Somerville Scientific Racism

Thesis: Homosexuality and race have related questions according to Ellis and how they are related to each other in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries are an important part of this article. It goes into detail about how there are relations between homosexuality and race. There are different scientists and their points that are brought in to help the argument be stronger.

The article talks about the gender and how George Chauncey noted a gradual change in records on sexual history. An interesting point made in the article was that the time sexuality came around about homosexuality there was also the difference of ‘black’ and ‘white’ coming about in America. Sexology came about because of the differences people noticed in others. Ellis wrote a book about sexuality that raised interest in the United States because it caused controversy. The book was banned in England because of its content. Freud’s views on sexuality later became known to the population as he disproved homosexuals as a different group. The author of the article then went into discussion about race. He defined race as groups based on different color, class, religion, or geography. Polygeny and monogeny were two words described for different race groups. Another interesting point in the article was about how African Americans and white women were considered equal to white male children. Racial differences were mainly linked to gender. Darwinism believed that people evolved through a process of natural selection.

After reading this article it was interesting to see how homosexuality and race are related. Race should not define a person and neither should homosexuality. People should be known because of who they are as a person and not because of what they look like. It may be harder to accept someone who is homosexual because they don’t have the same views as you, but you shouldn’t judge them before you get the know them. They could be a really good friend in the long run and it would be wrong to judge them before you get to know them. Race may not allow a person to get a job and that kind of discrimination should not be allowed. As said above, people should be looked at because of who they are and not because of what they look like on the outside.

1) Is there really any way to tell how race came about?

2) Are there other scientists who believe that race and homosexuality are not related?

Movie screen: A challenge to Democracy

Thesis: Relocation camps are a good place to live and it provides you with everything you need inside of it. The main point of this show was to show how relocation camps weren’t all that bad and in fact the residents had a lot of opportunities to do things.

This show starts out talking about why the Japanese people were relocated and the basic capacities to a relocation center. Most of the centers were located in dessert areas, but a few were in wooded areas. But no matter where the center was the fields were turned into farm land and the food that was grown from those lands were used solely for the centers and not put out on the real market. They produced a lot of food because half of the evacuatees were farmers. It then talked about how people got paid: twelve dollars a month for a beginner, sixteen dollars a month for a mediate person, and nineteen dollars a month for an expert. They had schools and churches inside the centers. The schools curriculum met the states requirements. There was also even a little political system and in the free time people would play softball, baseball, or football. In the video this all looked like a pretty descent place to live but from what Takaki said in chapter ten that is not how it was. I mean from a certain extent the relocation center was ok, but not how it was shown to the public. You never saw an angry person or unhealthy people. Everyone there was happy and healthy and it looked like they didn’t want to leave the center. I just think that you can draw many speculations from this show.

1. If the relocation centers were designed to become “American” than why was there no restriction on religion?

2. The men that went into the army, were they put into their own regiment? Because the men that they showed were all Japanese.

I thought this show was kind of interesting especially after reading Takaki. It allowed you to compare and contrast what Takaki says and what you saw in the show. My belief is that the centers were not all they were cracked up to be and in fact they were much worse. Now I could be totally wrong, but I just felt that our government tried to make it appeal to the eye.

Takaki Chapter 10

Thesis: America is the land of opportunity and America has a lot to offer its residents. This article is about immigration and people wanting to come to America because of all it has to offer. They felt it was a way to escape their old lives and try and start fresh.

It first starts off talking about how by the nineteen twenty’s majority of the immigrants were women. The women who came over were considered “picture” brides. This meant that marriages were arranged. Also majority of the women that came over from Asia were Japanese rather than Chinese. Immigrants were used as cheap labor because they were willing to work at low prices. Both men and women worked. They had little to no rights, and considered not full humans. Because they were treated so poorly they went on strike and rebellions. Plantation owners preferred married men over single men because they were dependable and built nicer homes for the families of the married men. Plantations became like small neighborhoods where ethnic groups would set up temples and traditional events. Plantation owners were kind of upset because the kids were learning and they wanted another generation of workers. On the mainland Japanese immigrants began to create their own farms. Women played a role in helping with the farm stuff, but also mainly did house work. Japanese hoped that their hard work would help them to be accepted into the new country. The children of the immigrants that were born into America would have a better life than what they had but that was not how it went.

1. Why would the immigrants keep coming over to America if they new what hard times awaited them?

2. Did the plantation owners try to prevent these ethnic neighborhoods or did they just let them be?

I found this article to be interesting because the immigrants worked so hard to try to fit into the new world even when they kept on getting put down. I guess if they had not gone through the hard times then today’s people may not even be hear or they might not have the success or opportunities that are presented today.

McBride "I hate A&F"

Thesis: The success of A&F depends on the teenagers mainly white’s psychological sense of belonging. The main point of this article was about how a certain clothing company goes about the way they advertise and what race their clothing is intended for. It is mainly aimed towards the leisure or upper middle class and young people.

McBride first starts out with talking about his first experiences with seeing the logo Abercrombie & Fitch and how everywhere he went he would see some version of it. Mainly focused on how he mainly saw white gay men wearing the product with the occasional colored man wearing it. He then discusses the beginning of the company. It first started as Abercrombie & Co. and it purpose was in outdoor attire. He then meets up with Ezra Fitch who was used the brand all the time and asked Mr. Abercrombie if he could be a partner. So they did unite and it became Abercrombie & Fitch. They got in an argument because Abercrombie wanted to stay in outdoor attire and Fitch wanted to expand the business. So Abercrombie left the company and Fitch went about expanding. The people he was intending to reach was the white upper middle class. He then goes into explaining how certain requirements and the way you look is crucial to what your class is and the way you should appear to others. It then goes into how A&F were sued for discriminating hiring people of color. After the hearings they changed their policies and began to hire people of color. So basically people who did not meet the requirements were not welcomed in the store.

1. Couldn’t you also argue other clothing brands such a FUBU that is intended towards the colored community?

2. He talks a lot about gay men and wearing A&F clothing. Is he suggesting that the majority of men that wear this clothing line are gay?

I found this article to be somewhat interesting but also boring at times. He gives a long overview of how the company was started. But it then picked up when he started to talk about how A&F discriminated against people of color. It was a fairly easy read and I kind of already new about the not hiring of colored people.

This video from what we watched was mainly about black’s rights and what kinds of things they did to achieve them and how people mainly white, acted on the laws which were stated one way but carried out another.

Brown vs. Board of Education- was where it was stated that segregated schools were considered unconstitutional.

Emmet Till- fourteen year old boy who was from Chicago to visit his uncle in Alabama. He said bye to a white girl in a store and in the middle of the night two men came and dragged Emmet out of bed. They then put him in the car and took him by the river and beat him so badly that when he was found in the river the police could not identify him except for the ring on his finger.

J.W. Milan and Roy Bryant- The two men who were accused of killing Emmet Till but were found not guilty after a five day trial.

Segregation was a big thing and everything that you could imagine was segregated, from restaurants to drinking fountains. Many things or actions were taken by the black community to make a movement towards their rights. Such examples are sit-ins, little rock school incident, and Rosa Park’s bus incident. Such actions needed to be taken because if they just sat back and let the things happen nothing would change. It definitely took a bunch of courage because the protesters would face jail time or even getting beaten up by the whites or white gangs. An example of a white “gang” would be the KKK and they would even go to the extent of hanging black people.

1. During the riots or protests would the police ever kill a black person and not get in trouble for it?

2. Why is Martin Luther king Jr. looked at as probably the most influential person in the civil rights movement?

I found this movie to be very interesting from what I’ve seen so far. It allows you to see how and what black people had to go through and the severity of certain situations. It makes you appreciate the rights that we do have and that we should not take them for granted.

Thesis: Slavery importation was abolished in 1808 but just because there was a law about it there was, still many people who imported illegal slaves. In this chapter Zinn talks about how slave’s families were split up, slave revolts were actually not that common in the U.S., and how blacks would escape to freedom.

Harriet Tubman- Was the most famous “conductor” of the Underground Railroad.

Underground Railroad- A series of checkpoints that runaway blacks would stop at and it would help them to reach freedom.

Fugitive Slave Act- made it easy for slave owners to recapture ex-slaves or simply to pick up blacks they claimed had run away.

This chapter begins talking about how when slavery was first abolished the plantation owners didn’t realize that they would need more slaves, so even though slavery was illegal they would import slaves anyway. It then goes into how people usually think that there were a lot of slave revolts, when in fact there were hardly any and probably the biggest one which took place in New Orleans where a group of four hundred slaves went from plantation to plantation but were quickly stopped by the U.S. army. Following that point it goes into talking about Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad. This system and Harriet alone helped lead thousands of slaves to freedom. It then goes into this thought that slavery hurt the black family but in fact it has been shown in the Federal Writers Project showed that it was just the opposite. The slaves felt like they belonged to their own community where the all adults looked after the children as if they are all related. Then the Fugitive Slave Act comes into play in 1850. It made it easy for slave owners to recapture ex-slaves or claim blacks that they believed to be a runaway. All of this was fuel to the fire which eventually led to the Civil War. One of the bloodiest wars ever to happen and most American deaths even with other wars combined.

1. When the Fugitive Slave Act went into affect did a lot of slave owners just claim any black people as runway slaves, and if they were free slaves would the free slaves be able to fight it?
2. Why would the country abolish slavery when they would know that it would make a big dent in the economy’ profit, I mean isn’t that what were about?

I found this article to be kind of boring. I found it hard to stay focused, not because it was a tuff read but it just wasn’t that exciting. I did pull some information away from it but it was not an enjoyable read.

Pre-writing #2

I have changed my idea from using the capitalism idea and have decided to go with the argument that deals with the video The Power of An Illusion Part I and II. My argument will be how we as Americans have created this thing called race and how we believe that there is a biological reason for it, how we as a country believe that all men are created equal but do not carry out that fraise.

1. I will be using the video The Power of An Illusion Part I and II
2. First I will discuss how we have created the idea of race and how we believe it is biological. Then I will add support by using data or information from the movie.
3. Then I will talk about how we as Americans do not really act upon the phrase “all men are created equal” and also use supporting detail from the movie.

Rosenblum & Travis

Thesis: Difference is classified by the American conception of race, sex, gender, social class, and sexual orientation. In this chapter of Rosenblum and Travis it talks about all of the different ways and how people are looked at by the society.

Master Statuses- Race, sex, class, and sexual orientation. Master statuses are the ones that (in most or all social situations) dominate or over power any of the other social statuses.

Constructionist- Belief that conceptions have no meaning except that given by the observer.

Essentialist- That certain things exist in the world and we just simply observe them.

Stigma- A bodily sign designed to expose something unusual and bad about the moral status of an individual.

This chapter gives a variety of ways that society looks at people or groups and how our society is separated into statuses. Our society revolves around these things called statuses, which separates classes. These statuses consist of race, sex, gender, etc. There are also differences between the statuses such as the master status, which in whatever case overpowers the other statuses. This chapter then goes into this idea of essentialist and constructionist. The essentialists “are likely to view categories of people as essentially different in some important way; constructionist are likely to see these differences as socially created and arbitrary. Naming is another category which creates social conflict because what can really be classified as a name. If someone is white does that just mean that or are there other possibilities such as German, English, Gay, or British. Then there is this creation of categories or dichotomizing. This means that people are separated into certain groups or classes based on their appearance or other criteria. This leads to the construction of others such as aggregates which are the master statuses and they ignore the other statuses and their problems. The last thing is sanctioning of those who associate with the “other.” The best example would be those who marry outside their race, religion, or social class. This can lead to the person being placed in that category even if they accept it or not.

1. How can someone be identified as a certain category of race if they are split in half? (For example I am half Mexican and half white, but people don’t look at me as Mexican. But on the other hand someone can be half black and half white and they are considered black.)
2. For the physical disability idea how would someone be categorized if they are in a wheel chair or have other disability’s and they are rich?

I thought this article to be somewhat interesting. I kind of knew most of this stuff from learning it in my SOC class, but provided me with a little more in depth look. I didn’t realize that there were so many different ways people were categorized. I mean I heard of the basics but there are so many sub groups.

Ideas for Analysis paper#1

1. Where Zinn, Johnson, and Takaki stand on the idea of capitalism
2. Takakis point of view of the "savage" person

I am leaning more towards the first idea because it would allow me to compare the three authors and be able to see how their view are the same and how they differ. I would basically start by giving an introduction of the basic idea of capitalism and how it affects/affected our couontry. Then i would maybe dedicate a paragraph to each of the authors perspective and explain where their coming from. I would then possibly give a a paragraph that summarizes the points, showing what they agree on and disagree on. The end of the paper would be the conclusion which i would maybe give my point of view.

Take home quiz 3

Thesis: We should stop worrying about the little things that triggers diversity and realize that we are all equal. Sarah’s main points in this article we should not have a month dedicated to a certain race or group because we should treat people the way we want to be treated everyday.

In this article Sarah discusses the different kinds of aspects or so called whining that people do. She uses the example of the women complaining that they are not treated like men and they do not have the same opportunities. She then talks about the homosexuals and wanting to also be treated as a normal human being. Sarah states that the homosexual group is looking for equality, but on the other hand they parade around telling everyone that they are different. Finally she uses the example of an authority figure slipping on words and saying something that is not politically correct.

1. Does she truly believe that everyone has an equal opportunity?

2. Why do we have black history month/haven’t there been other groups that have also been treated unfairly?

I thought this article to be kind of harsh and biased. I can see where she is coming from, but she is not looking at the whole picture. Yes we all believe that everyone should or is suppose to be treated equally, but we all know of many cases where that belief is not true. We desperately want everyone to be able top achieve the American dream, but we all know that some people may just be stuck. For example I was watching a show last night called “True Life” and I was about people that live in the projects. One of the women that was apart of the show explained how hard it was to get a job because she was a black women coming from the projects and employers might not say it to your face, but they are probably thinking this person is bad news. I know everyone wants to believe that everyone is treated as an equal, but the truth is that we have a long way to go until that happens. I would also like to compare a method that Johnson calls "deny and minimize" and how what Sarah says about certain issues. For the minimize part she says that slavery was a cruel thing but it was in our past time and we shouldn't dwell on it. She recognizes the fact that it happened but kind of pushes it under the rug. For the deny part she says that women and men have equal rights. she totally denies the fact this theory doesn't exist.

Johnson chap6 "what it has to do with us"

Thesis: To do something about the trouble surrounding privilege, power, and difference, we have to talk about it. The main idea of this article was to show how we as people act certain ways because that has how society has taught us. We do things that are considered the norm to avoid embarrassment or confrontation. Also we learn how society sets certain standards that people are suppose to act a certain way. This article explains how in order to make judgment on the social life you have to understand it and study it. Some key words in this chapter:

Individualism- This belief that the social world begins and ends with individuals. Individualistic thinking leads to us assuming that what is someone else’s problem isn’t ours.

Social systems- Is a group of people that participate in relation to one another. For example a university is a social system because teachers and students come together with different roles, but interact with each other.

Personal Identity- This includes gender, race, ethnicity, class, religion, disability status, and sexual orientation.

This chapter starts off talking about how people do not like to feel uncomfortable. This leads to the problem of not realizing that privilege and power do exist. In order to even begin to start to solve these problems we as humans have to recognize that they exist. Until we do nothing will get accomplished. Johnson then talks about how society thinks individualistically. People feel that they should not have to deal with problems that are not their own. For example sexism is created because it is the “men’s” fault. Individualistic thinking leads to an issue like sexism being talked about or not being talked about at all. In order to surpass this we have to recognize that the individualistic way is wrong. The media, parents, peers, coaches, etc. shape the way we think. An example from the chapter is a TV show Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray Barone routinely treats his wife Debra in ways that are insensitive, sexist, and adolescent which in then end of the show Debra forgive him and still loves him. This sends a message to that women are suppose to basically take that kind of mistreatment without complaint and love their husband no matter how they are treated. Another way that people are shaped is through the “paths of least resistance.” This means that we choose ways that will not cause commotion. For example if you are in an elevator you do not turn around and face the other people in the elevator, you stand facing the door because that is what is considered the norm. People do not like to go against the norm because it makes them feel uncomfortable.

1. Is thinking individualistically a bad thing?

2. Does Johnson believe that people will drop the idea of individualistic thinking?

I found this chapter to kind of boring and repetitive. It was informative for the most part but I found it hard to stay focused. He provided some examples to support his ideas but stayed on the topic of monopoly to long and it kind of got confusing at times.

Zinn chapt 2 "color line"

Thesis: “There has not been a country in world history in which racism has been more important, for so long a time, as the United States. The main overview of this chapter is how slaves became slaves, how they were treated and how they were selected. Some key points are:
The color line- where questions arise such as how did it start? How might it end? Or is it possible for whites and blacks to live together?
Slave trade- a very messy business, where slave traders would go and capture people from Africa and bring them back to their country to sell. On the journey it is estimated that about 1/3 of the people would die do to the horrendous conditions. Not just used in the America’s but also it was big in western European countries.
Feudalism- consisted of hierarchies/lords, vassals. Africa also had a feudal system- strongly supported with tribal life.
In this chapter Zinn discusses how slaves were treated, the horrible conditions of the slave ships, how the black man was taken advantage of, and why the white plantation owners were so scared of revolts. He starts off with explaining how our capitalistic views became the backbone of the slave. The white mans drive of making profit and finding ways to create a lot of crops which leads to needing a lot of help. The English first thought about using the Indians but realized that it would not be a good idea. Yes the white man could over power them with their technology but as soon as they put the native people to work it was over. It would be very hard to keep the Indians under watch because they would run away and have no problem with surviving because they knew the land and could take care of themselves. As for the black man, he was taken from his country and brought to this new place which was very unfamiliar and would not know where to go if he/she was to run away or how to take care of themselves. This made it a lot easier for the white man to keep control. Don’t get me wrong there were plenty of runaway black slaves but they kind of stuck out like a sore thumb. One of his main arguments was about the slave trade itself. He gives a few descriptions about the slave ships and the so called “death marches.” The slave traders would go over to Africa and round up as many slaves as they could, stuff them on to a ship, and send off to various countries. The conditions were so bad one person wrote it looked like a slaughter how due to all the blood and dead carcasses. Many blacks would jump over board and end the suffering. When done with that they would sometimes be forced to walk hundreds of miles in shackles. Where about 2 out of every 5 would die. Zinn then talks about how many of the plantation owners were in fear of revolts. The slave population was growing so much that if formed correctly, it could be very powerful.
How would the slave traders make a profit if all of these slaves would either die on the slave ships or on the marches?
What made African people such a primary target for slavery?
I found this article to somewhat boring. I have already heard a majority of this kind of stuff and it didn’t really grab my attention. I mean I knew about how awful the slave trade process was, what happened to runaway slaves, why the whites would fear revolts, and why Indian would be a good choice for a slave. This chapter did not really present any new ideas.

Johnson chap3 "matrix domination"

Thesis: Capitalism creates classism, racism, and sexism and you can never have one “privilege” without getting put down in another category. Johnson’s main points are how capitalism affects our economy, and how it creates class conflicts. This chapter also describes how you can not be defined by one single social category.
In this chapter Johnson starts off with how capitalism is what makes the economy go round. He describes how it affects everyday life and more importantly the people. It is a system to make as much money as you can and being able to pay workers the lowest wages possible (leads to more money). It creates a huge gap between the classes now. The middle class is not the most populated anymore. You are either on one end of the spectrum (rich) or on the opposite end (poor). The middle class is losing value because they are either being replaced by technology or companies are finding people to work for less money that the average white person would accept (minorities). The capitalist want the white male to adopt this idea of “whiteness” so that they still feel more privileged than that of a colored because they are white. The idea of whiteness only goes so far because when they see that their jobs are being taken away by minorities who will work for less they begin to build up hate. Instead of hating the capitalist who created this, they blame the people of color. Thus this leads to fewer unions or organizations that are created in companies because the owners will just bring in colored people who will not object to the wages or conditions and just work. Johnson explains how this pushed idea of whiteness hurts the white man because it discourages them from working and just be happy they are white, so that the companies can pay lower wages to and make a bigger profit. Then this idea of other classes comes into play where a person can be white but then looked down upon because he or she is gay. This kind of example happens very often and there is usually something about a person that would maybe make them appear less superior to someone else. In other words it can also be described as a “matrix of domination.”
1. Why does this idea of profit create social class conflicts?
2. Will there soon not be a middle class if the current situation continues?
I thought this article to very interesting. I never really thought about the different categories of what people can be placed in. It helped me realize that a person may not get a job because they are gay or of color. I mean yah some people would assume that a white person would get a job over a colored person, but that could go out the door when the white person and colored are of equality but the white male or female is gay. Then the employer decides to go with the colored based on sexuality. I mean the types of situations can go on and on but the fact is that competition is so fierce every little detail about you counts.

Takaki Chapter 3 "giddy multitude"

Thesis: In the English mind, the color black was freighted with an array of negative images: “deeply stained with dirt, foul, dark or deadly, and wicked.” The main idea of this chapter is that right from the get go the whites saw blacks as different and believed them to be the “Devil’s incarnate.” The English already were making judgment on the African people because of their skin color. I mean it is pretty harsh to say that someone has the Devil in them. Also this chapter talks about the slavery.
In the beginning of this chapter Takaki explains how from first sight of the blacks the English profiled them and made judgment. They believed that the color black was evil and it must have been created by the Devil. The English said that the black’s skin looked like it had been scorched by the sun and they called them cannibals. Then he talks about slavery of the Irish and African’s. Sometimes families or anybody for that matter could be taken from their beds in the middle of the night and put onto a ship. With everyone aboard it set sail for America. When they arrived they would be sold and put to work on plantations. They would be forced to work all day no matter what conditions and then achy, tired, and hungry they would return to the huts. Many would try to escape, but if you were caught you would pay the price by lashes or some other sort of pain. Takaki explains how there was even racism in amongst the slaves. If a black person and a white person were caught for the same thing the black person would suffer a more sever punishment. For example two white men and a black man were caught for running away. They all received lashes and the white men were forced to spend one for additional year with their master, but for the black man he had to serve his master for the rest of his life. He also states how slavery wasn’t invented in New England, but it documented to be used in the West Indies. However, when Virginia started to boom they produced a lot of tobacco and needed help raising crops. They use to consider prisoners of war as slaves. But soon they found that they could use these color people for work and property. Even though there is all this talk about slavery, it increased very slowly. But soon it made its dent in America. They said there were as many slaves as slave buyers. This chapter also explains the “giddy multitude” that was formed by the whites that felt they were duped into coming to America. In Virginia A man named Isaac Friend led a conspiracy consisting of forty servants. This sort of incident also happened three years latter in Berkeley Virginia. Then towards the end it talks about Thomas Jefferson and his ideas on how to avoid social conflicts.
I felt that this selection was interesting but I did not see how someone could say that kind of stuff about someone else just because of their opinion. I mean like I said earlier that is really low to say someone was created by the devil and is a cannibal just because of skin color. I mean I guess times, such as religion had a lot to do with it, but I just don’t get it. Also I found it very interesting about how even between the black and white slaves the black slaves were treated worse. I didn’t know that and it didn’t really surprise me because of what I have read about the English behavior prior to this chapter.
Why aren’t the white slaves talked about as much as the black slaves?
Why did black slave become the primary workforce in America?

Screen Race:power of illusion part1

The main idea or point that the author/video is trying to get across is that race is a biological myth or idea that we as a society have created. This video tries to show us that yes our skin color is different but our genetics are not that far off from each other. It is stated that there is as much if not more difference within the same race than that of separate races. Actually we are the closest to each other genetically than any other species. Questions arise such as who decides race and what could be described as a racial life? In other words we have to look at the person as a whole and not just the outside because sure your skin color could be different, but there are thousands of years of genes that have been passed to you and they could have come from different parts of the world. Yet a person is racial zed by what the color of their skin may be.
In this movie many different points are brought up about what defines race. Most people look at the visual differences of that person such as body shape, skin tone, etc. These kinds of assumptions created the five different groups known as races. People are put into a certain race base on certain characteristics that they posses. Again this is showing the idea of the external. There is nothing proving that a certain biological thing can define race. It is a myth like I have stated earlier that us as humans have created. Some use this myth to explain the differences such as athletic ability. People can argue that a black person has an extra muscle in their leg that makes them run faster. It is said that population differs by distance and location. There is a continuous change in skin color or in other words you can not pick out a specific area and say that is where this color lives.
This movie was very interesting in that I would have never guessed that we of all species are the closest related in terms of DNA. I mean we seem so different but we are not. What really caught my attention was the stuff about certain races having athletic advantages/the athletic gene. I have always wondered if that was true and nothing has been proven yet but I hope one day that this question will receive an answer. I do agree with the movie the stuff about what we as people look at to determine a person’s race. We should not be the deciders of that.
1. Why is it a certain person can be labeled Mexican or white if they are both? (Example- I am half Mexican and half white but I am labeled as white because that is what my outer appearance portrays.)
2. Will there ever be a connection found between biological factors and race?

Takaki Chap2

Thesis: “in their first encounters with Europeans, the Indians tried to relate the strangers to what was familiar in their world. The main idea of this chapter was to show how the English were out to install civilization in those countries that seemed to have none. They felt that it was their duty or Gods will to change the way people live and make them who aren’t more civilized. Also it showed how single minded the English were by labeling anybody who seemed to live barbarically in their eyes as “savages”. This chapter shows how they would stop at nothing even if it meant murder to create a “civilized” nation.
In the beginning of this selection it shows where the English started pushing this idea of civilization in three cites-Ireland, Virginia, and New England. It starts off first telling us about the way the Irish lived and where the “savage” name is introduced. It was known as a person or group of people that live on the outside of “civilization”. The Irish were seen as people who lacked the knowledge of God, no manners, nomadic/hunters, and no sense of private property. They were also called lazy and not willing to work for their own food, such as to harvest it. So then came along the brutality of the English, where they would try to use force to scare the Irish into accepting their way of life. They would murder families and destroy villages. In one case a man name Sir Humphrey Gilbert ordered that all the heads of people killed to be chopped off and brought to him. He would line the heads up parallel to each other creating a walk way to his tent that he hoped would scare the Irish into becoming civilized by seeing the heads of family and friends. Then this expansionism idea of civilization made its way to America. The Indians were compared to the Irish because they lived the same way but the difference was that they lived in peace where the Irish stole from each other and lived in turmoil. The Indians shared a “large dish” and everyone can eat and hunt together in peace and love. They did not care about boundaries or private property. In fact they would even share their food with the colonist that were dieing of starvation because the land did not live up to the expectations. They natives were not a hostile group and yet the English were extremely hostile to them. It was either join us or be exterminated. Like I have stated earlier they felt it was Gods will. It was even said that when the English brought over new diseases that wiped out close to half of the native population, they claimed that this was Gods way over making room. Some officers would even go to the extent of meeting with tribal leaders and poisoning their drinks killing them leaving no one to defend the rest of the tribe which were slaughtered. Thus begun a process of “cultural construction” which would create a national label, that we would have to live with for centuries to come.
My reaction to this article is that this is a subject that we see going on in our everyday life and will probably never stop. I mean it seems that if someone else’s country is having a problem we try to install our way of living thinking that it will fix everything. In some cases it works but in a lot more cases it fails because people do not want to be told how to live. It almost seems that we think of ourselves as better or at least the way we live is better. But what works for one nation may not be the solution for another. It just seems that when you start trying to help everyone else you ignore or push aside the problems that are going on in your own country.
1. Should it be our job or even a certain races job to decide how people live?
2. What does the word savage really mean and did the Indians fulfill that definition?

Introduction Post

My name is Michael Falter and I am from Perrysburg Ohio. I enjoy playing sports. Sports are what helped make me into the person that I am today. They have helped me learn team work, self determination, and hard work. My favorite sport is baseball and my second favorite is football. I also love golf, basketball, and hockey. I am one of three kids, me being the oldest. I have two sisters who are twelve and sixteen. I am very close with them which may sound weird because you don’t often here of older brothers getting along with their younger sisters, at least I don’t. I have a really good relationship with my dad. Every Saturday I go home and watch football with him and we just hang out and talk sports. I feel that I am blessed to have a caring father and mother because you see so often the exact opposite. A surprising thing that not very many people know except my friends is that I am half Mexican. I get it from my moms side. I never got to meet either of my grandpas because both of them died before I was born. I also only have one grandma left because the other one died about three years ago. My favorite team doesn’t matter pro or not is The Ohio State Buckeye. I bleed scarlet and gray. In fact next year I will be transferring there. I have wanted to go there since I was born. I didn’t apply myself enough in high school so I didn’t get accepted but now I have good enough grades and got in. I am undecided in my major but I am have narrowed it down to business or exercise science, which leads me to my next point. I love working out and staying in shape. I work out everyday Monday through Sunday not taking a day off. Watching the buckeyes and playing sports are the only things that I enjoy more. I especially love it when I can help someone change the way their body looks. It is probably kind of the feeling of being a teacher when your students do well. I really hate the winter except if I lived next to or really close to a ski resort. Other than that if I never had to experience winter again I would be just fine with that. I am what you would call a summer/spring guy and especially fall because its football time.

Zinn Chapter 1

Thesis- “like other states of the modern world, Spain sought gold, which was becoming the new mark of wealth, more useful than land because it could buy anything”. The main idea of this article was to show how the desire of wealth and fame can lead to turmoil. In this chapter the author was not really making an argument but more so giving a different point of view. We all know the story of Christopher Columbus as being happy and exciting and not filled with blood shed and hostility because that is what we grew up with. Very few of us know or knew that there was an evil side to the story as we have found out from this chapter.
Columbus set out for Asia in search of gold and riches and instead miscalculated his route and ended up in what is now the Americas by pure accident. He was greeted by the Arawak’s which were the native people to the new land. They were very open and shared everything in their possession with the whites because that was their lifestyle. Instead of becoming good friends with the natives the whites took advantage of the Arawak’s giving and their life. They used them as slaves to dig for this gold that Columbus so desperately wanted to find. There was some gold found in the rivers at first and it was taken back to the king of Spain and was impressed but also helped by Columbus’s urging that he granted Columbus a huge expedition. He became so obsessed that the native peoples had to report every three months and have gold to give which would then lead to them receiving a copper coin and if found without one your hands would be chopped off and you would bleed to death. Columbus’s desire to find this gold could have come from the love of his country and king or the more obvious reason greed. Whatever it was it led to the complete annihilation of the Arawak people that lived on what is now Haiti. Plus this piece was to show how history can be biased and that we should not believe everything we read. Most people know Columbus as a hero, but few know the other side of the story. Zinn believes that history should be not just be memorized it should be debated and looked at from multiple angles.
My reaction to this article was a little surprising in that I did not know that the extent of the cruelty. Like I said earlier you could look at it as a mans love for his country and king or the wanting fame. Personally I feel it is greed because how can a man do these kinds of things to people just to make his king happy. I mean times might have been different but to basically kill of an entire population on an island is a little ridiculous. I just don’t see why they had to rush things. It is exciting but if you are kind to the natives then it would make them more willing to return the favor. I mean they already welcomed the whites to their land with open arms and not even knowing them. I also agree with Zinn in that we should not believe everything we read because it could be someones opinion or just something written from one point of veiw. You very rarely see history written from the conquered's point of view.
1. Why were the Arawak people so welcoming to the whites when they were so different from them ?
2. Should Christopher Columbus be looked at as a hero or as a mass murderer?