works cited

Works Cited
Brodkin, Karen. "How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in
America." Race, Class,and Gender in the United States: An Intergrated Study. By
Paula S Rothenberg. New York: Worth Publishers, 2003. 38 - 53.
"Cartoon Catastrophy." Scandinavian Press [Vancouver] Spring 2006: 16. Proquest.
Bowling Green State U Libraries. 26 Mar. 2008 .
Chapman, Murray. "Girls Just Want to Have Fun." Internet Movie Database. 2004. 13
Feb. 2008 .
Cymerman, Jessica. "The Notebook." Internet Movie Data Base. 2004. 13 Feb. 2008
.
Erikson, Hal. Rev. of Colors. Internet Movie Database. 24 Mar. 2008
.
Eyes on the Prize: Awakening 1954-1956.
"Family Guy." Adult Swim. 2007. Turner Broadcasting System Inc. 24 Mar. 2008
.
Johnson, Allan G. "Capitalism, Class, and the Matrix of Domination." Power,
Privilege and Difference. N.p.: n.p., n.d. 41-53.
Johnson, Allan G, Ph.D. "What It All Has to Do with Us." Power, Privilege and
Difference. 2nd ed. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., 2006. 76 - 89.
"The Office." NBC. 25 Mar. 2008 .
Race The Power of Illusion. PBS. Spring 2008. Song Lyrics: Pocahontas. 21 Mar. 1996.
10 Feb. 2008 .
SparkNotes: The Scarlet Letter. 2006. Spark Notes. 12 Feb. 2008
.
Takaki, Ronald. "The 'Giddy Multitude.'" A Different Mirror. N.p.: Little, Brown and
Company, n.d.51-76.
- - -. "The 'Tempest' in the Wilderness." A Different Mirror. N.p.: Little, Brown
and Company, 1993. 24 - 50.
Wu, Frank. "Yellow." Race, Class and Gender, in the United States. By Paula
Rothenberg. New York: Worth Publishers, 2007. 415 - 417.
Zinn, Howard. "Columbus, the Indians and Human Progress." A People's History of the
Untied States. New York: The New Press, 1997. 3 - 15.

The Office

1)
2) This is a scene from the show The Office, and the episode is called “Diversity Day”. During this episode Michael, the manager, holds session with his employees to discuss diversity. For this session he decides to have a game where he gives each employee a note card with a different race and tells the employees that they have to try to figure out which ethnic group they are by giving and receiving clues. I chose this episode of The Office because it shows how different ethnic groups are stereotyped to be a certain way.
3) This episode relates to Frank Wu’s article “Yellow”. These relate because Wu mention in his article about how “boys will see me and suddenly strike a karate pose, chop at the air, throw a kick, and utter some sing-song gibberish, before turning around and running away.” (416). Wu talks about how as being an Asian American he is stereotyped as knowing karate. During the episode of The Office, Pam is wearing a note card that says that she is Jewish, and Dwight a co-worker asked her for a loan, because people that are Jewish are stereotyped as being good with money (nbc.com). This show also relates to Wu’s article because during the episode Michael disrespects Kelly, an employee of Indian descent, by talking in an Indian accent posing as a convenience store clerk (nbc.com). Michael thinks that he did nothing wrong by doing this which proves what Wu mentioned about white people have a tendency to disrespect people of different races without realizing what they are doing.
4) I think that it is easy to stereotype people to the ethnic groups that they belong too, even if they do not practice any of those customs. The stereotypes are usually created very easily because members that race act a certain way, and when enough of them act that way all of them will be viewed to do that. It happens with every group of people, for example, black people are stereotyped to be gangsters that love listening to rap music, and Jewish people are stereotyped to be good with money. Stereotypes exist everywhere, and some of them have nothing to do with race, people are stereotyped by the type of work they do, where they live, or where they go to school. I think that no matter what stereotypes will exist because people assume that they know everything, and if they don’t know then they refer to what they do know. I believe that stereotypes exist and work because of the media. Media portrays groups of people to act in certain ways and those stereotypes are shown to the audience. After the audience watches that show or movie they will then think of that group of people in that way because they will not know anything else, and assume that the people in charge of the media did correct research and are telling the audience the truth about that group of people. Ethnic groups have always been portrayed to act in certain ways in the movies, and the ethnic groups have a tendency to always act in those roles no matter what movie or show they are in.

Die Hard With A Vengeance

1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5TrjEPzT0Q


2) I chose the “Harlem” scene from Die Hard with a Vengeance because it shows how people sometimes do decide to not follow the path of least resistance. In this scene John McClane, a white cop, is thrown into Harlem only wearing a sign that says “I hate Niggers”. Zeus, a black shop owner, goes up to McClane to convince him to leave Harlem before a group of black teenagers see him and decide to hurt him. While talking the group of teens see him and starts to beat him up. Zeus decides to grab him and take him out of Harlem before he gets seriously hurt. I chose this scene because Zeus decided to not follow the “path of least resistance” by helping out McClane, when he could have decided to let them hurt McClane.

3) This relates to Johnson Chapter 6 “What It All Has to Do with Us”, because he talks about how a “path of least resistance” exists in every aspect of life. Johnson talks about how it is rare when people defy the “paths of least resistance” because it is easier to follow than to try to change it (80). The “Harlem” scene from the movie Die Hard with a Vengeance helps show what happens when people cross those lines. In this scene John McClane is forced to be in Harlem wearing a sign that says “I hate Niggers”. Zeus, a shop owner in Harlem, saves him from getting severely hurt by a group of African American teens. Zeus decided to not follow a “path of least resistance”, by helping McClane by trying to stop the group of teens and by taking McClane out of that part of New York City. In Chapter 6 of Johnson, Johnson mentions how a group of African American teens changed a “path of least resistance” by sitting in a diner in the south. This group of teens changed the fate of America by not following the “path of least resistance”. Since Zeus saved McClane it showed that even though he could have easily looked the other way and not try to save McClane, he decided to do the right thing and save him from being hurt, or even killed.

4) I believe that it is good to see when people choose to do the right thing especially when it goes against a “path of least resistance”. When a person chooses to do something to defy a “path of least resistance” it shows that they have courage, and knows what is morally correct. Zeus knew the right thing to do was to save McClane, and did not care that he was going against his own people and helping a man that was wearing a sign that offended all African Americans. I believe that it is hard for people to choose to do the right thing because of the situations that they are put into by society. Since the scene took place in Harlem Zeus could have looked the other way and let McClane get hurt, but did the right thing anyway, and saved a man’s life.

Cartoon Catastrophy

1) http://0-proquest.umi.com.maurice.bgsu.edu:80/pqdweb?did=1024397101&sid=7&Fmt=3&clientId=3340&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Danish products are still being boycotted in various parts of the world. Aria, Europe's largest dairy company, has shut down its plant in the Saudi capital, Riyadh after a consumer boycott had affected sales throughout the Middle East and North Africa. The company's annual sales in the Middle East amount to some $430 million.
"The boycott of Danish products in the Middle East is now almost total," said a company spokesman. "All Arla's customers in the region have cancelled their orders and sales have come to a standstill in almost all markets."
In a statement Aria's group executive director, Peder Tuborgh said that while freedom of expression was an internal Danish issue, "this is about Denmark having offended millions of Muslims." Aria made a last-ditch attempt at quelling the boycott by paying leading Saudi newspapers to publish a statement released by the Danish government that said that Denmark "respects Islam as one of the world's major religions" and explained that the publication of the cartoons was the action of an independent newspaper, not affiliated to the government or any political party, over which the government had no influence.
2) I chose the article, “Cartoon Catastrophy”, because it talked about how the Muslims reacted to being disrespected by 12 caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, which were created by a group of non-Muslims. These caricatures were created for Jyllands-Posten, a right of center newspaper based in Aarhus, Denmark. These caricatures were made for an author writing a book that wanted an illustrator to draw images of the Prophet but could not find someone to do it. According to the article, the images were published to provoke a debate with the Muslims living in Denmark (Scandinavian Press). This article shows how the Muslims of not only Denmark, but Muslims around the world reacted to these caricatures.
3) The article “Cartoon Catastrophy” relates to the video “Eyes on the Prize: Awakening 1954-1956”. These two relate because of the way both groups reacted to being disrespected by a majority group. In the video, the African Americans of the south found non-violent ways to protest and ways to gain respect in the eyes of the white Americans. The video mentioned how after Rosa Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat on the bus, and how the African Americans living in the southern cities boycotted the bus systems until the bus systems were desegregated. The desegregation of the busses occurred because enough people became involved to change the system. The article relates to the movie because in the article Muslims boycotted Danish products to earn an apology and respect. The article mentioned how Danish products were being boycotted by Muslims all around the world. This boycott occurred in response to the caricatures of their Prophet Muhammad. Instead of choosing a violent outburst against the illustrators, they chose a peaceful approach. They chose to boycott because they were offended by the illustrators and wanted respect from those people. They boycotted the Danish products until the newspaper that published the caricatures publically apologized. Their boycotts worked because it almost drove the company Aria, Europe’s largest dairy company. This company needed to shut down its plant in Saudi because of the boycott (Scandinavian Press). These boycotts affected the Denmark government who encouraged the newspaper to apologize, and the government also apologized to Muslims.
4) I believe that that it is good when people decide to protest in a non-violent way. When people choose to protest in a non-violent way, it shows that they are willing to find a resolution to a problem in a peaceful way. This shows that even when something bad occurs people still have the decency to act mature. This also shows how something peaceful can help to change society, or help a society see how it was wrong. After both of the boycotts the way societies changed their ways. The southern cities desegregated the city bus system, and the newspapers in Denmark made sure to be more careful with what they wrote about. These boycotts worked because people chose to ban together, whereas if only a few people decided to boycott things would not have worked out. I believe that it is good when people decide to ban together to work for a common goal that will benefit the society as a whole.

Colors

1)

2) I chose the movie Colors because the movie shows how the difference between races is linked to their social structures, like their housing options. The movie Colors takes place in the slums of Los Angeles, where gang warfare is common among the African Americans and the Hispanic Americans, and follows two white cops, Bob Hodges and Danny McGavin, trying to stop the violence and end the gangs. The two gangs they focus on are the “Crips” and “Bloods”, which are both primarily Hispanic and African American (Internet Movie Database). The gangs fight each other for no reason, but both gangs are treated badly by the younger cop, McGavin.

3) This movie relates to Brodkin Chapter 4 “How the Jews Became White” because in the article Brodkin mentions how hard it was for African Americans to have nice housing. This happened because the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) believed in racial segregation (Brodkin 47). This made it hard for African Americans to have nice housing. Brodkin also mentioned how “Los Angeles, mainly the African American communities were divided in half or blasted to smithereens by the highways bringing Angelenos to the new white suburbs” (Brodkin 48). This shows that the African communities were split, and that there homes were made to look worse compared to the white homes. Brodkin also mentions how high mortgage rates were used on homes so that the African Americans could not afford those houses, and would have to live in the low mortgage houses that were not as nice. In the movie Colors the gangs that were fighting were living in the worse neighborhoods that were most likely the low mortgage houses. They most likely lived there because their families could not afford to live in the better neighborhoods. There family could not afford the nicer houses because of what they FHA had started in the housing market. The situation that they were in helped to promote gangs, which caused more violence. If these people lived in better communities, they might not have been involved in gangs because the nicer communities did not promote gang warfare.

4) I believe that if the gap between how communities looked and the races that lived in those communities did not exist, gangs would not exist as largely. By having a nice “white” community near a non-nice “non-white” community close to each other makes the non-nice community jealous. Gangs occur because young people do not know what else to do, so they join together to have a common enemy which can be either other gangs in different communities, which can be a different race. The gaps between living standards helped cause problems between races in the suburbs and cities. These problems led to people wanting to defend their “turf” from others because it was theirs, and they knew that it was not likely for them to find better homes to live in. These gaps between how the communities looked were a realistic view of the gaps between the different races.

Fresh Prince of Bel Air

1) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsCT3fwqxqc
2) I chose an episode from the show Fresh Prince of Bel-Air called “Ethnic Tip”. This episode occurs at the prep school that Will and Carlton attend. During this episode Will receives his history test to find that he failed the test. He then complains about how no black history is taught at his school, and how if black history was taught he would better in history class. Will then goes to a school meeting trying to change the curriculum, and succeeds with his argument.
3) This episode of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air relates to Zinn’s article “Columbus, the Indians and Human Progress” because Zinn talks about how history is viewed in the eyes of the conquerors. Zinn mentions “in history books given to children in the United States, for generation after generation, it all starts with heroic adventure – there is no bloodshed – and Columbus Day is a celebration” (8). This is mentioned to show how history is taught to students in a certain way, because people choose to omit the bad and make the good known to the people. Just like how Zinn mentions that historians occasionally omit information, the prep school that Will and Carlton go to omit the history of the African American community in America. This school omitted teaching that part of history because of the book they used, and how the teacher did not know anything more than what the book said. While at the school board meeting the principal seemed to be against the idea of changing the curriculum and stalled to change it. He kept giving excuses on why the curriculum should not be changed, until Vivian convinced him that she will teach African American history for a month. Will had to fight in order to get African American history taught in a school that is predominantly white, and when he won the school was better off because they no longer were ignoring a part of history, they were learning about it all.
4) I believe that parts of history are ignored because they either seem like minor details, or because people do not want future generations to know their real actions. Schools do not teach about the wrongs that Columbus did because it completely changes the view on America. Any details that have been omitted in the past can surface with serious repercussions on the views. If we begin to now surface parts of history that historians have omitted, then what else have we not been told? I think that people might actually begin to question whether or not history is true, or if what we read are just some fictional stories about heroes. Parts of history cannot be ignored, like the history of African Americans and their fight for equal rights. No schools have a right to ignore that part of history. There is physical evidence of the hardships that occurred during that time. Ignoring that part of history would be like the Germans ignoring the fact that World War II happened because of their beloved leader and his ideals. When there is evidence that proves what is historical is true then it should be not and not ignored no matter what the situation is. If the educator does not know about that part of history then he/she should learn that so that history can be taught correctly in America. We all have the right to know, and should know, everything that has happened in our history, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Family Guy

1) http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=00ded3c30cb08b1c0010013a8105168d
Family Guy – Episode 43 “Peter Griffin: Husband, Father… Brother?” Scene – “I Was There”.

2) I chose the Family Guy episode called “Peter Griffin: Husband, Father…. Brother?”. I chose this episode because Peter Griffin, a white man, discovers after many years that he has a black ancestor named Nate Griffin (Family Guy). During this episode, during the scene called “I Was There” Peter Griffin goes to a meeting of the town’s African Americans to relate to his “black brothers”. During this meeting Cleveland talks about how he was given reparations from the white family that used to own his ancestors. The he mentions how the reparations are rice krispy treats because the family was poor, and decides to share them. As he hands them to Peter another black man states “he doesn’t look very black to me”. I chose this article because it shows how race is more than skin deep and how certain races are lost in a person due to the color of their skin. This article relates to the first video we watched about how race skin does not define race.

3) This episode of Family Guy relates to the video Race I because the video mentions how race is more than skin deep. The video mentioned how certain races were lost due to skin color. An example of this was how Colin Powell was recognized as being African American, but it is never mentioned how he was Irish. This is caused by the fact that his skin is black and how he physically looks African, compared to being a pale, white skinned Irish (Race I). In the episode of Family Guy, Peter Griffin is shocked when he discovers that he has a black ancestor because he does not have any features that resemble being black. The scene that I chose specifically shows how he was not welcomed at first by the other African Americans at the meeting because he did not look black. Since Peter did not have any black features he was never considered to be black, and lost that part of race due to his skin color.

4) I believe that it is easy to judge what race a person would be based on their skin color because it is the first thing a person can see. It seems that it is easy for certain races to be lost in skin color especially if many years have passed. In the case of the Family Guy episode, many years have passed in the Griffin family, which could have easily led to the African features being covered up by the other family features. For example if the family only has a few African Americans in the family then very little traits will be passed down from generation to generation, and if more white people marry into the family than black, then the white characteristics will show more than the black traits. In the case of Powell people believe that he is African American because his black skin is more easily visible than any Irish features. He looks nothing like Irish which leads people to not think that he is part Irish. For example, if he has more Irish personality traits but his skin is black, people are not going to consider him African American because it is easier to see his black skin that his Irish personality.