Internet=Utopia??

A place where there are only minds, is this a Utopia, and can it be found with in the Internet? Every morning I wake up and instantly turn on my music, load my e-mail, while checking my facebook all the same time. It is said that the virtual universe is a universe of anti racism, and no one cares about the ethnicity you are. But in fact, there are many hidden and subliminal messaging going on behind the scenes of our P.C’s.
In the document we read called Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity, and Identity on the Internet it explains that there is an anthem that commercials play repeatedly on the television. This anthem speaks of the Internet being a way to discover the world, or to expand society past gender, and race, and even the age factor. Their idea of discovering the world is simply logging on to their networks, and looking at a series of pictures from around the world. For example, it is said that they portray the scene with camels and pyramids having blue skies and bright sand surrounding it. But, where is the trash and the road kill, or airborne warning and control systems? It also goes to explain how the third world countries are portrayed as unspoiled, and truly different. Truly different? This shocked me that they would put this in an ad because it just goes to show how un-open people are today about other cultures. If there is a tribe in Africa where women are dominate, and they take their last names our society would say that it was weird, and try to change them instead of us taking a step back and looking around to see what is wrong in our culture.
When I first read over this article my first reaction was, “what!” But, after reevaluating and discussing it in class I have began to see the different stereotypes, and racial mocks that are posted all over the internet. For instance, the place called youtube in which movies are openly submitted are often times, racial and said to be funny because of the racial slurs with in it. Not only are the movies on the Internet portraying wrongful messages, but also just the pictures posted on things like facebook, and myspace. These are web pages that many teens use today, and don’t even realize the meanings behind the pictures they are looking at. All in all, the Internet is no utopia, but just another reality with the double meaning pictures, and the slurs that put other people down.

trends of today

Walking through a mall today a person can usually see instantly the different groups of people just by what they are wearing and where they are shopping. People today judge on the outside, and clothing plays a major role in deciding which “groups” one would hang out with. Every store has its targeted audience, there is fubu with its target of young black teens, and then we have hot topic for the “punk” audience. There is also a store called Abercrombie and Fitch who has a main target of young teens of today. However earlier in their campaign, they targeted what they would call the all-American, the young white teen.
This company started out as a modest out doors shop that clothed the best for hunting trips. It was stated that they even clothed Teddy Roosevelt for his hunting trips to Africa. However, Fitch retired in 1928 as the company was just beginning to expand its horizon and opening in the Midwest and the west coast. This is when the major changes began to roll in and take over the company. Then a thing called the look book began to evolve around the company. This book stated what you could or could not wear. It had the looks that were and were not allowed. For example, its states in the look book that no golden chains can be worn in fear that it will look like people like Mr. T, and that there is to be only one piercing on the girls. They made logos stating it was the American store, and they were the classic people. The look book even said that a ring may be worn on any finger except the thumb. This was because if the ring is on the thumb it could signify an alternative life style such as gay and that would be deadly for the company.
What I don’t understand from this company is why they think that white is all American. When in fact the only “true” American is the Native Americans. Also looking back through and over the look book, everything that was a no go related to something that made you look like you were in a minority. It makes me laugh when really looking back through today, the store is trying to be unique now, and expanding on “diversity”. Over all I can see where a&f is coming from because there are other stories targeted for different races, but then again I believe they cross the line with the look book and claiming they are the American store.

Movie Part three! ;)

Walking down a street, or on the way to class you spot someone, what is the first thing you see? The average person bases race on physical appearance. We base is on things such as eyes, color, hair, and even the nose type. Yet it is a fact that there is no sub-species so why do we look and or even care? America is known as the Melting Pot, where everyone can assimilate to the “American” ways. But in 1915 a man named Leo Frank was pulled from Jail and killed for murdering a white girl. This may sound typical of the time, but if you really think about it he’s a Jew, which typically in that era it means he was also light skinned. So what was white back then, obviously it was no longer the color of your skin anymore. Whiteness changed from color, to religion, heritage, and freedom or wealth. In the movie it even goes on to explain that the term white was brought into the court system. A Berkley Grad named Takao Okawa applied for citizenship in Hawaii and was denied. It was clearly noted that Takao may have been Japanese, but appeared whiter them most men that were considered to be white!
Then at the end of World War two, the federal government made the federal housing administration. This consisted of loans for the average Americans. The GI Bill was well know n the town of Levitown, which took the average monthly payment of one hundred and fifty down to a mere sixty five dollars per month. The problem with this system was that even though it was to be equal and for all men in reality, it was for the white man of that day and age. Red lining played a major role in who got what house, and what social standing a person was going to get in their homes. Real estate tangoed with which neighborhood it was placed in and what color of people were mainly in that area. The more black people moved into an area, the more the real estate went down. The community and property value was based on how many white people were in that area, white people became cash. Even today we struggle with equality amongst living conditions and payments. The average black person has one eighth of that of the white community. I think the movie gave a good point for the last line. “Why can’t we all just be a colorblind society?”

chapter 7 Takaki

“So began the revolt to wrest California from Mexico and establish what would be called the Bear Flag Republic ( 167)”. I took this quote because it pretty much establishes what this first section is about. In chapter seven of Takaki it goes in detail to explain what happened wit h the Irish and Mexicans during the Manifest Destiny in the Southwest. He then goes on to explain the change in distinguishing Californians and Mexicans, and saying how “Americans” were struggling with inter-mixing relationships. But this looses me in who is considered American at this time and who is not. Once the Anglos had an upper hand they began to establish state legislature aimed at the Mexican Americans. For example on page 178 it explains they had an act referred to as the Greaser Act. This act said all persons who are commonly known as greasers or not peaceable and quiet persons. A foreign miner’s tax of twenty dollars took fees mainly from Spanish-speaking miners, including American citizens of Mexican ancestors. Before they knew it many Mexicans found themselves stung into a system similar to the caste system. It gives examples on page 186 explaining how the Anglo’s would own a ranch in a place like Texas, and the cow hands were then Mexican. Finally around the early nineteen hundreds they began to go on strike for their rights wit h their fellow laborers of the Japanese descent. “Abajo los gerents” This was supposedly a good line taken from the Mexican at this time which interprets to down with the bosses. This is around the time when the mutualistas were formed. These were laborers as well as shopkeepers and professionals such as lawyers, newspaper editors, and doctors. These assoc. helped people cover emergency situations with loans and etc. “They were a dispelled myth of the Mexicans as a quite, siesta loving, sombrero people (190).”
When reading this section, a lot of different things came across my mind. First off, in the middle of this section it was saying that they were making the Mexicans pay extra and treating them like dirt. But who were they to honestly determine who was American and who wasn’t? I’m honestly surprised by how long it took the Mexicans to rebel against them in the first place. Looking through history there was power in numbers and no one seemed to realize that until they were at their last straw. For example, the Irish and the indentured slavery, the African American slavery that turned into a war. The Mexicans turned into a dangerous and invigorating rebellion and a war.

how jews became white

Conventional wisdom has it that the United States has always been an affluent land of opportunity. But the truth is that affluence has been the exception and that real upward mobility has required massive affirmative action programs (50). Karen Brodkin makes a very good point here suggesting that the reason that people of minority cultures moved up wasn’t due to one reason of working hard, but also for the movement of affirmative action. Affirmative action is a program that is around to try and level the playing field, or to make as many opportunities as equal as they should be. One example of this is title nine through out the school system. Schools must have as many girl programs in the athletic program as the boys. Secondly in this quotes she makes it clear for one to really think about is the United States a place of real opportunity now, and was it in the past? This really got me thinking about if I were here in the nineteen twenties what would become of me? Especially with my heritage of Irish, would this really be an opportune place for me to migrate to? This chapter also goes on to explain what red lining was and the Gi Bill. Until this chapter I never really quite understood why they call it red lining. Red lining was given this name because bankers and loaners would have this map that would circle in green the places in which they were to keep out the minorities, and then circle in red where they were allowed. The sad part about this whole situation is that it was kept away from the public eye so no one could pin on them discrimination. It also goes on to explain just how corrupt the GI Bill truly was. For example, the men were promised a better education, a good amount of money, and security. Out of all three the African Americans only received one, and it was horrible education compared to what they should have got.
Over all, reading this paper I got mixed reactions. My mixed reactions however, were and are mainly over the topic of affirmative action. Affirmative action could be good in a sense that it is trying to equal job and school opportunities. However, on the other hand I’m kind of shaky about the whole idea due to the meaning it. I know as a woman in the employment area I would not want to get my job to help out a statistic. But in summary, this paper has opened my eyes to the struggles that were put on minorities not only of color but of different religion. Color back then wasn’t all they shunned but also the lesser amount of religion in society.

emmigrants from erin

When I lay me down to sleep, the ugly bugs around me creep, bad luck to the wink that I can sleep, while working on the railroad. This was a common riddle or song that the Irish would sing while beating down on nails for the railroad system all day long. This song really hit me hard because it sounds very similar to the Christian prayer that many children say before they go to bed. In my history class at my high school we learned of the potato famine, but never anything to the extent of discrimination that took place when the arrived in America. Takaki explains throughout this chapter that the Irish were not considered “white” but instead another version of the African American slaves. This began a hate war between the Irish heritage, and the African American descendants. They came up with songs and rhymes with threats of rage if one would approach them. They viewed blacks as “a soulless race”. The Irish were not only affected by the black race, but also by the dominant group who claimed the Irish were not white at all and continued to look down upon them. The women who worked in homes as maids or nanny’s were not to have husbands because it was of an inconvenience for them. However, one may think that being a nanny would be better then working the mills with degrading men, but if you really look at it either job was horrific on them. For instance, if you worked in the domestic care field then you had to constantly live with those people and get looked down upon constantly and work twenty-four seven. While in the mills you were working with men who were very degrading, however, you could leave at the end of the day and put all of that slander away.
In summary while reading this chapter it really opened my eyes to how history repeats itself over and over. One would think that people would learn from the past mistakes and stop trying to get more and more. Also, it surprised me just how much they overlooked the similarities between the British and the Irish men. For the extent of which the British exaggerated how important color was they really pushed aside the extreme paleness in which the Irish were. My heritage is largely from the Irish side and before reading this I never really realized just how many struggles the Irish settlers went through just to get their foot in door. I will never forget many of the songs I have read in this chapter, they have really struck a nerve while reading through some of them. The Irish men had a hard life, just as the natives, and the slaves before that.

el norte!

In the early nineteenth century, many Mexicans saw the Americas as flowing rivers full of opportunity and riches. During this time period rebels were flowing throughout their beloved country of Mexico. So naturally, they began to migrate toward the Americas in search of better job opportunities. However, what they would later learn was that they were inferior, or dominated and seen as strictly blue-collar workers. Anglos began to see them as tools for their industry, or cheap farm equipment. They were as said to be born agriculturalist, and able to bend and kneel through the day unlike the Anglos who were not built to work. They began to bring the families into the Americas, rather then just the husband sending money back home to his family. One would think this is a noble thing to do, but on the contrary they were just doing this for selfish reason such as it would make the Mexicans happier therefore more work would come of them. Or, they also did this for the reasoning of if they saw the Mexicans were happy, then they would feel better about themselves. The dominant society promised the families that they would educate their children, which kept the parents full of hope for a better life for their young. On the other hand, the schools provided had very little education, and more of an environment to teach the children obedience, and told them this was all they needed to get through life because they would be working in the fields. The Mexicans were looked down upon as not only farm equipment, but as more began to come to the USA, they were looked at more toward farm animals. For example, in the text on page 325 it states that the Mexicans are trash, and they have no standard of living, we herd them like pigs. This was stated because the pay of a Chicano was two dollars or 1.75 for each 100 pounds of cotton, which was ridiculous. To get this one hundred pounds Chicanos would pick cotton as a family to put bread on their table at the end of the week.
While reading through this section of Takaki, the part that stunned me the most was when they were discussing the working conditions of the mothers/ wives. The wives of the Chicanos were expected to also work in the fields with the husbands with all the children. They would baby-sit or walk around carrying the child while picking their crops to survive off. Not only did they have to do the hard labor during the day, but at night the wives back then were also expected to cook dinner, put the kids to bed, and tidy up the things in which they had. I have grown the greatest respect for these women because today, I could never imagine going through what they did back then. Also what surprised me was the lack of education the children were put through. I could never imagine being told that the only thing I needed in life was to obey my dominant group.
In conclusion, this section of Takaki opened my eyes to the other minorities of the early nineteen hundreds. It covered a lot in one chapter of the struggles and hardships of the Mexicans. The land of opportunity wasn’t as opportune as it was made to be in my history class. I just wish I would have learned some of this before, because before now I only learned of the African Americans and the Civil War. There is obviously a lot more to the history of the USA then in our small text in elementary and high school.