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[karashannon12]

4250 Blog Post 10

As we talked about in class, the topics were Hispanics and Latinos in the media. We first made the distinguishment between Latinos and Hispanics: Hispanics are of Spanish speaking origin, such as Spain and Latinos refer to people of Latin American origin or descent who don’t speak Spanish, like Brazil whose’ national language is Portuguese. I am glad that this topic came up in class, because in our discussion, most people had things to say about how they have seen people treated how they have been treated themselves.

We went over a lot of stereotypes of how Mexicans are portrayed in the media, such as we watched an old cartoon from the 1970’s about “The Frito Bandito” which was a commercial for Fritos that featured a cartoon of a Mexican man who is the Bandito that steals Fritos. There was also the topic of how Hispanic characters in TV shows have accent markers or the way that they talk to further promote a stereotype about the racial group. 

The scene in Selena where her dad is talking about because they are Mexican American they have to be able to prove to the Americans how American they are and to the Mexicans how Mexican they are. That shows the divide and pull that they feel as Mexican Americans that they don’t belong in a certain group and that they have identity issues and don’t have a certain place that they belong in because of it.

When we started talking about how people have fought to have the term illegal immigrant or aliens to undocumented because of how disrespectful and rude it is to use those terms. I hadn’t really thought about that before because I myself don’t use the term illegal I have always used undocumented because I think people who use those terms are trying to be resentful and rude to people who are undocumented. The fact that someone had to fight to get people to stop using such a derogatory and mean word is ridiculous but I am glad that in the AP handbook that undocumented is now the correct way.

[karashannon12]

4250 Blog Post 9

Watching Get Out in class was a much different experience from when I saw it in the movies when it first came out close to a year ago. I saw the movie differently than I did the first time because I wasn’t really looking for the themes and picking up on everything in the theaters. I picked up on how when her dad first met her boyfriend and they were telling them about how they hit the deer driving up to visit and the father was talking about how there were too many of them and they were useless and that was kind of a reference to black people. I also didn’t get it at the end when she is eating fruit loops and sipping milk out of a cup the first time I saw it, but when we discussed the movie at the end someone said it was because she couldn’t mix the white milk with the colors of the fruit loops. It was also kind of a weird coincidence that the day that we watched this movie was a day later than when it was announced by the Golden Globes association that the movie is nominated for awards in the comedy and musical category. This is obviously a huge slap in the face since the message of the movie was totally misconstrued and not understood by the association. Jordan Peele, the writer and producer of the movie tweeted later that  day about the nomination saying that it was written to be a drama and not a comedy. I find it very insulting that people think that this movie is funny in any way. I first saw this movie and my eyes were opened, it made me think about Blacks in society today and that even in 2017, they still are not equals and some fear for their lives every day and that is simply not ok.  

[karashannon12]

4250 Blog Post 8

My best friend is gay. I have known him since I was 9 years old and I think I even knew before he did, or wanted to accept it. Because I was so young and because I have lived in Austin all my life, it is a little more accepting there than in other places in Texas. I never questioned why he thought that or told him that what he was doing was wrong, and neither did any of our friends in middle or high school. I didn’t really connect in my mind until we were both in college and we got up to Denton that he and I realized that people here were not the same as at home. IT was the first time that he had to tell his new friends and brothers to stop using derogatory language and that they told him “sorry dude we don’t mean you, we don’t really think of you as gay.” The class discussion that we had about gays, lesbians, and transgender in the media made me realise that not until the last 5-10 years that this minority group was really accepted in televsion. The clips that we watched about older sitcoms from the 80’s and 90’s when AIDS and HIV was a huge epidemic and something that the population knew little about, but were so scared of were eye opening. I was not born until 1996 and don’t have any memory from the 90’s so I can’t say that I know anything about what was going on then. Seeing the old clip of Tony Goldwyn playing a gay character back in the 80’s and hearing the speaker say that if someone in television or movies played a gay character back then, it was basically a career ender. People knew nothing about what it really was to be gay and still isn’t that aware but Tony Goldwyn’s career is still very much alive and doing well (Go Fitz) and the fact that people use to think like that only 30 years ago makes me think about even though we have progressed in acceptance, we still have along way to go.

[karashannon12]

4250 Extra Credit Post

The Salinas project was very interesting and eye opening to learn about. Before going to the presentation, I did not know anything about what or where Salinas was. Salinas is a small town outside of Silicon Valley in California and is famously know as an impoverished small crop town that is inhabited by gang violence and undocumented immigrants. The documentary that we watched was directed and filmed by Professor Carolyn Brown who over the span for many years chose subjects from Salinas to follow and show what kind of lives these people live. Brown found 4 main subjects to follow and to show in the documentary what kind of lives that they live. During the presentation, we also took a look at some of the other films that Brown has put together and how they also highlight the kid of lives and poverty that undocumented immigrants go through in certain parts of the country. I am glad that professor Brown ended the presentation on a good note by updating us on what is going on in the subjects in the film’s lives, like graduating from college and getting new jobs and a vast improvement on the lives that we saw them living in the film.

Before seeing this presentation, I had no idea how much time and money had to go into making documentaries, especially theses. Professor Brown got some of the money from grants for being a professor and teaching, but that is one of the only ways she can get money for these projects. She actually talked about how on most of her films, she would have to stop them and not be able to come back until she got the money, which could be months to years later. The time commitment for making these is also crazy because she could only films these around her teaching schedule so she would fly out to California for the Salinas project to film on Christmas and Spring Break.

[karashannon12]

4250 Blog Post 7

I remember when this video and song first came out, I was in 7th grade and it was the end of the school year, so it was one of the biggest songs of the summer. This was Eminiem’s return to rap and making another album and having Rhianna on the track made it even bigger. I never really listened to the lyrics at first, but I knew them by heart and would sing them every time I heard the song. It wasn’t until my mom would turn it off the station when this song came on and she would tell me how terrible the song is when I finally realised what was wrong with this. I was a really big fan of Eminem back then, and I thought that she was just mad because she didn’t like me listening to him for whatever reason, but I then understood the reason. There is so much violence and just terrible thing being said in this song, and the group that had the presentation over this topic did a great job. I recall that in class, the team decided to also recognise that men are a statistic and they are a real part of domestic violence and assault because not talking about them would not do them justice. I think that people got upset that that aspect of the presentation was there and kind of shamed the group for recognising a small group of people. I believe that they did a justice by recognising the 10% of men that are affected by domestic violence and that the group was wrongfully shut down for shining light on a different voice. For all we know, there could have been a man struggling with domestic abuse and because those people in class basically said, “ehh they aren’t as important” could have discouraged them from reaching out for help. I think that they were unfairly shut down and that because of that, us as a class were being discrimanatory.   

[karashannon12]

4250 Blog Post 6

You always see mascots for every school and team imaginable, but have you ever looked at a mascot and were confused? That’s how most Native Americans look at a number of mascots today that teams are represented by Native American of Indian mascots. In Class, we took a look at a couple of different videos addressing how Native Americans feel about the fact that teams are refusing to change their mascots, even though it is insulting to their culture. There are multiple professional sports teams that have Indians as mascots, such as the Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Blackhawks, Atlanta Braves and so many others.

 When I went into researching more about these teams that have Indian associated names, I found some many more that I hadn’t thought about before, like the Golden State warriors. I also found that this is not just a problem in the U.S., but this is an issue with teams and sports all around the world.  I also found that it is majorly high school teams that have the offensive names refering to Native Americans and that it dates all the way back to the early 1900’s. It amazes me that people don’t or can’t understand how offensive and wrong it is to still have a race of people to represent some sort of savages?? There would be none of that if white people were the mascot for the “Fightin Whites” or the “Wild Countrymen” and they would understand how hateful and wrong it is to still have these mascots. 

There are also people who have pledged to never change the name of the teams, such as the owner of the Redskins, Dan Snyder. I am against the exploitation of a group of people just because “oh, it’s tradition” is the argument that these people are making. I hope to see these teams wake up and realise how terrible the path they are going down is.

[karashannon12]

4250 Blog Post 5

Getting to hear from Saad last night was a perspective that I had yet to hear about. His presentation itself was very strong and moving. I had seen some of the What Would You Do videos before and how people will act in public without knowing that there will  eventually be millions of people seeing the wrong things that they are doing. Seeing the two different videos about people outwardly being racist towards Muslims was really powerful. The first, at a sandwich shop the reactions were about what I thought that they should be, that people would stand up for the Muslim man working at the counter who was being discriminated against by a customer. But the second video of the show being here in Texas at the Little Czec shop was about what I thought it was going to be. I was expecting more people than not to be outwardly racist to the Woman who was trying to buy food and the man working at the counter who was refusing to serve her.  Just living in Texas for all of my life, I can expect what people would say here in instances of racial problems. Even though I have lived in Austin until before I went to college, and Austin being a more liberal place, I have seen people be outwardly racist here too. There is really no exception when it comes to where things like that can happen. It was really disheartening hearing about how Saad and his sister were fearing for her safety while commuting and riding the train to and from school after the incident where the man in Seattle attacked Muslim women on the train. I enjoyed hearing his perspective and what he had to say about how it effects him in his career field.  

[karashannon12]

4250 Blog Post 4

I really enjoyed getting to hear from Natalie Hage about her experience on the airplane. I had heard about this incident through social media and seen it on multiple websites but never knew who the person actually was. I had no idea that she went to UNT! Hearing what she had to say and how she handled the situation with such grace was inspiring. I have always been on the fuller side and I have had rude comments made about my body shape before in elementary and middle school. I never knew how to actually stand up to the people who would say the nasty things about me or others, so hearing someone actually stood up and shut that guy down was awesome.

Hearing about the amazing career that Natalie has and what she has done with the the assets that she has been given. I have really never read into the comments that people write on others accounts, and hearing how terrible and nasty the comments from men are really made me feel sad. Thinking about how someone would say that just because of their body shape makes me think about the discrimination that others face from employers, co workers, and people in general. Discrimination is something that everyone will face at some point in their life, but to think that people can’t acept other for the shape of their body is something that should be a thing of the past. The point that Natalie made about that you just don’t know what people are going through, what their level of health is, or how they actually treat their body. That man who said all those things to her had no idea what was going on with her body and no one should ever assume that because someone is fuller figured that they don’t eat right or work out regualarly.  

[karashannon12]

4250 Blog Post 3

Kelly Dodson woke from sleep to find a man in her room, who then attempted to rape her.  After a struggle drew the attention of her brother into the room, the rapist fled. Dodson went on to informing the public of the attack, but the public did not seem to be the chief aim of the news team covering the story, nor even was the focus on the victim of the assault. The focus became centered on the actions of the brother- what happened on camera.

While the on-site reporter’s reaction is serious, it is a fair question to ask if the newsreader would adopt such an attitude if the victim were white.  The on-scene reporter is more measured in her reporting, to her credit, though it is telling that her narration cuts over the testimony of the victim at the outset.  In the end the victim’s testimony constitutes 8 seconds of the newscast, which was gotten out of the way first, before her brother’s off topic rants about the attacker made up 34 seconds of airtime- including the go home lines.  Making it even more jarring is that the reporter mentions “Much more from the victims of the attack tonight”, lumping the brother in when Kelly Dodson was the only one to be attacked.

To make the situation worse, the news station not only showed the face of the victim without censure, but they identified the exact location of the house. The reporter did say that anyone with information on the crime should come forward, they provided no description of the suspect’s appearance. The only description the public heard was Dodson’s brother describe him as being from the projects and having left his shirt behind.  As a result, Dodson’s brother became an internet sensation, leaving the actions of the perpetrator and the suffering of the victim woefully unremarked upon.

When we talked about this in class, I had seen the video of it circulating around for years. I always thought it was funny and have always seen people immitate what was happening in the video. After analyzing this in class, I found it’s harder to take this lightly because of how mishandled this situation truly was. This opened my eyes on how the media treats people who live in more urbanized areas, specifically those who have a larger population of African Americans. This could be happening anywhere and that makes me want to make sure in the future that these situations are handled in a professional way so that they perpetrator who attacked Kelly Dodson could have been found.

[karashannon12]

4250 Blog Post 2

Before coming into the first class, I did not know a whole lot about the information surrounding the Charlottesville riots or what had happened over the past couple of weeks. When we watched the Vice video in class, I wasn’t expecting it to be as graphic as it was; I had never really heard of Vice or seen a Vice video before so I wasn’t sure of what to expect. I knew that someone died and that a lot of people got hurt in the riot, either participating in it or protesting the riot.  Hundreds of people from across the country and other country came to Charlottesville to participate in the “Unite the Right” rally.

The biggest thing that stuck with me about this is that the people participating in the rally, the white supremacists and alt right members were not even trying to hide their identities– they were openly supporting a group of people who believe that there is a superior race and are willing to kill others who are not like them for it. They have always been wearing hoods to conceal their identities and even wear masks so they can’t get caught hurting or killing others, but these people felt so comfortable to be able to walk through the streets holding torches and yelling racial slurs and chanting about how they are now in charge. I was speechless after seeing this video. Seeing the woman getting hit by the car and knowing that she died from that and that 2 other police officers died protecting those people hit me.

Those people did what they did because they had the right outlet, the right person leading this country to facilitate so much hate and not even condemn them, and to go as far as to say that “both sides were at fault” is why this happened. I can’t even imagine what else is going to happen if we keep moving the way we are in the next 4 years.

[karashannon12]

4250 Blog Post 1

The first day of class, we went over the syllabus and talked about what was included in this class content wise. I went into this class very eager to be able to talk about things going on in the country and in the world with an open mind and to be as educated as possible in these topics by the time I leave this class. I am also in one other race, gender, and discrimination class that is mainly focusing on the psychology of it, so I have different aspects to see everything that I am learning and what is going on in both of the classes. I think that this class is going to end up being very beneficial to me and everyone that is in it solely for the reason that we are wanting to be in a field where we will having to be talking about these topics frequently. To most people, the topics that we are going to cover in here are uncomfortable and people would rather avoid them, but then it becomes a part of the problem.

Having this outlet to talk about things going on in the world like the riots in Charlottesville and the daily news coming out of what our president it tweeting changes the way that we perceive these things happening, like I did not know that the events happening in Charlottesville took place over a span of multiple days and that it was very planned out and organized. I think that I will be able to come out of this class with a new perspective on what is going on in our world and how I can have a better way to tackle it in my daily life such as how the books, tv shows, and the people I surround myself with. I am excited to see what the rest of the semester has in store for us to talk about and learn.