Open Your Eyes

This class was certainly a difficult class to take part in. I think some people were a bit cautious of what to say, if to say anything, so they don't seem racist or prejudice or naive about what the subject of the day was. This class helped open my eyes to information I would not have thought to link together, like how the media helps a vast majority of the population to hold on to stereotypes of different groups. Or, how there isn't much change in society because of the people in power. And how diversity and understanding its importance is key to starting a change in humanity, or at least the breakdown of stereotypes. Believe it or not, there are still people who don't even think about diversity and its benefits.
I also enjoyed the video over Disney. Very eye opening. It just shows the power the media holds over thoughts people form in the world. I didn't pay that much attention to what the people in the video were saying about the movies and characters of Disney, but I certainly see where they are coming from. I also think half of it is the parents and what they want to expose their child to. My mom would ask us if we liked the movie afterward, and we would talk about it, and I'll admit, I didn't really understand too much what was going on, I just knew to do what my mom said do. Funny story, when I found out that the name Lucifer is another name for the devil, I went home crying then threw my Cinderella movie away because the cat's name in the movie is Lucifer, and I thought that was the devil trying to get into my house. I ripped the tape up!
The class also opened my eyes to suggestions about how to start to make a difference within the media world. I definitely want to work in a highly diverse atmosphere now. And I am broadening my friend list to those very different from me. That will not only help me with being more informed about different communities and cultures, but will help me in my reporting. Before this class, I didn't think of that as the answer.
I also never noticed how some minority groups were almost completely ignored by the media. Now when I'm looking at television, I look for commercials and shows with Native Americans, for example, and I find myself going through about 2 hours and not seeing one.
This class was very beneficial to my future goals in my career as well as my life.

Children are My Future

Because tonight is free expression, I want to blog about the plenty of babies being born now. I just found out another one of my friends is pregnant. I mean, I guess it's around that average time for us to be having kids. We are all around 21-22 years old. I guess that's pretty average, considering the number of teenage pregnancies these days. I swear, it seems like for my 20 year high school reunion I could call any one of the girls I went to school with and ask their kids to watch mines. I would like to be in a position where I can plan to have a baby instead of plan around having one. But, I'm scared that the time will come where my plans just don't include time aside for the process of having a baby. I guess that's why adoption was invented.
Here's why I talk about this. Growing up, as children we were told that we are the future, the people who can make changes in the world. Where I come from, or the community rather, we aren't making much change. Just adding to the world. Don't get me wrong, there are lots of people I know that are trying to make something of themselves to serve this world and the people in it. However, I know more who are just going through the motions of life.
Now, for those of us who are trying to make a difference in the world with a chosen career choice, we are learning to be able to one day teach the next generation. When I chose journalism, I thought what could I do to make a difference. And this class really helps. It opened my eyes to see outside of what is being shown to me, and gives me tools to reconstruct what is shown, and one day I will have the ability to have a say in what will be shown and how it shall be shown. And, I can apply this to my life, not just my job.
So, to the next generation, like my lovely niece you see, I will teach her how to see the world, and the people in it, without applying the stereotypes or prejudices she may learn in the world. I can tell her to form interpersonal relationships with those different from her to form her own opinions of people. I will teach her how to be considerate and respectful of those different from her, rather than hold on to those stereotypes as real. And then she can share the information with her peers. And let the cycle continue. So maybe there will be a change in humanity before I leave this earth.

My Future Breakdown

It's funny that Dean Evans asked us to do a dream list today. I actually write out a "List of Accomplishments" every year, or school year and summer. And, I am proud to say that most of what I write down, if not all, I can check off at the end of the year. I've done this for the past three years, and every year I will sit down in the bed and just think about what I want to do, then I break it down to what I need to get accomplished right now to get to the overall goal. After I write it out in my cute little book, I pray over it. And pray and pray and pray. So I would have to say this is the easiest, and most useful blog for me.

20 years
*Work Life*
Manage a nonprofit organization (something to do with children and community)
Morning News Anchor on major news network or Host of my own show or Journalism high school teacher (This is where I pray for God to put me where he knows I need to be - Jeremiah 29:11)
Being asked to help write textbooks and/or make videos and documentaries
*Family Life*
Married, 3 kids, living in a friendly community, close enough to see family whenever possible, yet far enough for them not to get on my nerves, be very involved in church, Sunday dinners, vacations to resorts (so no paycheck to paycheck stress)

5 years
*Work Life*
Master's degree in Communications
PhD candidate (pray pray pray)
Work part time in any field of communications for the experience or...
Teaching Certificate to teach full time at high school while go to school part time
part of a nonprofit organization
*Family Life*
Married, 2 kids, close to home and family

Next Year
*Work Life*
Master's degree candidate
Teaching Assistantship
Work part time at radio station or news station, whichever will hire me first

*What to accomplish now*Get in contact with graduate program and start application process
Look into the classes for a teaching certificate
Get back into contact with my contacts at the radio and news station
In the fall, begin filming new tapes
Update resume
PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY PRAY

The New Slave?

The discussion today focused on the media representation of Latinos and Hispanics in the overall media coverage. After looking at the pictures, what type of news story do you think these people will be a part of? Will they even get a chance to have a story told? Or, would you be more inclined to automatically think 'illegal immigrant' as soon as you see them on the news?(Not that you think they are actually illegal immigrants, but because it has been pushed to the world through the media by reporting mainly on illegal immigrants?)

I searched for positive media coverage of Latinos and Hispanics on the popular search engines, and most of the stories I found were specifically for the Latin and Hispanic community. On top of that, most of the stories were print. So, I refined my search to seek out television broadcasts about Latinos and Hispanics, and then most of the packages that presented them in a positive light were from states closer to the south. The other stories did in fact discuss and reveal the negative images and stories that feed the stereotypes. But, then again, isn't that what most news is, local news at least, all the bad stuff in the community. I'll admit, due to time constraints maybe I didn't have ample time to search and dig for the stories, but wouldn't it be a utopia type of world if when I searched news packages about Latinos or Hispanics, then I would get as many stories as I would if I searched news packages about White people.

For fun, I decided to search for news packages on black people, and the results were about the same. The first ones to pop up were the crime stories. And although there are more positive black news packages than Latinos and Hispanics, the issues that the two races have are similar. Which brings me to the title of this post; a classmate said today that the Latinos, Hispanics, or those who just work for cheap are like the new slaves. For the most part, the ones that perform cheap labor are mainly illegal immigrants trying to make a living in this better place, according to them. Now, to me, that does sound familiar. Not being wanted, but being used, and getting taken advantage of. The debate was that those who are illegal shouldn't be here anyway, and that there are few stories about them because most of them don't speak English, and refuse to learn it. Actually, there is an official language in many states, and there is a fight right now for Oklahoma to become an English-only state. In addition, the bill has a private discourse specifically for the illegal immigration situation. The bill boils down to all government documents shall be in English. American Indians are really fighting it, but guess who isn't in the forefront of the issue, and who it seems to affect the most. Sure, there are free classes for people to learn English, but if I am illegal according to the country, which in some cases those people can't be faulted due to the lengthy process of becoming a citizen, will I really immerse myself into the community?

Here's what I think: If the media had a more diverse newsroom, someone to represent every ethnicity, who knows the culture, issues and obstacles of that race, then the world would be able to make a better judgment about the people in this nation. To take it a step further, if the media made a big deal about legalizing immigrants, rather than making a bigger deal about keeping them out, and reporting on ways to help the situation, then maybe there would be a better outlook and outcome for those people.

Refugee, Victim or Survivor

Boy, was the discussion today difficult! What have we learned from Hurricane Katrina and the race issue in America? As I was searching for this answer, I couldn't find a clear cut one, except that racism is still prevalent, just in different forms, as professor Chavez said. I came across a package called "Katrina: Racial Lesson Lost" where it talks about if race played a role in the situation. To answer the question of why some people chose to stay, a question I asked my cousin who lived in the lower ninth ward, he responded "Where am I going to go? If I go for help, who are they going to help first, me or them people not from around here?" This is why I was so quiet in class. It's almost unexplainable, the reasons some of the people stayed. Some of the factors include the warning time, transportation, living options, etc. In my cousin's case, he felt like whatever he does, he is going to get the short stick. A feeling that was relived every day just because he couldn't afford to get out of the lower ninth ward. Going down there afterward was so hard. My family decided not to go until the city was somewhat better. Before going, I watched the Spike Lee documentary called When The Levees Broke. It can, or should, be able to answer most of the questions you have.

In the case of the media coverage, I had some personal thoughts. I am inclined to think that the reason the word refugee was used was because when the reporters went to New Orleans and saw the people in the Superdome, the majority of them black, they immediately related all the colored faces with the colored people we see when we see refugees. As if all the dark faces triggered the thought of refugees from Africa or something. I asked myself if the same thought would occur if the Superdome would have been filled with majority white people. My take is that while the word refugee was a correct, according to definition, yet sensationalized for the situation, someone should have brought up that there could be a possibility that people, especially the majority that was discussed, would interpret the word refugee negatively; being that when you normally here the word refugee, it's a person from another country. And to take it a step further, some people in the black community felt that Bush was against them, in a way helping to keep them inferior to the majority. So, when the response wasn't reasonable, and the word came out, some felt like it was another way for society to continue to degrade the black race. I'm not speaking for all black people, just the ones I talked to.

The two pictures, looting and surviving... after looking at this Web site http://www.snopes.com/katrina/photos/looters.asp, I found it interesting that the photographer not from our country wanted to be careful of how he wanted to portray the image he had taken. Meanwhile, our fellow citizen photographer, although making the claim that he actually witnessed the young man breaking in and taking the food out, came up with looting, instead of being worried about how to portray these victims. Not that what I would do is absolutely right, but I would have, in both cases, spoke with my editor and pitch that we should talk about the survival tactics, such as 'finding' food in abandoned stores, among other techniques that people did to stay alive. That would have been the angle of my story. I met a man who told me how, after having to reject helping a woman out of the water because when he and some of the people he ended up floating with pulled her up, poisonous snakes, yes plural, were attached to her legs, he thought of many different ways to stay out of the water. I'd rather read that than about someone getting food, but said to be stealing. It comes down to everybody did something in order to survive. I mean, was the young man supposed to anchor himself in front of the store and wait for the food and drink to float out to him? Pray that somebody else doesn't float by and grab it before he does? It makes sense for him to wait starving, staring at food that may not float out. NO!

Going Toward Higher Education

Since the day we talked about privilege, its existence, its various meanings and types of privilege, I have been thinking and applying the concept to situations that happen daily. For instance, this morning when I was getting on the bus, there wasn’t a line, but instead people were just basically taking turns walking up the stairs into the bus while bunched up at the door. Now, I noticed the White people in front of me, particularly the White girls. They were being polite to one another, taking turns, and the guys in the bunch would exercise the ‘ladies first’ politeness taught in early childhood. But as I inched closer to the door, in the midst of the bunch, it was almost as if I felt like all the girls in front of me should get on first, so that no one could say black people are rude and use me inching my way closer as an example. At the same time, a White guy and I were arm to arm tip-toeing toward the door. It was awkward because lots of feelings evoked in me that I never paid attention to before the discussions in class. As a woman, I felt like I had the privilege to get the ‘ladies first’ treatment, and that this man would just take a step behind me so I could get on first. However, this guy kept trying to walk closer and closer to me as to walk me off to the side, so that he could get on first. Then, almost automatically, I thought of all the reasons why he may have done that, instead of instantly regarding him as rude. I thought that maybe he felt like he had white male privilege, so he can do basically what he wants, and at that time he wanted to get on the bus before me. Then, I thought, why didn’t he want me to get on before him? Was the reason because he was worried about the availability of seats? Or, could it have been his subliminal, oblivious actions that White people are superior, so should always come first? Well, with others, I will never know. But because change starts with me, I decided that it was probably because I stepped between him and his friend, or girlfriend, or someone of importance that he had to reconnect with and sit by on the ride to our higher education.

What In the World Is My Privilege?

So I asked what kind of privilege does a person of color have, or what kind of privileges do we experience that white people don’t, and I couldn’t come up with anything right off the top of my head like can be done when white privilege is mentioned. Privilege is like a special grant or advantage which can be, like we said in class, unearned. Now that I have sort of conjured up that definition, I guess I could back it up with an example; thing is, I can’t think of one that fits every aspect of what I’ve stated. Now that I’m writing down my thoughts, I see that what is considered a privilege in any situation by any person is in fact earned. Griffin asked what is in the middle if there is underprivileged and over privileged (and yes, the computer automatically fixed these words for me as Wise joked about), and I would consider the earned privilege the middle man; you could almost call it regular privilege- the privilege we rightfully obtain through our actions of earning, with the key word being ‘rightfully’, in my opinion. Having said that, by rightfully I mean the bonuses or advantages one gets that is justified because of the work one has done. And who decides what is justifiable? Society. Now, having said that, I think that the classification of underprivileged means that the opportunity or preconceived notion of something just doesn’t exist, regardless of the work effort. I said in class that I have, or would have, privilege because of my college education. That would fit in the middle in ‘regular privilege’ because I have worked my little booty all the way off to get, and stay, in college till you can’t even see it anymore. I have earned whatever privilege I get in that example, be it a better job or better position in the same job as my peers. Then, it got me thinking even more…if there is male privilege, what is female privilege? Is there a thing such as female privilege? Is there a thing such as black privilege? Or colored people privilege? Being included in the categories, what can I enjoy without earning the benefit that others can’t? I found this guy, a gender analyst, that gave a checklist of black male privilege, with some that could be applied to the African American race as a whole. As I read it, I started to think of what black female privileges could be, according to this checklist. Talk about a headache! Ok, maybe I have the privilege of not having the hassle of having to wash my hair every day. That’s all I can really come up with. But I can’t even use that because not all white women wash their hair every day. It’s really hard to think of one because the media doesn’t help portray this concept of colored female privilege. I can turn on the TV now and see examples of white privilege, even black male privilege as described in that checklist, but there are no examples for colored females. Sometimes, I feel like I have to be conscious of everything I am.