Indians on a raid... That's what they are, Giant John nodded thoughtfully, ‘today's Indians.’” Number 25 is “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott "Laurie opened the parlor door and popped his head in very quietly. He might just as well have turned a somersault and uttered an Indian war whoop, for his face was so full of suppressed excitement and his voice so treacherously joyful that everyone jumped up…” Number 85 is “On the Banks of Plum Creek” by Laura Ingalls Wilder. "I wish I was an Indian and never had to wear clothes!" Course, Ma chides her for saying that, especially for saying it "on Sunday!"

Although these all might not be extremely popular books, they were popular enough to make it on the list. Even if only a handful of children read books that have comments like this in them, what is that teaching them? These were only a handful of the wrongful comments, there are many more. I realized before looking into this, that Native Americans were misrepresented in pieces of literature, but I did not realize how bad it was. Many of these books are older books, but it is the fact that they are still being read today that is the problem.

I also found another blog website, that posted images that appear in children books: http://imagesofindiansinchildrensbooks.blogspot.com/

Cassandra Paternosh Post #7

Re: Rebecca's Post on Treaties

I think the problem with taxing goods on the reservations comes from the fact that non-natives aren't going to go to the reservations to purchase goods anymore, therefore the state would essentially be killing what little livelihood Indians have. Also we have to ask: how would you distinguish someone from a NYS resident and a Native. What about people that don't live in the state? I mean anyone can say they're not a NYS resident. Would they have to show proof? And then you have to question why do people who don't live in NYS have to pay sales tax to the state?
I don't know, I feel like the government has continually screwed over so many groups of people, that maybe the government needs to learn to be a little more human.

Victoria Rader Post 6

Response to Beyonce

I found it interesting that people got so upset about the so called "black face" that Beyonce was accused to doing. Companies today frequently *lighten* celebrities and models' skin tone. So apparently it's ok to make them look whiter, but making anyone look darker is apparently offensive. Obviously I could understand the controversy over real black face given the history. Although I just did a quick google search and apparently Beyonce is also being accused of lightening her skin. So I guess I'm not sure what to think about the whole situation.

Victoria Rader Post 5

Beyonce's Controversy

I also saw the pictures from the Beyonce French photo shoot, where her face was darkened to portray the theme of "African Queen". I read a few articles about it and found that many people have conflicting views about the photos. Some believed that it was offensive, while others thought it was artistic. I was surprised at first that Beyonce did this, but then I read an article that said Beyonce saw the pictures as a tribute to her African roots. When it was described like this, then I don't see a huge problem with the pictures. However I do understand why people may be offended by these photos. They do seem to maintain and uphold a certain stereotype, which is typically never good. It also made me think about if a white person was to have taken these photos, it would be such a bigger deal, and most likely cause major problems. All in all I don't think Beyonce had bad intentions in taking these photos. She may have been incensitive to the fact that some people would be offended by them, however in her line of work, you can never please everybody.

Brigit May, Post 8

Spreading the Wealth

I found it surprising as well that Native Americans are among the lowest socioeconomic group in our society. The reason I found it so surprising is mainly because of the success of their casinos. Online I found a quote from the Boston Globe that said, "While a few dozen tribes lucky enough to own reservation land near major population centers make headlines with gambling casinos generating mind-boggling wealth, the vast majority of America's Indians remain mired in poverty, victimized by ill-conceived federal policies and a gathering backlash spurred by the myth that Native Americans everywhere are cashing in." I found this interesting because I also believed before learning about it that Native Americans made tons of money from these casinos. It leads me to believe that the money simply isn't enough, or that only the people high up are becoming rich off of it, while the majority is not. I think this is where the real problem lies, is spreading the wealth amongst them. If laws or regulations were put into place helping to disperse the money more evenly, then I think Native Americans could start climbing up the socioeconomic ladder. Casinos are a huge revenue and have the potential to help this group of people in greater ways than it already has if it is done correctly.

Brigit May, Post 7

Beyonce photo shoot

Recently Beyonce has created some controversy around herself by being photographed in a french fashion magazine with makeup covering her face in order to make her look darker. The editorial was an editorial about “African Queens”. Many people are now rather upset with her for using “black face”, but is this really a case of black face? Based on the historical implications of black face does painting a pop star a darker color really fit into the category of black face?

Maybe I am just being optomistic...

In a different class of mine we discussed the differences between women and men in the work force. Although it is illegal to differentiate pay based on gender, a woman would get paid less than a man for doing the same job with the same experience. This is an illegal practice and someone and an employer who does practice that risks getting brought up on charges. While this is wrong and should end, the fact still remains that women do get jobs (maybe not as often as men), and although women are less likely to hold an important business career (i.e. CEO) there are still women out there who do. Granted, they needed to work harder to get there. And here in this example, women are making up for generations and generations of being excluded from the workforce. As long as there is no legislation against it, it is merely a social issue. For the mainstream social consciousness to change it is going to take time and hard work and a lot of 'prove 'em wrong' type of attitude. I may be an optimist, but I believe that as long as there are minorities out there who are willing to be patient, work hard, lead by example, and break their own stereotypes, it is only a matter of time before everyone has an equal playing field.
I think that class on Thursday represented this a little bit. The issue of age was brought up which signified that opinions and beliefs are changing through generations. This does not have to be a bad thing, because it can signify progress. If more and more people are thinking race is secondary to economic class, maybe with time, racism could die out.

Meredith Cotter, Post #8

Treaties

As I was trying to learn more about Native Americans and Native American Rights, I came across this site: http://www.narf.org/cases/manypaths.html

The Native American Rights Fund is launching a “Many Paths to Peace” initiative. Through this, Native American tribes are ideally supposed to return to more traditional means of peace-keeping amongst communities. I thought this was kind of interesting because it shows an element of cultural pluralism among Native American groups.

The following question has been on my mind since our conversation on Native Americans: “Why can’t we tax goods on Native American Reservations?” I did some research online and asked an accountant about taxing New Yorkers for goods bought on Reservations. Basically, the law states that New Yorkers ARE required to pay taxes on goods bought on reservations (as well as goods purchased in states without sales tax i.e. Pennsylvania). When we are all filing our taxes this year we are all technically supposed to be keeping track of goods we have not paid taxes on and pay the required NYS taxes. Now, of course nobody does this. So, if NYS was to tax New Yorkers buying goods on reservations they would not be violating any treaties—simply enforcing a law already in place. This would only be a violation of a treaty if NYS was to tax Native Americans for goods they purchase on their reservations, which NY has no intention of doing. I am interested to see if this tax law is enforced within this next year.

black history month

As most people know febuary is black history month. Besides the usual complaints about the fact that it is the shortest month of the year i have some problems with it. Having a black history month is great becuase it gets people to learn somethings about black history however, this leads many schools to only teach black history during this month. My school had a very diverese population and it sucks that we only learned black history for one month. African Americans have played a huge role in American History with leaders such as Fredrick Douglass, Sojurner Truth, Harriet Tubman all being active members of the abolitionist movement for instance. This movement is a big part of US history and these people should be given the same attention as the founding fathers i believe. It seeems that in English classes the African American literature only came out in febuary as well. I think that teachers should not feel a need to do more african american studies in febuary becuase it would ruin the information that they would teach. I jsut wish that African AMerican studies were taught more through the whole year in schools becuase BLACK history IS USA history.

Understanding All Sides

This is in regard to our discussion on Native Americans. I will be the first to say the mistreatment of Indians in American history has been nothing short of disgraceful and morally wrong. This is something that needs to be brought to attention especially in a classroom setting; however, I feel that we forget to try to understand the historical context to better understand why these events and acts occurred. We have to think that in some way, something as terrible as the Indian Removal Act was justified, and passed. Why? As a future educator I think this is a question we need to strive to answer, to try to better embody the mindset of the time (of both the minority and dominant group) to better understand how and why things happened the way they did, while at the same time pointed out the faults and mistakes that were made.
I just wrote a paper on Daniel Boone. He was an early American frontiersman who “discovered” Kentucky and was faced with numerous Indian attacks on his journey. In his account, the way he depicted Indians were savage aggressors who constantly attacked the white Americans for no reason at all. While we know now that Indians had every right to want to fight the whites in defense of their land and fear of their lives, we need to understand the idea that is the result of Boone’s account and others of that nature that helped to shape these hateful ideas in Americans’ minds. The truth is at the time of something like the Indian Removal Act, most people did not have contact with Native Americans, and they learned about the through skewed accounts from explorers who would make themselves out to be innocent. These accounts were then Romanticized to become mainstream and suddenly this idea of the brave white man venturing out into the unknown West, fighting Indians for the cause of Christianity and civilization became the noble thing for white men to do, and now it is our idea of the American West was. Arguably, it was this mindset that facilitated the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830 (about 70 years after Boone went out exploring). This is just one example of what I am talking about. Understanding something like the Daniel Boone Legend can give us an insight into why people were so prejudice against Indians, while at the same time acknowledging how awful it is and how such a skewed image of a particular group can infiltrate into mainstream culture. If students can understand this, I think that they would be able to identify and prevent this fault in our culture.

Meredith Cotter, Post #7

Indians and their Casinos

When I saw Marger had a Chapter on Native Americans, I was waiting for him to mention Casinos because that was honestly the first thing that came into my mind before I started reading. I found it very interesting that while they have helped some people, the Casinos have not had the impact I thought they did. I really thought that the Indians were making tons of money off this, and it was an eye-opener to learn the reality that Native Americans have low status in the American ethnic hierarchy. Reading about the Casinos also reminded me of someone I know that used to work for the Seneca-Allegany Casino in Salamanca. Apparently, the Indians are strict as an employer (he ended up getting fired), I thought that was interesting to mention as well.

Josh Steffen

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.

My experiences...

With all this discussion about economic (dis)advantage, I thought I would share some experiences I have had with these issues.

I have volunteered and worked with children in an inner city Buffalo school for about 7 years and have come to know many children and families who are living in poverty. There aren’t only African American children in the school, but there are Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Caucasian children who have all had similar experiences with economic hardship. It seems to me that the kids with strong family structure and positive role models are more successful in school than those who do not. I believe when a child grows up in poverty, he has a very hard time because of the kinds of issues he has to deal with that many people in the middle class can’t even imagine. Personally, I don’t know that if nowadays it’s as much about race as it is about economic circumstances.

Last year I got to know a little girl whose brother was killed on the streets for no apparent reason except gang activity. This is an example of how kids in different situations can have totally different experiences than other children, or even adults. Most middle class adults have never had these kinds of experiences, and can’t relate to this young four year-old girl’s experience.

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I can’t image how she can overcome losing family members (in this kind of way), live in this kind of area, and deal with other terrible issues, at such a young age and still be able to be as successful as a child in the suburbs who doesn’t have to deal with these kinds of things. I wonder how she will manage to get good grades in school and even think about going to college in view of all that is going on in her very dangerous world, no matter how hard she works!

Overall, I think a black child in the city versus a black child in the suburbs has two very different situations even though they are of the same race. I think that racism is still an issue for many minority groups nowadays, but poverty, economic ability, and where you grow up can be a much tougher obstacle to overcome.

Laura Kalinowski Post #8

Leonard Peltier release

In class on both Tuesday and Thursday we discussed the imprisonment of Leonard Peltier. Since there have been multiple attempts to get him out of jail. But when I was reading up on in I found an interesting article about how the billionaire David Geffin who is a supporter of Leonard Peltier and is vocal about getting him out of prison switched his economic support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama during the 2008 elections. His decision to do this was based on Bill Clinton's refusal to give Peltier a presidential pardon while he was in office. So do you think Obama will now seriously concider giving Peltier a presidential pardon due to the economic support he received from David Geffin?

African Americans and Political Correctness

It sounds like I missed some interesting discussion in class on Thursday - Unfortunately, I have been sick. Anyway, after reading Marger's Chapter on African Americans, and some of your posts on here, it made me think about a few things. I agree that your environment and the time you grew up in affects your views on ethnicity and race. I am more open-minded at 24 then my Grandpa is at 81, but that does not really surprise me since we come from different generations and were brought up differently. Whenever I see him, he usually asks me, "Do you still talk to that colored girl in Cleveland?" Rather than go ballistic, I just tell him that she is my best friend and nothing has changed, and she always laughs when I tell her about it. I was also thinking about how my Grandpa told me their were different things they used to call blacks in "his day," so it's interesting how things change over time, and I like to keep that in mind when I hear the things that come out of his mouth sometimes. I was also thinking, what is the "politically correct" term nowadays? I was recently told it was "People of color" as opposed to "Black" or "African Americans." Any thoughts on this?

Josh Steffen

Age and Discrimination more views

Well Stacy to answer our question I believe that idealism and naivete can apply to anyone of any age group young or old. I believe people of the younger and older generations can be both of these things at times. In terms of the younger generation or people of your age group, being idealistic is a great thing that can have a profound effect on society by making changes for the better. We need idealists so we don't lose sight of how things could be. We need to aim high and strive for change.

I also think it can be just as harmful when a person is so idealistic that they are blinded by their ideals and view the world from an unrealistic standpoint completely ignoring the empirical observations of the world. Empirical meaning knowledge gained from observation, experiment, or experience.

Some things don't change as easily especially when it comes to basic human nature. This is not to say that basic human nature can not change and hasn't but it is a process which is longer rather than shorter. Racism is less overt and more covert in American society today because it is less acceptable in the eyes of the law and the court of public opinion. That does not mean that suddenly in the course of Obama being elected that the divide between minorities and whites in terms of wealth and assests has grown smaller when all the evidence to the contrary is out there.

In my honest opinion as a black person is that I get very upset when anyone young or old who does not have black friends and family, who live in areas which are predominately white, who haven't experienced abstract poverty or have a formative basis due to observation or experience draw conclusions about the nature of racism based on what they read or are taught in school systems as a result marginalizing the experience of minorities in America in a context which revolves around current times. This is not progress this is one step forward one step back.

Age and Discrimination

In our talk on Thursday, a rather long discussion commenced about how those of different ages view issues of race. Those of younger generations tend to view race as being more of an economic issue rather than one based on discrimination. Most people in the class are of a young generation, being around 20. Being a political science major, I have heard in several classes that the younger a person is, the more liberal and open to ideas that person is. I have a question for those in the class of an older generation. Would you think that the younger generation is more optimistic with the ideas of race because we are idealistic or is it naivete? If you ask my parents, they tell me all the time that I am simply being naive.

I agree with what was stated in class about everyone having an equal chance in this country. Yes there may be some instances of racial discrimination, but for the most part, I believe that economic factors are more relevant in this day and age. Now while I say that, I do believe that there is still discrimination and issues to overcome.

Staci Becker- Post #8

Native American History

I took a Native American history class last year at JCC with a professor that had a great wealth of knowledge on the subject. This class went over all of the main things u here about in a US history class but was seen through the eyes of Native Americans. It made me see how twisted our governments dealings with them as a whole have been. First of all, when colonists came to the americas they brought back stories of Native Americans to thier native countries. There were many accounts of Native people being described as over 7 feet tall and even that they had devil like horns. This was a way that made the europeans terrified of Native Americans and many thought theat there were not even human.
Second, many Native Americans fought on the side of the English during the revolutionary war becuase they were afraid of the colonists forming an unstable goverment. After the colonists won the Natives who fought against them had there land taken for settlers.
Third, one of the most disturbing thigs i have ever heard was of Colonel Chivington (i believe) duirng the plains wars. There was acount of him stating that when an Indian group was attacked that the women and children should not be shot. Istead they should be gathered up after the battle so that the soldiers could bash in the heads of the women and smash the childrens heads aginst trees or rocks.....bullets were too expensive to kill them. Im not sure how much of a point i am trying to make but i wish that more Americans knew about these and many other dealings with Native Americans so that we would understand there hardships more and give them the support they need.

Race, Class, Gender, Experience continued.

I want to continue with my line of thinking from the last post as it is along the lines of what Rebecca said in her post. In response to the discussion we had about class based factors and wealth let me be more clear. I am of the opinion that focusing on class based factors and work ethic or as some people call it the "bootstrap theory" is an inaccurate way to measure the effect of inequality on the upward mobility of minorities. In my opinion this line of thinking serves the purpose of disregarding the legacy and impact of institutional racism.

What I was trying to say in a prior post about wealth I will try to say more clearly in this post. Racial inequality no matter the socioeconomic class is a result of the long term effects of an unequal distribution of wealth, labor discrimination, and institutional practices.

In my opinion wealth is a very accurate way to measure the level of inequality that exists. A study by the University of California done from 1984-2007 published last May found that income inequality between black and white had hit an all time high. The average middle income white household accumulated 74,000 in assets on average compared to high income black families who accumulated 18,000 in assets. Even when black families have higher paying jobs they are still behind lower income white families in accumulated wealth.

The gap between black and white has increased four fold in this time frame. There is a large gap in median net worth between whites and blacks. This suggests to me that blacks do not have the same oppourtunites for advancement regardless of economic class. I will go one step further and give an example of how people underscore the effect of racism on minorities.

White flight from cities and suburbs to the peripheral areas of cities has resulted in residential segregation which has raised the value of white owned housing and lowered the value of black owned housing in many places. You have banks which rate housing in predominently black areas with less value as high risk so when black people get a mortage loan they pay higher interest rates for property that is less valuable. What you end up having are white residential communities with more equity in their homes thus equating to more wealth for white home owners as opposed to black homeowners. Blacks and hispanics are twice as likely to receive high cost home mortages as whites with similar incomes.

The proof is in the numbers they don't lie. If our country is moving towards a doctrine of breaking down barriers and promoting equality then these numbers are disturbing. If more minorities are going to college and obtaining higher education and better paying jobs then why is the divide in wealth increasing? The recession has only exascerbated the problems that are going on. It is hard for me to look at class base factors without looking at wealth and its impact on the inequality that exists in our society.

Race, Class, Gender, Experience

Let me start by saying that I thought the conversation in class was very interesting and spirited. In response to what Sam said in his post, I personally did not disregard anyones opinion based on age. I think everyone deserves a certain fundamental level of respect as human beings. And just as ones opinion can not be disregarded because off age neither can ones experience.

Imagine that you have already gone through the frustrations of childhood and adolescence to become a member of the adult majority that dominates the economic, social, and political climate. After this you are told by the youth orientated culture that your hard won knowledge is irrelevant because the structured school system is the only basis that you need to have a valid understanding of how the world runs.

I have and currently am in a structured school system as you are and I still don't truly know how the world runs in many aspects. Believe me when I say that aspects of a persons world view will change with time and certain experiences. Something can be said for living an experience as oppossed to reading about an experience and forming and opinion which in many cases is based on the personal bias of others.

Sam, you, me, and future generations are the product of generations before us becoming less and less prejudicial establishing the foundation by which you and I both have our current beliefs. I certainly don't want to say one opinion is more valuable then the other.

The heart of the matter that I was getting act was the question of how certain people came to their opinions regarding the effect of class based factors on inequality. Does a person feel that way because of what people in their environment have told them? Does a person feel that way because of their experience with people of a certain demographic? Does a person feel that way based on the formation of beliefs and ideas reflected by some or all of these things?

My perspective is that of a black person born into poverty who was fortunate to have parents that were positive role models who worked to attain upward social mobility and reach the middle class.

Class or Race??

I think the class issue IS a race issue. Which races make up the majority of poor neighborhoods? Who suffers from Environmental Racism? Minorities. Many being African Americans. If we look through the charts in Marger’s book it is clear that African Americans lag far behind whites in education and wealth and that is due to a large history of discrimination. While I agree with Wilson and his argument that class is a huge factor in continuing disenfranchisement of minorities and African Americans; I believe Wilson should have clearly outlined institutionalized racism. Through institutionalized racism African Americans and other minorities are kept near poverty. Little to no aid is given to uplift ghettos that are mainly inhabited by minorities. Yes, class and wealth play a huge role in determining who resides in these neighborhoods. I don’t think we can overlook that fact that minorities reside in these neighborhoods because they were not given opportunities in the past. Whether or not minorities are deprived today because of their income does not fully solve the race vs. class issue because we have to look at the history of disenfranchisement that landed minorities in these positions on the lower end of the social ladder.

The Age of Inexperience

I had an extremely hard time wrapping my head around some of the conversation that was going on today. To discount someones views based soley on their age and lack of "life experience" is narrow-sighted and highly condescending. I've been around for two decades now, I've worked the 9-5 job, I've dealt with death and hard times. Now I understand the more you live, the more you learn, but this is far from the only requisite to knowledge and a sound understanding of a topic. Age does not always equal insight. I am a product of a generation becoming less and less prejudicial, and older individuals have a harder time grasping that. If anything, our opinion is even more valuable than that of an older person, because we are the start of what future race relations will be. My main point is that even though we've existed mainly through structured school systems, we still have a valid understanding of the world, should not be discounted on the basis of inexperience, and in some cases, have an even more valuable opinion due to our less bigoted outlook.

Samuel Roux - Post 2, Week 5

Class or Race?.. Or Gender.. or Age?.. Sara Ceraso, Blog Post 8

So also going off of today's discussion. Which once again was really great to listen to and I am glad we are leaving more time for that kind of stuff in class now.

We heavily mentioned the idea that class is slowly but surely becoming almost as big of an issue as race. Which I can agree with, but again like I said everything comes down to specific circumstances, no two are the same. I feel like it is much more than just class and race as well. I mean as a woman, girl, lady, whatever, I know that once I get out in that big scary "real world" I am going to have to deal with a lotttttttttt of discrimination, especially in the workplace. Women still get paid 74 cents to every dollar a man does. Now I am not the biggest feminist you'll ever meet, but excuse my language, that's bullshit. I am not saying that that is the same thing as how a black man is treated in the workplace, but it's along the same lines. And then age. There are so many different generations that people interact with every day of there lives. And we are effected by each of them. Everyone has their own point of view, and very often those views are shaped by the time that they grew up, or are still growing in. But like I said in class, someone who is 21 could have gone through more things in their lifetime than someone double their age. Just because they are older doesn't mean they automatically have more experiences under their belt. Now obviously in most cases someone my parents age has experienced more than someone my age, but there are those exceptions.

Along with the class issue, to me there is always going to be that distinction between rich and poor. Without poor there is no rich, vice versa. It is just the way people deal with it that matters. World peace is a pretty far fetched idea in this day and age.

Who Really Knows?

After our interesting class discussion today, there is certainly tons of things that were brought up and talked about that could have been discussed for days. Though it was interesting I hope that in future discussions more people talk and have something to say! By everyone talking it will give the class more things to discuss and from different perspectives.
I will say that one thing that caught my attention more than anything was the discussion of experience. When I think of people than me I think that they have been through things I have not there for have some experiences that I don't. From them I can learn about situations they have been through and how they went about doing certain things. At the same time, I am almost 21 years old now and have gone through things in life that I most definitely have learned from. Therefore in the discussion of race and discrimination I can share experiences that I feel would be important or interesting for others to hear. I guess what my point in all this is that though I haven't been through it all, I've been through enough to make certain decisions about these topics. I will certainly agree that I have much more to learn and experience with out a doubt. But I can say I know that world isn't perfect. I know that there is still racism and discrimination happening everyday regardless if I see it or not. And clearly I don't feel that I need to be older to understand all of that, or have gone through things such as the "real world" work force to understand it. But like I said, I know i can gather so much more about these topics when it comes to them and am willing to do so.
In the end, like it was said in class from a couple people, it all deals with your upbringing. Where you are from, who was around you, what you were taught all deals with how you view things and how you interpret them. Growing up and experiencing things certainly shapes your ideals and how you view things but it all stems from your upbringing. Therefore everyone is going to have different ways of see things. But, who really knows?

Vicious Cycles. Sara Ceraso, Blog Post 7

So we got into a pretty heated, but very interesting debate today in class, and since I totally need to catch up for this weeks blogs, I am really happy there was so much to talk about.

So we began the discussion talking about how your environment has a lot to do with how you turn out. I agree. We discussed the fact that some people do not get jobs because of there race, this is also true, SOMETIMES. Like I was saying in class, everything is circumstantial, everything is. But to go along with some of my classmates points, I believe that some of these instances are in fact caused by cycles. For example, although the view of Blacks and other minority groups have gotten significantly better since the day of slaves, there are still acts of discrimination. Those Blacks did not get the best education in the beginning, due to the simple fact that they were black. That leads to Blacks being labeled as "less intelligent." The less intelligent people aren't able to graduate from college, which would also stop them from getting a good paying job. Therefore they don't have a lot of money, more stereotypes. They can't go to college to better there education because they have no money to pay for it, they have no money to pay for education because they have no job. And it goes on forever. Now of course that is one really broad example, and one that isn't always true, but I do feel like it happens very often.

Also going on the topic of the "African Americans" chapter; I had in my talking points before it was even mentioned in class that a lot of Black people voted for Obama just because he was black. I think it goes in a third direction as well. A lot of white people voted for Obama because he was black as well. This idea that they are too trying to better a nation by "finally getting a black president!" I mean I voted for Obama. In my defense I am aware Obama is a Democrat and am familiar with some of his views, and mainly voted for him because it was the first Presidential Election I was able to vote in and I was just completely against McCain. But I would be completely lying if I were to say that I didn't think about the fact that Obama was Black.

Oh and side note, Marger annoys me as well.

Native Americans

I feel as if Native Americans in the past and present are treated badly. I believe that more things need to be done with Native American rights in the United States and move in a better direction not worse. I say worse because now they are trying to tax Native land which is basically all they have left to call their own. Our society as a whole needs to step up and do something, for example the Peltier case. It shows how twisted our government can be but the fact that people are still speaking out and trying to help this man that seems to be falsely accused of murder. So I guess I need more information to really discuss Native Americans but from the reading and the two that presented in class it seems that our government is doing them wrong and there needs to be something done. But do people think its fair that everything they get is cheaper? Yes it is there basic way of income but they are allowed to work in the U.S. and get jobs so should they still have the for cheaper goods?


Pete Ferguson

An Over Looked Group

This past class was very eye opening for me personally. I can certainly say that I have learned on more than one occasion about the Native Americans and their culture or the their history. Though I can say I have been taught about them, overall this is a group of people that I feel there is so much more I should know about. It makes me wonder, especially in the country in which this group created their society and culture, why was I not taught more about them? Another class I am taking this semester is Social Studies methods in which we learn what is taught and how to teach social studies. Recently while reading one of the books for that class it broke down what grade level learns what in the realm of social studies. The Native Americans is one of the first things taught in the younger grades but once that is accomplished, as students get older they learn less and less about this interesting group of people. Which brings me back to the question, why is it that the Native Americans are talked about so little? I feel that this is something that students should be well aware of throughout their educational journey.
Class was very informational for me and I am glad that we got to dive in deeper with the two presentations that were givent towards the end. These were two subjects that I had never heard about before then. Both topics were extremely interesting and eye opening towards issues that were more current then the colonial times.

Mary Daloia

Feelings towards Native Americans

While looking over all of the postings on here, I feel that Native Americans are viewed differently than other minority groups in the United States. For instance with Sam’s question, I feel that the case would have been different if it was another minority group involved. I think the case would have gotten more attention, and it definitely more media attention. I think that Native American groups don’t get as much attention as other groups, possibly because of how they were treated in the past, and people’s current feelings towards this group. Somebody in class mentioned that the Red Power movement might not have been as well known, because of the history with Native Americans, and this feeling could possibly be why many people don’t like to discuss, or recognize this group. Since people may feel guilty about how Native Americans were treated in the past, they may be ignored or passed by in the media when it comes to big cases and events such as the one mentioned in class.

Laura Kalinowski Post 7

Let Me Clarify Blog Post #7 Frank DiMaria

Ok, so hopeful I am going to be able to better explain what I crashed and burned on talking about two classes ago which was a comment I said about Marger creating a bias or speaking with a bias. When I read the chapter on Native Americans I could not help to think about how terrible their conditions in early America was. And I agree that some Whites irrationally justified Native Americans removal by labeling them as savage. But, I also want to mention my word “some” in contrast to how Marger addresses the concept. Marger comments that, “However positive some characterizations of American Indians were, the dominant white view was always one of inferiority.” (157) This is a complete generalization. It is true that a majority of whites did indeed feel Indians were inferior, but not everyone did. That’s like implying that because I am white, I therefore receive all the benefits of the dominant groups resources, which again is untrue. Marger should have said “a majority” or “a lot of whites.” The first day of class I was in some ways called out for “generalizing,” though what I said was just a misspeak and meant no offense to anyone. Generalizing is saying something like “the dominant white view was always.” Not to mention, Marger brings up the Indian Removal Act. Yes, the Act was ridiculous and did terrible things to the Indians people. But, Marger in no way mentions the fact that when voted upon, the Indian Removal Act was almost a split decision. There were many, many people fighting for the Indians during the time. Look at William Penn. He argued the Act was a violation of human rights. Maybe some people in the class wont like what I am saying, and I am sorry if I am being offensive at all, but I cant live with the fact, especially as a future teacher, that only one side of the argument is being shown. White guys in early America were for less of a better term were jerks, but my point is that if we build a narrative where they are only shown as jerks, a bias is created.

Also, Sam and Justin I enjoyed your lessons and I think you guys did a good job, thank you for highlighting things that people need to be aware of.

 

The Plight of American Indians

In today's class, we began talking about sport's teams mascots. I had never really given this much thought before. In my high school, our main rival were the Sayre Redskins. Their mascot was an Indian with a large headdress. There have been no objections that I know of to this name. When I did notice that it might be a little insensitive, my aunt, who went to the school, said that they had been the Redskins for so long that no one could possible change it. I think that this is the issue. For so long, people have been insensitive to Native Americans and their plight. If things were to change, would people just respond with, "well, that's how it has always been"? I would hope not. Sometime now or in the future, it must change. I think the mascots are just the issue that people are focusing on. When looking online, I found a very helpful website run by the American Indian Sports Team Mascots organization (AISTM). This website had many resources and information on this issue. Here is the website: http://www.aistm.org/1indexpage.htm.

I believe that a major change must come for Native Americans. The government's perception must change on these issues, but I do think it will be very difficult to do so. Native Americans suffered a long train of abuses by the government over the years. For the government and the people of the United States to rectify the situation would become a watershed. This might prove to be difficult, for the government to admit past mistakes, and for people to overcome prejudicial ideas, so I think it will take many years to happen.

In response to Sam's post, and the satirical Alcatraz Proclamation, I feel like it was the right thing to do. After reading that, people would realize that the past was not fair to the native populations here. It effectively shared their point.

Staci Becker Post 7

Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act

After learning about the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act I am a little bit confused about how the reservation near where I live is run.  I live close to the Seneca Nation of Indians Reservation near Irving, NY which is about half an hour from Fredonia.  I understand that this act was set in place to have the Native Americans take control over their own government run institutions, but also had help and encouragement from the federal government in doing so. One of the things that confuses me most is the education system set in place on the reservation.  First off, do these schools have to follow the NYS curriculum like all other schools have to with the NYS testing and everything?  If not, then do the schools vary and get to choose their own system of teaching?  In my thinking, I feel as though it is that these schools don't have to follow NYS standards.  My basis for this is that the high school I went to is about 5 minutes from the reservation and we had many Native American students in our school.  We had such a large number of Native American students that there was a class made specifically for them, in which no one else was allow to take part in, where they could learn their native language as well as all about their culture.  I guess this just confuses me because if there are schools on the reservation, why aren't those who live on the reservation utilizing the schools that they build and are paying for?  I would completely understand if they would get a better education at a NYS school rather than a school that was on the reservation, so I guess my big question is: How are students on reservations taught? Is it by NYS standards or the reservations standards?

Racism and disease post# 7

I am currently taking a World Environmental History class that surprisingly has brought about many connections to our class. We recently read a book on European expansion and many of the themes could be tied into racial and ethnic issues. I found the themes addressed in the book to be an interesting view on racial issues that we've never really discussed in class. European expansion in some ways branched from the need to spread European beliefs to the world, it was a duty to God. Once Europeans began to expand they brought many diseases with them. Diseases which, killed thousands of native people. Europeans however were unaware of why these natives were dying and they themselves were not. This in many ways caused the Europeans to believe that God had chosen them as the superior race. They believed that because they were immune to the terrible diseases, that they were better, which in turn caused a racial divide. I just thought this was a very interesting way to look at racism in a different way and point out another cause to racial divides and superiority.
- Ryan Fleming

Red Power (read and respond please!)

I'd like to continue our conversation today on Red Power. Since a majority of you don't enjoy speaking in front of the class, maybe you'll be more apt to do so here. I feel there were certain things we touch upon in class that deserve further conversation. First off, was a question Justin posed. He asked if we believed the case would have been handled differently had it been someone of a different race. I wholeheartedly think it would, and I think this due to the way Native Americans were outspoken at these times. When a minority group gives themselves attention like this, it increases hostilities between the minority group and majority. Because of this, the FBI felt less inclined for further research of the shootings, and were merely interested in the incarceration of (I'm terrible with names), and the end of this Red Power movement. Another topic I'd like to raise is a question I wrote for my topic, but never got around to asking. How did everyone feel about the satirical way Indians presented the Alcatraz Proclamation? Do you think they should have done it differently?

-Samuel Roux, Post 1 Week 5

Census

I am sitting here trying to brainstorm a better way to phrase to U.S. Census, and I am at a loss. I think the best thing they could do to maintain efficiency is as the question: What country(s) are your ancestors’ descants from? Then, the government has to name every single country and add a small checkbox next to it. I do not think it is fair to separate Hispanics from every other group, also many ethnicities were omitted from the checkboxes-Americans can be from nearly any place on the globe, it is rude to leave any country out. Also, someone who is 25% Asian and 75% white may look 100% Asian and identify themselves most closely with their Asian heritage, so they may not check the box “white” on the census but rather where their Asian ancestry is from. I know this solution is very tedious and time consuming, but, unless the government is willing to ask about ones race or ethnicity by writing an open ended question, I think this may be the only solution.

What Concept is a Good Concept?

In class the other day we spent quite a long time talking about the validity of the salad bowl concept. I think to some extent it is a good ideology to teach to younger students. I feel that if it is presented in a certain manner it can definitely be used as a good teaching method. I think it is important for the students to think of it as anyone can be any part of the salad. You don't have to categorize a certain group as one of the items in the bowl. If you explain to the students that each item is apart of the salad and with out it you can't have a complete one this could be a positive way in looking at this concept.
I can see where there are aspects of the ideology that would make i have a negative out look on different groups of people. I feel that if you were to introduce this idea to a class, you could let them come to their own conclusions. See where the students take this idea, and then have them discuss it. For all we know they could make a good reasoning for using this concept with out making it seem negative.

Mary Daloia