Greece and Turkey

The Greeks revolted in 1821 to remove the burden of the Ottoman Empire's rule over them. The relations between Greece and Turkey have never really improved from this time. In another of my great experiences in the service, I had the opportunity to see the Air and Sea power of both of these allied nations almost come to blows once again. After the attack of 9/11, both of these countries wished to show support for our military. As such the fleets of both came out in full display of their power to the East (Turkey) and West (Greece) of the Enterprise Battle Group, of which my destroyer was a part of. In all, it was an impressive display. Much to our concern, being smack in the middle of this, neither the Greeks nor the Turks had let the other one know they were doing this, they being on non-speaking terms. While this may seem a bit funny, there is a lot of almost hatred between these two. Thanks to our own power present our commander was able to talk both sides down from a potential incident. This is of particular note because our position was near the island of Cyprus, which has been split in two by these nations in an invasion in 1974. The Greeks maintain that the Turks invaded illegally, the Turks assure everyone who listens that they were asked to come there by the Cypriot people. So, this issue is much deeper and longer running then the documentary may have let on.

French Constitution

This is a supplement to a number of post on here.

The French Constitution only ever makes two mentions of religion. Both are located in Article One. The first is a declaration that the French Government shall be "indivisible, secular, democratic and social Republic", The second one states "ensure the equality of all citizens before the law, without distinction of origin, race or religion. It shall respect all beliefs." Now there is a lot of information on how they put laws in place and the normal red tape things that go along with a government, but the basic of it is that the two houses, the Prime Minster and the President all had to agree to this law being put in place. So the real test to how this law is received will be when the vote takes place. Also to keep in mind, respect of is not Freedom of. So while we may look at this and gasp, we also never went through the series of wars that France did over religions and about religions. The general population may see this as an affront to the ideals of France, and it really is not our place to judge anyway. This maybe considered to be part of their culture, much like the Freedom of Religion is in ours.

The link to the text of the French Constitution:
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/english/8ab.asp
Of course, as per normal, I am open to the idea that someone else may see this differently then I do, and civilized discourse is welcomed.

Ebonic speech

I’m also torn between the issues about Ebonic speech. I know it is suppose to be a form of English, and it is a part of many black groups culture. I can see how people are for it in the sense that it could be a way to bring them together. Also a lot of different languages have different forms or are slang from the original. I know when I was in Germany, I was talking to a women who said south to where they live, there was a town that spoke a different form of German. She said how a person could barely understand them. The language though was what was spoken in that town, so that is what kept them together. So I can see that the African American groups wanting to have a part of culture of their own. But the problem I have is that, I think this will separate them even more. This example shows that it was a town, a small community that was a part from the rest. In all honesty I do not see the white dominant group ever learning Ebonics. If it was offered in school as a language, unless it was forced, most would probably take something else. This means that if it becomes taught to minority students, it would be driving a wedge between them. That if an African American went to an important job interview and only spoke Ebonics, most employers may not want to hire them. This could mean that instead of differences between groups becoming more equal, it would have the opposite effect.

#20

Ebonics

When we talked about ebonics on Tuesday in class the only thing that kept coming to mind was that by teaching a language like this, even though it was an example of ethnic heritage, would only further drive apart the barrier between races. They created something only they could use and understand which would further make them different. This could be a good thing though I suppose, people and races need to maintain some individuality in life. It just seems to make things worse in my mind.

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Sandy Lee

In class on Thursday, we were talking about the mothers character in caucasia. She shows a strong passion for black activism, as a white women in the 70's. I interpreted her strong connection to the black issues of the time as being related to her acceptance from the black community. As a wealthy white girl growing up she talks of how she always felt stuck in a life that she didnt want. She says how because of her appearance no boys ever noticed her and she was somewhat of an outcast. Then Deck Lee a young black man came into her life and for the first time, she was noticed. I think that because Deck accepted her for who she was she automatically gained a connection to the black community. As an outsider in her own world, she had a slight understanding of how blacks as a minority felt like outsiders in their world. I feel that her acceptance from the black community pushed her to want to fight for the acceptance of black people among everyone else. That was just my initial interpretation of her though, it could change as the story progresses.
-Ryan Fleming blog post#20

Assimilating Education

On tuesday we were talking along the lines of whether or not the United States has veered away from the melting pot theory and has focused more on not assimilating, especially in schools. My personal take on the matter, being an education major, is that its really all a bunch of talk. Every education class I've taken has emphasized greatly the need to be "cultured" and promote diversity. However I still see large amounts of discrimination and the push to assimilate in the schools. The matter of language alone in the schools, is huge proof that we are still making attempts to assimilate everyone to be more "American". So I honestly don't think that the United States has really advanced much in not pushing for assimilation. I think we all act like we have made huge advancemnts but actions speak louder than words and there is a huge difference in talking about multicultural education and actually practicing it.
-Ryan Fleming blog post#19

The Way You Speak

I feel like this Ebonics debate is really important because many people see it as incorrect English, but to many people, it’s how they learned to speak. I like it that it was mentioned that you wouldn’t try to correct a Southern person’s accent, because it’s the way they learned to speak. When we talked about this type of issue in my literacy class, my teacher talked about how important it was to read books to children that relate to them, and have characters that talk like them. People speak differently with different accents, and slang all over the world, and you can’t tell them they’re wrong for the way they talk.

Laura Kalinowski Post #21

Frace and the Burka

I agree with what everyone is saying that France has no right to ban women from wearing the Burka, when it is part of their religious beliefs to do so. It is not their place to tell Muslim women that they aren't allowed to wear the clothing that they chose to wear as a part of being Muslim. Obviously before this debate came about, Muslim women weren't being forced to wear these Burkas, but they chose to because it was part of their religion, and something that they see as important. Submission of women is something valued in many religions around the world, and while it may not be something people agree with, it doesn't mean this government has the right to regulate how people chose to practice their religion. The Burka is not hurting anybody, and if there is a Muslim woman who decides she doesn't want to wear the Burka in France, then she has the freedom to do so, and those women who do want to wear the Burka out of choice, should have the freedom to do so as well. By passing this law, France is targeting Muslims directly, and in a way trying to tell them how to practice their religion. I don't agree with this law because, the Burka doesn't hurt anyone and Muslim women living in France should have the choice to wear it if they chose to. Brigit May, post 20

France

The whole debate over the Burka being banned in France is really interesting. It seems like France is trying to protect women (maybe?) but is going about it completely the wrong way. As someone else quoted, France views the Burka as an item used to “imprison women and contradict this secular nation's values of dignity and equality" but hey, lets protect those women by telling them what to do! I've seen arguments elsewhere about how France has more of a "Freedom from Religion" rather than a "Freedom OF Religion" that we have here. Obviously I don't see this as an excuse to regulate how people are allowed to worship. I do worry about these women- will they be allowed to go in public without the Burka? Or will their customs (or husbands) keep them to their homes now?

Victoria Rader Post 19

Ebonics

I'm still really torn on the Ebonics debate. On one hand I understand that there is no official "correct" form of English and that the students we were talking about in class should be able to speak in the language/dialect/etc. that they are familiar and comfortable with. But you have to take into account the type of people that they will come into contact with in the future. Generally speaking, if someone can't effectively speak English they probably aren't going to get very far beyond their own community. I suppose the best solution would have been to stress the importance of both a native language and English. This of course goes for any language, not just Ebonics.

Victoria Rader post 18 (I think?)

RE: Muslims in France

I haven't been very involved with watching the news lately, but when I heard of this I wanted to know more. It seems like such an absurdity to me that France, a democratic society, can ban women from wearing veils that one Muslim woman, Kenza Drider, explains that the veil for her is, "a submission to God."  The women who willingly wear these veils obviously do not feel imprisoned by them as the French president says it does.  If these women felt imprisoned by them then why did they protest the law in front of Notre Dame Cathedral?  Many of these women were detained for participating in an unauthorized protest. This seems incredibly wrong to me. Do people ever actually get protests authorized? 
It seems as if the feelings about the law to people that are not of the Muslim community seem split down the middle. One woman said, "It's not a racist law. It's just a law that is coming from the history of France and so you need to accept it if you want to integrate into France and with French people."  While someone else responded to the law with, "We are in France, we are in a democractic country where everyone has the right to do what they want. If they want to wear a veil or go completely nude that's their right." In a democratic society, people have the right to express themselves as they wish, which is why I don't understand why the people who run the government think its okay to tell their people differently. Thought there is a separation of church and state, it seems as though this line is blurred in order to discriminate against Muslims.  This isn't the first time a law has happened like this either.  In 2004, France banned headscarves and veils in the classroom, another law directed straight at the Muslim community.

The character of Deck

I was thinking about the father/daughter relationship in Caucasia today. I agree with the statements in class that you would expect the father to be the more realistic person as a professor who studies race. I was disheartened to see how he treated Birdie compared to Cole. I also found it interesting that Birdie would repeat the things she heard from her father in class, but Cole never seemed to find it interesting. Deck is a very interesting character for me. He is a true hypocrite. I want to sympathize with him, but at the same time, I can't help but feel anger towards him.

When thinking of Deck, I always think about when Sandy told Birdie and Cole about how she and Deck met. I believe it was Sandy's father who said that he couldn't help but feel as though Deck hated them, as in the white elite. When she asks why, he respond's with "Because we are all cowards." I feel like this corresponds to White Privilege, in essence saying that he hates white people because we aren't willing to truly stand up for what we believe it right. That is one of my favorite lines from the book.

Staci Becker Post #21

Teaching Ebonics

I've been thinking about the discussion we had about teaching Ebonics in the classroom and if it should be taught to just African American students or if it should be open to all.  I feel like if it is being taught in certain classrooms then every student should be able to have an opportunity to learn it.  Students take Spanish, German, and French but don't have to be considered Spanish in order to take the class. In these type of classes students not only learn a language, but they also learn about culture.  I feel that this is an important piece to bring up. If students are also learning about the culture of the language they are learning to speak. they may be more accepting of hearing the language as an everyday thing.  When you open up the door to allow others into a culture that is not their own, the students can then understand and be less critical to those that are submerged in this culture.
In my high school we had a large number of Native Americans and they had a class that taught them the language of their tribe as well as the culture behind it.  I remember the classroom that this was taught in was a complete mystery to all the other students.  If you weren't Native American, then you were never even an opportunity to take this class, even though the roots of the culture are in our own backyards.  I felt very frustrated that this class wasn't offered to students who weren't Native American.  I was very interested and always wanted to learn more about the tribes that sit just a few miles down the road from me, but unless I read it in a book I would never know.  I feel that if you are offering a class on a certain language or culture, it should be open to all students, not just those of the ethnicity or race that belong to that specific culture.

Muslims in France

France bans Burkha on women

I decided to do a little bit more digging on the subject as Jeff suggested in class. At first glance you’d think anyone should have the right to wear whatever they want be it religious in nature or decoration. You can look on the streets of NYC and see far more outlandish things than a simple Burkha so what’s the big deal? According to French President Nicolas Sarkozy said the veils “imprison women and contradict this secular nation's values of dignity and equality. Muslim is also the #2 religion in France.

It turns out though that only about 10% of the Muslim population in France even wear the Burkha and the law is written so that “The words "women," "Muslim" and "veil" are not even mentioned. The law says it is illegal to hide the face in the public space.” So that gives the question if its cold does that mean you can’t put a scarf over your face? Would you get arrested for it?

To read more about the law and the controversy here an article on it.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/04/11/france-bans-face-covering-islamic-veil-1300456722/#ixzz1JVwDPzxn

My Favorite Quote from Caucasia..so far!

In Chapter 4 on page 87, is my favorite quote from the Caucasia novel thus far: "My mother looked out into the night and said, 'Everybody who can will f*ck you over. Never trust power, wherever it comes from. It's always' - her voice had raised a notch - 'and I mean always, corrupt. You hear me?" What do you think is meant by “Never trust power?”

- Josh Steffen

The “Negrobilia” Box

One of my talking points for the Caucasia novel this week is about Birdie’s box of “negrobilia.” This box she travels with reminds her of her hidden heritage. I questioned why doesn’t anyone give Cole a box of “Caucasiabilia,” but I think I like what Jeff called it better: “WASPabilia” because it harkens to Sandy’s upper class White Anglo-Saxon Protestant roots or heritage. Perhaps this would remind Cole of both her sister and mother. I also wonder why does Birdie start to add to her collection of “negrobilia” herself? What do you guys think?

- Josh Steffen

Power of Education

I also went to the viewing of “The Other Town.” It was surprisingly a very interesting documentary and also made me think about this class. It discussed issues about the relationship between the Turks and the Greeks. Throughout the documentary people from both groups were interviewed. They discussed the same event or issue, but what they said actually happened was completely different from the other side. It made me realize how subjective education can actually be. What we learn in school is what most people believe. We take the word of the teachers and textbooks as fact, and normally do not question it. It just made me realize how whatever a child is taught in school can later on regulate into what they believe of the world. If a child is taught throughout school certain views upon a different group of people, then that is how they are going to see that group.

#19

Biracial

When it comes to biracial people I feel that it is a whole other realm from just being a person from a minority group. In this situation, the person has a not one but to "identities" that he or she has to handle. In a society in which we are categorized on a daily basis, it causes people that are biracial to decide what they choose to reside with when it comes to their identity. I think it is important for us as a society to improve on our ability to encourage being diverse and not having to decide which a person prefers. Not being someone who is biracial, it is much harder to describe or even talk about this topic because I don't have the experiences that those people to do. These people should be able to be proud of any ethnicity that they come from and show that to the world. -Mary

Biracial People

I know personally that it is difficult to identify with a race being a biracial person of white and black descent but how is it for people that have parents from two minorites? How do they relate to thier race and do they have the same challenges with identifying? I feel that they may be at less of an advantage becuase they would not have any oppututnity for white privelage at all unlike mixed children with a white parent. I feel that they would tryo to relate with one race the strongest and alomst reject the other but im sure that is not 100% correct. The idea of this really interests me

Interracial parents

While reading Caucasia, I couldn't help but feel sympathetic towards Deck, especially when he was spending time with Birdie. The part of the book that made me feel this way was when they went to the park, and the police approached them. I would like to think that that sort of thing would never happen anymore, but I realize that it's not so. This is very disheartening, as we have not been able to move on from this blatant racism. In fact, I remember watching an episode of "What Would You Do?"on ABC not to long ago in which this is played out. A man and his daughter are in a restaurant, and begin to be harassed by a waiter. They do this with a black man and white little girl, and a white man and black little girl. The results are astounding. I will post the links below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsfVS2rILik&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmSfq-YsCrM

I have to wonder why this is still happening in these times?

Staci Becker Post #20

What we learned in school...

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a screening of a documentary on Greece and Turkey called “The Other Town”. While viewing this documentary was extra credit for me in a geography class, I found that throughout the film I constantly connected the lessons learned to our race and ethnicity class. The film focused on the tension between the people of Greece and Turkey. The citizens of both countries had a generalized idea about the “other”. Their ideas were based off of very little fact and mostly elaboration. This made me think about stereotypes in general and how stereotypes exist around the world. In this documentary, the researched focused a lot on children and their history coursework. Often, what they learned in school and through textbooks fed in to demonized ideas about the other and painted their own country as heroic. I really started to wonder about the things we learn in our textbooks and I think this would be an interesting topic to explore. Do our textbooks (grades k-12 mainly) feed into stereotypes and create prejudices?

Fantasies are Fantasies

One of the things that I though was interesting (and something that is still a little fuzzy) from today's class was the idea of racial fantasies. What I have gathered so far is that these fantasies is what all of us expect someone of a certain race to be. It is our human tendency to place people in a category that we are familiar with, so that we can try to figure that person out before making ourselves vulnerable enough to actually know that person as an individual. It is our way of putting people at a safe distance. However, what I found most interesting about our discussion of racial fantasies is just that; they are fantasies. They are unrealistic/unattainable by real people. We have this image of an all black person, but who is really ALL black? Not only in terms of mixing races, but in terms of mixing what races OUGHT to be. This was most interesting to me because it really exemplifies the idea that race is an individualized, but also, socially constructed phenomenon.
One of the examples from class that exemplifies this is how Deck became more 'black' in his environment. He became influenced by black power. He felt as though to be more 'black' he needed to find himself a strong black woman, grow and Afro, and throw the N word around. But that doesn't make him ALL black -- he was still an intellectual in out of Harvard.

This is just what I have understood so far. If I have the wrong idea, please set me straight!

Meredith Cotter, Post #21

Civil War's Lasting Effects

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/04/12/opinion/12oped-art/12oped-art-blog427.jpg

This is a link to a picture and article that was in the New York Times the other day. This was about the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Ft. Sumter (the first battle of the civil war). The article talks about many of the things we have been talking about in class concerning race. One of the most moving quotes of this peice was: "In our smug insistence that race is no longer a factor in our society, we are continually brought up short by the old code words and disguised prejudice of a tribalism beneath the thin surface of our “civilized” selves.""
The article suggests that the historiography of the Civil and Slavery entailed a shift in reality. In the post civil war years, the motives for war have been blurred, to not include race as a factor. Now, looking at that historical moment from a modern perspective, it is not a question that slavery was at the heart of the conflict. But it is interesting how for so many years, the race/slavery factor had been pushed to the side when looking at the Civil War. Perhaps this plays into the idea that whites have the privileged to not think about race, therefore did not think to this issue a as a major driving force for our Nation's bloodiest war. Was it shame that caused this, or stubbornness?

Meredith Cotter, Post #20

What Would You Do Blog Post #21 Frank DiMaria

In response to Brigit’s post, I think its quite unfortunate that people classify the twins that were born but I think its kind of human nature to try to figure out other people. I mean we all do it to some extent. It’s a primitive human form that drives us as a defense to become aware of the people in our environment. It’s not fair that people classify others by race at all but when we see someone different than us I feel like its tendency to figure them out for better or worse. It is a shame though, that the twins will grow up in a society which asks them to almost define themselves, further playing into the idea that race is socially constructed. And I do think that Caucasia serves a good point of reference to consider this idea. Though its still early in the book, we can already see points here Cole and Birdie are confronted with defining themselves racially through societal pressure.

Self Defense Blog Post #20 Frank DiMaria

In response to Brigit’s post, I think its quite unfortunate that people classify the twins that were born but I think its kind of human nature to try to figure out other people. I mean we all do it to some extent. It’s a primitive human form that drives us as a defense to become aware of the people in our environment. It’s not fair that people classify others by race at all but when we see someone different than us I feel like its tendency to figure them out for better or worse. It is a shame though, that the twins will grow up in a society which asks them to almost define themselves, further playing into the idea that race is socially constructed. And I do think that Caucasia serves a good point of reference to consider this idea. Though its still early in the book, we can already see points here Cole and Birdie are confronted with defining themselves racially through societal pressure.

Black or White

I have also seen that story that Brigit posted about the two sets of biracial twins in that family, and have thought about how people will categorize them, like it was discussed in the article Brigit mentioned. In Caucasia, Birdie and Cole seem to distance themselves from each other and move toward their designated category (black or white) based on their skin color. Neither of them really decides that they are going to be both, so they both seem to lean towards categorizing themselves as either black or white. They seem to both try and fit into one category, based on how they feel, what people tell them they should be, and what they’re seeing. I agree that they should be described at looking white/black because they are both, but their skin color may depict one or the other.

Laura Kalinowski Post 19

Biracial Twins

This is a story I found really interesting, and pertains what we were discussing today in regards to Birdie and Cole, and also about biracial twins having contrasting skin colors. This is a story about a biracial couple who had twins, and one of the twins looked "black" while the other twin looked "white" After their first set of twins, they had another set, and the same thing happened again! There are a few points I wanted to make about the article. The first is that in the article, they describe one of the twin girls as being white, and the other twin being black. I had a problem with the way they worded it because they were we dismissing the fact that these twins are mixed race; one is not white and the other is not black, they are both biracial. This goes to show how society categorizes people right of the bat, simply based on their skin color. It would have been far more politically correct for this article to say that one girl LOOKS white, or one of the girls has darker skin, or something like that, instead of automatically categorizing them off the bat. The this is reflective of the way our society thinks, and how people automatically feel the need to place people in a category in their minds. The other is that this article points out how many people have a problem categorizing or identifying people of a mixed race. Instead of acknowledging that they are mixed race, they had to place them as one or the other, and that placement was solely based on how dark or light their skin is. I think this article represents a glimpse into the future for these children, and how biracial people can have a hard time with their ethnic identity, due to outside influences in society. Post 19, Brigit May

Diversity Improving

Lately for some reason I have been watching a lot of game shows on t.v. And just today I watched an episode of Family Feud. When it came on, the host was Steve Harvey, someone I was not expecting to see. In the past it has always seemed that game show hosts have been primarily white men. But as of late there have been more men of color becoming game show hosts. At the same time it still remains white men predominantly, so while there has been improvements there still seems to be a racial bias on television. The question is whether or not there will be an increase in diversity when choosing game show hosts. -Mary

Interacial Marriage

It was quite surprising to me that the poll in Missisippi had only 40% of republicans believeing that interacial marriage should be legal. I thought that as a society we were over this but apparently not. My parents were married in NY and then moved to Virginia. My dad says they had it a little easy cuz they lived on a Naval base but said they still faced discrimination. There we times when my father would talke my mom out to dinner and the waitress would not serve him or even acknowledge his existence. My mom has also told me the story of when her sister found out she was dating my dad and asked her "when are u gonna stop punishing mom and dad and get rid of this black boy?" That was back in the late 80s so i assumed by now we would be much mor eused to interacial relationships in our society but i guess there are still people against it.

Racial Profiling

I was trying to think of a topic to bring up that deals with the subject matter of our class that we had yet to really dive into. A then came upon the topic of racial profiling. This is something that is obvious that it takes place in today's society. But on the other hand it is a subject that might be difficult to get exact numbers due to people's discression. When asking people if they profile others due to their race they may not be as open to admitting to it. Admitting to something like this would show people in a negative light but there are those who are willing to be open about it as well. Regardless how people would feel about revealing their faults, it is something that happens whether they want to admit it or not. Once I had this topic on mind I went looking around on the internet for information dealing with it. I found an interesting sight that had good information on racial profiling. It gives a great definition of it and seven facts that they found. It is worth taking a look at! http://www.amnestyusa.org/racial_profiling/sevenfacts.html -Mary

I know that this show has been brought up many times in class, but I've never watched any part of it until now.  What I found was completely shocking and made me want to see more.  In this instance there was an African American woman shopping in a store in upscale SoHo.  This experiment was set up so the actress was discriminated against solely because of the color of her skin and the manager of the store who was doing the discriminating was white.  The manager used "the facts" in order to make her case more legitimate and even apologized to the other customers for the woman's very presence.  This case was one that could be very real at any point in a person's life and it honestly outraged me.  I've never witnessed a situation like this and I couldn't imagine the fact that what I was seeing could really happen to people.  Out of the over 100 people that witnessed this situation, only 20 people (many of these people were of color) decided to intervene in some way.  That means that 80% of people in this situation, mainly white people, remain silent.  This shows "white privilege" because we are the silent ones who don't stick up for others that are in need of help.  After seeing this I know for a fact that if I ever came across a situation like this that I would stand up for the person being discriminated against and say something.  It might take a little courage, but it's better than allowing anything like that to happen to someone just because of their skin color.