Post your response to the Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible assignment here.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011, we met in A-202, and we all fit. A student left her books in the class. I have them. Remember, Thursday we meet in A-232. I passed out the first chapter of Writing Logically Thinking Critically and the first chapter and a half of White Like Me.
Students were to read the preface and Born to Belonging (1-16). I told students that they need the revised and updated book: ISBN 978-1-933368-99-3. We will review the textbook tomorrow, talk about the plan for the class, answer questions and if there is time, break into discussion groups.
Students were to annotate the texts and write a reading log which could include questions and a vocabulary log, key arguments Wise makes and anything else s/he feels is important. Students will share these notes in Literature Discussion groups which we will start tomorrow and continue on Tuesday.
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Javier Chavez
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
2-2-2011
Making Whiteness Visible:
Before viewing this, we were instructed to pay attention to the term “privilege”. This word when put together with “white” means something completely different. It is another world, where people expect certain things from the privileged white people, where there is still some deep-rooted racism.
I found it amazing how even to this day there was still a huge divide between races, mainly between that of color and white. Although the divide might not be as clear as it was 50 years ago, there are still strong psychological differences between races. For example in the documentary the term “friendship” is not the same for white people and people of color. One of the interviewees said that a white person could easily go across the room to someone of color, shake their hand and say I want to be your friend, while a person of color had to crawl on their knees and do everything possible just to be a white persons friend. I thought this was a key part of the documentary in showing the reality and truth of the world we live in today.
I agreed with the woman who said, “Racism is not a cause, like animal rights”. I feel like this is true, racism is not a cause, it’s a disease that needs to be exterminated from us.
After watching the documentary I was left with one question, is this privilege that white people have a curse? A gift? Is it anything at all?
Dennis Foley
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
2 February 2011
Making Whiteness Visible Response:
The video was confusing. It was a lot of white peoples views of racism. I mean come on could you maybe just get the view of a single black person in the video? The limited amount of actual black speakers voicing their opinions in this video somewhat tarnished my opinion of the whole thing. During one interview with one of the white ladies she said “I asked what can I do to help?” she asked a black activist and he said “educate your people.” I do feel more educated after watching the video. However I think maybe there are better ways of learning and also making the world a better place. I think there needs to be more than just this video stating “all white people are racist.” or “all white people are privileged.”, because just what am I supposed to do about it? That question is not answered in this video. The question is answered during the times in your day when you're at school or at a restaurant and you have the choice to be respectable to a member of a different race. I think this video needs to show more facts about where discrimination occurs today, what occurs, how it occurs. Ask yourself, why do white people get privileges? Do they get better jobs, better schools, better housing, better insurance, treated better at the airport, or at a restaurant? Many of these privileges are seeded from within businesses at least the most obvious ones. These businesses at least have a system of law that enforces (or at least is supposed to) them to act within the confines of the constitution. The other privileges that white people receive aren't so obvious, such as common respect from other Americans because “hey we're both white so I'll be nice to you.“ To fix this, hey its not rocket science (although I suppose 50 years ago it could be considered as difficult), we must not be disrespectful to someone because they are of another race.
Frena Zamudio
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
02 February 2011
MIRRORS OF PRIVILEGE: MAKING WHITENESS VISIBLE
Privilege is a benefit, advantage, or favor, usually sees as things that a person can do with a permission, so that means it would not cause any trouble whatsoever. After watching the film and learning different stories from different kinds of people through their perspective, I realized how racism is pretty active all over the country. Well, I can say that I did not pay that much attention to racism, until now, until now that I am more mature and exposed to a lot of things including media. Media plays a big role in this whole racism issue, people often misunderstood the way media explains different stories, so people see it and misinterpret it. Sometimes I think racism became worse because of the way people interpret it, the way they react to certain things.California is diverse but at the same time, a bit segregated. People from all over the world, different ethnicities live here in California but sometimes because of the diversity, where people are so exposed to one another, the tension goes up, and conflicts start because of wanting acceptance, fairness and truth. Racism does not just destroy family but also the whole community since racism, sexism, violence and harassment are all connected to one another. When an African American man responded to a white woman ,“educate your people” when she asked if what are the things she could do to help have equality to all race, I felt so bad because I never thought one would ever say such thing. That statement gave white people feeling of guilt and shame for having what they called “white privilege”. It is good to know that people care about one another, that they try to get along, that they have different stories to share about their life experiences, and it is great how there are people who never stop seeking solutions for this intriguing topic.
Andrea Giang
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
02 February 2011
Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible
I felt that this video was very informative. It allowed me to think about things that I had never considered before. Racism is a subject we read about in history books and discuss in classrooms. Although we talk about it as if it is something in the past, something that has already been done and is over with, it is still present in our everyday lives. It is more noticeable to some people than to others. This video presents racism in a way that allows us to understand that even though it might not be as visible as it was decades ago, it is still with us today. What also stood out to me in the video was the idea of white privilege. It was not something I had given thought to before.
I thought what was interesting about the video was how people with white privilege were sharing what they saw was unjust about the society we live in. For instance, one woman was horrified by how the drama teacher forced her Asian best friend to speak with an accent for her role as an island girl in the production of South Pacific. Another instance was of a woman who was in an organization to fight against racism. She thought that by simply being at the workshops she would be accepted by the colored community. After all, she was there at the meetings while other people were not. Instead, she realized that just by being there did not mean that she was going to be treated any different.
The ideas presented in this video were very profound. It showed the idea of racism and white privilege in a different way, allowing the audience to see that these issues are still very present today as it was present all those decades ago. For instance, when in a store, the clerks are more likely prejudice towards certain groups of people than others. They would categorize people and assume that certain groups were likely to steal than others. One person also brought up the topic of house sitting. If a white person went to check on their friend’s cat, they were not going to be questioned. However, if a black person went to check on the cat, suspicions would be aroused. This supported the idea of white privilege. It was something that people do not notice on a regular basis, that being able to move around without being questioned is considered a privilege.
Even though we, as a society, might be working towards equality, it takes time to make a change and that won’t happen in a short period of time. Racism has been ingrained deep within society for a very long time and it was going to take a lot more than a few decades to get past all that. Many people look back at the history of racism and slavery and think that it is all in the past, that it is a terrible part of history that should be left alone. However, these issues are still very much present today and require work to overcome. It is an issue that will not resolve by itself over time.
Darin Lago
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
2 February 2011
Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible
The video tried to explain that life is "easy" being white. Especially if a nation is predominantly run by white people. This video is also trying to explain what people can do to work together and break the segregation.
The video was interesting as all of it was true. There are people who think there isn't a problem when there actually is, and this video is a good way of broadening this realization.
I have noticed as I grew more mature into a young adult about some of the issues the video touched on. There is still segregation even though California is a diverse state. I had the privilege of having good parents who didn't discriminate against anyone, and from that I didn't care what ethnicity or sex a person was. I believe the heart of racism starts with family and the responsibility of the parents. I also believe there will always be racism, but we can always help decrease it.
Christian Del Rosario
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
02February 2011
Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible
As I was watching the video I noticed white people telling there experience about African Americans, mostly. I have learned how people back then were disrespectful and rude. In their experience they would mention that people they knew would talk or say something bad about about other races. They mentioned, that you benifit the system from being white. I never experience racism, I don't agree or disagree with benifiting the system because your white. The video was dissapointing, repetitive stories about how other races were treated badly other than white. The video was touching, made me open my eyes to rasicm and noticed racism that could be around me.
Sophia De Claro
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
2 February 2011
Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible
Before we watched this film, we were supposed to look out for the term "privileged" and to think about it. This film was mostly about white's telling their stories about their experiences with racism.
This film was very interesting how the Caucasian people do believe they get privileges but they see all the other racism that is going on. During this film there were many different stories of the people's life's while growing up. For example, one Caucasian lady had a cousin who was African American who she loved just like any other family member. She said her friends would feel uncomfortable when her cousins came into the room. Her feelings were hurt, she was not accepted by her friends just because her cousin was a different race.
Watching this film definitely opened my eyes. I really did not think that Caucasian people ever really experienced racism, or was even aware of it. I believe racism is a huge topic that will never go away nor will it end. But we can help people become more aware of it.
Hang Lu
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
2-2-2011
Making Whiteness Visible
Race, is a thing between you and me; race, is a thing between countries and nations. People struggle racialism many years in this country, but still has a lot of race problem here because the formation of the racialism was not a short time.
At the first of the radio, the opinion of some people is: if you are a white person, you can get everything better. Such like before white people has their better schools, better seats of the buses and restaurants…The white people has the inborn superiority feeling even though they are not tell themselves “I am white” all the time. In my opinion, they never feel afraid in the social life except in a group that everyone is not white.
I am not a racist; I have white friends and black friends. But when I go somewhere that I never go before, I always will feel much better when I see Asians. I cannot explain this. I think people like be together with the same race when no one know each other.
In China, people have the same skin color, but there has the “race problem” also. The big cities people don’t like the people who come from the village; the some of the southern people and some of the northern people they don’t like each other. Race is not just about color, it is about every different of two groups of people.
People need learn more, we need “educate everyone”. When we know the different of the human, maybe we won’t think we are different anymore.
Quan Lin
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
1 February 2011
Privilege
Privilege has many meaning depending on its point of view or perspective. In the perspective of race, the white race of people are seen as the dominate species where their privileges out shine those of the other races. In fact they give all the benefits and advantages of being white as oppose to of colored people. The video also takes a twist as it changes to the perspective of white people letting them tell their side of the story, the side of the story that no one knew and the side of discontent that they have. In their perspective on privilege, it is something entirely different from the perspective of what others see them as. There is no solution to this hypothetical problem, as there really isn’t a problem rather just point of views an ideas that all individuals have. Everyone thinks differently of what is privilege and to people of different races it means something totally different. Everyone wants something they don’t have, as cliché as that sounds, it could be related to privilege, one might think that another is privilege due to a specific reason(s) however others can also see them as privilege, but just not in the same way as they do.
There is no solution to racism. No matter how hard our nation tries, it will remain a part of our society. Like an infestation of pests, we can attempt to decrease its numbers, but sooner or later it will return.
Paris Middleton
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
2 February 2011
It’s sometimes heard that racism doesn’t exists in this new generation of people but even me being young I have had experience with it first had to prove that theory to be untrue. The film was very interesting I never really got an inside look at what a white person has thought of racism. I understood that there is a good amount of whites who is not racist at all but they do have or hold a power. I remember reading an article on racism and the man was saying that he feels that black people can be bigot but he doesn’t feel that they hold enough power to be racist which I absolutely agreed with. Racist which is defined as someone who believes in the superiority of one race over another, And bigot is a blinkered, narrow-minded person, usually also very intolerant and unable to see anyone else's point of view. See the difference the two corresponded with each other but are totally different. The video really touch home I felt that I wished all people was educated and thought like them. I don’t see why people really just grow up to hate some because of their skin color even though they have not one clue to who they are in the inside .
Wayne Chen
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
2 February 2011
Response to Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible
In my opinion, whites do have a choice to tell their part of the story and to make a decision on which side to voice their concerns over. I felt a sense of power over watching that video because the whites in that video were not very ignorant at all, whereas if you walk down the street, you usually see a group of unintelligent or naïve Caucasians and just shake your head in dismay because of how rude or cruel their remarks may be. This video gave me a glimpse of how some whites want to make change, and how racism affected their life but gave them a positive outlook on how to improve the world to rid it of racial injustice.
When one of the white men spoke about being a teacher and telling his classroom full of white students that they were all racist towards every single ethnicity, I was surprised. He said he discarded his entire race so that he could be less “racist”. I find that it can’t be really possible to be less racist just by saying that, since you can’t really discard who you are as a person and human being. Who you are is who you are and that is by far the most unchangeable thing you can do to yourself.
This video taught me a lot of things and opened my eyes a little bit more to the white people who seemed so racist and ignorant to change within our racial system. We’ve been a lot better than how we were before, but in the video, one woman said that the racism has been deeply ingrained within our society for around 200 years as of now. I find that true as well, since we always make some racial reference and laugh it off like nothing’s happened. In my opinion, that’s very degrading on so many levels. We need to learn to respect one another for being different from everyone else, whether it be race or gender, etc.
David Kovalevskij
ReplyDeleteProfessor Wanda Sabir
English 5
February 2nd, 2011
Response to the Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible
This is a very unique video that talks about racism. It has only whites speaking about racism and how much privilege whites have in United States. It has definitely brought up a few facts that I have never thought about. Facts like whites most of the time never think about what color they are, while people of color have that on their mind most of the time. It is because in United States to be white is to be a part of the majority. For people of color the thought in the head is most of the time that whites have once in a while when they are about to go into neighborhood that is mostly with people of color. Also another fact in the video was that many whites never care to notice the racism that is going on around them, because they rarely have to deal with it. It is a lot to the parents and how they prepare all of us for the world as we grow up. We are all very different. Many parents as much as they would love to tell us to get out there and live, they don’t want us to get hurt. While we are young we are very immature, we say things and sometimes we can’t make up our own decisions/opinions and we rely on parents. Yet as we grow up we should all try to be better than our parents and I’m sure that’s what our parents want us to be.
Dylan Young
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
2 February 2011
Making Whiteness Visible Response:
I found the video to be pretty interesting as it dug deeper into the breakdown of racial advantages and dis advantages than what we are taught in school. I was unaware that racism is still so alive in our culture and plays such a big part in our social system. I almost forgot how recent segregation is in our nation but hearing the stories of racism during the times of WWII really made it a reality. The story of the black man who slowed down while driving through a down just because of his skin color backed up the fact that we are still living in a racist society today. I found it interesting that white people could go to church in the morning and a lynching in the evening. it really makes me think about how those who lived that lifestyle thought, and how they felt about what they were doing.
I cant understand how a large portion of our nation can live in denial of something so obvious in the way we live our everyday lives. It was made obvious in the video that although racism is still relevant in our country people hide from the topic. I think before we can truly move on from it and leave racism behind we must face it as a nation and dig deep into it as a topic because it is deep into the roots of how our nation is run. The video brought up the point that even though slavery is no longer legal it is still happening and immigrants are still the ones who support the backbone of this country. I took more than a understanding of white privilege from the video but a better understanding of how race plays into the way our nation works and what it is built on.
Henry Wu
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
2 February 2011
Response to the Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible
After watching the film, Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible, I felt that racism is still a bigger problem than I previously thought. I think the film did a good job interviewing different people and bringing their stories to life. One particular story that touched me is the story about the man that had to be careful about driving through the city that has KKK members. In today's society, I couldn't believe that such a bigoted and ignorant group can still exist. For me, I learned about the KKK in junior high and all the stories of their crimes seem to be in the mid 1900s. Even the pictures of them in their ridiculous pointed hats were all in black and white. In the 21st century, in a world that is increasingly becoming a huge melting pot, it amazes me that people can still judge others based on the color of their skin. It appears that the culture of racism is too deeply rooted in the south, and it will take many more years before it can be eradicated.
What I didn't like about the film is that it seemed to focus only on the white person's perspective of racism. Sure, they were affected by it in one way or another, but the film did not provide the input of blacks, Asians, and other minorities. The fact is that they are white and in white America, it's difficult for racism to cut deep to white people. I believe the filmmakers should interview the black community and let them give their own stories. I also believe the film should interview people of different colors, like Chinese or Arabic. Different people are subject to different types of stereotypes, all of which is hurtful. It will be interesting to study how Middle Eastern men are treated after the events of 9/11. I'm sure many of them have their own interesting stories.
ocean beverly
ReplyDeleteenglsih 5
wanda sabir
The initial idea of the movie was surprising to me. White people addressing racism? The only time racist tends to be a problem is when Minorities complain about it. But I opened my mind and began to watch the movie, and my opinion formed. White people have privileges that another people are not afforded simply because of race and that is racism, and until we has a people can grasp that concept racism while never go away. It is befalling as well as appealing that white people are so oblivious of the struggles of Minorities.
I appreciated the fact that there were many white characters that were so passionate and concern of the state of others and did acknowledge the wrongs that were committed, but I honestly believe there is no where for them to comprehend that displacement and the daily abuse other minorities especially African Americans experience. The one man whose mother married a black man while in the Insane Asylum was some what of a product of his environment, so I can believe that he had some grasp of the pain and heartache, but at the end of the day he was still white. He said himself he could just notice the difference in how people looked at them differently when he step father was around and when he wasn’t.
The also addressed the power of silence. One character describes feeling conflict of wanting acceptance as well as truth when acceptanting the love she had for her black cousin. Even though she loved them she wanted to fit in so she did not defend that honor and was silent. Silence is worst that agreeing. The be silent is to do nothing and have no concern for that issue at hand. The topic of racism in any aspect it is difficult not to affend anyone but it almost felt a little to empathetic in this movie. They seemed sorry for the racism that existed against the minorities but also for themselves.Like they were being misunderstood. The rubbed me the wronf one. I agree that one of the best thing Whites can do to help that issue of racism is educated other White people and make them more aware bcause that would have a greater impact on the world as a whole.
Veronica Flores
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
3 February 2011
“Mirrors Of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible”
This movie interview different Caucasian individuals who either grew up in or around racism. Some of them had the lifestyle of what could be considered “privileged” to others, to them they thought were normal. Privileged: meaning having servants. Some of these individuals’ understanding and exposure to people of color, when they were younger, had been minimal. The concept of race had not been fully understood until later on in some of these individuals’ adulthood. One definition that really stuck out to me was the definition of race, the individual said, “racism is an obvious, overt manifestation of bigotry.” That is exactly what it is.
The unfortunate thing is some of these individuals have carried racism, unknowingly, with them on through their lives, only later surfacing as a defense mechanism.
A term mentioned often is that to be white is to be privileged. Being “white” is just a matter of skin color, one’s ancestry, one’s region does not factor in. A sad realization to white America is that they benefit from a system just based on the color of their skin.
Ricarda Sawatzki
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
3 February 2011
The movie “Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible”, documents the experiences white people have with racism and how their life benefits from it. For me it was an interesting choice of the producer to choose white people in this movie. It seems almost logical that it is easier for people of color to point out how they feel discriminated in life. Therefore, I think it was a good choice to choose white people to reflect on themselves or their environment. The people in the movie discuss their stories. One woman talks about her family situation. She comes from a white family but her family adopted two African American boys that are her cousins. Because of the race difference she experiences refusal from friends and her environment. The woman was confused by the refusal because she grew up with her African American cousins who were part of her family.
For me it is still a phenomenon that such a “high developed” country like the United States still struggles with the issue of race and cannot overcome something as simple as biological trait. I understand the history this country has and the frustration that goes along with it. However, the question for me still is: what does this racism still trigger? The first time I came to the United Sates I did not notice any kind of racism since in my country racism not as obvious. But after spending some time here I started to see differences between race privileges.
Even though it seems hard to deal with the issue of racism and to admit that white people are still privilege d in our 21st century. I think that the movie made a good point in portraying how white people have it easier and how the system and the mindset of the society are responsible for these circumstances. However, society is progressing in terms of working about the race issue. An important milestone seemed to be Obama’s election in 2008. What had been unthinkable for a long time came true and gave the racism debate confidence.
Another positive development I notice are the multiracial preschools in the Bay Area. For me it is astonishing how much adults can learn from their own children. Children grow up colorblind. They do not see the skin color of another child. But what children do know is that the other child is nice and that he or she likes to play with him or her. So children are able to look beyond our appearances. Why can’t we do it?
At the end of the movie the question got raised what can white people do to improve the situation about the race debate. And I agree with the idea in the movie that white people have to get educated about the privileges they enjoy and how people of color are still oppressed. I think racism should not be portrayed as a history lesson we have to make it a current issue that affects everyone. We need to respect each other even though it might take a lot of courage to admit that racism does not just exist in our history books.
Mercedes Rawlyk
ReplyDeleteSabir
English 5
02 Febuary 2011
Making Whiteness Visible:
This movie to me was no surprise in the actions that were spoken upon. I have seen and heard so many different things of racism. Rasicsm has been and still is in some places, a big factor all around the world. Racism is wrong and I feel very strongly againse it. In the movie I heard many opinions and facts from only whites, I feel the movie would have been better to also hear opionions and facts of other races. The thing that really stuck out to me was the story of the two boys who had a half brother who was not white. To me in my eyes, family is the most important thing on this earth. I feel without family you have nothing. For their family to be seperated and basically destroyed due to race is horrible. I also feel if the real dad wanted to adopt the half brother becuase he adored him then he should have no matter what the girlfriend thought. Everyone is the same inside and out, so why are people judged and treated differenly because the skin holds a different color. I feel that even though this movie might be from a long time ago, racism still occurs through out the country. In the movie, when the lady spoke of having cousins who were not white, and how she felt the conflict and was looked upon differently because she had non-white family members. That is wrong and no one should ever be ashamed of their family. I hope that one day racism and sexism would end all over the world. Poeple sometimes dont even acknowledge they are racist because of how they were raised. It is sad becuase when your parents are racist or sexist the children tend to feel the same way without even knowing otherwise. This movie is just another way of seeing what truly goes on or went on towards differnt races. Ultimatley, racism is wrong and this movie was interesting.
Sarah Speck
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
3 February 2011
Response to the Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible
The perspectives offered in this video were near interesting to set the context of the class material. It felt like very emotionally charged memories, as is fitting for such a deeply difficult issue. Racism is not dead; I have known this since I was in junior high. I have personal opinions one the matter of socially fighting against the disgrace. But, I found the notion of researching the history to slavery and intolerance a wonderful opportunity to enhance my perspective and perhaps become enlightened to the power of social groups working toward something.
Melvin Pandey
ReplyDelete2/2/2011
Prof.Sabir
English 5
I was so surprised to see that racism is still so prevalent even in this day and age. While I am not surprised that being white makes life “more easy” as told by the video, I was surprised that being black makes it that much more “difficult” to live in the USA. The video was in ways an eye opener to a reality that most of us do not want to see or just do not even knows exist. However I also felt that video was bit biased, in that it made it look like white people were at fault for everything, even the ones that had/have nothing to do with any racist issue. Also it makes it seems like all white people should also feel bad about themselves, and almost as if they should be ashamed of themselves even if they had nothing to do with the racism issue. Overall I thought it was a good video, and having people of all different age group also was nice, since you could see different perspective on the same issue. It might also have been better to have some African- American individuals in the video and to hear their opinions.
Brian Santos
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
February 3, 2011
The video was really insightful about racism from a white person’s point of view. Too often, the topic of racism is overlooked. I have had many conversations about racism with people from different cultures and races. From my own experiences I realized that it could sometimes, not always, become difficult to talk about racism with white Americans. I usually get the same responses, “I am not a racist, what do you want me to do about it?”, “why are you so negative, it’s not racist anymore?” and the comical “you’re a racist”. The facts remain though that racism is still prevalent in the United States and this video illustrates that fact. I hope this video helps out people like the ones I have had those difficult conversations with. I do not believe that all white people are racist. Not every white person I have encountered called me a racist name. But every racial slur ever directed towards me, or others like me, was usually a white person. I do believe that there are people out there that benefit from racism. And the fact remains that whites in this country benefit from it almost entirely. Let us not forget this country’s history. At one point in time it was socially and legally accepted for a white person to be racist in this country. That was not more than 50 years ago. To believe that a centuries old institution like racism could be completely abolished with no residual side effects is absurd. I do believe that we are headed in a more positive direction. I just think that it is a slow and gradual process. People must be open to talk about the problems affecting our society, no matter how disturbing, in order to find a solution for them. The topic of racism cannot be easily swept under the rug. In order to reach our full potential as a species we must put aside our differences and help each other out.
Jeff Norkunas
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
Feb 6, 2011
When viewing the video “Mirrors of privilege”, the focus of the video was on the problem of race and privilege from a white perspective. The underlying factors of a culture built on inclusiveness, yet if we look around the world this seems to be the case everywhere. Why is it such a focus in the U.S., probably due to the fact that we claim to be the one place on earth that offers a melting pot of cultures? If we could rise to that belief maybe the rest of the world could follow in our footsteps.
Some of the points that stood out to me in the video came with the stories of the young woman who kisses Bessie before leaving and her grandmother curses at her for her action, and yet if we had looked deeper into the dynamics of that household we might have found out that the young girl was probably much closer to Bessie than her grandmother. Children seem to have a much better perspective on what is fundamentally right and wrong , who to fear and not to, but the older people in their lives tend to teach the hate to them, and I believe it happens from all sides. There is nothing wrong with being aware of a system of bias, yet we cannot let it lead to guilt from one side and hate from another. Through education there seems to be a way to lessen the effects of the past. By exploring other cultures in classroom settings we can start to form connections that can lead to deep friendships. It is always hard to let go the habits that we are taught about our culture growing up. Hitting children to punish them is a horrible way to discipline from the perspective of my culture yet for others it is a daily occurrence, which’s right or wrong? We can only see the behaviors manifest down the road of generations. One of the first things to learn is to give up judgments of others until you can understand their perspective. Be yourself that is all you can be and recognize your own shortcomings, when you can openly talk about them we can start to see similarities in our faults that transcend cultural differences, allowing us to try to change as a whole people of the world.
In watching the video I found that the real culprit in society today is in the privileged class of any race. From the rich kids who get away with rape, to the gang bosses in the inner cities who walk around their neighborhoods with impunity. Each holds privilege over others and it will always be that way until people stop feeding the monsters in hopes of becoming an overlord themselves. Privilege leads to a lessoning of moral values for most. When all sides learn to be open and trusting to others we can start to remove the hate.
Madeleine Hess
ReplyDeleteProfessor Sabir
English 5
2/8/2011
As a white person watching this film, there were a couple moments that made me think "Oh, other white people think these things too?" One topic which made me react this way was the concept of "white guilt." This is not to say that I feel that white people owe other races for our ancestor's past endevours, etc. (My ancestors immigrated here from Italy.) However, in a few situations, there is a fear that I'll be seen as racist for doing or saying something that I would naturally do or say. I say this because I've been called a racist for not resisting to argue with a bus-driver when she was nearly screaming at me for no reason, not giving someone a cigarette; petty instances that already have tension, and all the sudden I'm a racist. It makes me think to myself "Why don't you take that anger up with someone who's actually racist and not, yourself, be so ignorant?"
Another thing that rang true to me in the film is that generally in America, the minority experience will not be seen by white people. White people will never be able to fully understand the difference in experience, priveledge, etc, which I think might be some kind of source of racial tension; we don't know the extent of it.
An interesting point brought up in the movie was that, confronted with race, white people will mentally distance themselves from the "white group" who is discriminating. I can say I do that because I don't consider myself a racist, although I see differences in cultures that correlate with races a lot of the time... It's just another beautiful thing about this world. The problem is, how do white people, the most influencial race in our society, turn the system around?
One of my close friends was raised into being racist against black people, which was easy for him, seeing as he lived in a large, prodominantly white suburb area in the East Bay. I never agreed with his views. One day we had a huge discussion about his racism, part of which had to do with the posibility of him having to put up with sharing a space (work, class, etc.) with a black person. I told him my opinion: that it would be unfair to shut someone off from your life because of their skin color, or even background, when there is always potential for an awsome new connection. I told him to start by maybe pretending that they're not black.
The next day, he had an interview. The interviewer was a large black woman. He did as I told him and it turned out to be a great experience for him. He told me I was right, that by the end of the interview he had made a positive connection with his interviewer.
I think more people need to build these types of experiences. So many racist people live in areas that are mostly their own race and miss out freedom from a very closed and sheltered mindset and the rewarding process of the change in itself.