"Crash"

There is so much implicit and explicit racism in the world. It is so common that people don't even know that it's there unless it directly effects them. In the movie "Crash" when Sandra Bullock's character reaches for her husband's arm as she passes by two black men, she commits an implicit racial action. She doesn't outwardly express her racism but she demonstrates it through her actions. The same character shows explicit racism as she yells at her husband to have the locks of her house changed again in the morning. She verbally expressed her dislike for the Hispanic locksmith changing her locks.

I feel like this topic hits home for me. Being a minority, I feel that I have experienced this type of racism on many occasions. I've been subjected to so many explicit and implicit racist comments that I've become somewhat tolerant of them. For example, when 9/11 occurred, many people told me to my face that Muslims were terrorists and that all Middle Easter people were hiding bombs in their houses. I remember hearing this when I was in fifth grade. That had to be one of the more unbearable types of explicit racism. Some implicit types would be when I traveled for a pilgrimidge with my family. We were on our way to Saudi Arabia and my dad was stopped for "a random security check". Thankfully we arrived really early for our flight for my dad was questioned for quite a while.

I feel that it's ignorance that allows for this type of behavior. There are so many different people who are forced to deal with this type of behavior everyday. It's really sad.

"Good Hair"

In class, we talked about race and how our society effects our preferences. We tend to lean more towards European traits than African. I remember watching the Tyra show and she had Chris Rock come on. The topic of that episode was about "Good Hair" which Chris Rock did documentary on. Good hair is supposed to be flowing, shiny, smooth,  and soft. The race that tends to have this type of hair  are Asians, Latinos, and Caucasians. African Americans seem to have more course hair which is a rougher texture. Tyra talked about how society molds today's black women into thinking that their hair isn't beautiful. There was a panel of black children on the show whose parents had talked to them about "good" hair. The kids were asked to choose between an afro type hairstyle and a straight smooth hairstyle, and most of the kids chose the smooth style. This is similar to the kids choosing the white baby doll over the black one. Some of these kids had mothers who relaxed (chemically straightened) their hair. There was a girl as young as three who had her hair relaxed on a regular basis. It's because of these kids' social construction that caused them to choose as they did. Our society has always complimented white features. If a person of ethnic background demonstrated such features, then they were considered beautiful. The root definition of "good hair" comes from the time of slavery. When slaves resembled white traits, they were considered better than the slaves who didn't. This caused many blacks to desire white features, which obviously carried on to our society today. Today, we have black women purchasing weaves, which is fake hair, that appears to be as a white woman's hair texture. This causes a form of insecurity in African Americans in our society.


There seems to be a lot more to this subject than I can talk about. To understand it a little more, you can watch the Tyra Show episode.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeXUm8OOUA8  part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0DgVijM7Z8&feature=related part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBoBR20n8S4&feature=related part 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g13u0w2oP4&feature=related part 4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxQGXmEVw-4&feature=related part 5

Have No Fear, the Doctor is Here!... but only if you can afford it

I struggled a little bit on a topic for last week. Because I had bronchitis and I'd miss a lot of school, I didn't really know how to apply my life to what I was learning in class. I ended up missing three days of class and went to the doctor. The first check-up was because of headaches, the second was because of my bronchitis, and then the third was because of the pressure my bronchitis caused in my ear and then in my nose. Each visit to the doctor required a co-payment of $25 and then the anti-biotic for my bronchitis was a little over $30. In order for me to go to the doctor, my mom had to leave work, which caused her to lose that day's pay, since she used up all her sick-leave. In total, me being ill had cost over $100.

When I came back to class, I tried to remember the last thing I learned so I could try to get back on track. I remembered the video "Being Middle Class for 30 Days" and then I immediately remembered the scene where the fiance had a bladder infection and had to go to the emergency room. It was such a struggle to go the doctor and buy medication while paying for the bill, for they had no health insurance. For me, my mom only had to pay a small walk-in fee. Also, the couple had to worry about making up for the money that they lost for not going to work. My mom comfortably left work to take me to the doctor. I realized that I am very fortunate for all that I have. I can go to the doctor for something as small as cough and not worry about whether or not I'd have money for dinner. Many other middle class families struggle to make it through life. They cannot afford certain medications let alone get checked by a doctor.

This makes me appreciate everything that I have.