posted by Sam and Michelle
Post your 450 word (minimum) comment and 100 word (minimum) response to a classmate. You should be responding to the lecture about Stages of Racial Identity – People of Color: Stages 1-4. You can write anything you want about whatever you hear in the lecture.
6/23/10 Lesson 10
It is amazing to me to compare how white people realize their stance in society is so different than that of color people. I really like the analogy of the fish and the two-legged amphibians to describe how white people and color people interact in their worlds. The white people are always involved with the their upper hand world while having no experience of living in a white world as a minority. The people of color have to adjust their lives to fit in the white stream America while also accomplishing the task of living in their own world of their own race and it’s entails. Each minority group has to deal with making sacrifices to live in main stream white America to get a chance to strive in. They have to juggle dealing with both societies, which can be stressful. The video Sam showed us of the black girls who talk about how they or their families adjust to fit in the white society really connects with this fish and frog analogy. The main point after seeing this clip was, who is the group that is forcing the black people to try and be whiter to fit in? Or are all white people sub consciously forcing white people to be like them.
Another thing I thought interesting was when on the racial identity steps, when white people and color people split their ways on their respective paths for racial identity. The immersion for color people is obviously very different than the revisioning stage of white people. It is safe to say that this split is caused by the fact that white people are in control of everything that the people of color encounter. While most people of color realize that there is now a difference between them and the white people, I found it interesting that a particular group of color will become uninterested in a group of another group of color. I think if we want peace between whites and colors, we need to take that extra step and understand other people of color asap. It might come in a later stage, but I think we as a society will be on a faster track if we all took the time to realize the other “thems” in this situation.
The last thing that I found very interesting in this class is how our white run society has sub consciously made black people the bad group. I am of course referring to the white and black doll experiment performed on a group of black six and seven year olds. This is very shocking to see that in the pre-awakening stage of racial identity, the white mainstream has already manipulated a lot of the black population that they are the bad kind. This is most likely on if the big sources for hatred of color people, when they finally come out of the first stages of racial identity, they see how the white population as slowly continued to take over.
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soitgoes00 Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 1:04 am
June 23, 2010
I think your question in relation to the video of the black girls is very interesting. It seems as if their parents are urging them to conform to white culture. But why? If this is the case, then I really feel sorry for these girls and others like them. Not only do the parents then not accept their culture, they do not accept their own children if the children decided to embrace their culture. I think embracing one’s culture is extremely necessary for personal growth and is necessary to understand other cultures. I definitely agree with your statement that we need to realize the other “thems.” Also, I too thought interesting that one group of color will be disinterested in another group of color in the immersion stage. I know that as a white person, other white people just group together people of color and think that minorities stick together – interesting that this may not be the case. Last, I thought seeing the black dolls as “bad” was shocking and I was a little embarrassed that white culture is teaching black children to consider themselves bad at such a young age. It is truly a disheartening thought.
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brumgmt Reply:
June 23rd, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Your assessment is interesting especially when it makes me thing how people's perceptions of race would be different if more white people actually had to live as a minority for a certain amount of time such as a month or so. To be subjected to many of the same things that minorities face on a daily basis in this country would be a rude awakening for many white people I'm sure. It could be something such as being asked for identification while in a bank or a store when other people around you are never asked for their identification or being stopped by the cops while driving for no obvious reason other than the color of your skin. As a minority, I have been used to these things for years, and they don't surprise me. What does surprise me, however, is that people are naive to the fact that these things continue to go on on a daily basis within this country.
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6/23/10 part 1
The “Girl Like Me” video was very powerful as well as saddening. It really was revealing when it comes to exposing the intensely embedded white supremacist values in our society. It really is hard to believe that three fourths of the black children would rather play with a white doll, believing the black doll to be bad and the white doll to be the good one. It also is shocking that these children are so young and its if they have been tainted by these negative thoughts and emotions. I guess that’s why it is so easy, they are very impressionable at this age and naturally this is the age where they subconsciously learn these feelings of self-hatred. The white- supremacists of past decades would be happy right now if they watched these videos, this is a sickening thought. How can anyone not be awakened to the obvious racial disparities and inherent unfairness in our society, I our country, after watching this short video?
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6/23/10 part 2
Although the screaming white man as I’ll call him did seem rather unsettled and most likely way off base, I can understand one of the points he was trying to make. He mentioned the use of pointing out racism as a tool used by people who want social change, in this case Al Sharpton. I believe Sharpton like any human being has a set of goals in mind and he is using what he understands as a very powerful tool, the use of calling people racist or showing examples of racism. It’s obvious in our currently very politically correct society that no one wants to be called a racist and when it happens, many people will reverse something they did or issue an apology, giving power to whoever pointed out the racism. The screaming white man was making a point that he felt Al Sharpton only points out racism when it benefits his cause, when it’s white on black. I do also feel that screaming white man was being off base as there is no way he could have know what that man was thinking when he attacked the woman.
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One of the first things that came out to me was at the very beginning of the lesson. The idea that even at the age of four, people of color have to experience being thrown out of the pre-awakening stage. It really made me think, since i have never even thought about it before. I tried to think back to when i was in pre-school and what i thought when i saw someone of color. I am guessing i did not give it much thought since i am now having this realization that pre-schoolers are sitting there confused on why exactly that girl called her dirty because of the color of her skin and realizing that there was a difference. That just boggles my mind. But i believe it. Especially now a days i feel like little kids are in settings where they are in classrooms of many races so they have to notice. They probably over hear their parents and elders and have to make some sort of guess that they are different. I wonder at that age how it feels? I am white, so I feel as if my experience was much more different than my peers of color. If anyone has any stories that they can remember at that age and experiencing the realization of differences I would love to hear them. As I said, I never gave it any thought and now that I think about it I want to hear more! I wonder how that little black girl grew up and how that comment changed her life. She may forget the story, maybe, but that interaction will forever change her. It will affect her life in various ways. One being her own attitudes and beliefs. It is a shame that at the young age she had to learn to tolerate being teased for it. Little kids can be pretty careless and thoughtless at that age, as they really do not know any better. My friend is white and she has a 2 year old son, Kai, who is half black. The other weekend she was down the shore with her boyfriend’s family and of course she had Kai. Now the boyfriend is white and not the real father of Kai, but he has taken on the role and is wonderful with him. He loves Kai very much and I am thankful she found a good guy that accept her and her son. There are many people who had things to say about her and the fact that she has a son that is half black, but she is strong and she will teach her son that. Anyway back to the shore story, well her boyfriend’s 7 year old niece took notice of his darker skin tone and his curlier hair and put it together that he was black. She then proceeded to question my friend on why she would want a black son and that she didn’t want them to come to dinner because she didn’t like black people. That her friends would make fun of her. This little 7 year old actually made my friend cry and she is 23. Kai had no idea what was going on, only that his mommy was upset and he was getting negative reactions. He maybe young but he had to of sensed it. Later the little girl got in trouble by her parents, but of course that is not going to help. It was not going to change how my friend felt and the worries it put in her head about when he gets older and what he is going to think. I know she will tell her son at the right age about his real father, but her fears will not be able to stop the experiences he may have in the future.
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I’ve never really thought about what it would be like to have darker skin, to be black or brown. When you gave your example of the preschooler whose friend said she was dirty it reminded me of a discussion I had in one of my classes about the beginning or introduction of racism into one’s life. I think this is a great example of how racism isn’t likely to be inherent, one isn’t born racist. The little girl’s friend had no idea of what racism is, or that what she was saying would be considered inappropriate. Her words would not seem inappropriate until she was told that what she was saying was inappropriate. Racism is taught, not necessarily by parents but by peers, teachers, and daily interactions.
Is the popularity in school that you discussed based solely within racial groups? By that I mean are they considering the popularity of blacks who are smarter within their own racial group? So if we are saying that the higher the grades a black or Hispanic individual gets, the less popular they become within their own racial group, isn’t that in itself racism? To be considered “more white” than your peers shouldn’t be the ultimatum of popularity within a group. If any white group were to be known to do that we would automatically be considered racist, right?
Your example of a black individual driving through an area known to be populated with proponents of the KKK and being aware of the danger of the area can just as easily be turned around and used for whites driving through areas of some inner cities. There are areas within the U.S such as Detroit, St. Louis, parts of Philadelphia that as a white female I have most certainly been warned to lock my doors, to not stop and drive right through. So the argument goes both ways. Yes, there are some areas such as in the south where the KKK or proponents of white supremacy are prominent, but there are the same types of areas in the rest of the U.S. where being a white person driving through is just as dangerous. Racism is prevalent across the U.S., across the world as a whole against all races. With the example of Hampton University’s 1st non-black Homecoming Queen is a prime example of how racism goes both way. There always seem to be the focus on white racism against other races, especially those who are black. I can understand how the black girls may have been upset that a white chick has possibly “taken” what they consider to be theirs, but at the same point it’s important to recognize the racial hypocrisy that is occurring.
We always focus on the history, and I’m not saying history isn’t important because it has shaped what our country is today and who all of us are, but there comes a point when the history can’t be the main focus on what is happening today. We instead need to focus on today itself and how to progress from where we currently on with our racial issues.
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pennstategirl5 Reply:
June 24th, 2010 at 1:39 am
June 23rd, 2010 9:39 PM
I think you bring up a very interesting point about how racism in taught even if it is just by letting the girl know that what she said wasn’t appropriate. If we let our children grow up saying that black people are “dirty” without correcting them and then the black child teaches the white child that he or she really is not dirty, that is the color of his or her skin, I wonder how our attitudes would be changed. If instead of correcting our children for not being “politically correct” or “appropriate” we would let them handle these confrontations by themselves?
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Due 6/23/10
In the last few years, I begin reflecting on the doll experiment of Dr. Kenneth and Mamie Clark. The thought of White Supremacy (or any supremacy) in the minds of any children at such a young age makes me cringe. It has been defined and coined “White Supremacy” when other races want to emulate Whites, what is it called when Whites want to emulate other races? I know I have mentioned this in a couple of my other blogs and this lesson reversely illustrated my sentiments. What is it called when Whites emulate other races? There is no such thing. So just like the Whites asked the Blacks what should they call them and how should they act, now is the time to take away the supremacist titles and continue with diversity. I lived in a sterile environment (pre awaking stage) and my first incident of awakening emerged in 9th grade, I can’t explain it but I never thought about it again. I didn’t enter full awakening until we moved in a in a neighborhood with only seven black families and police officer burnt a cross on a biracial couple’s lawn and my brother was severely stabbed by a male after he tried to stab my mother because he and his friends said it was “Nigger Night!” I was still optimistic and looked at it as an isolated incident. It was not until my father who was a high-ranking Prison Official and he and didn’t come outside until after the incident was over because he was sleeping; was arrested. Of course, my father was cleared, but it would have never happened if the system weren’t racist. That is when my (White) grandmother told me about the world of racism and I only believed her when I saw the male that was found guilty of attempted murder and ETHNIC intimidation walk up to me in full police uniform and say, “This is my first day and “Sarg” said I am riding with you!” How did he become a cop with a record? He was White…I never mentioned it an every day we fought together and sometimes I fought for him, because he has to live with that. There are so many like incidents and times when Whites who aren’t racist get the back end of the stick for it and it is wrong, wrong, wrong!!! I am telling this story, because there are Blacks who don’t have a real story for why they go left and take on anti-white attitudes. They feed off hearsay like the rappers in the lecture and the retard trying to find a cure to eliminate a race of people. To me the real problem in America is the fact that everyone wants to be on top until they find out claiming minority (color, sex, religion, sexuality) status will catapult them ahead. Get rid of all these programs, keep the laws, and get a diverse group of people to make sure they are enforced. I guarantee that will flatten the “Mountain”, take the shackles and crowns off and everybody will be wearing uniforms that say “Property of Diversity”
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June 23, 2010
These lectures were very interesting from the start. I really loved the analogy of the two legged amphibians. I find it interesting how us white people are immersed in our own world while people of color have to balance their own world AND the white world. It seems almost unfair if you think about it, as it is another factor that colored people have to deal with in addition to being the minority in this country. I felt sad when Dr. Richards spoke about how early people of color are forced to look at their race. The story about the 4 year old girl being called dirty was upsetting to me. Why are colored people forced to look at the color of their skin while white people sit back, not realizing something this important until later in life?
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June 23, 2010
Something I found very interesting was the talk about popularity among white, black, and Hispanic students. White students with higher grades are seen as more popular, whereas black and Hispanic students with higher grades are seen as less popular. Why is this? Why do we automatically associate higher grades with white students? Do children/adolescents really believe that those high achieving black and Hispanic students are trying to be like white students by earning higher grades? It seems as if students are punishing their black and Hispanic peers for achieving high grades, and this may be detrimental to the advancement of black and Hispanic students; they are almost being encouraged to fail so they “fit in” with everyone else in their minority group.
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June 23, 2010
In the “A Girl Like Me” video, I was not surprised that black children preferred white dolls. Growing up, I do not really recall seeing a lot of black dolls on the shelves of toy stores. Perhaps these children just became habituated to playing with white dolls. However, what did shock me were the children’s responses when asked which doll was bad or which doll was the nicer of the two. Do the black children really agree that black dolls are bad and white dolls are good and nice? Who taught them this? The black girl who decided to keep her natural hair I thought was very brave. I was sad for her when she said that her mother told her she looked too African and that she should stop wearing her hair naturally. Why discourage someone from being who they really are?
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June 23, 2010
I thought the discussion on the Penn State population was interesting. Dr. Richards certainly brought up some interesting points. As a white person who went to high school as the minority, I was surprised and somewhat eased to see so many other white students at Penn State. When the student asked the question about why there is only one minority student on each floor of east halls, I actually thought back to when I lived in the dorms, and could think of one colored person on our floor. Dr. Richards’s response to this was very interesting – that Penn State wants to mix the students up but also wants to give minorities the comfort of their own people. When was the last time we ever considered the comfort of a white person? Do we even need to? Why would colored people want to put themselves in an environment that is predominantly white? Do they take this into consideration when applying to schools? What does that say about our schools?
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June 23, 2010
The “circling of the wagons” analogy was also very helpful. I thought it interesting how this can be positive or negative. On one end, colored people want to be more involved in their own cultures, which I think is “cool,” but in a different respect these people may also dismiss other races and people of their own kind, which can slow down progress in race relations. The videos about isolation and Asian and Black Supremacy were totally shocking. I listened to what these individuals were saying and could not understand their point at all. Was it because I am white or just because they are so paranoid that they just do not make sense?
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June 23, 2010
Last, I thought the mugging video and Chris Rock video were attention-grabbing. Though I thought the white man in the mugging video was a little over-the-top, I must say I agreed with him when he said that we should call out all racism. I believe it is better to address issues head-on then shove them to the side or cover them up just for good politics. Furthermore, I like how the black man said that it did not matter what race the attacker was, what he did was wrong. I like how the black man stayed focused on the act that took place instead of jumping right to race. Is this political correctness on his part? Did I like his response more because it was politically correct? I am really not sure. I thought the Chris Rock video was hysterical, but there was a hint of sadness and truth in it. When he said that a white person would not trade places with him and he was rich, I thought this was probably true. At the same time I thought to myself, “Who cares what color the man’s skin is – he’s rich!” Would I trade places with Chris Rock. There is a good chance I would. I am curious to see what others would do.
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The girl like me video brought back so many memories. And the many issues of race and “acting white or black”. My uncle on my father’s side had several different sets of families. He had children that were all black, he had children that were mixed white/black and he had children mixed black/Italian. We never really knew the black children until later in life when we teenagers, I spent a lot of time with the set that was white/black. Where these girls till today were raised to be black they did everything black and always acted black. Now the children that were black/Italian we didn’t spend to much time with until we were teenagers but they were raised to be white or Italian. We started spending time with them when they moved to our city and it was funny how white they acted but with trying so hard to be black.
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Also they were raised to look in on people of color, they always acted like they were better then us. But what was really funny was the one girl was born with kinky short black people hair! Her mother was always scared to put a relaxer in it and was to scared to ask one of my aunts to do anything with it. Out of pride the mother brought books to learn how to glue and sew in weave and had to do her hair weekly so that she would have white people texture of hair. At that time in my life and this had to be late 70’s early 80’s I never heard of weave, glue or sewing in the tracks and surely never seen an Italian woman reading a book to learn how to do it. My cousin never even dated a boy of color until she was 16yrs old and all hell broke loose her mother had a fit tried to keep them apart and everything and when she couldn’t she blamed us remind you the “us” is myself and her two black/white sisters.
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And when everything else failed she had a baby so that her and the boy could be together. But her mother sewed and glued her hair till she was near 20 yrs old. Now at the present time she is married to a different man of color with 4 sons, they own a daycare and are pretty well off but she still gets her hair done sewed in weekly but now acts black but still looks down at us. her second sister is enriched by both races and is proud to be black and Italian, the baby sister on the other hand still only favors the Italian side but tries so hard to be black.
Blog comment lesson 10 6/23/2010
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6- 23-2010
This lecture was the most interesting to me because it related to me more than the other lectures. In the lecture, one of the issues that stood out to me was how some Asians identify themselves as white because they lived in a world of white suburbs, had white friends, etc. I have definitely experienced this within some of my high school friends because no matter what they think, people will always see them as Asian and judge them on that. The Asian Invasion video was pretty hilarious because some of the things he said I believe were true. A lot of my friends and family had gotten into difficult schools for free and sometimes as an Asian I do feel under represented. I do feel that Asians are the least popular race even though Asians is the highest per capita group.
What also stood out to me was the relationship between race and grades. For white students, the higher your grades, the more popular you are. For black and Hispanic students, the higher your grades, the less popular you are. This statistic really caught me off guard. I would think it would be universal, that the higher your grades are, the less popular you are. I had no idea that it was different for each race. I don’t think that higher grades means getting closer to white culture and I think that it is ridiculous that subconsciously most people want to become white.
The video was also pretty eye- opening too. I never realized how much white culture affects black people too. It is crazy that black people think they're prettier if they have lighter skin, a perm, or nice straight hair. I did not think that lighter for a black person is a form of beauty because there are many other forms. I have many pretty darker friends who have a very confident attitude and I never realized how white culture could affect them too. The study on the dolls also shocked me because I never realized how young kids experience race and identity. All the young kids were dark skinned and yet 15 out of 21 kids would rather play with the white doll rather than the black doll. I think that it is pretty sad that these young kids associate the black doll as being bad and the white doll as being white just because of the color of the doll.
Another big issue that stood out to me is how people who hang out with the people with the same ideas become paranoid. The article that was posted on the New York Times by Kenneth Eng, the Asian Supremacist, and the video on white supremacy, and the extermination of white people is absurd. These people are crazy! I definitely think people are too extreme when it comes to issues like this but then again there are others who are oblivious to the issues as well.
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June 23rd 9:30 PM
After hearing this weeks lecture I was completely taken back by some of the topics that were brought up. I should have written down everything throughout both lectures that struck me, because there were so many, but I’ll just start where I remember. As Sam mentioned all of the cities and their population of different races and how depending on where you are coming from I thought back to last school year. In my class last year we were “forced” to do a race relations session for a grade. I went into it expecting it to be uncomfortable but I’m not someone who really shy’s away from speaking my mind so I wasn’t expecting it to be that bad. When I got there I was pleasantly surprised. We were in a small room with about eight of us and we just started talking about random things that had to do with race. One of the questions that was given to us was if we thought, compared to where we came from, if Penn State University was diverse. To me Penn State is a lot more diverse than where I am from. Another person in my group was from Pittsburgh, which is where I am from, and I was expecting him to say something similar. He went on to tell me that it wasn’t at all diverse to where he was from. I was really confused and asked him where he lived in Pittsburgh and he told me he went to a city school. I live in a suburb about 10 minutes away from the city. Where I live it is mostly white, this made me really take a step back and realize that even if we live ten minutes away from one another we are living totally different lives and having totally different experiences. That’s really crazy to think about. Another idea I found interesting during this lecture was when the person in the classroom asked the question about how you can tell the difference about a black person being homophobic versus a black person being homophobic because of his culture. I find that ridiculous that a country could actually want to stone someone for being gay, but if you grow up in that type of environment you can’t really help but be shaped to think anything but that gays aren’t “right”…this is also outrageous that a country’s beliefs can be that personal. I never really noticed it until Sam brought it up but it does seem like there are a lot of black people who have a hard(er) time accepting gay people than other races. I find this interesting because of what he was saying in lecture about how they can want everyone to be accepting of them but then they go and turn around and discriminate towards a minority.
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This lesson was interesting because I got to learn about a race I am unfamiliar with. I found it very interesting yet so true when Mr. Richards said, “Different people have different experiences” because everyone (even if you’re the same color) have different experiences depending on your environment. The “color” pre-awakening stage was not surprising to me when the Asians would think of themselves as white because there skin is light and growing up I can totally see how an Asian would think they were white without learning about it first.
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Mr. Richards made a very good point when talking about adoption. I agree that adoption is best when they are not the same race because it makes the person well rounded when they have the experience of understanding their differences compared to their parents and family members. When talked about among the family members and adopted child, adoption is not as bad because you know your differences and the affect is not as bad as if you didn’t. I thought it was sad when Mr. Richards told the story about the little girl in pre-school coming home crying about another little girl who was white telling her she was dirty because her skin was so dark and that’s what happens to the white girl when she gets dirty. Although its not racism it’s still so crazy that at such a young age the black girl had to look at herself in the mirror and question herself as to why she is so dark.
It’s so sad that black people want to be lighter and would do anything to get light. It was heartbreaking when the girls on the video were talking about how they used skin bleaching and were putting it on as young as 6 years old; that blew my mind. I never thought that black people felt that way and it honestly upset me. It was sad with the girls and the dolls and how their girl was pointing to the “nice” doll only because she was white it’s like the world at that time brainwashed everyone into thinking that white people are “gods.” That to me is insane and completely uncalled for on so many different levels. I am so happy that I did not have to grow up during the times of that little girl because although people think race is an issue nowadays nothing compares to the times that little girl experienced.
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The commercial of the white man talking in so many different ethnic voices trying to rent out a house was very surprising. I did not think that race was still so common today (I guess because I don’t consider myself a racist) but clearly it stills exist. I would never in my life turn down someone just because they were not the same as me. That to me was completely ridiculous and embarrassing. I am embarrassing that someone from my own race would treat others with such discrimination just because there skin color is different.
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Honestly I love this class and usual agree with Dr. Richards comments and topics. However I do not think that black people should feel guilty about the genocide of Native Americans. Keep in mind that black people did not create that problem nor did they really contribute to the genocide of Native Americans. Which means Blacks can not feel guilty about something they had no control over. To be honest I was a little offended and disturbed. Dr. Richards usual is completely honest and is very much doing a great job, however this time I feel he went to far. Blacks people as a whole were shipped to the Caribbean as well as America for the purpose of free labor or cheap labor. The Native Americans were being killed by the hand or disease of the new comers that came to American and wanted to seek political freedom. In that process they gave the natives deiseses and sickness that they have never seen before. Black came to what is not the US by way of Whites, and some Native Americans were shipped right along side them. They were in bondage right along with the Native Americans. Honestly maybe I feel this way because I am black and I think that society has a very bad opinion of us as a people. Also another spin on it is that young African Americans are going to believe that they should feel guilty about something their ancestors did not take part in. Honestly I believe blacks were to busy taking care of themselves and trying to survive their own hardship. Whites are taught to view everyone as equal, but how far does that go when the same parents that told them that hold up picket signs because Blacks are being bused into the community. It makes me wonder how we are supposed to move forward as a society when mind set like that still exist. To be honest parents teach their children racism or a new form of racism and when they confronted they say they teach their children to treat everyone fair. However, children usually follow what there parents usual say and think. I don’t think one White person should feel guilty about who and what but as a whole I do feel that they should try to change or understand what there ancestors did before them. It is a very complicated situation and honestly I do not want to completely put the blame on only them. Honestly white people love black music but would most likely not bring a black person home to meet there family. After few generations race is not, going to be color, but it will be what you are wearing and how much money you are worth.
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June 23rd WEdnesday
I think what stuck out to me the most during the lectures was actually a picture. Yes, there was a lecture behind all of the pictures, meanings, and all of that good stuff. But, the picture that showed the Penn State football field and asked, "can you point out the white students?" (or something to that effect) This picture made me think beyond what I am sure was the idea. The fact here is actually pretty big. There is no one certain "race" or person that goes to Penn State, or for that matter, a Penn State football game. This picture was more of a symbol to me, a symbol that there are a variety of students not only at a school, at an event, or anywhere for that matter. Different people are in different places.
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part 2
And chances are, if you were even to pick out who you think is the "white" person in that picture, you would probably be wrong. If there is one thing I learned from this class so far, it is, whatever you think you know…you don't. Whatever you thought about someone, chances are…you are wrong. Now, when I think someone is "white," I rethink…actually, is there anyone actually "white" anymore?? Not really.
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part 3
Really, that picture symbolized not only just a Penn State event, but the world as a whole that you can't really pick anyone person out. As a society as a whole, we are all a bunch of mixed races and ethnicities. What you may think a person is, they aren't and it is not uncommon that we can all be found together, in one place. Personally, I would image no one really cares who or what anyone is at a Penn State game. In my opinion, the fact that everyone at that game is a Penn State fan, should override who they are or what ethnicity they are. I believe sometimes people are able to find common ground and over come their "first judgment," when they have something in common. In this case, the Penn State football team.
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part 4
It is a lot to take just from one simple picture, I am sure you are thinking, however, that picture really made me think and was very symbolic to me. Sometimes in real life if we are able to find a common interest with a person, whether that be football, hobbies, artists, books, etc., if that common ground can be found then it won't matter "what" someone is. I believe this is also taking a person beyond being judgmental and actually seeing people have more to them than their skin color for example. The book also points out those same ideas. I guess I was able to draw the conclusion from the picture and connect it to relate to the lessons in the book as well.
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The most interesting thing I thought about during this lecture is how whites do not typically perceive themselves as a “race” in the same sense that black and browns are a “race”. White people in this country are pretty much never in a minority group or struggle with the problems and issues individuals in these groups have to deal with. What is also interesting and very true is that most white people don’t think of racism as anything but a white person being prejudicial against a black or brown. What came to my mind when I thought of this was an experience I had when I completed the race relations project in the beginning of freshman year. The project was really very interesting. It was awkward at first to be in a circle of strangers of different ethnicities. And you knew other then the group leaders, everyone was “forced” to be there (aka it was needed for a class). But what I specifically remember from this group was when we were talking about racism and one of the other white females in the group called something “reverse racism”. Now at first, being a white female, I knew what she was talking about. she was talking about a black or brown person being racist towards a white person. But it wasn’t until the group leader spoke up about this that I really realized that it was a totally ridiculous way to categorize something. Racism is not just whites against other groups. And as the other members of the group really began to give their perspective on this phrase the girl had mentioned, I almost felt ashamed to be able to identify with it. it really is an issue in our society. Racism needs to be known as what it is: a prejudice from one group to another. This was just a really interesting experience I probably won’t ever forget.
The other thing I wanted to comment on was the diversity – or lack thereof – that we have at Penn State. It was really interesting to look at the percentages of races in major cities and then compare to Penn State. But in my case, Dr. Richards was right, I don’t really notice that we are predominately a white campus. In fact, I feel like we have a ton of diversity here. I guess that is entirely because I went to a high school, with a graduating class of 220, where I would guess that 210 were white. It all comes down again to past experiences. And it proves that how you were raised, your experiences, and past situations you have been put it really shape how you view your surroundings – especially regarding race.
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6/23/10
There was so much information in this lecture I found myself taking many notes. I couldn’t believe the story that Dr. Richards told about the 4 year old girl coming home from preschool and telling her parents that the other kids made fun of her because her skin was ‘dirty.’ I can’t imagine realizing your race makes you different at the age of 4. I have never been in a situation where someone that young had a problem with their race.
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When I saw the video “A Girl like Me” I was pretty shocked with the comments and stories that the girls told throughout the video. I couldn’t believe that all of the girls thought from a young age that lighter skin was more beautiful. I couldn’t believe that a woman started using bleaching cream at age 25 and started her children on the bleaching cream at the ages of 11 and 6. This is just shocking to me. I can’t believe that someone would want to change their looks that bad at such a young age. The part of the video I really couldn’t believe was the experiment that she conducted with the white and black dolls. I really didn’t think that most of the children would have picked the white doll. When I heard about the outcomes when the experiment was first conducted I believed that most would pick the white doll, but I thought that the outcome would change in today’s world. I was wrong. I couldn’t believe that most picked the white doll for being nice, good and beautiful and the black doll for being ugly and bad. This was so crazy to me. I was really speechless after watching that video.
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I also found the Fair Housing Act commercials very powerful. The first video really opened my eyes. The person’s voice stayed the same throughout the video but the person’s looks changed. Would this really matter to a landlord? I’m sure that many people have not gotten housing because of their skin color or culture, but then they also tie in the disabled and the single parents. The video where the man spoke in all different accents and called the same person was amazing. It just shows the when hearing someone’s accent or last name people are always judging. I can’t believe that the apartment magically became available when the man had a ‘white’ accent. Because of their accent and culture people are discriminated against all the time. I never knew there was a Fair Housing Act out there. I hope that this housing act is really helping with discrimination.
I also couldn’t believe how many Penn State students are white. About 31,599 of the 37,988 students that go to Penn State are white. I really thought that there was a higher percentage of diversity at University Park. I was just really shocked to learn about how many of the Penn State students are white.
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6/23/10
First off this lecture cleared up some confusion with the stages. I had the idea that the six stages were a progression and you move from stage one and up. I thought it was you kept on moving up and maybe you never made it past stage one, sometimes someone would reach the end at stage six and most people end up somewhere in between. But know I see that the stages are not progressive but instead six different ideas that a person can be. At anytime a person could be multiple stages, except for stage one I suppose and it can change at any time. As a white person and knowing this know I feel that I am in the third stage revisioning and somewhat of stage five but not so much. I probably am also in stage six but I’ll wait till we cover that fully to say for sure. Stage three includes anger towards white people. I do get angry at white people, but it is not just them, it is anyone white or black who perpetuates racism. It is not just white people who continue the problems we have as a society; it is anyone who does not work towards better relations between our races.
I was surprised by the study of popularity compared to a student’s popularity. I think if you ask pretty much any high school student of any race they will tell you the smarter you are the less likely you are popular. But according to the study for white kids the higher your grade point average the more likely you are to be popular but the opposite is true for black and Hispanic students. I think many people would think the reason black and Hispanics see this negative correlation is because many of their friends will look down upon them and say they are trying to “act white”. This may be a simplistic answer but it seems the most plausible. It is also obviously not true for all black and Hispanic students but for many lower class kids it seems to be. For white people I guess there is a positive correlation because success equals popularity and other people look positively upon it.
In the lecture when Richards talked about the rally in the HUB for the Jena 6 I thought it was the second women that was in the immersion stage. I thought this because it seems that she could not understand why white people would be interested in black kids suffering from racism from white people. That is something anyone should be able to get behind. If Richards said which answer was correct I didn’t hear him, so maybe someone can let me know.
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I thought this lecture was very interesting. I am a white person so I find that this is very unfamiliar to me. I was most surprised about the story of the preschooler who came home saying that her friend told her she was “dirty”. I don’t think I fully understood race until my late teen years. I come from a small mainly white town where a very small amount of black or Hispanic people. This young girl had to think about the color of her skin when she was only four years old. The deepest thought I had in preschool was what color shirt to wear that day or what shape to build my blocks in. I was struck by how soon this affects people of color. I know at my summer job as a camp counselor, we have only two children who aren’t white. I never really thought about how they felt being the only two children of color.
As an education major, I knew prior to this course that children of color do worse in schools than their white peers. I didn’t however know that children of color who did worse in school are more popular than children of color who did better in school. This to me really doesn’t make any sense. I don’t understand how, how you perform in school is managing whiteness. So the students who do well in school are becoming close to the white culture so that aren’t as popular… I’m not saying that they should want to be like the white culture; however I am saying that being smart should not be a “white” thing.
I found the video “A Girl Like Me” very interesting. I was surprised to hear the black people have a a standard for beauty that says that litter skin is more beautiful. I don’t know anything about color since I am a white person from a 99% white town. I do believe that this could be because of the whole whiteness is more beautiful thing. But, I do get confused at times. I know as a white person we find tan/darker skin to be more beautiful and more and more young girls are going to tanning salons. So why is it that black people what to have lighter skin to look more beautiful and white people what to have darker skin to look more beautiful.
I also found it kind of wild that the children in the “A Girl Like ME” video decided to play with the white doll instead of the black doll. At the age of these children they could be just figuring out what beauty is and try to learn from what there friends and parent are telling them
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Blog Comment for Grade. Lesson 10. Racial Identity. People of Color. June 24th.
I thought this weeks lecture was really good, as usual. One thing I wanted to hit on was the people sometimes assume people of color are white. I suppose this would fall in to that stereotype that if you do certain things or act a certain way or speak a certain way then you are trying to be a race other than your own. Now, I personally do not believe in those things – I acknowledge their existence, so I am not naive, but I don't believe in saying one thing is for one race and one race only – how does that not strike the racist chord to people? After my husband and I met he told me that one of the things he found attractive about me was that I didn't ask him "why do you act so white?"
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Blog Comment for Grade CONT. Lesson 10. Racial Identity. People of Color. June 24th.
I was SO shocked when he said that. Matter of fact, I replied "why would I or anyone ever say that?" He told me that was almost all he heard growing up (in a very rural town in Ohio). He also told me that when he went out on dates that would be one of the very first things the women said to him which would also be the very reason he never called them back (which turned out good for me, lol). I was just very surprised at that, I mean the nerve some people have to think they can just say things…it just baffles me. I asked him what was it that people consider "white" and he said he mostly was teased for it because he spoke very proper english, wore his pants at his waste, dressed in button-up polos, and had a higher formal education. I remember asking him "well why are those things only white people have?" He obviously didn't delve into that one, I think because it would bring up a whole lot of race relations stuff but he basically just accepted that as a part of his life because of how he chose to live his life.
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The two videos in the first lecture on the Fair Housing Act both affected me greatly. Never before have I even taken the time to consider the degree to which minorities face discrimination is ALL aspects of their lives. To think, in the world we live in today, which is so commonly praised for its unrivaled tolerance (at least comparatively with other times in history) it is still common for individuals to be denied shelter on the basis of their ancestry.
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Blog Comment for Grade CONT . Lesson 10. Racial Identity. People of Color. June 24th.
He still, to this day, is very self conscious about the fact that he has an overwhelmingly higher number of friends that are white (as opposed to those of color). What is interesting to me is my whole life mostly all of my friends were those of color and I was never embarassed or sensitive to that (sensitive meaning that if someone pointed it out, I wouldn't be upset about it). I think both whites and people of color help this vicious cycle of "acting black" or "acting white" continue. Anyhoo, I was pretty surprised at the video made by the young girl in high school. I thought it was great and I wondered what made her make that video; a class, a contest, for fun, what? I thought it was great that she wanted to redo the experiment with the dolls as well. What wasn't so great was the times and legislation didn't seem to do much changing or reforming of the minds of our youths. What I would have liked to see was her ask every child (who picked the white dolls) why it was they would rather play with them.
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In the second video, where the man changed his voice repeatedly and was told the apartment he was requesting to rent was taken, I wonder what associations the woman on the other end of the phone must be making. Not only did she deny the apartment to an individual who sounded black, but a woman simply because she was a mother, a handicapped person, and several others. I wish that I could read this woman’s mind as she denied these people. What could she possibly be thinking that would set her so adamantly against renting an apartment to someone?? It’s not like anyone was asking her to make friends with these people. She would only need have very limited contact with them! I’m truly just not capable of fathoming what would drive anyone to be so completely racist.
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Even if such a woman had a traumatic experience with… say a black man when she was younger, it would not give her just cause to discriminate against ALL the minorities that phoned her. I recognize that this was just a commercial, and was most likely staged for the purposes of advertisement, but that is not to say that situations such as this do not occur every day. I cannot imagine living in this country as a minority. To say the least it would be a completely different experience than to live as a white.
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When Dr. Richards talked about the 4-year-old girl who was called “dirty” reminded me of this horribly racist experience I had in high school. We had this class called childhood development. I went to Conestoga Highschool and the class had “Conestoga Preschool” students in it and each highschooler was pared up with a preschooler to play with for the class period. Basically we were free babysitters for these preschool kids. Anyways, I was playing with my girl Annie (who was asian) and us two were playing house with my friend Constance (who was black) and her girl, Tina, was playing with us (she was Latino). And Tina seemed upset so Constance said “is something wrong?” And Tina goes “yeah.. I’m sad because my daddy said I can’t play with my friend because she is black. What’s wrong with black people?” Both Constance and I looked at each other, looked at her, and said “uuhhhhhh”. Literally! We had nothing to say! What are we going to say, “Your dad is a huge ass hole and you don’t realize that yet” or “There is nothing wrong with black people you should play with her anyways.” Not to mention, the craziest part about it was she said it right to her Black mentor, not thinking anything of it. I never understood it. Me and Constance laughed about this all year being like “what’s wrong with that girl…” (I know it seems horrible cause she was 5 years old) but we didn’t know that she didn’t see color. She didn’t realize Constance was black just like her friend that she couldn’t play with.
What is interesting though is that she literally didn’t see color, unlike those kids who chose the black baby. Perhaps she was just so sheltered from the media that she wasn’t constantly seeing white everywhere. I think that is the reason the little kids choose the white baby, because those are the babies on TV, in the commercials, so they think it’s what is normal despite the fact they are black. Does that mean they don’t see themselves are “normal” at that age? Or do they? It’s all so confusing!!
I’m white so maybe it’s a white thing that since I have it, I don’t appreciate it. But what I don’t understand is why blacks want to be lighter. Black skin color is beautiful no matter how dark. I don’t like my skin because it’s too light, I get lots of freckles, you can see my scars from when I had acne, and I rarely see such profound imperfections on a black person. Why is it that a color can be so unwanted and another color is envied? It’s literally is COLOR. I understand blacks wanting to change the way they dress or something to shy away from stereotypes, but how does ones level of darkness make them beautiful or better?
Perhaps it can be related to whites but the opposite. White people always want to be darker; maybe it’s just that in between colored skin that is the true perfection, you know olivy whites and light blacks. White people are willing to get cancer just to get that skin color, and (I’m not positive of this but…) blacks put themselves through pain to get lighter skin. That is my theory but my mom proves it completely wrong because she has dark, olive skin and hates it, she claims it looks “green” in the winter and when she steps out in the sun she looks like she put one too many coats of self tanner on.
It’s literally crazy! I have always hated my skin and at this very moment I’ve realized I’m over it and to embrace it. I truly see now that people always are wanting a different this and different that.
No joke. This guy who works out at my gym is a walking melanoma. If he didn’t have white people hair, nose, etc. you would think he is black. He is SO tan. And he puts his life at risk to look like that, while black girls are saying light skin is the most beautiful.
People need to learn to love the body they are in because this world is a crazy place and there is no right answer, there is no beautiful. Maybe someone with a perfectly symmetrical face is beautiful, I’ll give you that but this whole obsessed over skin color is just nuts.
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Blog Comment for Grade CONT. Lesson 10. Racial Identity. People of Color. June 24th.
I believe she only asked one – that I can recall at the moment. I would have liked to know who or what made them think that the white doll was better, if that's what they thought. Did they think it was prettier? Better? What? I mean children have such a wandering mind filled with lots of different thoughts…I would be very curious to hear how race became such a poignant thing for them. It's rather alarming to me; there are so many things children should be doing and their minds should be free of worrysome thougths; but I suppose some may say that it is better to have the "know" about racial issue or inequalities at any early age. I don't know, guess it depends on what side of the fence you're on. One thing that confused me was when Dr. Richards said, about the Pre-Awakening Stage, is that you have negative race experiences but it isn't racism…how is that?
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Let’s be hypothetical for a moment. What if this woman had an open house for the apartment she was renting? During this open house, all of the people on the phone came through including the white man at the end of the commercial. If one of the minorities made an offer on the apartment higher than the white man, she would be forced to take it unless she wanted to face the ramifications for openly breaking the fair housing law. I wonder what she would do at that point. Maybe seeing these people face to face would make her less prone to worry about their race? At the same time, I wonder if she would still grant the apartment to the white man if he was very rude to her as opposed to any member of the minority who was more civil. I guess the purpose of these questions I pose to no one in particular is to ponder how far racism resides within people. I’m not sure there is really any way to test this though… so I’ll have to keep wondering. BLOG ENTRY FOR WEEK 6 LESSON 10
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Blog Comment for Grade CONT. Lesson 10. Racial Identity. People of Color. June 24th.
Is that a situation like what Dr. Mulvey's book speaks about – how others take certain actions by white people (or comments) and assume it is racist? I don't know; I wanted clarification, I wish I was in the actual lecture. Another thing that caught my attention was Dr. Richards asking the class if Penn State was too white? What does that mean, exactly, too white? We never question colleges that are historically black…as a matter of fact I googled "historically black colleges" and the first thing to pop up was "Black Universities." Not much to say on that, I just thought it was interesting since Dr. Richards brought up or may have hinted that it could be problematic to have Penn State as "too white." That kind of got under my skin
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Blog Response 6/23/10
The Fact that there are 2 different steps for people of color and for white people along is just mind boggling, even from the jump people of color are forced to adapt to white society’s mainstream, its not necessarily bad but when some things are just different it never will stop amazing me. I’m also pleased to learn about the about adopted childs when its out of their race, and when its talked about, my best friend in high school who is from Trinidad was adopted by a white family, and a wealthy white family, and of course it was obvious that there dad was not their biological parents but he still calls his dad his father and his mom his mother because to him that’s as deep as he needs it to be. Interestingly enough his adoptive father already had children most of which are grown men and women, and whenever I heard him refer to his brother and sisters as his family, it just shows that no matter what those subtitles of brother and sister go much more deeper, than a simple name. Also Asian white people? That’s an interesting concept, but I guess it all depends on where and how you were raised if it doesn’t matter to them I can’t have any type of qualms with them. The Asian comedian reminded me of a joke where a guy kept saying An Asian man in front of him McDonalds ask for 10 chicken nugget, and I can tell countless examples of my Asian friends not being exactly well versed in English, but I enjoyed his stand up. The video about the black girls with “Good Hair” and what is actually good and all of that it is really interesting, I know a couple of people who have nothing but natural hair, and most complain about the upkeep, ironically one of the girls in the video was named Whanita so it chuckled to myself that a girl with a “black” name would also be talking about the quality of good hair. Also when the instance about the white and black dolls, I remember a thing on Jerry Springer when a white supremacist was raising her children to pick and throw up black dolls on the floor, and show how much more inferior it was too other people, or some idea of the sort. That little experiment was just a little disheartening, its like Dr. Richards said it’s not the us but we are the them, assuming that everything better is white. White culture is forced among everyone, and its just amazing that people can still identify with a race that they are not, but I can actually understand why that would be.
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6/23 The most interesting thing that stood out to me during one of the lectures was the experiment that the high school girl recreated with the black and white doll. The last little girl especially was interesting because she was asked to point out the “bad” doll and the “good” doll and then she was asked to point out the one she was like. She started reaching for the white doll, maybe wishing she was like the “good” doll but then she caught herself and pointed out the “bad” (black) doll. It just really gets to me that even at this young age, she is already seeing herself and her people in the negative light; unconsciously too. It’s like she doesn’t see it happening, nor does anyone bluntly tell her (well in some cases parents do) that she will be the “them” in any “us” and “them” discussion. So this little girl doesn’t know the reasons why, but she knows that she is like the “bad” doll and she needs to try to be as close to the “good” doll as she can so that people will accept her. This made me think back to my childhood and the types of dolls I played with. Being a Latina women, I didn’t really have a choice of my Latina looking dolls…there was white and there was black. I never remember my mom telling me to pick the white doll over the black or vice versa, she just let me choose. But she would always buy me the white dolls for my birthday, Christmas, etc. I don’t think she did it on purpose, it was just something that resulted from her childhood as well. She was just doing what was “normal” to her. So I got the white dolls and I remember the only doll I had that wasn’t white, or at least not completely was Jasmine (Disney). I remember that became my absolute favorite doll and I would play with her more than the rest. Not that, that really helped my perception on beauty or skin color. Like I said, she was from Disney, she still had lighter skin then mine, but her hair was just like mine and that’s what I held onto the most. I guess what I’m getting at is that without ever really knowing it, I was just like that little girl in the experiment, just like Sam said. I would have chosen the white doll. I know more now then I did before and think about race and culture and the challenges we all face today, but that is still a hard question. Which doll is better? Everything around me still tells me the same answer, but will I be able to shut it out and decide for myself?
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23Jun10
I went to a mostly white school and had a relatively high GPA (don't ask what it was because it was so long ago I don't remember) nonetheless, I was able to float between different cliques in high school but never was able to float into the black clique. I was labeled off the bat because I had lighter skin and "good" hair. It was not my fault. I didn't ask my parents to make me. But because of that I was never able to fit into the black clique. But in my group of friends, I was the "token" black girl. I was also told I acted too "white" for a black girl. I have no idea what that means and to this day, I still have no idea what it means.
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6/23 I agree with you about the doll experiment, that made me upset too and it really made me think about how that is the way things are. I grew up with the same type of ideas, even though I didn't know it, but now looking back on it, I see that I also choose the "good" (white) doll. About the child being called dirty, it is sad that he had to go through that at such a young age, but I don't get mad at the other child who called him dirty. He doesn't know any better, he most likely said it out of innocence and he too is trying to understand this race issue he was born into. I'm not trying to excuse such actions in all people, because a lot of the time ignorance really isn't any excuse, but in this case, it's hard to really take one side over the other. At least in my opinion. And I completely agree about the way Asian's are portrayed in movies, they never are in a leading role and the ones that come close are usually only half Asian. But this is also true about a lot of other cultures as well.
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Blog Response for Grade. June 24th.
Hey Saundra!
First and foremost, I have so not forgotten about your email, just been stupidly busy with work, pregnancy, being mommy, and school. So much has fallen waistside. I'm on it though! 
Naturally, I find myself responding to your posts. So, in a way I agree with you and in a way I don't. I suppose the best way to elaborate is just using my previous posts in regards to "guilt." I don't think any race should feel any guilt for the genocide or enslavement of anyone. Do people nowadays feel bad for using their electronics or wearing their clothes that were generated by the slaves of the 21st Century? Obviously not since they continue to use and buy the products. It is so easy, I think, for people to say they have such guilt and disgust without even knowing everything that surrounds slavery. I, for one, do not feel guilty. I like to say I can appreciate the anger for what happend but I cannot say I feel guilty for something I did not partake in, no more than (I think) current-day people of color can say they can relate to slavery.
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Blog Response for Grade CONT. June 24th.
It has always bothered me when tragedies of the past are being claimed by those in the present. I don't think you should feel guilty for Native Americans either, that's where I agree with you. I don't think you should feel guilt unless you are the reason for something happen. I don't think you or any other person of color caused the Native American's tragedy so why feel bad? I didn't partake or cause African American slavery, so why should I feel guilty? I am saddened that such horrific things were done to innocent people who did nothing…but that's about as deep as it goes…is that terrible?
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6-23-10
I completely agree with Sam’s statements about the pre-awakening stages. As a white male, I to remember the days when I began to realize that I am white. I do have a race group. I am white. Then I look at someone who is of color and think about when they noticed their race. Since the time they were young they were forced to notice it. I feel that it would cause certain issues for anyone who was somewhat different. Being forced to notice that you are different and need to find your “subgroup.” Being a white male I never was forced to do this. I fit the norm and had no problems. I remember the first time I was faced with being the different one. I was literally the only white person in a room, and was getting awkward stairs like I didn’t belong there. Now attempting to live in a situation that’s always that way would be horrible. To already be forced into the awakening stage at a young age had to be a pretty tough experience. To me people of the LGBT community seem to have the roughest time with this. Even though it may not happen at the same young age as it does for people of color, but it seems to be a much more emotional experience. They have no one who they can talk to. It is something that they can attempt to conceal. Hiding skin color is not manageable are all, but hiding sexual orientation, is plausible. One of my closest friends forced himself to not be true to himself or other for 6 years before coming out to us. Being forced into an awakening stage, and then not being able to tell anyone, or embrace your culture would be almost torturous. They are stuck in the middle, they know but are afraid to tell anyone. Eventually most come to terms with it eventually, but until they do I have seen the struggles people face. I thought certain parts of my growing up were extremely difficult and unfair, but upon looking into the differences that people of different races and groups go through, mine don’t seem to bad. This lecture made me really look into things of this matter. I noticed that people who go through this stage, seemed to take one of two routes. They accepted it and let it drive them, or they became angry and hateful. The race themes that are pounded into our heads when we are young were touched on, and that was something I never had took notice to. It made us think that white was right and better. The white supremacy ideas are inadvertently taught to us. That is something that I didn’t notice ever and it is kind of scary when you think about it
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The part where Professor Richards talked about how isolation can lead to a mental illness was the most interesting to me. That is because I have seen several cases of mental illness that I believe happened because of the racial isolation, and how the media and society is structured to glorify one race while dump on the others.
The first case, which was the most interesting, was the case of one of the people I knew back when I was in high school in my original country. That guy was even darker than me, and I know that my color is somewhere between black and white, but it is a little bit lighter than that person’s color, and I do not count myself white because I know that I am not, but that person is not seeing he is not white. He hates black people, he had ignorant stereotypes about people with skin tones darker than his, and these stereotypes get more negative and negative as the person gets darker. He classifies his himself as white because some who try to classify people by “race” for things like the census count Middle Easterners with Caucasians. Well, I know this does not make sense at all, and how come that person believes that he is white, but what makes sense to me is the relation between his hatred towards people who are not white, and his pathetic attempt at trying to be white. I believe that the reason behind both behaviors is insecurity. He is insecure and extremely uncomfortable with his color, while seeing the thing that he wanted but he will never be, and that it being white. This issue had driven the guy so crazy that he once told me he agrees with the Ku Klux Klan. Yes, a dark brown guy saying he thinks what the Ku Klux Klan believe in is right, an organization that believes that his race is lower than the white race, and he still believes they are right. I believe this was because he was blinded by his thoughts that he is white, that he really started living the dream, while forgetting that in real life, he is a brown person. I found his thoughts sick, and I have tried arguing with that person for countless times about his fantasies and his serious hatred, and the hope is lost.
The other thing that is interesting about this isolation is that I noticed, almost every non-American society that I have visited, as I observed the people more and more, I noticed that almost in every society, there are people who are called white, regardless of their color. It is just their skin tone, and those people in many cases are viewed as beautiful, and they are more likely to have more money than others.
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I feel like I can understand what you were saying about not needing to find a group where you belong. Prior to coming to the US, being brown was not really something that I have ever thought about, it is just the color of almost everybody in my home country, so I have not worried about whether I am going to be accepted by other people of other colors like they accept people of their color, or that whether I should worry about finding a group of people of my own color whom I know they would at least accept me for my color, but now as I came to the US, I feel things have changed.
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