Week 10: Blog Entry on Race and Ethnicity Topics

Racism has been an issue that has plagued our country since its birth.  To think that racial inequality no longer exists is to think that air is not needed for one’s survival. The website on the internment of Japanese Americans was a great informational website that delved into the history and American conflicts during WW II.

I was both shocked and appalled at the degree of racism both Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals were forced to bear. What was most disturbing was that even though our government had no evidence to support claims that Japanese Americans or Japanese nationals were spies, these individuals were forced out of their homes and into lowly concentration camps with armed guards. President Roosevelt ignored reports from various organizations like the FBI and the Naval Intelligence that there wasn’t a need to round up those of Japanese descent and incarcerate them.  FBI director J. Edgar Hoover stated, “… the decision to evacuate was… based primarily on public and political pressures rather than factual data.”

How could this happen in the United States of America? How could this happen in a land that believed “innocent until proven guilty”? This happened because racism back during the WW II era was still widely accepted. The only difference between then and now is that racism is implicit whereas back then it was explicit. The website on the internment of Japanese Americans was an eye opener for me. Studying and learning history is essential in preventing history from repeating itself.

Week 9: Social Construction of Gender

Gender inequality exists in the United States. Today, gender inequality prevails implicitly rather than explicitly.  Our textbook teaches that gender inequality is learned through socialization.  How true that is! From an early age children are taught boys are stronger while girls are the weaker sex.  Boys are given trucks and video games while girls are given Barbie dolls and little kid-sized kitchens.  Males and females are expected to fill different roles in society from the moment they’re born. Now, is this right? Well, I’m on middle ground here.  Although I believe God created men and women differently, I also believe we are equal.

On the other hand, some women enjoy being objectified.  They enjoy the attention and perks it may bring.  It is not only men downplay a woman’s value. Now is the time to change that.

I am what some would call a liberal feminist. I believe that men and women should be treated equally politically and legally.  No more to men receiving a higher salary than a woman who has the same qualifications than him! No more to a woman being expected to be Susie homemaker! I support a family organization, but I also support gender equality.

Week 8: Global Inequality

Global inequality affects our everyday life. It affects us because all countries are interknit as each affects one another. Mexico is far behind the United States when it comes to power and success in riches. In film Food Inc, Mexican workers were recruited to come to the United States to work for a meat company.  That same meat company that recruited those people later turned them in to immigration and customs.

Another place where such crimes of global inequality are being committed is in China.  American factories move most manufacturing businesses overseas where working conditions and minimum pay cost them the least therefore yielding a far higher profit.  In that scenario, while the company benefits, the victims are those workers. Those victims are forced to tolerate such miserable treatment since in many cases that job is the best job around.  Everyday third world country citizens are being exploited to further riches of world powers such as the US. 

Such outrageous acts don’t affect just the foreigners…it also affects Americans here in our country! These manufacturing jobs going overseas bring forth one more American unemployed.  Here is where global inequality falls into place.  Those examples are an injustice that needs to be rectified.