We've come so far....

The stereotypes we saw in the video the other day were dated and most of them seem to have vanished. Most of the attacks on African Americans were to keep the general white population convinced that they were better off enslaved. Today we have come close to obliterating the stereotype that black men can't hold high position in companies or in the government. For instance, we have just elected an African American to be the president of the United States (which F.Y.I. is sort of an important job with a considerable amount of power). And what about the fact that every movie that Will Smith or Denzel Washington stars in is worth seeing twice. 

My Privileges

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view...until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." -Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird. This quote needed to be considered in our class discussion today (02/12/09). So many people were being ignorant towards the difficulty of an underprivileged African American's life. Sure, it's easy to say that stereotypes don't burden people of other races as a white kid. Especially for a white kid living in a small town that shields us from the cruelty of the world. None of us know what its like to feel truly underprivileged and the only way anyone's opinion should be taken seriously is if they have the facts and they KNOW what they are talking about. In Greg's story today it is obvious that the two black men who confronted the two friends felt that the "spoiled white kids" were showing their community disrespect by cursing aloud in the presence of others. If it was me who witnessed the boys' profanity my immediate notion would be that the two white boys believed that because they have so many privileges already they assume they also have the privilege to curse in public; They felt they were so much better that they could do whatever they wanted.