Meyer Media Portfolio Entry #10

I found this comic here. It was drawn by Ted Rall. The comic depicts several different white people talking about what kind of person they would give their vote to for President of the United States. It makes a comparison between the time when Colin Powell was considering running for president and Barack Obama. The entire strip is loaded with sarcasm and is very critical of the notion that Americans may put a Black man into the office of the president. I chose this comic strip this week because it is a good representation of the racism that still exists in politics and the government today.

We have discussed the idea that race is socially constructed in this class several times. In this cartoon we are shown several different ways that people are holding on to their racial issues without even really knowing it. It goes back to Johnson’s Getting off the Hook chapter. Whites may be aware of the oppression of blacks and they feel guilty for that. They then lie to themselves until they convince themselves that they are not racist because they would vote for a black man or whatever other reason they can come up with. The truth is that there is still a lot of racism hidden in America and government. The comic strip hints that the only way a black man will win the presidency is if he/she is willing to become more “white.”

When I came across this comic strip, I found myself thinking the comments sound very familiar. It is sad and amazing that we have elected 43 presidents and they all have been white men. In a country that was founded by immigrants and is supposed to be open to everyone, it is amazing that we have so much trouble with diversity and race. It just goes to show how engrained race is in society.

Meyer Media Portfolio Entry #9

What the Youth Know Sergio Bendixen. La Prensa San Diego . San Diego: May 4, 2007. Vol. 31, Iss. 18; pg. 7, 1 pgs Abstract (Summary) One in eight of the nation's young people live in California. Three-fifths are youth of color, and nearly half are immigrants or the children of immigrants. "These young people represent the forefront of the cultural continuum," New America Media Executive Director Sandy Close told us. "To gauge their hopes, fears and perspectives about the future is to glimpse who we are becoming as a society." One thing our conversations with California youth made clear is that this generation embraces, rather than fears, the state's increasing diversity. When asked what defines their identity, they were as apt to cite fashion and music as they were race or ethnicity. The overwhelming majority of young people cited the state's diversity as a strength and maintain diversity among their immediate circle of friends. Two-thirds had dated someone of a different race, and nearly 90 percent said they would be open to marrying or entering into a life partnership with someone of a different race. Given that nearly 90 percent of California's young people expect to get married or enter into life partnerships, and to have children, this raises the prospect of a dramatic increase in mixed-race houses and children of mixed-race heritage. In light of this phenomenon, the entire question of race relations-and the nature of "race" itself-may be forever altered in this and coming generations. Already, only one percent of those polled cited racism or discrimination as the major challenge facing their generation. Full Text (793 words) Copyright La Prensa San Diego May 4, 2007 Each generation is a mystery to the next, and none are more mysterious to us than our own half-grown children. What is important to them, and what do they fear? What's on their iPod, why are they wearing that-and why are these accessories so important to them, anyway? And what on earth are they talking about on those cell phones all day long? Last fall, my firm-Bendixen & Associates of Coral Gables, Florida-in collaboration with San Francisco-based New America Media, undertook an unprecedented effort to plumb that mystery. In the first-ever poll of its kind, we reached out to 600 16-to-22-year-olds via the technology they love best-their cell phones. We focused on California, long perceived as a bellwether for the rest of the nation, and one of the most diverse states in the nation. One in eight of the nation's young people live in California. Three-fifths are youth of color, and nearly half are immigrants or the children of immigrants. "These young people represent the forefront of the cultural continuum," New America Media Executive Director Sandy Close told us. "To gauge their hopes, fears and perspectives about the future is to glimpse who we are becoming as a society." If Close is right, there is much to be hopeful about in the new California. What we found surprised and heartened us. The young people we spoke with left us convinced that California's greatest social capital may be the optimism, and inclusiveness, of the younger generation. Taken together, the 600 voices we listened to via cell phone offered a portrait of a generation coming of age in a society of unprecedented racial and ethnic diversity. If California's young people do in fact reflect our collective future, we are well on our way to a society where race no longer defines identity, and borders matter less than personal relationships and communities born of cultural affinity. California's young people, as reflected in our poll, are strong believers in the American Dream. Overwhelmingly-across race, ethnicity and gender-they believe strongly in their ability to determine their own futures. Despite obstacles, they expect to create successful lives for themselves and imagine a more inclusive and tolerant society for one another. This collective optimism represents a valuable resource for California, and a mirror of what the United States is becoming as a global society. One thing our conversations with California youth made clear is that this generation embraces, rather than fears, the state's increasing diversity. When asked what defines their identity, they were as apt to cite fashion and music as they were race or ethnicity. The overwhelming majority of young people cited the state's diversity as a strength and maintain diversity among their immediate circle of friends. Two-thirds had dated someone of a different race, and nearly 90 percent said they would be open to marrying or entering into a life partnership with someone of a different race. Given that nearly 90 percent of California's young people expect to get married or enter into life partnerships, and to havechildren, this raises the prospect of a dramatic increase in mixed-race houses and children of mixed-race heritage. In light of this phenomenon, the entire question of race relations-and the nature of "race" itself-may be forever altered in this and coming generations. Already, only one percent of those polled cited racism or discrimination as the major challenge facing their generation. This impulse towards inclusion is also reflected in young Californians' attitudes towards immigration. More than 80 percent support giving undocumented immigrants a chance to earn legal status and citizenship. Though they view the breakdown of the family as the biggest challenge feeing their generation-trumping poverty, global warming, violence in their neighborhoods and conflict abroad-California's young people hope and most expect to raise children in lasting partnerships themselves. More than three-quarters of California youth say their lives will be better in 10 years, and expect to have a higher standard of living than their parents. At the same, as tuition rises at the state's major colleges and universities, it should not be surprising that a generation that overwhelmingly aspires to higher education cites school and money as their top sources of personal stress. The optimism and ambition of California's young people are tremendous assets, but also pose challenges. Given rapidly-escalating housing costs; increasing numbers of single-parent households; and high dropout, unemployment and incarceration rates, what will it take to meet their challenge-to create an opportunity society that does justice to their aspirations? These are questions that can't be answered via cell phone-a challenge to all of us, in answer to our children. [Author Affiliation] Sergio Bendixen, head of Bendixen and Associates, conducted the poll commissioned by New America Media and co-sponsored by the University of California Office of the President. For poll results: www.newamericamedia.org/polls

“What the Youth Know” is an article written by Sergio Bendixen for La Prensa San Diego. The article discusses the results of a recent poll of 16 to 22 year olds in California. The focus of the poll was to find out how young adults feel about issues such as race and diversity. The results of the poll were very promising. There seems to be much more tolerance and acceptance of different races. A majority of the people polled said that they had no problem with dating and marring people of a different race. They even cited diversity as one of California’s greatest assets. A future where race is not an issue is very likely if the young people polled are in fact representative of the overall population. I chose this article because it represents the issues we have been discussing throughout this class. Race is socially constructed, so it is a slow process to try to get rid of it. Starting with the young people before society has a chance to effect their perception of race is the only way we can do that.

Johnson repeatedly discusses race as a socially constructed phenomenon. He says that ideas about race are passed down from generation to generation. Society is vital to creating and accentuating the unimportant differences among different races. One of the ways he cites as being a contributor to racial issues is something he calls “paths of least resistance.” He says that people get stuck in a rut of doing things because everyone else does it that way. You don’t encounter any resistance if you conform to the norms of society. That is precisely what makes the article I chose so promising. If a majority of young people have overcome racial tensions by erasing the lines between black and white, tolerance may someday become the norm. The paths of least resistance will include treating all humans equally. It is very difficult to change the thoughts and ideas about race that society has burned into the minds of older people. If it all starts with the younger generation, it will be more likely to succeed. By the time young adults of today become part of the older generation, we may have a society that does not recognize racial lines.

The issues raised in this article do not surprise me. I am not much older than the people represented in this poll and I know that my generation is much more tolerant of racial diversity than generations before us. It is very promising that people are finally starting to realize the negative effects of race. There is still a long way to go, but we are finally seeing some progress.

Bendixen, S. (2007, May 4). “What the Youth Know” LaPrensa San Diego. Retrieved from Ethnic Newswatch Database on July 26, 2007.

Meyer Media Portfolio Entry #8

Here is another cartoon with racial meanings. This cartoon was drawn by Ted Rall. It depicts a news report on the death of the N-word. It makes claims about it getting caught in gang crossfire. Quotes are reported from the F-word and references were made to the safety of other words. I choose this cartoon because it is about a current event and it is also related to Johnson’s chapter about getting off the hook.

Toward the end of Johnson’s chapter about getting off the hook, he discusses the need for everyone to get on the hook. He states that getting off the hook means living in denial. If we get on the hook we can truly help to resolve the racism situation. The death of the N-word is a symbol of getting on the hook. It is a symbol of everyone making an effort to stop using offensive language. The N-word is a very offensive word that needs to be removed from our vocabulary. We all need to get on the hook and do more things like this to erase racial lines.

When I heard about this issue a few weeks ago, I did not think much of it. I do not use the N-word, so I did not think it related to me. After Johnson’s chapter about getting off the hook, I realized that we are all connected to this whether we are outwardly racist or not. We all have to be active in order to eliminate the race issues in the U.S. today.

Meyer Media Portfolio Entry #7

This is a cartoon by Robert Thompson. It can be found here. The cartoon is a representation of the inequalities that women face in the workplace. A woman is standing in front of two ladders labeled corporate ladders. One of them is marked for men and the other is marked for women. The one that is marked for men is much taller than the one that is marked for women. I chose this cartoon because I liked the simplicity of it and it makes a very good statement about the privilege men receive over women in the workplace.

This cartoon relates to course material in a few obvious ways. First, it illustrates the idea of privilege that Johnson discusses repeatedly in the text for our class. Women have a shorter ladder to climb than men do. This shows that men are privileged because they can reach higher positions within the corporation. They get to climb a taller corporate ladder just because they are men. Johnson’s definition of privilege is receiving benefits for reasons that are unfair or unearned. This cartoon illustrated that definition.

When I first saw this cartoon, I immediately thought of Johnson’s definition of privilege. Women have fought very hard to gain equality with men in the workforce. They have made some progress, but they are still not there. This cartoon draws attention to the fact that sometimes women are not given the same opportunities as men. Their ladders do not go as high as the men’s ladder.

Meyer Media Portfolio Entry #6

This cartoon, by Ken Catalino depicts people discussing Barack Obama. Some are saying that he is so articulate. Some are saying that he is clean. One guy asks, “but, is we black enough?” In the corner Uncle Sam is trying to clean up a racism stain. He swears saying it still will not come out. I chose this cartoon because I think it highlights the history of racism that has existed in our government. That is what Zinn discussed very thoroughly in this weeks reading assignment.

This cartoon takes a stab at the racism that is present in our government. Zinn discussed several laws in Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom that enabled racism. He states that in 1808, slave importation was outlawed, but 250,000 slaves were imported after the law was enacted. It simply was not enforced. Zinn also discusses laws that were made with the sole purpose of protecting slavery. He discusses the Dred Scott case that essentially made slaves property and that owners had a right to retrieve runaways. Zinn discusses several other laws that had similar effects. The point is that racism was very much a part of government and it is still there today. Uncle Sam is trying to erase the stains left, but it just will not come out yet.

As soon as I saw this cartoon I thought about Zinn’s chapter. Uncle Sam on his hands and knees trying to scrub out the stain of racism is such an accurate picture. All the focus we have had on race and it is still present in our government.

Meyer Media Portfolio Entry #5

I found this advertisement here.

This is an advertising billboard that Sony put up in the Netherlands last year. It depicts a white woman holding the jaw of a black man. The caption says “PlayStation Portable White is coming.” It is almost as if the white woman is coming to save us by defeating the black man, or the white PlayStation Portable is coming to save us from the black PlayStation portable. I chose this advertisement because I think it relates closely to the Richard Wright chapter that we read this week.

The theme of Richard Wright’s The Ethics of Living Jim Crow is that he had to learn very quickly how to racist treatment. He had to learn to accept that whites were going to treat him poorly, and if he wanted to avoid serious injury or death, he needed to accept the treatment he received from whites. Rising up against it would probably have been very difficult. This ad is sort of saying the same thing. The black person is in a submissive or inferior position in relation to the white person. This advertisement seems to be another example of the unconscious racism that is present. Sony probably did not mean for this ad to be racist, but as Johnson stated in his Getting off the Hook chapter, they still should hold themselves responsible. Saying they didn’t mean it is just another way of “getting off the hook.”

I am surprised that this billboard made to the street. It has such an obvious racial meaning behind it. Maybe they thought that it wouldn’t be a big deal since it was put up in the Netherlands. To me, it seems like a large corporation like Sony would be a little more sensitive to racial issues.

Block, R. (2006). Sony Under Fire for Racist Advertising. Retrieved July 15, 2007 from http://www.engadget.com/2006/07/06/sony-under-fire-for-racist-advertising/

Meyer Media Portfolio Entry #4

This cartoon, by Ted Rall illustrates the discrimination and oppression that blacks have to endure. It touches on the fact that blacks are more likely to be arrested, are paid less money, and are not equally represented in the Senate. Then at the end of the comic it shows them saying that at least Don Imus got fired. I chose this comic because I think it is interesting and it relates nicely to Johnson’s chapter on getting off the hook.

This cartoon touches on many topics that Johnson raises in Chapter 8 Getting off the Hook: Denial and Resistence. All the issues raised in the comic, are very legit and serious. They do not, however, get the media exposure that they deserve. Instead the media covers the Don Imus incident and acts like firing Mr. Imus is the answer to racial issues. It is an example of how our silence on issues of privilege does not help anything. The comic is drawing attention to the fact that we need to “embrace the hook” as Johnson says on page 124. It is the denial that Johnson talks about.

I wasn’t sure how to take this comic when I first came across it. It does a good job drawing attention to some of the inequalities that blacks face on a daily basis. It also shows us that sometimes we get too caught up in issues that are important, but not as important as the major issues and problems at the root of privilege that are ignored.

Meyer Media Portfolio Entry #3

Just Facts is a web page dedicated to facts about racial issues. The list of facts is very long and can be very thought provoking. The facts stated reinforce the issues raised by Johnson and the Race: The Power of an Illusion videos. It also chronicles some of the racism and privilege that has existed in the United States.

This web page relates to the Race: The Power of an Illusion video because it reinforces many of the issues raised. The same facts concerning science and genetic makeup are presented. There are some surprising facts that seem to support Johnson’s claims that privilege is not an individual thing. We cannot predict how being a member of one privileged or oppressed class will affect a person’s entire life because all of the privilege classes build upon and support each other. The facts that support this are that black actually had higher salaries than white women. This goes against what a person would typically think, because the women in the privileged class are actually making less money with a similar education then women in the oppressed class. Both groups, however, also have to deal with male privilege. Johnson discusses a scoring system to determine how privileged a person is. In the aforementioned case, the white women would score a 1 while the black women would score a zero. Their income comparison does not reflect the higher privilege score for whites. Johnson would explain that by stating that we do not know which other classes the women polled were included in.

When I started reading through the list of facts, I was not surprised by much that was stated. Most of the facts seem to reinforce the topics we have been discussing in this class. They paint a picture of the privilege that whites receive. I never really think about these privileges I receive as a white male, but the facts sort of opened my eyes a little. It made me realize that while some progress has been made, we still have a long way to go for everyone to be truly equal.

Agresti, J.D. (2000). Racial Issues. Just Facts Foundation. Retrieved July 7, 2007 from http://www.justfacts.com/issues.racialissues.asp#income

Meyer Media Portfolio Entry #2

This video is located here

Mosley High Gender Segregation Classes is a video that I found on YouTube. It is a report by The News Herald of Panama City, FL. (www.newsherald.com) It is basically just some interviews with the Language teacher and several of the students who are in the gender segregated classes. The teacher says she believes that there are less distractions with the genders separated. She thinks that the segregation leads to better performance and more participation from both genders. It is a nice mix of hearing how the students feel about the situation and how the teacher justifies it. There are not many hard facts given but this video just gives some opinions of people involved.

This is sort of relates to what Johnson was talking about in Chapter 2 of Power, Privilege, and Difference. In that chapter, Johnson says that privilege and oppression occur together. In other words, in order for one group to receive privilege, another group needs to be oppressed. We can’t have one without the other. By segregating the genders, Mosley High School has separated the males, who receive privilege in society, from the females, who are oppressed by males. With the genders separated, maybe the females will not be oppressed and they will be able to get a higher quality education. They will not have to worry about dominating the conversation, the learning, and the teacher’s attention. They cannot be oppressed if there are no privileged in the class. The males, on the other hand, will not be given an unfair advantage over the females because they will be in a completely separate class.

I am not sure what to think of the situation at Mosley High School. It seems logical that separating boys from girls would eliminate lots of distractions. I may also help to curb the unseen and unrealized privilege that the boys may receive. However, I am not sure if it is the best situation. How are the boys and girls going to learn to work together if they are separated through their school years? One of the students mentioned the fact that high school is about more than just learning. That is true. It is also about learning to interact and work with people who may look a little different. These students are all going to grow up and have to work in the real world someday. The boys will be required to work with the girls and the girls will be required to work with the boys. They may as well learn those skills in high school.

Meyer Media Portfolio Entry #1

Justices limit school diversity programs

By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer Thu Jun 28, 6:43 PM ET

WASHINGTON - A half-century after the Supreme Court outlawed segregated schools, sharply divided justices clamped new limits Thursday on local school efforts to make sure children of different races share classrooms.

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The court voted 5-4 to strike down school integration plans in Louisville, Ky., and Seattle, a decision that imperiled similar plans that hundreds of cities and counties use voluntarily to integrate their schools.

The ruling does not affect several hundred other public school districts that remain under federal court order to desegregate.

Justices disagreed bluntly with each other in 169 pages of written opinions on whether the decision supports or betrays the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling that led to the end of state-sponsored school segregation in the United States.

The 5-4 decision, the 24th such split this term, displayed the new dominance of the court's aggressive conservative majority. The four liberal justices dissented.

Chief Justice John Roberts asserted in his majority opinion that by classifying students by race, the school districts are perpetuating the unequal treatment the Brown decision outlawed. "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race," Roberts said.

Citing Brown to rule against integration was "a cruel irony," responded Justice John Paul Stevens in his dissent.

Crucially for school districts seeking guidance, Justice Anthony Kennedy went along with the court's four most conservative members in rejecting the Louisville and Seattle plans but also said race may sometimes be a component of school efforts to achieve diversity.

To the extent that Roberts' opinion could be interpreted to foreclose the use of race in any circumstance, Kennedy said, "I disagree with that reasoning."

"A district may consider it a compelling interest to achieve a diverse student population," Kennedy said. "Race may be one component of that diversity."

Kennedy seemed to suggest that race could be a factor in deciding where to build a new school or how to draw school attendance boundaries.

Justice Stephen Breyer, in a pointed dissent he read in the courtroom, said those measures have had only limited success in promoting integration.

Breyer was more expressive than usual in the elegant courtroom, grimacing a time or two, shaking his head and rolling his eyes as Roberts read from his opinion.

Joined by the other liberals on the court, Breyer said Roberts' opinion undermined the promise of integrated schools that the court laid out 53 years ago in the Brown decision. "To invalidate the plans under review is to threaten the promise of Brown," he said.

On the other side, Justice Clarence Thomas, the court's only black member, wrote a separate opinion endorsing the ruling and taking issue with the dissenters' view of the Brown case.

"What was wrong in 1954 cannot be right today," he said. "The plans before us base school assignment decisions on students' race. Because 'our Constitution is colorblind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens,' such race-based decisionmaking is unconstitutional."

Civil rights leaders, trying to make the best of the decision, said Kennedy's opinion, when combined with the four dissenters, showed that a majority of the justices support the continuing use of race-conscious measures to integrate public schools.

"We got rained on today, but there's a silver lining," said Theodore Shaw, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.

Dennis Parker, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Racial Justice Program, said, "Even so, the rejection of the Seattle and Louisville school plans represents a significant step backwards in a nation where schools are becoming increasingly segregated by race and ethnicity."

School districts that have plans that resemble the ones struck down by the court are expected to look for other ways to make their schools racially balanced without specifically relying on race. One possibility is using family income since blacks are more likely than whites to be poor.

The ruling also could unsettle the more than 2,000 magnet schools that educate 2 million children since many were created under desegregation plans, said UCLA education expert Gary Orfield.

"These are some of the only integrated things in a lot of our inner cities," Orfield said. "It's one of the only ways to keep middle-class kids involved in big-city school systems."

The Jefferson County and Seattle school systems, whose integration plans were the subjects of Thursday's decisions, employ slightly different methods of taking students' race into account when determining which schools they will attend.

Federal appeals courts had upheld both plans after some parents sued. The Bush administration took the parents' side, arguing that racial diversity is a noble goal but can be sought only through race-neutral means.

The Louisville case grew out of complaints from several parents whose children were not allowed to attend the schools of their choice. Crystal Meredith, a white, single mother, sued after the school system turned down a request to transfer her 5-year-old son Joshua Ryan McDonald, to a school closer to home.

Louisville's schools spent 25 years under a court order to eliminate the effects of state-sponsored segregation. After a federal judge freed the Jefferson County, Ky., school board, which encompasses Louisville, from his supervision, the board decided to keep much of the court-ordered plan in place to prevent schools from re-segregating.

Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson said he was disappointed with the ruling because his city's system had provided "a quality education for all students and broken down racial barriers" for 30 years.

Deborah Stallworth, a Louisville parent who successfully sued to end court-ordered busing in 2000, said: "We send children to school to be educated, not as a social experiment."

The Seattle school district said it used race as a factor only at the end of a lengthy process in allocating students among the city's high schools. Seattle suspended its program after parents sued.

Kathleen Brose, mother of a white Seattle student who sued the district, said she felt vindicated by the decision. "We've never said we didn't like diversity," she said. "We're against discrimination. ... There's just other things they can do without discriminating."

The opinion was the first on the divisive issue since 2003, when a 5-4 ruling upheld limited consideration of race in college admissions to attain a diverse student body.

Since then, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who approved of the limited use of race, retired. Her replacement, Justice Samuel Alito was in the majority that struck down the school system plans in Kentucky and Washington.

Thursday's decision left in place the 2003 ruling.

The cases are Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, 05-908, and Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 05-915.

Sherman, M. (2007, June 28). Justices Limit School Diversity Programs. Retrieved July 1, 2007 from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070628/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_schools_race;_ylt=Av3t6xwMysdXHxN7WwdBpmzMWM0F

I found the article, Justices Limit School Diversity Programs, on Yahoo News. It was written by Mark Sherman. The article is about a recent Supreme Court Decision that makes it illegal to set up school district boundaries with racial considerations. The case was in response to the plans of school districts in Seattle and Jefferson County, Kentucky. In both cases, the parents of white students sued the school district because their children were denied the right to attend the school of their choice. In the end the Supreme Court decision in the case was split 5-4. The Supreme Court struck down the plans of Seattle and Jefferson County.

This article is a very good example of how much we are still struggling with racial issues. In the book, Power, Privilege, and Difference, Johnson discusses that fact that race is socially constructed and for that reason it is very difficult to change. We have a society that believes race is real and that skin color actually makes a difference. That belief is so ingrained in many people by society that it is very difficult to change. This article illustrates that because the Supreme Court ruled against segregation in schools 53 years ago. After all that time, we are still seeing the Supreme Court deal with rulings like this one. It does not matter which side of this particular case everyone is on, it is just sad that we are still required to debate the issue.

Personally, I think it is sad that we are still required to send cases like this to the Supreme Court. I guess I just do not understand how it can be so difficult to set up schools that will be diverse. It seems like using race to make sure schools are diverse would create an unnatural distribution of cultures. School districts should be able to just set their boundaries by looking at a map. Children living close to each other would go to school with other children who live close by. That would give us the most natural distribution of cultures. Using race to determine who goes to school where seems to me like it strengthens the socially constructed nature of race. It makes racial differences even more real to everyone. If we want race to be nonexistent, we should not even ask about it on a job application or school registration. It just should not be an issue.