Extra Credit Event- Critical Essay and Creative Writing

At first coming to this event I just wanted the extra credit and planned on just staying for half an hour. But as I continued to listen to these students writings, it amazed me on how they were able to articulate words into a form of art. The way they expressed details made you feel as if you were part of the writings. I enjoyed especially the poetry As the students continued to read I saw on what level of writing I should be at least writing. The student with the poem about Parking-lot playgrounds was really good even when she read it you can feel the passion and command she set in her tone of voice for her poetry. There was a particular quote that made me laugh which was when one of the winners said that writing is a love hate relationship. Sometimes that exactly how i feel there's so much work needed to put in which i hate but I love the chance to express myself. Also, I feel that I lack great vocabulary after hearing some of these writings. I really need to continue writing so then maybe one day I can be up there able to express and keep the audience attentive to my writing. Hopefully, I am able to use the tools that I am learning on the basics of writing can help establish a foundation in where I can even write well educated paperwork that is not only consistent but also creative.  

Drug War Facts

In society especially in the United States, drugs seem to be circulating and becoming a big factor in many people’s lives. The amount of usage of drugs is being noticed especially with the recollection of data. Drugs can be connected to many problematic issues such as deaths and incarcerations. One data that seemed very interesting is who are the one using these illicit drugs. When examined by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, they found that “ an estimated 9.9 million whites (72% of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15%), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10%) who were illicit drug users in 1998.”. In other words, most of these illicit drug users were white. The data by Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration was very interesting especially when comparing to data by Prevalence of Imprisonment in the US Population. In the data of Prevalence of Imprisonment in the US Population “In 2001, the chances of going to prison were highest among black males (32.2%) and Hispanic males (17.2%) and lowest among white males (5.9%).”  Both these data’s are great but a bit more details for Prevalence of Imprisonment in the US Population by being more particular on what crimes in particular are each ethnicity imprisoned for. Another great source of data is by Alcohol and Crime: An Analysis of National Data stating “ For more than 4 in 10 convicted murderers being held either in jail or in state prison, alcohol use is reported to have been a factor in the crime. Nearly half of those convicted of assault and sentenced to probation had been drinking when the offense occurred.” In other words alcohol can be connected to many of these incarceration and also obscure making right judgments.  Another topic connected to drugs is the impact it has on deaths. The Journal of the American Medical Association states that “Overall, we estimate that illicit drug use resulted in approximately 17,000 deaths in 2000.” This quotation shows how so many deaths are intertwined with death causes.  JAMA states “Approximately 32,000 hospitalized patients (and possibly as many as 106,000) in the USA die each year because of adverse reactions to their prescribed medications.” This shows how even prescribed drugs have been resulting in many deaths of people.

Chinese Girl in the Ghetto Facebook page

Ying ma is the author of the book Chinese Girl in the Ghetto. She is currently doing many speaking events in regard to her book and her beliefs of the United States.  In the Facebook of author Ying Ma, there are many issues concerning immigrants, and political affairs that Ying Ma freely expresses in her page. Ying Ma also discusses about political and economic issues regarding with China. She discusses about her book and her views on many issues especially the welfare state.   Ying Ma is against giving welfare in the United States. She believes this is a waste of her tax dollars. She also promotes the idea of the Chinese uprising in the economic world. She continues to discuss the welfare state and in how unlawful immigrants are costing the United States in vast amount of money.  Ying Ma status include articles where it goes into detail as to how the United States ar losing money because of immigrants. She even states because of these laws trying to promote legal immigrants it causing many to want to migrate to the United States. She shows how many immigrants are trying to cross over  to the United States and losing their lives trying.

Responsibility and Stress in College

                College is a world full of stress, studying, late night papers and responsibility.  As a student, we are required a lot of time and effort in our grades in order to achieve great grades. Students need to sacrifice a lot of their time and even their social life. The reason for all this work is Professors need to verify that the student comprehends the work and subject matter. Sometimes both the professor and the student fail to acknowledge factors causing these many stresses resulting into poor study habits and poor grades.

                Students can get caught into the new world of college. College that not only provides education but also a world full of socialization, job opportunities, and a sense of independency. Students can get distracted and forget the value their grades have in their future career. As this feeling of independency grows, so does the amount of social events. Students start going out more often to socialize to these social events. They start to then hand in incomplete work and failing tests. This can cause the student to end up failing the test and having to retake the class. Also, if this destructive pathway continues it can eventually lead up to be academically dismissed.  

                Professors always try to treat students equal, but what some professors fail to realize is in a world of bills, loans, and rent this can be an uneven playing field.  Some students who would enjoy nothing more than to be home studying instead of working 12 hour shifts can stressed with the amount of work given by professors.  All of these hours given to working in order to survive can really cause a student to be less active in class and not complete homework.

                When it comes to responsibility and stress regarding college, students need to try to seek help at an early point in order to find a balance. Colleges help counseling and even tutoring. There are certain situations that are understandable but that shouldn’t stop you from striving for more. Instead, those long hour jobs should ignite the wanting of a degree. The students who have no real excuse should put all their effort into class.  

Anthropology

Good afternoon everyone, I would like to first start off by thanking Human Rights Watch for allowing me the pleasure to explain the concept of race and the many attributes surrounding it. Many times we use race as a social construct in order to define a person or a particular group. Race has been a topic that keeps changing and pro-creating.   Through the years society has what to believe. One main issue society likes to structure our thoughts on is race. Many times what we believe to be true about race is structured by society in order to keep or favor a particular group. Some great examples of race being structured are in articles such as To Rescue National Dignity, The Everyday Wounds of Color, Color As A Symbol Of Social Status, Life Without Fathers or Husbands, The Black Diaspora in Costa Rica and the Mountain People. In these articles many views of certain races show how race is constructed based on politics or nationalism. These claims that society makes about race isn’t accurate. Many times there are even claims that one can tell a race by the appearance or characteristics. First off, this shows how race is more of an illusion and has no true value except for how we personify a group based on culture or beliefs. These cultures or beliefs are dictated to us by society and by a beneficiary group of people. 

In articles such as Life Without Fathers or Husbands and The Mountain People one can see how certain groups construct a culture in where the norms that society has dictated to us has been abolished. Both articles described a different world in where fellow anthropologists were able to experience a different structured culture. In the article Life Without Fathers, Clifford Geertz describes a tribe called the Na. The Na tribe do not believe in marriages which means there is no husband or father figure. For centuries, the tribe resisted to conform into what Han Society accepted as morally right. China was finally able to enforce the idea of a nuclear family into the tribe by using laws and military officials. They continued to control the tribe by implementing Han ideas and values in school systems. This shows how much control a single society can have over the other and shows how beliefs and ideas can be enforced. In the article Mountain People, Colin M. Turnbul describes a tribe called Ik in where survival is more important than morals or emotions. Any sort of emotion such as love and friendship isn’t necessary in order to survive. The Ik tribe was a very poverty stricken tribe and considered food the only means of survival. As the anthropologist spent more time with them he started to grow accustomed to their beliefs. The anthropologist even started to think love is self-oriented and is used only for the gain for oneself. The fact that the anthropologist started having certain similar views shows that ideas can be constructed and can change a person’s views. This can be the same case with how people view racial ideologies.

As some scholars have tried to argue race as being a true coherent identity there has been research done in the biological structure of it. In the films The Family Living Tree and On Becoming Human, the films discusses research on our genetics and in what we consider to be physical features as race is actually a phenotype set by climate change. The conclusion is we are all biologically the same and most of us share the same ancestors. The film On becoming human help to construct the fact that human origin may well come from fossils that might be similar to monkeys. We are basing race on no actual substantial evidence. People are making these racial formations based on politics.

A great example of race being a social reconstruction based on politics are in the articles To Rescue National Dignity, and The Black Diaspora In Costa Rica.  In the article To rescue national dignity writer describes the different infrastructures of races in Ecuador. Ecuador consisted of these social structures based on categories in order to decide which race was superior to the other. In Ecuador white was considered upper which according to them was attainable with constant mixing. This idea of whites being superior didn’t make sense and the constant idea of mixing. The idea of mixing sounds like more of a chance in fitting the ideal look society expects. At the time, many of these prominent Ecuadorian figures identified themselves as whites.  The Black Diaspora in Costa Rica is another great example for race being involved in politics. Since there were many blacks migrating to Costa Rica, United Fruit companies started to offer blacks more jobs than Hispanics. The United Fruit Company knew that the same views of the black race being inferior would be able to suppress easier into hard labor. Although blacks were many times economically in better state than the Hispanics, Hispanics continued to conserve the idea that Blacks are inferior. This caused many Blacks to continue to rely on the United Fruit Company. The United Fruit Company was able to set divide and conquer between to groups they consider inferior by making it seem like favoritism.

Two great articles that show the contradictions between the ideas of race is in the Everyday Wounds of Color and Color as a Symbol of Social Status. In both articles they relate social status to color skin. In the Everyday Wounds of Color article informs on how the lighter skin you were the more respect was shown. Also, hair seemed to be a big issue on how beauty was valued by how straight or soft it was. The article spoke about how many social medias enforced this idea of white women being an honor. They also talked about the different kinds of race which differentiated in definition depending on the person. This shows an inconsistency in the idea of race. This also proves race as an illusion more than a real identity.

These racial structures that society continues to promote have even been carried over by settlers known as colonizers. When it comes to race there is one aspect of it we fail to acknowledge which are the colonizer. In the article the colonizer and the colonized, were able to read on how colonialism is spread by the colonizer gaining profit such as lower taxes, and labor work at cheap prices.  The article describes how the colonizer is able to take advantage and succeed by putting his laws to legitimize his actions in this new establishment. Many times, the colonizer inputs the idea of race and builds a social class where the colonizers are the upper-class.  This shows how race is sometimes used as a way of gaining power or sustaining power.

The question now is how we deal with this social issue of race. As society continues to change so do some certain aspects of human rights yet the ideas of inferiority and superiority seems to still flourish. People continue to identify with certain race and continue to believe in certain stereotypes. When in actuality we are all the same biologically.  A film that describes race as nothing more of idea is called a class divided.  The film is centered on an experiment where someone of higher power such as a teacher tells her students that a certain physical feature such as blue eyes is somehow superior. She uses statements and incoherent examples to show the class why blue eyes are more superior. The statements she makes are basically another form of stereotyping and using it to reinforce the idea that blue eyes are somehow better then brown eyes. The students start to truly believe her and this shows how gullible people can really be. She tried the same experiment with adults and had the same outcome.

            Race is something we’ve made and accepted without knowing the real facts. People believe blindly and fail to realize we are exactly the same not one person better than the other. As society continues to promote this idea of race we continue to let upper class or certain groups feel superior.  Instead, race shouldn’t be the definition of who we are rather it should be persona that should define us. As we continue to suppress certain races we are also suppressing ourselves. As we continue digging a hole, the privileged race such as whites just continue to pour in the dirt. Thank you for giving me your time and I hope I was able to clarify some of the misconception made on race.

Annotated Bibliography

Gnanavel, T., and L. Selvamuthu Kumarasami. "Caste System And Caste Practices In Tamil Country." Indian Streams Research Journal 2.8 (2012): 1-6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 7 May 2013.
          In this source Gnanavel and Kumarasami starts off by describing the caste system and from where it originated from. They go on to describe how the caste was constantly changing based on social movements. The source describes how the caste system was used to separate fellow Indians and decide what sort of jobs or obligations they had.These caste systems are based on religious and political aspects in order to a civilization deprived of certain rights. The reading decribes how in order to maintain this caste system the government prohibited social movements and promoted Orthodoxy.This source is great to use since they describe one of the high caste system known as the Brahmins. I will be using this source in order to be more specific with Brahamins and how they have certain rights such as tax free land and villages.     

Nationalism

Omi and Winant uses Nationalism to describe a community within a state. According to Omi and Winant Nationalism is the preference of a particular society your in and where you put your diversities aside in order to form social movements. Many times nationalism is based on the rejection of mixing and against becoming another nation.
When a nationalist community were small specifically minorities they formed cultural nationalism. Cultural nationalism used their culture in order redefine and recapture their identify which they referred to Nationalist.
These Nationalist wanted to be known for having  separate and unique politics, history, and identity.
Cultural Nationalists were mainly against the dominant white culture.  

Untouchable

               In the novel Untouchable, the character named Bakha fails to realize that colonization is promoting racial formation by depicting the British in a positive ideological view. In other words, the fact that Bakha is depicting the British life in a positive way helps form racial formation by idealizing them. Throughout the novel, Bakha is depicted as a character who embraces British customs such as clothing or types of sports. This not only shows colonization but shows how Bakha feels it is a paradigm to be a well respected British men. Although Bakha tries to colonize you can still see how the British government still accepts caste systems which means no matter how much Bakha tries to be valued more he will always be considered one of the lowest caste systems. An example of colonization is when Bakha is described as wearing clothes of British men instead of the traditional clothing worn in India. Bakha also enjoys sports such as hockey which is an English sport. Bakha seems to portray British as a paradigm in which people strive to obtain a leisurely life such as the British men. This promotion of the British fails to show how this same government suppress people like Bakha by endorsing the caste system by being included in the legal system. As Gandhi said, "The British Government sought to pursue a policy of divide and rule"(Untouchable 145). What Gandhi means is that the British government knows in order to rule over India they need to make sure India is divided by a major conflict which would be the caste system. Gandhi continues to describe and tries to question the motives of the British. I agree with Gandhi many British colonizers especially are mostly in India for profit. The British Colonizers realize the idea of divide and rule helps obtain power and is profitable for them. The policy of divide and rule is something used by many Governments in order to suppress a society. This same form of policy was used in Africa and was shown in a movie called Hotel Rwanda.  The Germans and Belgians used divide and rule by separating Tutsi and Hutu. They put the minority Tutsi in a higher position of power. This shows how colonialism many times helps racial formation be accepted and can provide a more lenient foundation in where divide and rule can be applied.

Cluster connection

The clusters have helped me a lot in making it easier to learn key terms such as race, ethnicity, and cultures. For example in English class I was able to learn the basics about racial formation because of Omi and Winant. I was then able to use these basics in order to better emphasize topics such as poverty in sociology by focusing on how these racial formations cause many minorities to be poverty stricken. I felt I didn't have to be like a light switch having to shut off the next topic in order to pertain to the next class. Many times, when i when i took classes that weren't intertwined with one another I had to switch to another set of ideas and sometimes different vocabulary. Since many ideas in the cluster were connected it was easier for me to learn and be able to associate them to one another. Thanks to this cluster I was able to learn how to associate certain ideas to one another.The classes have even changed the way I view race. I never realized how race and ethnicity can be defined very differently depending on social structures. Also, I never realized on how ethnicity is still a big issue I was one of those people who thought racial discrimination wasn't alive but   now I realized racial discrimination has just taken a different form. Many of these social classes continue to have Caucasians as the higher class. Minorities know their still being treated lowly but all have this idea that might be exception and be able to beat the system. The system in where we depend on cash assistance and minimum wage jobs to survive.

Social Media

When looking into social media you can see it can be a strong form of being able to connect with others. Social medias such as twitter, facebook, and blogger are great examples. These social medias gives people the right to express themselves freely and see other peoples thoughts and opinions. Many organization try to use to these forms of media in order to bring self awareness of many important topics such as racism, cultures, and social problems needed to be dealt with in society today. Some great twitter accounts that deal with race and culture are @Prisonwatchint, @followbamn, @lobojost, @shamnix, and @ZMTRUST. I think these types of social media helps make a difference to important topics need to be faced today.


Prisonwatchint deals with social issues concerning the prison system and human rights. They tweet and put links that show the extremities many prisoners have to deal with and also in what ways are the government taking advantage by limiting some of their human rights. Prisonwatchint tweeted about the conditions prisoners are being kept such as sleeeping arrangements and about innocent inmates being put on death rows. Prisonwatchint tweets saying "Are California Prisons Punishing Inmates Based On Race." This shows how racism coincides in prison. Imagine having to already deal with having limited social interations with others and then having to be treated even more unfairly because of your race. FollowBamn deals with affirmative action, and immigration rights. Lobojost tweets about housing systems, and racism. Shamnix and Zm trust both deal with social issues. All of these twitter accounts relate to race and culture by showing fellow twitters how race is still being used to show the value of life by incorporating it into prison systems, immigration rights and civil rights.       

Anti-Islamic Hate Crimes

When it comes to anti-Islamic hate crimes one must wonder has it better or has it worsened? To answer this question we need to examine collect and observe if there has been any changes. In the graph shown it correlates with a certain major incident in the year 2001. In 2001, there seems to be a huge increase of anti-Islamic hate crimes. Perhaps, the reason for this major spike in 2001 was one of the most major terrorist attack in United States which was the the attack on the twin towers. Since the twin towers incident the amount of anti-Islamic hate crime increased by more then 10 times more then the previous year. People are easily riled up when something major such as the twin towers incident happens they worry just about their safety and can even start stereotyping or generalizing based on race. This might be the reason why their was such an increase especially in 2001. People become oblivious to the fact that there are innocent people who end up suffering because of these anti-Islamic attacks. The only problem I have with this data is they don't really have particular details on where its taking place whether its in the United States or another country. 

Response To Denii Claims

              When it comes to mixed races, Tannenbaum had a very open mind to it. As Denii Rincon claimed in her blog,“Tannenbaum’s notion that slavery will never truly end unless there is mixing of the races is wrong” (Rincon). Denii Rincon describes how only because people have mixed children doesn’t necessarily mean slavery will end. Rincon explains how she believes that a well-educated establishment would help end slavery and can one day end it. She goes on to describe her own experience on being in a mixed cultural environment. She tells her reader about all the different races she grew up around which helped her be accepting towards other races. As she continues to tell readers about her experiences with other races she mentions how Tannenbaum would have been pleased which means in certain aspects Rincon agrees with him. The only agreement that seems to be shared by Rincon and Tannenbaum is the positive attitude regarding mixed races. Denii Rincon goes on to tell her idea by stating “will learn to accept other races as a part of the United States if they are simply exposed to other races as children in a positive way”(Rincon).  Denii idea is if people were to be more exposed to other races at an earlier age then acceptance of different races and cultures would be accepted.  I agree with Denii Rincon claim and ideas for mixed races. She has very valid points and even has a personal understanding because of her exposure to different races and cultures. She ends with telling her readers that being well informed and educated about other cultures is the key to abolish slavery.

Work Cited

Rincon, Denii “Mixed Races.” Denii Race And Culture Blog. BlogSpot, 18 March 2013. Web.     19 March 2013