Crash

This week in sociology, we watched a movie called "Crash." This movie was about many individuals that dealt with racial issues. We learned two new concepts, and they are implicit racism and explicit racism. Implicit racism is when a person is racist but they don't know that they are. It deals with a more subconscious part of the person. Explicit racism is when a person is just full out racist and they are aware of it. During this movie, there were many examples of people who were implicitly and explicitly racist. Form example, Sandra bullock's character was explicitly racist. She told her husband that she wanted another person to come in and fix their lock because she feared that the Mexican man fixing it would break into her house. The only reason she feared him was because he was Mexican and he had tattoos. Furthermore, an example of a character in the movie, "crash," who was implicitly racist was Tom, who was the blonde police officer. Tom was implicitly racist because he wasn't aware that he was because he claimed that he didn't have anything against black people. In fact, he even seemed in many scenes that he wasn't racist. However, at the end of the movie, he ended up shooting Peter, who was black, and it was a result of a racial stereotype that society had shaped us into believing. Since Peter was black, people automatically assume that when he was reaching into his pocket, in Tom's car, he was reaching for a gun. However, after Tom shot Peter, we realized that Peter was only reaching for a little statue that was identical to Tom's statue in his car.

Race is a Social Construction

Last week in Sociology, we learned about race. However, although race was something I had been aware of, while growing up, I never realized that race was a social construction. I had always thought that race was an actual thing. I learned that race was something that society had molded us into thinking was an actual real concept. Race isn't something that can biologically be defined. However, we look at people and we say that they are white, black, asian, or hispanic. For example, Rihanna is from Barbados, but since she has dark skin and dark hair, I thought she was black. It's funny that if my classmates hadn't told me that she was from Barbados, I would've thought she was black until I was told by someone else! Also, even though Barack Obama's mom is white and his dad is from Kenya, he is referred to as black. What makes him more black than white? If he really is equal parts black and white, then why do people say that he's black? It's because people generalize others and put them into individual categories depending on what they've been taught to believe growing up.

Bernie's book bank

On Saturday, I volunteered at Bernie's book bank for two hours. As soon as I arrived, I was greeted by a man, and he was directed me to an area towards the back. He was very helpful, and my job was to pack the books into bags. It was a great experience because I got to see the amount of people that were volunteering at this facility. There were many mothers who had brought their young children to help out. It was amazing that they were teaching their children to give back at such a young age. Everybody was so friendly, and it was amazing how much it felt like I was part of a community. I never knew how many people were willing to donate their books to people and schools that weren't as fortunate. I felt very nostalgic because of all of the old books I was seeing. While I was bagging the books, there was one book that caught my eye. It was called, "Goodnight iPad!" This book was a parody for the old book, from my childhood, called "Goodnight moon!" It was amazing to see how much society had been changed to revolved around electronics and technology that they would replace a children's book about a moon and center it around something as superficial as an iPad.

Time: 9:00-11:00 am
Organization: Bernie's book bank

30 days- social class

This week, in sociology class, we watched an episode of 30 days. In this episode, Morgan tried living a lifestyle from paycheck to paycheck with his fiancée. They left their rich lifestyle behind, and they tried to make it by for 30 days. During the 30 days, Morgan and his fiancée had to get by with the worst living conditions and pay. They were injured several times. Morgan had hurt his wrist, and he had to attend the doctors office, and his fiancée had gotten an urinary tract infection. Since she couldn't afford to pay for the doctors appointment, she had to get by on medication at the local pharmacy. The house they had to live in was in a dangerous neighborhood, and it was infested with ants. They had horrible jobs, so they were getting even less than minimum wage. However, even though Morgan and his fiancée were white with a good education, they couldn't get by even under their good circumstances. I started wondering how hard it would be for someone without an education that was a minority to get by living from paycheck to paycheck. We also watched "people like us," which is a documentary about social class. One of the families, in the documentary, was living in a trailer. The mother had around four children, and one of her sons wanted people to think he was educated. He seemed like he was very embarrassed to be living in such horrible conditions. There was one clip that showed his mom, and she was saying how her son thought he was better than their family. She wasn't supportive of her son, so the son was probably going to end up in poverty as well. However, they showed a clip of another girl, with divorced parents, who grew up in poverty. She had grown up on a farm, in poverty, but she grew up to be very successful. When she was being interviewed with her mom, her mom seemed to be very supportive, and they were proud of her for not having to live in poverty. It was amazing to see the difference the parents had on these two children, who grew up in poverty. Everybody thinks that just because you grow up in poverty, you will stay in poverty; however, the girl with the supportive parents proves that wrong. She showed that all you needed was hard work, and supportive parents. After watching that documentary, I realized the importance of having a strong support system. Looking back, I realize that I never could've been who I am today if my family hadn't been there every step of the way.

Masculinity

A few weeks ago, in sociology, we learned about masculinity. We read an article about school shootings, and we discovered that most of the people who were the shooters were predominantly white males. In the American culture, men are always thought of with a strength and tough connotation. The article explained many examples of these white males who were attacking these schools, and basically all of these shooters were bullied because others were questioning their masculinity. They all were looking for revenge, and they thought that holding a gun and shooting the schools would make others see them with fear. Ever since childhood, boys are taught to not seem vulnerable or scared. Whenever they cry, they're made fun of and told to stop because "big boys don't cry." Unlike females, they don't show as much affection, and they keep their feelings bottled up because it's not manly to talk about their feelings.

Social class

This week in sociology, we learned about social classes. Americans like to believe that everyone has equal opportunities and is just equal in general. However, the reality is that depending on the families we are born into, and where we were raised shapes just how equal we are. For example, a person who grew up in the Stevenson area would have enough money to be able to afford tutors, prep books, and college. Also, since Stevenson is a school that values going to college and a good education, most Stevenson students end up going to college. However, for a kid who grows up in the ghetto/ south side of Chicago, they're schools might not have as much funding as Stevenson does, so they might not have the correct resources to go about these opportunities. Although the same opportunities are present for every student at both schools, it would be a lot easier for Stevenson students to attain these opportunities.

Soup Kitchen: A Just Harvest

Last Friday, I volunteered at a Soup Kitchen called "A Just Harvest." This volunteer opportunity definitely led me to step outside of my comfort zone. It was unlike any volunteer work I had done before. It involved a lot of interaction with the people we were serving, and we also had to stay attentive and alert. As soon as we arrived at the Soup Kitchen, we were told to put on aprons, hair nets, and gloves, and we had to go and talk to the guests. At first I was scared because my perception of them was very different from how they actually were. Before I went, I thought that they would have a very negative outlook on life, due to their situation. However, everyone I had talked to was very friendly and some of the most positive and happy people I had ever met! One woman even said that "God always finds a way." I was amazed because most of the people I know, back home, are very negative all of the time. They always have something to complain about even when they've been blessed with the best families, talents and opportunities. The other thing that amazed me was the amount of homeless people there were in the Chicago area. They explained how they got hundreds of people coming in each night. Also, the people that were working there were very nice and willing to help. It made me so grateful that there were people like them in the world. All they do in their free time is devote their time and energy to people who are less fortunate than them, and that is truly amazing! My job throughout the night was to pour milk for anyone who wanted it. However, because of the shortage of milk, I was only allowed to pour one glass for each person. Also, each person I poured it for was very particular about how much I poured into their glass. They made sure that I was pouring it to the very top, and if I fell even a little short, they made me come back and fill it back up to the top. I never realized how valuable an extra sip of milk could be until this night. Back home, if I want another glass of milk, I can go to the fridge and pour some; however, they were so desperate to get as much as they could. Also, one time a little girl asked me for more milk, but because we could only fill the cup once, I had to deny her more. It was really hard to tell this adorable little girl that she couldn't have any more. This little girl and I are no different, but just due to the fact that I was born into a family that was better off than hers, I could have as much as I wanted while she couldn't even have something as simple as milk.