pre reading weeek 4

To be privileged to me is to inherit a certain social status or to be offered certain opportunities that most people don’t have access to.  According to the dictionary, a privilege is “a special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to one person or group of people.”  A few examples of privileges that different people in society can posses include citizenship, lack of discrimination, and a sense of hierarchy in society.  With many immigrants coming to America searching for the American dream, being born in the United States and automatically becoming an American citizen is a privilege to their eyes.  Having a voice in society by voting and having health care and being able to have civil rights is a privilege that us U.S. citizens have.  A sense of belonging with equality to other people and equal opportunity is what people immigrate to the United States for; unfortunately that isn’t the case due to racial hierarchy.  This creates racism.  We have this idea that “white” people are on top of the racial hierarchy.  This notion dates back to when the first draft of the census came about.  During this time, white people, or to be more specific, white males, had all the power.  With slavery being a reality, there was a racial structure created; where white people where above every other race due to privileges placed upon them.  Having these privileges, white people had more availability to resources and wealth, which in hand enabled them to have African-American slaves to work beneath them.   By setting this kind of idea that people of color are not meant to be equals with whites, mankind continues to make a sort of pyramid that puts whites on top.   Having these types of thoughts can lead to racism.  Racism is when one person has a bad view on another person of a certain race.  As I write this I’m thinking to myself, how can anyone be racist against Mexicans, Cubans, or Salvadorians if they aren’t considered a race by the government.  This just goes to show how blurring the line between ethnicity and race on the census can be beneficial in the sense that everyone would be able to identify as whatever they choose to say and being accepted for it, instead as being seen as a lower class citizen for the color of your skin.  This sense of white people having more privileges than any person of color is true.  It took hundreds of years for America to elect a black president.  Racism goes hand in hand with how different races/ethnicities come with different privileges. 

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week 3 pre-reading

Living in the USA, we experience a vast mixture of races and ethnicities in our everyday lives.  Take San Francisco State University for example, we have a broad range of students attending our school from all over the world and with unique backgrounds.  I believe a major ethnicity in the United States would come from our neighbors down south, the Hispanics.  With constant immigration from Central America to Northern America, in hopes to live a better life, anywhere you travel to, there will be a large group of Hispanics in the community.  Before taking this class, I would’ve easily have said Caucasian was the majority of ethnicities in America, but I consider them the largest race in America.  To be white in this country is to be at the top of the pyramid.  I have come to understand that a lot of people identify as white in order to break their own molds and fit into society easier.  I’m referring mainly to immigrants who find it struggling to transition into the states due to racial profiling and discrimination.  I believe the census itself is a form of discrimination.  Not including Mexican as a race is basically saying, “You’re not what we tolerate in this country.”  As I fill out the census form for myself I am upset that I have to write down the race that I identify as, especially since there are so many Mexican-Americans in this country.  Another thing I found strange was how many different type of Asians are listed under the race section.  As if being a certain type of Asian is better than being Indian or Persian.  With this in mind I do believe the census has a heavy influence on racial and ethnic categorization in our everyday lives.  Unfortunately it’s not an accurate or positive influence.  If I were to “re-do” the census, I would have it done electronically and broken down into sub-groups.  For example: for race, I would have basic categories, such as; Asian, Hispanic, white, African, etc. and from what you check off, it would lead you to another link that would give specific racial identification options.  Such as, if you were to check off Hispanic/Latino, it would lead you to a link that would specify whether you identify as Mexican, Cuban, Colombian, Chilean etc.  I feel as though that would make things more progressive and accurate in how the census would create a forward moving influence on racial and ethnic views in the United States.

word count: 415