Due December 7, 2014 | hussibhoa

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“Hunter Huss IB Readings”

December 3, 2014 Due December 7, 2014

Ferguson, Trayvon Martin, and the list goes on. We can jump to conclusions about race in America, but is it really race or something just as, if not more, troubling. Read the following articles. CITE them ALL, then discuss “Is race the problem or it it class division.” Is there a potential solution?

http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/

http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951

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Permalink # Aislinn Nantz said

To be honest, all the Ferguson case is about people wanting to have a reason to fuss and complain about something. No one even pays attention to the real facts about the case, they all just see that some white cop shot a black kid. Let the people having doing the riots go back and look at the cold hard facts. In my opinion let people who think they know everything about the Ferguson case sit in a room and give them the case file but leave out the victim and the cop, don’t put nothing for the race and see what they say then. And when they go against their riots I’ll I got to say is. “hop off the case!!” And that, my friends is my opinion on the whole thing.
P.S. Anyone who has all this time to sit around and argue abut this whole thing needs to find a better hobby or, not trying to sound rude but, get a life. THERE’S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT, GET OVER IT!
Have a nice weekend.

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- Permalink # noblitt said
  
  So now actually read the articles and address the questions I adked
  
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  - Permalink # joeldanae said
    
    why aren’t my posts showing up for me nobbs!!!!!!!?????
- Permalink # seth said
  
  Aislinn I love you, finally someone agrees with me. People think that the white cop just shot the black kid and killed him for no reason. There were black people on the Jury and there were black witnesses that even said that he tried to go through the window of the cop car and try to steal the cops gun to kill him, there was even DNA of the black male inside the cop car to prove that he tried to get into his car. People are just ignorant and have to bring race into every single thing and obviously they can’t take the FACTS! THE FACTS ARE THE TRUTH!!
  
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- Permalink # zhalenr said
  
  @AISLINN-NANTZ No ma’am. We just don’t want to argue about “nothing”. What happen was very serious and should not have been taken so lightly, same with the Trayvon case which was also taken extremely lightly. My argument still remains the same. It didn’t take that many shots.
  
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  - Permalink # seth said
    
    lmao shut up
Permalink # gingerrrmaddie722 said

I find this perspective interesting because I have often wondered if it was a social class issue. Honestly, I feel like it is a humanity issue and all that entails. I would say it is racial, social class, inadequate education, and senseless stereotypes, which pretty much covers all of the above. On the surface, I feel this is a racial issue and I can justify my opinion based on what I see every day. The articles we are supposed to cite draws my attention to the fact it is also a social class issue. The reason I claim the issue as inadequate education is because I have seen a lot of people express their opinions without basing it on facts or personal experiences. They base their opinions off of what the media says or what their families have passed on from earlier generations. The senseless stereotypes are included in all of the above because there are stereotypes for each topic.

The article about the media changing things to distract the public from the real problem is the one I found most interesting because I have also found it to be the most prevalent. I found that the media lies during my research for my Extended Essay and I found it again the other day on social media. There has been a picture circulating on social media of a white Ferguson police officer hugging a black child. However, a few days ago, someone released pictures of the photographer going up to the police officer and the child giving them instructions and helping them pose, in order to downplay the issue. “One way to keep these 50 million fractured is through disinformation.” (http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/) The 50 million is in reference to the amount of Americans that are poor. The news and other forms of media purposely portray these scenes as not being so bad and bringing other, less relevant issues to the surface in order to keep the spotlight off of the wealthy. The article mentions them being preoccupied with “emotional” issues rather than the class issues.

“Non-white folks with a college education are looking more and more like white folks with a college education and white folks who haven’t gotten beyond high school are looking more and more like nonwhite folks who haven’t finished high school.” (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/) I like this quote because it highlights that the issues are no longer black vs. white, but educated vs. non-educated. I firmly believe that it doesn’t matter what race you are, but if you work towards an education you should all have the same benefits. White privilege shouldn’t be a thing. Honestly, even though I benefit from it (as much as I hate to admit it) I don’t appreciate it. I do not like having things handed to me, I want to work for them. I want to know that I earned something because I deserve it, not because my skin is the “correct” color or people assume I’m not as likely to harm them or commit other criminal acts.

I wonder why the following quote is true, ”Americans react to the poor with disgust” (http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951) I don’t understand why people are disgusted by those that they have no idea what their situation is. Personally, I’m not disgusted by them, I’m curious. I know that the system is very cyclic and hard to break, but even those that weren’t “born into the system” I always wonder what their story is. I’m not the type to automatically assume they’re on drugs and things.

I’m not good at trying to understand social issues because I don’t understand why we can’t all be friends. Just let everyone live their life and if it doesn’t apply to you, don’t make it an issue. However, I do have some things to add based on my observations and because I know that a lot believe Ferguson as well as the others are racial issues.

I believe that these issues are what you make them. I saw an interesting point yesterday about the ones who get angry and say if it was a white person you wouldn’t hear about it. The point made was that it is because the white people don’t make it an issue. They aren’t fighting the system, they aren’t seeking justice, and they aren’t demanding that their voices be heard. Also, those that get angry over the #BlackLivesMatter thing, don’t understand it. These people aren’t saying that white people and other races don’t matter, they’re saying that their lives deserve the right to a trial after someone is murdered. All these people wanted was a trial. I mean hello, in the New York incident, it was seen on camera and he still wasn’t indicted. Someone that I know said that the police officer choked him because he MIGHT have had a gun. Well I MIGHT punch you in the face for being stupid, but I’m not going to. You’d never expect it from me because I’m a fairly nice person, but I have the potential, everyone does. Don’t base your actions off of assumptions because you could be wrong. I got a text from a friend last week that said Maddie, your life matters. I’m not black, I can’t even get a tan, BUT I’m not going around saying that these people deserved what happened to them either. These people appreciate that, I know they do because they tell me. They consider people like me to be a “white ally”, which proves that they don’t hate all white people, just those that make comments about black people going back to Africa and deserving to die.

Addressing the burning of the American flag issue, no, I don’t think they SHOULD have done it because it does violate an amendment and it is disrespectful to those that fought for our freedom. However, I know why they did it. They did it because there are thousands of replicas of that piece of fabric with that specific pattern, but there is only one of each human. They burned the flag as a symbol, because the flag is a symbol of liberty and justice for all, but these people weren’t seeing any justice. I don’t understand why people were more worried about the burning of a flag rather than the murder of a human. I really don’t care about the confrontation between Mike Brown and the officer, I think that there were better ways to handle it than to kill him.

To those that criticize the ones protesting and saying they’re stupid and they can’t change anything, I have a problem. Clearly you don’t understand history because that is how things happen. When you boycott, protest, etc. things start changing eventually. “the Montgomery bus boycott was a 13-month mass protest that ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional.” (http://mlk-kpp01.stanford.edu/index.php/encyclopedia/encyclopedia/enc_montgomery_bus_boycott_1955_1956/) Those people were told they couldn’t change things either. I guess I have a problem because someone very close to me is currently leading a protest. My best friend, Gabrielle Franklin, decided that she wanted her voice to be heard and started a protest group with 2 other girls at UNC. Yesterday on LDOC, they shut down the Pit completely, with arms linked, shouting the names of those that have yet to receive justice/died from polive brutality, for 4.5 hours in the cold. If you’ve been to the Pit then you know what a big deal this was. They were told by UNC administration that if there was any violence they’d have to shut the protest down. Protestors were instructed to remain calm at all times no matter what happened, no retaliation whatsoever. I think the protest was fine, but afterwards on Yik Yak, plenty was said about them. “Black lives don’t matter as much. Sorry but not sorry.” “If y’all acted like this back then, I would have enslaved y’all too.” I know where Gabby’s heart is because I take the time to ask her, listen to her, and get her point of view, rather than say she can’t change anything and tell her she’s wasting her time. She says that it is more than a racial issue, it is also police brutality. Her and her friends are getting people’s attention and if I was there I would have been in the Pit with them. I dare someone to tell Gabby that she’s stupid for protesting and standing up for what she believes in while they aren’t doing anything but sitting on the couch (:

Anyway, sorry this post is long, but I think that it doesn’t really matter what type of issue this is, racial, social class, etc. What matters is how we handle it as a nation. We won’t solve anything pointing fingers because every action has an equal and opposite reaction and each group will retaliate every time. United we stand, divided we fall. I think we should search for common ground and start there. That’s easier said than done. Stop labeling people. Stop putting everyone into specific categories and try to unite. Frankly I don’t care what type of issue this is because I agree with MLK, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” I think there could be a solution, but it’ll be a longgggg journey to get there.

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Permalink # christopherdavis429 said

Both exist, although i have never seen anyone being discriminated against because of how much money they make. “Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal.” I agree with this statement, because even i used to think that way. Most of the time that’s not the case, most are born in that situation while it may cause them to use drastic actions to survive, there are also ways to get help without committing a crime. Its mainly the media and secondly the parents for giving their children predetermined stereotypes of people of a different Color, Background, social class etc. Its easy to say “that’s not true” When you’ve never experienced it and looking at it from the outside. http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/
“You say poverty to most ordinary Americans, most ordinary voters, they think black ghettos.” Again this correlates back to what i was saying above. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/
“Americans react to the poor with disgust.” If you were to go to another country such as Bolivia where the majority is of the same race, this wouldn’t be a problem but economic class wise it would be an issue. Discrimination is placed everywhere, and it comes in may different forms. http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951
Is there a potential solution? Of course not! you cant stop or solve something that’s been causing conflicts for centuries. These problems have been openly discussed throughout the years and has repeated themselves throughout history. I say its impossible, racism and prejudice will never die out.

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Permalink # robertadams97 said

In my opinion, race is most definitely the problem. America today blames race for everything. Every situation includes some kind of racism. Not everyone is racist, but EVERYONE judges. Race has took place for a long time and I honestly think it’ll keep going. America sees every situation that involves an African American and a Caucasian racist. People get killed every single day, but when it seems “racist”, it influences the entire country. I do not think there is any possible solution to this problem. I think this because Americans will always see it as being racist. The article says, Dr. Fiske has studied attitudes toward poor for 12 years and is not surprised by the results of her study. She told the Inquirer that, “Americans react to the poor with disgust” and that “it’s the most negative prejudice people report”, even greater than racism. http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951

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Permalink # taylorwatkins said

First off I just want to say that I am overly exhausted about hearing about race. I feel like it doesn’t matter what class you are in, it always comes up. Some people have said that I am racist, but everyone is in some way. But everyone is also human so I have never understood why people treated/treat black people different. In my mind it doesn’t make sense. The only time you hear about a cop shooting someone in the news is when the cop was white and the victim was a black person, but everyone knows that many people are shot and killed by cops everyday.
I believe that race and class division are both probelms when we bring up incidents like Ferguson and Trayvon Martin. “Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal. Ironically, this misperception is true even among the poor.” (http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/) This quote I feels sums up race and class division perfectly. Throughout history people have always asscoiated blacks with being poor and poor people being criminals, but there are also white poor people that are criminals and there are also wealthy black people in society. I think that in the incients throughout history when a white police officer has shot a young black boy they thought about the quote above and assumed that they were armed and dangerous.
Class division has become a overwhelming problem in the United States. “The class gap is growing while the racial gap is shrinking.” (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/) The class division should be a bigger problem for Americans now instead of race. Knowing that more than likely before we die there will be no middle class left and our kids will have to fight to be in the weatlthy class. Why should race even matter anymore? There are bigger problems in the nation like how we are going to make a living for our family.
” found that when people were shown photos of the poor and homeless, their brains responded as though the images depicted things and not humans.” (http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951#) Our country is coming to the point that you have to be “rich” or your not human.
I do not think that there is a solution at this point for some people because people already have their mind set in a certain way. It’s not fair for poor people or black people. I have seen and experienced first hand how people look and talk when a white girl and black boy go out in public together. People think that races should not mix. It is wrong and it is especailly wrong to tell someone that races should not mix when you are dating someone of the opposite race. But this is what our country has come to.
I think that Ferguson and the Trayvon Martin cases were based on race but class division also goes along with that because people associate black people with poor people. Coach Pond made a good point the other day that the stuff in the news is the “big” headlining stuff. Ever since all of the Ferguson stuff happened the whole Ebola situation has disappeared.
But in the end both race and class division are both the problem. People just shouldn’t assume things by the race of someone or by if they look poor or not.

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Permalink # chrisbonilla0430 said

“Dystopian books and movies like Snowpiercer, The Giver,Divergent, Hunger Games, and Elysium have been the rage for the past few years.” (http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/) As a society, we are literally heading into a real life “Elsyium” situation. The problems occurring in America are not about race. They are about the rich versus the poor. If I remember correctly, “Elysium” was a movie about the rich living in these grand space stations while the poor were stuck on a dying Earth. Then there is this huge fight between the rich and the poor. This is what is happening right now. It is not on a large scale but if we do not stop this, that is where we are heading. “Putnam says that continued racial gaps are also in significant measure class gaps, but many would argue that race and class cannot so easily be disentangled.” (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/). People try to pinpoint where the problem is, but the thing is, you can’t. Race and class division are so closely entwined that they can’t be counted as separates. The probability of what class division you are is most of the time determined by your race. Social mobility is occurring less and less. The poor are angry and the rich just get richer. The stereotype of the poor is that they are black and ghetto. This puts an automatic target on black people. When stuff like Ferguson or New York happens, it only makes matter worse. “…when people were shown photos of the poor and homeless, their brains responded as though the images depicted things and not humans.” (http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951). To be honest, I don’t feel like we can come up with a solution. History is taken too much into account for what is happening now, and you can’t change history. If I were to try to set a solution, I guess it would be to reeducate people because they obviously seemed to forgot what being human is.

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Permalink # jaybyrd40 said

I will evaluate the first article and then address my question. First and foremost, the first article is written by Kareem Abdul-Jabaar which is just a cool fact because I mean its Kareem. But I think he states a great argument that it is a war of class rather than race because race is somewhat too specific rather as it can be subdivided from class. This first quote is the main view I have on all of the recent controversy.
“By focusing on just the racial aspect, the discussion becomes about whether Michael Brown’s death—or that of the other three unarmed black men who were killed by police in the U.S. within that month—is about discrimination or about police justification. Then we’ll argue about whether there isn’t just as much black-against-white racism in the U.S. as there is white-against-black. (Yes, there is. But, in general, white-against-black economically impacts the future of the black community. Black-against-white has almost no measurable social impact.)”
http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/
I also like the fact that he considers statistics when evaluating the argument and also the validity issues involved with each statistic. For instance he mentions the prevalence of black crimes being higher may be the reason why these instances are occurring. Along with the attack on the minority being the police but also states that this may vary due to population size and concentration so to speak.
“It’s difficult to get a bigger national picture because studies are woefully inadequate.”
The quote I feel is the strongest in this argument answers and supports why I believe it is about class rather than race.
“ Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal. Ironically, this misperception is true even among the poor.
And that’s how the status quo wants it.
The U.S. Census Report finds that 50 million Americans are poor. Fifty million voters is a powerful block if they ever organized in an effort to pursue their common economic goals. So, it’s crucial that those in the wealthiest One Percent keep the poor fractured by distracting them with emotional issues like immigration, abortion and gun control so they never stop to wonder how they got so screwed over for so long.”
As for a solution, I agree with Kareem that violence isn’t the answer as it shows ignorance in a way and he believes this similar to Mr. Mohammad, which may be due to their Islamic background and also their knowledge. I do feel that it is unfair for news to be aired so untruthfully which is why Kareem mentions.
“How can viewers make reasonable choices in a democracy if their sources of information are corrupted? They can’t, which is exactly how the One Percent controls the fate of the Ninety-Nine Percent.”
I do not feel that the route to take to find a solution though is to try to reform political control of the media.
As for the next two websites I feel that there are more helpful in supporting the main argument that the argument is more about social class and perception of social class but not as blunt in presenting the argument as the first source or quite as interesting. I feel that before people try to find a solution that they need to evaluate all the statistics that have been drawn from these websites. I feel that there is no way to ignore the matter and that it is about social class because of these supporting facts rather than being completely oblivious. I know that this is a serious problem and that violence isn’t the answer but a uniform and definite solution isn’t something I can figure out which is why I have been patient to speak on the subject in class, which is unusual. Therefore in conclusion, I feel that it is obvious to see that this is class warfare, although it may be presented through racial issues or have racial factors, rather than a race war. I do however feel that the solution for this isn’t as obvious which troubles me again to wait and see the route taken by authorities because an estimated solution for such a problem may be disastrous.

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- Permalink # noblitt said
  
  nice post, as usual. Journalist is a good career choice.
  
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Permalink # reaganmorrison15 said

As usual, I just typed a concise, well thought, organized response to this and it deleted itself. Here I go again.

I’m going to start this out by saying at this point I plan to move to another country and hopefully never hear the word “America” again. This countries idea of a happy life is reliant of the amount of money you have and that is disgusting. It would not surprise me if in 200 years we had an eerily similar version of the hunger games taking place in the United States.

Before reading these articles I was positive that our country was solely racist and my eyes have been opened.

In the first article it states “By focusing on just the racial aspect, the discussion becomes about whether Michael Brown’s death—or that of the other three unarmed black men who were killed by police in the U.S. within that month—is about discrimination or about police justification. Then we’ll argue about whether there isn’t just as much black-against-white racism in the U.S. as there is white-against-black. (Yes, there is. But, in general, white-against-black economically impacts the future of the black community. Black-against-white has almost no measurable social impact.)” Cops are bullies, I’ve never once in my “trouble maker” days met a single nice cop. They always have attitudes and push people around for one simple reason, they can do whatever they want. A cop in Oklahoma was just arrested for raping women and claiming that he would press charges on them if they fought back. Therefore, it does not surprise me that there are so many race related deaths going on lately. In the Michael Brown case, I do not believe that it began as a racial thing seeing as the officer was responding to a call about an infant who wasn’t breathing when he got the call over his radio about Brown. But there was absolutely no reason for Brown to have been shot the amount of times he had been. All it would have taken is a warning shot….http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/

In the second article I realized it isn’t just about race, “You say poverty to most ordinary Americans, most ordinary voters, they think black ghettos, class — not race is the dominate, and becoming the more dominate deminsion of difficulty” I completely agree with this because all I ever hear from extremely southern white people is “All black people are on government assistance, thanks Obama” which is an extremely uneducated comment seeing as white people are the primary users of government assistance. People tend to stereotype African Americans by money, and I really hate that, because that isn’t how it should be but it’s true. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/

When I say that the third article genuinely disgusted me I mean it. “Susan Fiske, a professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, whoh has designed a neuroimaging test that registers people’s reaction to images, found that when people were shown photos of the poor and homeless, their brains responded as though the images depicted things and not humans.” This is SO true that it actually makes me not want to live here anymore. Americans are worried about one thing, money. They don’t care how they have to get it, they’re all greedy. All people care about is getting the newest iPhone, having so many clothes you never even wear half of them. If people weren’t so worried about stuff in this stupid world we might have a shot of seeing each other as equal but it will never be that way. http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951

There is no solution to this problem. More and more riots will occur, more people will die. There will be nothing left of the United States if we don’t become equal. Sadly, people don’t care enough about each other to stop being greedy, racist, and cruel. I wish things didn’t have to be this way.

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- Permalink # noblitt said
  
  Nice comments, good critical thinking.
  
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Permalink # ethanbullard said

Race and class division are equally pressing issues in America today. However, class division proves to be more of an issue than race. The economic gap between Americans is staggering and it continues to further as the years go on. Fear or disgust towards homeless is scientifically proven and it goes to show that the surface issue would be the way we view those less fortunate.
The best example of this would be “For a lot of people, it’s easier to say that all minorities are poor, and that all poor people have only themselves to blame, than to recognize that inequality and unfairness abound, and that not everyone gets a fair shake in a complex world, Dovidio said.” (http://articles.philly.com/2013-08-06/news/41096922_1_west-philadelphia-neuroimaging-psychology) I’ve personally been on the judgmental side of the spectrum. I’m many people have said that the homeless should stop living off others and find a job but it just simply isn’t that easy. Everyone isn’t born with a silver spoon in their mouth. Some cannot cope with the pain and stray down the wrong path.
Another quote that best summarizes my view would be “”Those two conceptual moves, framing it as poverty and thinking about it as a matter of race, have a very deep history… and I think both politically and analytically that’s an almost fatally flawed framework,” said Putnam, “ , and “What that means, according to his research: “The class gap over the last 20 years in unmarried births, controlling for race, has doubled, and the racial gap, controlling for class, has been cut in half. Twenty years ago the racial gap was the dominant gap in unmarried births — and now the class gap is by far.” (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/)
I believe the question itself is simple to answer when asked if the issue is race or class division but it’s misleading on your part to start this blog off with cases that were drenched in hate from both sides of race as if to get the answer from students that the issue is race, not class division. Yes, race is the cause of Trayvon Martin. As far as Ferguson, I will not state my opinion because I’d be labeled as a racist but I will say that everyone is entitled to their opinion and evidence overcomes any doubt. A case that isn’t mentioned that is clearly race related would be the shooting of a twelve year old African-American, Tamir Rice, in Cleveland. YES RACE IS A BIG ISSUE BUT WHAT WE SHOULD BE WORRYING ABOUT IS WHY INNOCENT CHILDREN, REGARDLESS OF SKIN COLOR, ARE BEING SHOT DEAD BY POLICE NOT THE FACT THAT THE COP WAS WHITE AND THE VICTIM WAS BLACK. No one cares to take a second and think, “Why are we killing our own kind for no reason?” Instead, we publish all over the news, pillage stores, set businesses aflame and create hatred for the other race. Were all humans and there is no reason why we can’t stop seeing things as Black and White because we live in a world full of color. We are all individuals of the world and should be looked at as so. When you label crimes as black and white, you’re only furthering the race divide. I understand that there is no easy way to prevent racism for it runs rampant deep in our history. Likewise, I know that the problem will never be solved if we continue following the path of discrimination, hate, and violence.
“Rather than uniting to face the real foe—do-nothing politicians, legislators, and others in power—we fall into the trap of turning against each other, expending our energy battling our allies instead of our enemies. (http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/)
The economic gap in America will continue to widen until there is an agreement upon all 50 million of the lower class and the middle class as well. This change will not happen if we don’t stop sporadically acting upon events that just distract the masses. This change will not be something that occurs over night. This blog was a touchy subject for many and we must all understand that no one persons view triumphs anyone elses.

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- Permalink # noblitt said
  
  Tried not to ask any leading questions, I’m as confused as anyone by what’s going on.
  
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  - Permalink # ethanbullard said
    
    I liked the topic. Its hard to approach though
  - Permalink # ethanbullard said
    
    Just felt as if some people took it the wrong way
Permalink # destinysanders235 said

In my opinion, I believe that race is more of the issue rather than class division. Just like the discussion in class on Friday, December 5, it was stated that race is the main problem among society. An example that was given was when some students cried their way out of ISS because they responded, “It was too many black people”. This supports the claim of race being an issue and not social class. “Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal. Ironically, this misperception is true even among the poor.” (http://TIME.COM/3132635/FERGUSON-COMING-RACE-WAR-CLASS-WARFARE/) I believe this quote is true because though there are many blacks that are poor, there are also whites. However, the crime would be seen differently if a poor white male was to commit it rather than a poor black male. African American males are known to be more intimidating than white males because of their skin color and history. However, in my personal belief, I don’t believe crime occurs unless it is provoked. Which supports the cases of Trayvon, Ferguson, Garner, and more. Though social class may play a role in it, race is a main factor for it all. Though it is likely for someone to be discriminated against because of the amount of income they make, race outweighs that aspect. This is because a man who is black that makes a low income will be even more discriminated against because of the color of his skin. I remember sitting in 5th period with Mr. Noblitt and Mr. Quan last year and hearing them argue about how blacks income in an organization is lower than whites. I believe this claim to be true.
“Susan Fiske, a professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, who has designed a neuroimaging test that registers people’s reaction to images, found that when people were shown photos of the poor and homeless, their brains responded as though the images depicted things and not humans.” This quote displays how class plays a strong role in discrimination, yet, fails to display how the images were looked upon when both a certain race and social class was shown together. Like I said before I do believe class division and race go hand in hand, however, one factor advances more than the other. This particular quote shows how greedy America is. They stand behind money for comfort and happiness. Though I believe true happiness is not felt through money. This quote upsets me to know that this is how society is and how probably is will be for a long time. I do believe history repeats itself as is it being shown among the world in present day. Though the three articles speak of how class division has shaped discrimination, I support my claim of race being the main factor from experience and knowledge.
(http://PHILANTHROPY.COM/BLOGS/PHILANTHROPYTODAY/PEOPLE-HOLD-STRONG-PREJUDICES-AGAINST-THE-POOR-STUDY-SHOWS/72951)
What would be a solution for this?
I can not yet speak on a solution because I don’t believe there is an obvious solution yet. There have been many movements and actions made to prevent the crime from continuing, however, it has not particularly settled it all. So therefore, I would have to make a slow approach on what there should be done in order to come to a solution. Though this is a serious situation and violence is not the key, there is no definite solution to this just yet. Some bad habits just don’t break.

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- Permalink # noblitt said
  
  There has to be a solution, like you with no clue what it is
  
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Permalink # suarez05j said

“Relatively speaking, racial differences controlling for class are decreasing while class differences controlling for race are increasing in America,” he said.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/
I personally believe it is more of a class division problem. However, race still has to do with it. In the article cited above, they stated class differences control race, and racial issues. We all center on black versus white and the racism involved and the stereotypes but we are blinded by the class division that these stereotypes come from. Even if we are poor, we tend to judge ones who receive food stamps, and other government help. we stereotype mexicans, blacks, asians based on the work they do, whether they cut grass, are really smart, or work illegally. But they dont really focus on the shade of yellow their skin is, or why they are in America because of their nationality. We see them as a threat to our economy.

“People Hold Strong Prejudices Against the Poor, Study Shows”
http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951
I personally agree with this quote, because I have experienced this. Although I am poor, when I see a man looking for money or digging through trash at night or in the evening, I am cautious with them regardless of race. I just see them as someone dangerous willing to do anything to get money. As Americans we hold prejudices against the poor.

“Rather than uniting to face the real foe—do-nothing politicians, legislators, and others in power—we fall into the trap of turning against each other, expending our energy battling our allies instead of our enemies.”
http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/

Whats the solution? Its clearly stated in the quote cited above. To stop wasting time blaming our allies, the people around us, and start realizing who is to blame for the issues surrounded, to the prejudice. We all have to step up and realize we are all the same people we have all been raised to learn right from wrong, we all want to make a living and we all have people we love. Some people are going to judge you, you will experience racism, but the day you realize that you can never please everybody the day you realize who is more important to please, which is yourself, that is when the problem will be solved. When everyone stops giving importance to what others think of themselves and form a independent mindset knowing who you truly are and ignoring the opinion of others.

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Permalink # carolinestyers said

“Is race the problem or it it class division.”
I believe class division is the overall problem here, not racism. That being said, blacks are the most financially impoverished race in almost every state in America. In 2013, blacks made up 27% of the poor, while whites made up 10%. (http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/poverty-rate-by-raceethnicity/) To say that race is the only factor in the discrimination we race today is turning a blind eye on social class.

The gap between the rich and the poor in America is astonishing. Humans, by our nature, are greedy, self centered beings. Some of the welathy reach out to break this cycle of greed and help the poor, but that’s not the case with all.
“But that’s not the case with the multitude of millionaires and billionaires who lobby to reduce Food Stamps, give no relief to the burden of student debt on our young, and kill extensions of unemployment benefits.” (http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/)

“You say poverty to most ordinary Americans, most ordinary voters, they think black ghettos,” he continued, whereas over the last couple of generations “class, not race is the dominant — and becoming more dominant — dimension of difficulty here.” (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/) In order to change this mindset in America, we have to change the culture. This is a huge problem with no simple solution, but we can work together to bring change. Programs to help black youth such as “My Brother’s Keeper” are a great place to start. “President Obama launched a new initiative Thursday called My Brother’s Keeper, a privately funded effort to address the high rates at which black and Latino males drop out of school, come into contact with the criminal justice system and fall victim to violence.” (http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/02/27/14321/obama-announces-foundation-funded-project-help-black-latino-youth). We have to chage the mindset of “Me! Me! Me!” in Amercia, and help our fellow Americans no matter what the color of their skin.
“Susan Fiske, a professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, whoh has designed a neuroimaging test that registers people’s reaction to images, found that when people were shown photos of the poor and homeless, their brains responded as though the images depicted things and not humans.” (http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951). When I read the above quote I was shocked and disgusted. All human beings should be treated as such. As a human. Not as a thing or some odd creature. The only way people can change their mindset is to go out and help those in need. Voulenteer and get to know some homeless people. Often you’ll find that they’re not so different than you.
In closing, to fix the problem of racism and social class distinction in America, we all have to do a part. Understanding and tolerance is a good first step, but ultimately we need to get to the place where we all help people no matter where they come from. What trobles me even more is that this nation is largely a Christian one. 77% of adults in this nation identify with a Christian religion. (http://religions.pewforum.org/reports). I’m going to leave you with a quote by Stephen Colbert that I believe really sums up my thoughts on this. “If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.”

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Permalink # shatonia4398 said

Is race the problem or is it class division?

“The class gap is growing while the racial gap is shrinking.”http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/

Even though class division is more of a problem than race, I feel that they are both part of the problem. Racism has not ended yet, meaning that every day something happens, there is always that person out there to say that they were stopped by the cops or called out because of their skin color. Racism shouldn’t always be thrown in there due to a problem, but it is. Class division plays a role in conflicts as well. You have a wealthy person with a lot of money who could get away with more things than what a poor person can. For example, a celebrity goes to jail for child abuse, but can quickly get out of their punishment because they have the money. While a poor person goes to jail for stealing because they don’t have money to buy the things that they need for survival. That situation can quickly cause trouble. Why not give that poor person a second chance? Racism once again should have nothing to do with any given situation. The Michael Brown incident for example, some think that he got shot because he was black. That’s not true. If anybody has a weapon pointed at them, the only thing you should do is put your hands up and surrender without moving. Witnesses say that he was doing more than just surrendering. He was threatening the cops life, so he got shot. I understand that he didn’t have to get shot that many times, but there are some people that refuse to go down when getting shot at. Another example is a story of a little black boy who had a fake toy gun on the playground. He pointed it at the police and got shot at. Some think that the cop was wrong for doing that but the cop don’t have time to think about whether the gun was real or not. His life was in danger. Had that little boy killed half of those kids on the playground before the police got there, then others would have had a different outlook on the situation. So, as you can see, it’s not always about race, it’s about the stupid things that people do that gets them in trouble.

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Permalink # liza10297 said

I think people are more races because of the class division.People think that they’re better than others. People will always be racist. I don’t think race is a problem. Will have different points of views.A lot of things have occurred over the years.A lot of people think it’s because people are racist. I just think some people do do things on purpose.And don’t think about things before they do it.Like that kid from New York that had a play gun and a policeman came out and shot him without him even having a second thought.”Relatively speaking, racial differences controlling for class are decreasing while class differences controlling for race are increasing in America,” http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/
Some people see things a different way. Most it’s hard to express their selves.” their brains responded as though the images depicted things and not humans.”http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951

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- Permalink # noblitt said
  
  not really sure what argument you are making
  
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Permalink # manningrebekah said

First of all, I would like to say that lots of people, even ones I encounter on a daily basis, would probably say/imply that poor and black are synonymous. I’ve seen it happen. During a particular lesson in Noblitt’s, this guy went back to a scenario Noblitt gave us talking about someone who was at the top of the proverbial ladder, with good parents and money, and someone who was at the bottom, with a single parent. This certain someone in my class just assumed that the person on the bottom was black.
With that being said, I think that class is playing a key role in all this; not just race. In today’s world, analyzing things on race is an out dated practice. It’s easy for people to just play the race card and not look any deeper into it. I’m not trying to down play the plight people go through because of race; but really there are bigger issues/divisions out there; like Maddie said “…it is a humanity issue and all that entails.”
“The U.S. Census Report finds that 50 million Americans are poor. Fifty million voters is a powerful block if they ever organized in an effort to pursue their common economic goals. So, it’s crucial that those in the wealthiest One Percent keep the poor fractured by distracting them with emotional issues like immigration, abortion and gun control so they never stop to wonder how they got so screwed over for so long. One way to keep these 50 million fractured is through disinformation…“How can viewers make reasonable choices in a democracy if their sources of information are corrupted? They can’t, which is exactly how the One Percent controls the fate of the Ninety-Nine Percent.” (Time.com)) I really like this quote. It reminds me of the book Fahrenheit 451. It’s basically about this futuristic society where books have become illegal. If you are caught with books you are reported, and your books are burned. The government will do whatever it can to destroy literature in America. The book also kind of touches on how the general public is at a crippling disadvantage because we’re not an eyewitness and we’re not getting firsthand accounts of current events; well that’s my perception of it. But anywhoo, I think disinformation/distraction is very rampant in news outlets today, like Fox News; I’m pretty sure during the post-verdict riots they showed more coverage on the people who burned the American Flag than the actual rioting and the issue at hand. Many people I know, family, friends, etc., were more upset about that than the actual problem. Censorship, and in this instance corruption and distraction, causes blindness.
“You say poverty to most ordinary Americans, most ordinary voters, they think black ghettos,” he continued, whereas over the last couple of generations “class, not race is the dominant — and becoming more dominant — dimension of difficulty here.” (The Atlantic). This needs to change, this idea that most people have about stereotypes needs to change. Recently one of my family members said something to the effect of “All stereotypes hold some truth”; yes that may be true, but stereotypes don’t apply to all. A lot of the times scenario isn’t the case, black people aren’t the only impoverish people, and people to recognize that. That mentality isn’t gonna change, because culture isn’t gonna change. Lots of people aren’t aware that they are doing anything wrong because stereotyping is the norm now of days. Yes, it’s way better than it was 50 years ago, but it’s still pretty damn bad. I’m pretty sure I’ve said this in another post but, without awareness there could be no change.
Susan Fiske, a professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, whoh has designed a neuroimaging test that registers people’s reaction to images, found that when people were shown photos of the poor and homeless, their brains responded as though the images depicted things and not humans (The Chronicle of Philanthropy). This quote is very repulsing, but it doesn’t shock me. I’ve been in situations where I’ve seen people be very apprehensive when dealing with the homeless; but the same goes for when they’re dealing with sick people, or old people, etc. People don’t like difference. Dealing with unfamiliar things makes people very uneasy; people don’t like things they don’t have a vast understanding of.
If there is any solution, which I don’t foresee in the near future; it would be tolerance. People have to learn to be tolerant of others. I think me even saying there’s a solution is very optimistic. I don’t see this coming to an end any time soon. People don’t have enough concern for anything outside of “their world” to give, pardon my French, two shits what’s going on with others. It’s easy for people to deal with things like racism or homelessness if they have no emotional connection to it. It’s easy for people to just brush it under the rug if it’s something that has no effect on them.

This is probably one of my suckier posts, I feel like I just rambled through it, but I’m not even sure as to how to gather my thoughts on all this. I would have much rather verbally talked about this.
http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/
http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951

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Permalink # lamexicana96 said

Well, as a feminist and “man-hater,” of course I have to blame these deaths on the fact that the victims were all of the male gender. I mean, this couldn’t possibly happen to a woman.

I wanted to begin by saying that Americans have some serious issues. [And I hate people, but that’s not too relevant right now] I don’t know how many of you watched the video a guy recorded of himself being stopped by a police officer for having his hands in his pockets, but I will explain it. The police officer asked the guy how he was doing and then told him that people complained and called the cops because he was making them nervous by having his hands in his pockets. Please note that it is snowing and both men are bundled up (indicating that it is cold outside–wouldn’t you have your hands in your pockets, too??) The police officer said that there had been some robberies and he was just checking on the man. (watch the video from both angles here: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2014/12/03/police-man-hands-in-pockets-michigan/19799199/)

I do think that the recent shootings and death are a result of racial and social issues. The video I just talked about shows the racial aspect of things—the man wasn’t killed, but I would bet money that the police would not have been called if he had been white. I have talked about these shootings a lot in my religion class (which was an amazing class and everyone should take an Intro to Religion class, regardless of your faith or lack of faith) and with some of the girls on my hall. Regardless of what any of the men did before they were shot, the fact that they were shot and killed is, to me, a very big problem. What happened to “Protect and Serve”?

“This fist-shaking of everyone’s racial agenda distracts America from the larger issue that the targets of police overreaction are based less on skin color and more on an even worse Ebola-level affliction: being poor. Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal.” (http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/) It’s easy to just say that race is the main issue and then move on to the next topic, but there can never be a solution to a problem we don’t address. Media and politicians use make excuses for why the police officers fired their weapons and they make the victims look like criminals.

“A new study indicates that when shown pictures of the homeless and the poor, people respond with revulsion.” (http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951) Well, duh.

This was a wonderful blog topic and something that needs to be addressed by the masses (who understand what is happening in America and can make educated comments about what needs to happen), but I am at a loss for words. I have no clue what to say. I have read the information that had been published and watched news stories (mostly from Jon Stewart because everyone else just sounds stupid to me, but still) and I am at a complete loss. We are being told to “trust in the system” but the system is flawed.

When the indictment verdicts were released for the Ferguson shooting and Eric Garner’s death, I wanted to scream. Literally. For the Ferguson case, a lot of the evidence had holes and there were so many things that didn’t match up. Regardless of whether or not Brown had his hand raised or not, or if he tried to shoot the officer or not, or who started what, he was shot multiple times. I read The Washington Post’s article “Darren Wilson explains why he killed Michael Brown” (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/11/25/why-darren-wilson-said-he-killed-michael-brown/) and, again, I’m at a loss for words. There is anger and frustration and confusion and why in the world could he not just wait for backup?!?

I find it horrifying that none of the officers in the Michael Brown case or Eric Garner case were indicted. I mean, it is clear that both men died at the hands of police officers. I mean, I wasn’t expecting a first degree murder charge or anything, but manslaughter or justifiable homicide (look it up) are very good options. Neither man deserved to die and blaming their size for the amount of force required to subdue them is ridiculous. [I’m trying to keep all my thoughts as clear and organized as possible, so bear with me]

It would be wrong of me to say that this is JUST a race issue or JUST a social class issue.

The problem is ignorance and the solution is education. Unfortunately, the first step in solving a problem is admitting there is one and we all know that is not very likely to happen in this case.

I feel like a did a lot of rambling and I apologize for that. I hope you were able to follow along if you read this.

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- Permalink # noblitt said
  
  Nice comment
  
  Reply
Permalink # fransiscovera said

I believe that this whole thing is reasonable but yet unreasonable. I say this since what’s going on right now is totally uncalled for and that all of this is unbelievable. I agree with the people’s anger but their actions are unjustifiable. “The U.S. Census Report finds that 50 million Americans are poor. Fifty million voters is a powerful block if they ever organized in an effort to pursue their common economic goals. So, it’s crucial that those in the wealthiest One Percent keep the poor fractured by distracting them with emotional issues like immigration, abortion and gun control so they never stop to wonder how they got so screwed over for so long.” http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/ Yes there may be more of us that are classed as poor and that if we unite we can make a difference, but since we’re poor most of us accept ou fate and classify ourselves to be idoits and accept our low eduaction or even drop out so that we can’t change. I don’t want this. I want everyone to be able to achieve higher education and to be able to have time to think.

I don’t believe that it’s only a race problem or a class division but actually be both and cover into more areas. “Americans react to the poor with disgust” and that “it’s the most negative prejudice people report,” even greater than racism.” http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951
“Saturday, urging the audience to get beyond talking about poverty and race and start thinking about social mobility and class instead.” http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/ This two quotes really caught my attention since I’m hurt to see a majority (not all) are thinking so low due to their low education that they accepted or being unable to achieve it due to certain cirrcumstances or even to not have support.

My possible solution is to break down the structure of society and destroy the concepts of origin to make a livable place where no one will ask where you came from or ask you in what social class you’re in. Only this would one have no fear to be what they are. This would only work for new generation but not for the old since the older generation would have already been influenced and not all would be able to accept this new life. I don’t want people to not be informed of the past. I would love that they knew about origin but I don’t want to class themselves.

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Permalink # miliebenton said

Yall can say what yall want to say both of cases are due to racism . Both of these young black men are dead do to the white cops taking advantage of their authority. This Article says that its not so much as racism but economical difference and thats just not the case

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Permalink # miliebenton said

http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare

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Permalink # khadijahwatson said

“Is race the problem or is it class division”?
To answer the question, I think it is both. You can not just be close minded and say that this issue is not about race but only class division. In this world today, “being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal” (www.time.com). Although it is a a misperception, it is unconsciously and sometimes consciously in society’s mind. Like I have repeatedly said, this puts African-Americans at a unfair disadvantage when it comes to many things in life, including criminal investigations. Saying it is just about class division only addresses half of the issue. Race is the first thing that sticks out to you about a person, then maybe the social rank.
I will NEVER agree with the rulings in none of those cases that Mr.Noblitt listed. I have argued over and over again that policies and training procedures of our Police Officers need to be stricter and changed to ensure there is no prejudice in any future criminal case.
I do agree with others in saying that it is very ignorant to react violently to violence. Peaceful protests is the correct way to go about things.

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Permalink # slademoss said

Honestly I think that it doesn’t lean more towards race or more towards social class. I think most of today’s issues are an even combination of both. In my experiences I have seen plenty of racial problems against blacks, whites, hispanics, native americans, etc. Racial problems aren’t just one sided. There are also many problems dealing with social class and of course the higher the social class the more power a person has. This is because in our country the economy is based on capitalism which translates to the more money a person has the more power in the economy they have. The more power economically someone has the more power socially someone has. Essentially, cash is king in America, and that is something that has silently always been that way, but some people are too blind to realize it. Think about it, when do you ever see a economically lower class person on the news or on TV unless they were in a tragic accident. All that is on TV or the news is celebrities, sports stars, sports commentators and other highly inclined individuals. No matter what race they are they are still getting recognition and air time. So, I would say that the bigger problem wouldn’t be race, but instead the sense of authority a person or group has a much larger impact than their race. Authority economically or through their job. Such as a congressman having much authority rather than a plumber. Ultimately, I agree that issues are actually becoming more of an social class and authority position issue rather than race issue.

http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/

http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/

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Permalink # brooksdeanna0530 said

Is race the problem or is it class division? Is there a potential solution?
“And, unless we want the Ferguson atrocity to also be swallowed and become nothing more than an intestinal irritant to history, we have to address the situation not just as another act of systemic racism, but as what else it is: class warfare.” http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/ It’s not about race, it’s about class division. We can’t fix the class division unless we become a communist nation. Honestly American could never do that, because there is to many greedy people out there. Plus, people are to quick to judge someone, just because someone is homeless doesn’t mean they are a druggie, maybe they have no family, maybe they were dealt some pretty bad cards in life, and nobody has tried to help them, or put a little faith in them. Communism would never work, because this nation of people are to judge mental. Honestly, that’s sad.
Sorry, if that offends anyone, I know there are some good people out there, but not enough.

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Permalink # itaylor068 said

“Is race the problem or is it class division.”
I definitely think that class division is the main problem. “The real reason we flock to see Donald Sutherland’s porcelain portrayal in Hunger Games of a cold, ruthless president of the U.S. dedicated to preserving the rich while grinding his heel into the necks of the poor is that it rings true in a society in which the One Percent gets richer while our middle class is collapsing.”http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/
This is true in that the rich are just getting richer, which fuels the fire of the poor. This quote is pretty much self-explanatory.

“Non-white folks with a college education are looking more and more like white folks with a college education and white folks who haven’t gotten beyond high school are looking more and more like nonwhite folks who haven’t finished high school.” http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/ This statement just supports my argument about how the class gap is growing while the racial gap is shrinking. As you can see, race has nothing to do with how successful you are. If you are successful, no matter what color, who is to tell you, you are not.

“Americans react to the poor with disgust” and that “it’s the most negative prejudice people report,” even greater than racism. The stereotype of the poor is that they are black and ghetto. The events, like the shootings, only make matters worse.
http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951

A solution to the problem? You know, I don’t know if there is one. Some people are just so closed minded and will always think of the poor as lesser.

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Permalink # ndaquioag98 said

I see this in both ways. Race and social class have played roles in this argument. It honestly is hard to argue that the situation DOESN’T involve race because everyone has their own individual thoughts of what happened. An unarmed African American male was killed by an armed cop who shot over 1 bullet. The argument could go on and on. “Relatively speaking, racial differences controlling for class are decreasing while class differences controlling for race are increasing in America,” (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/)
I don’t believe racism can be solved because its a moral thing. You change that with your own perspective of things.

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Permalink # augustjones said

In my opinion, I think class division is the problem. I don’t honestly think race has to do with anything. No matter what the situation is, whether they are white or black, if you try to take a cops gun, you are most likely going to get shot. It’s pretty much common sense. It doesn’t matter what color you are, you have to follow the law. I feel like everybody is making a big deal about a white cop shooting a black kid, but if it was a black cop shooting a white kid nothing would happen.

http://TIME.COM/3132635/FERGUSON-COMING-RACE-WAR-CLASS-WARFARE/

http://WWW.THEATLANTIC.COM/POLITICS/ARCHIVE/2012/06/ROBERT-PUTNAM-CLASS-NOW-TRUMPS-RACE-AS-THE-GREAT-DIVIDE-IN-AMERICA/259256/

(http://KFF.ORG/OTHER/STATE-INDICATOR/POVERTY-RATE-BY-RACEETHNICITY/)

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Permalink # calliehatley said

I believe that racism and class division are both the problem. “Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal.” It is because of this that I believe it is more about class division. http://TIME.COM/3132635/FERGUSON-COMING-RACE-WAR-CLASS-WARFARE/
We relate race back to class. It is because of stereotyping that many in America relate African Americans to a poor social class.“You say poverty to most ordinary Americans, most ordinary voters, they think black ghettos,” (http://WWW.THEATLANTIC.COM/POLITICS/ARCHIVE/2012/06/ROBERT-PUTNAM-CLASS-NOW-TRUMPS-RACE-AS-THE-GREAT-DIVIDE-IN-AMERICA/259256/)
I do believe that people can change their mindsets and there are many solutions to that such as volunteering but for the world as a whole, I don’t believe there is a solution to change every single person. I don’t understand how some can be so cruel but there are many messed up people out there who can’t be changed. “…when people were shown photos of the poor and homeless, their brains responded as though the images depicted things and not humans.” this is awful! I’m sure that some of these peoples images could be changed, but not all.(http://PHILANTHROPY.COM/BLOGS/PHILANTHROPYTODAY/PEOPLE-HOLD-STRONG-PREJUDICES-AGAINST-THE-POOR-STUDY-SHOWS/72951)

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Permalink # erindmcmanus said

This may sound rude and disrespectful… But honestly I’m so sick of hearing about this case and all these ridiculous riots. I hear about it every single day, at the gym when I work out and watch the news it’s the only thing that’s ever on. And seeing so many people protesting and rioting against our government kind of pisses me off a little bit. Because honestly what the heck is that going to help? Nothing… In my opinion. Personally… I feel like that’s just a bunch of bandwagons that doesn’t know the entire TRUE story of why such things happened other than the fact that a white police officer shot a black boy. “But, in general, white-against-black economically impacts the future of the black community. Black-against-white has almost no measurable social impact.” This just gets me and kind of urks me…. A lot there are countless people that get killed every single day, why don’t they go viral. If white people were to riot about a black man killing a white man I believe it wouldn’t get as much social attention. I don’t really feel that class division is as a big of an issue as race.. Although race has definitely dwindled since many years ago. I just think some people just don’t want to let things go I know that mainly it’s the old white people and all, but it’s also blacks as well no matter what anyone says. And I know there is a good reason to feel like everything has to be race because of history but seriously it’s about 2015 how come people can’t just drop it I don’t think of everything as race. As for discussing the cases I’m not saying my opinion because I know that there will be plenty to be so quick to jump down my throat to try and prove my opinion wrong. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
I respect every one else’s but that’s mine.. Not that I don’t care about what happened or the boys that got killed in these conflicts because it’s horrible that things like that happen but.. It just goes on forever. I think there are bigger and more important issues that we should be focusing on rather than being stuck on one shooting just because everyone thinks it was so racist but I guess it’s whatever… What can ya do.
(http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/)

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- Permalink # erindmcmanus said
  
  Also I just realized I didn’t actually answer your last question but then again I kinda did by saying what can ya do? Because there is nothing that you can do, I personally think there is no real solution to these issues unless everyone stops killing and everyone just get along and love one other for once. But I don’t see that ever happening in any of our life times.. Haha
  
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Permalink # kiarasp said

Is race the problem or is it class division? I feel they are both problems… however, I feel race is the basic root of the problems that surround these two topics. According to, Franke-Ruta, Garance. “Robert Putnam: Class Now Trumps Race as the Great Divide in America.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 30 June 2012. Web. 07 Dec. 2014., http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/they say that the problem is just as much about class that it is about race. Well personally the reason there is class division is partially because of racism. Blacks have always been seen as the underdogs. Always treated as less. I am by no means saying that some whites haven’t been in the position of lower class, but the lower class was basically founded by blacks. When a person mentions poor, they automatically think of blacks. When you talk about food stamps or welfare, you automatically think about blacks. I am not just saying white people stereotype this way because I, myself am guilty of it. Being raised in a “white man’s world” is not easy. You stereotype against and judge blacks, even if you are black. You learn that if a black is worse off than you, that they are bad people. To say that class division is more of a problem than racism is basically ignorant. We have been fighting racism for as long as remembered. While we have been fighting class division for a while as well, I do not think it is that bad. We could easily fix class division. Hand out money to the poor and give less money to the rich. However, it is not that easy for race problems. Stereotyping and profiling is not something you can just get rid of because it has been around for so long. People have become so accustomed to racism that is does not seem like that big of a deal. There are so many people that think ignoring racism will be effective. When in actuality it won’t. It will only hurt in more ways than one. Personally, I grew up around a mixture of people. I can easily go from hanging with black people, to white people, to Hispanics and be perfectly fine. However, I fully understand that everyone is not like me. I cannot and I do not ignore racism by any means necessary, but I learn to live with it. I am not okay with and I will probably never be okay with it. It does hurt; in fact it hurts a lot. Like why is it that someone who is very smart, nice, has a bright future, helps where she can, comes from a great family, has BOTH parents, is not poor and is far from poor can be stereotyped against and thrown under the bus daily. Not a day has passed that I have not heard someone say “ black people are ghetto” or “I do not like black girls or guys” or “I don’t understand black people” or something of that sort. Then they turn to me and say “but not you…you act white”. Since when has acting a specific color been a thing? I take pride in the color of my skin and I love myself. I would really have to say that on a scale 1-10.. I’m definitely a Kanye, about how I feel about myself. It is sad that for someone who is middle classed, yet black and has never gotten food stamps or welfare, hell my family has never gotten help from the government, nor have we needed it yet, for some reason I am thrown into the category of ghetto, government using and ignorant! I do not know about anyone else but race is definitely a problem. I have experienced it first hand and if you have not, then you would not fully understand.

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- Permalink # kiarasp said
  
  I would also like to add…that you see more whites saying its social class than it is race….but they associate poor with black & either way blacks are still looked down upon! So, you can make the correlation of skin color & poverty. Therefore, race being the main problem because now you associate blacks as being poor which causes more stereotypes and racial profiling! Also, people keep saying how they blame society? I don’t understand that because WE ARE SOCIETY!
  
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Permalink # bethebestlikeben said

Race?? With the ferguson and Tryvon case no. But with Gardner yes!!!!! Im tired of people saying that race is the reason that the black guy was shot! I bet he would have shot him if he was a white guy also. Race is the problem though for American citizens. There is no solution for the race in America. “There was no national outcry. The nation was not mobilized to do anything. That heartless leviathan we call History swallowed that event whole, erasing it from the national memory.

And, unless we want the Ferguson atrocity to also be swallowed and become nothing more than an intestinal irritant to history, we have to address the situation not just as another act of systemic racism, but as what else it is: class warfare.”The Coming Race War Won’t Be About Race | TIME
http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/

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Permalink # michaeldarden said

“Major changes in family structure among high-school educated whites should reshape our understanding of who has social capital in America, he says.” http://www.theatlantic.com/polotics/archive/2012/06/robert-Putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/
Some people think race is the problem and some people think it’s not. I think it’s a little of both. I just think we should all be treated as equals. Judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin. I blame stereotypes and society. Society comes up with these bad stereotypes and they stick. Michael Brown and Trayvon Martin both did not deserve to die. Both altercations could have been avoided. There is no potential solution because people will always have a racist mindset.

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Permalink # vintagesoul12 said

Is race the problem? Or is it class division? Personally I feel it’s both. It all falls into the same classifications. “America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal. Ironically, this misperception is true even among the poor.” (http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/) this is so true. Regardless if your Black, Hispanic, white or Whatever. If your poor your going to at one point or another, be look at as inferior. That’s just the way our society is. “poverty to most Americans, most ordinary voters, they think black ghettos,” (http://m.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/) Again this is where racism, and social classing become tied in together. When you think poor. You think black hoodlums, white trash, and illegal hispanics. Which can also resemble hoodlums. Before anyone begins to get offended. Calm down! I was giving examples or realistic stereotypical, and prejudice class rankings. But even still be honest you know it’s true. Regardless if it true or not. Now when you think of the more wealthier population. You think of educated white, and black ect. people. And when you see a black male in poverty. You don’t just see him as, a man struggling to make it. He has to be a broke man stealing and living off the government because he’s too lazy to work. Or a teenage black hoodlum that sales drugs, or robs stores. And at times that can be true. But not always. Sometimes the good have to suffer, with the bad. Which I feel is what’s happening with those situations, such as Trayvon, Mike Brown etc. Stereotyping, and class ranking and racism. But can you really blame some of the stereotypes, living in todays society? And those outbreaking riots aren’t, helping the stereotypes at all.

http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/

http://m.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/

http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951

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Permalink # Meagan Smith said

Honestly, in my opinion I believe it is a mixture of stereotypes and social class. Most Americans think of the poor, or homeless, being on drugs, and for that reason is why they live in poverty. I disagree, some of the most wealthy people in the world came from these low places. For example, the world renown Neurosurgeon, Dr. Benjamin Carson, grew up in a home where his own mother could not read and lived in a very low neighborhood. But look at him now. He found the producer to separate conjoined twins.
However, it only takes one apple to ruin the whole buschle. Such as it only takes one bad image to influence the whole class. People see one person doing something bad and automatically assume everyone else does the same. “…being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal.” (http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/) This quote resimbles just that.
“You say poverty to most ordinary Americans, most ordinary voters, they think black ghettos,” (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/) Maybe us as Americans should take a day and visit these “ghettos”, to see what life truly is in these poor neighborhoods. But I guarantee that if you brought a community together and showed them that there are many steps in life that they could take to make their lives better, they could impact many. It takes bringing in a community to impact the lives of another community. “Americans react to the poor with disgust” and that “it’s the most negative prejudice people report,” (http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951) Sterotype. That is a person automatically assuming. Like they say assume, puts an ass in you and me. Not everyone is the same and some judge before thinking. We assume based on an image. “Oh, they are black and their pants hang low. They must be up to no good.” However, you nor I know that. What if they are heading over to a church to provide for the needs of others? That is why I think the situations that occur today about racism, is all just passed stereotypes.
We all are humans. We all want the same things. I believe that stereotypes drive us from these wants. They give us an excuse to put the blame on others, rather than ourselves. Today I heard that “A generous person will always find a way; a greedy person will always find an excuse.” An excuse to accuse others rather, than to take on the measures himself. An excuse to be afraid because of stereotypes, rather than seeing brother to brother, eye to eye. Maybe the world will never change. But I hope that one day, everyone could agree to love each other and accept each other just as we are. Who knows, maybe that day will be tomorrow? Or next year? In reality, I think that stereotypes are what stop us from being who we are. We hide from the truth, assume before acknowledging. Accuse before realizing. Acting before thinking.

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Permalink # dylpicklee said

I believe the problem is not exactly race. It is, however, people’s ego and their different views on various races. It also has to do with the finance levels in the world (poor, rich, middle class). People have selfish ego and discriminate others.http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951
“Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal.” People look at race and being poor go hand in hand. People think they both lead to criminals. http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/
“I do think its important for us to recognize that what we are talking about is now at least as much about class itself and not just about what we’ve already been talking about for the last 30 years, about race.” The true problem is class division rather than race. People look another skin types and judge them. Their money also plays a part and affects how others look different races. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/

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Permalink # gerardrosenthal said

So, it’s a normal day here in America. People fighting in the streets, media blowing things out of proportion, and above all people bye into it all, and divide ourselves even more. Great. And don’t give me the whole ‘Oh, he shot a kid (Ferguson) argument.’ The ‘kid’ was eighteen, and they die all the time; it’s called war.

“So, it’s crucial that those in the wealthiest One Percent keep the poor fractured by distracting them with emotional issues like immigration, abortion and gun control so they never stop to wonder how they got so screwed over for so long.” http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/
It’s not really as much of a race thing, as a class thing. The more divided we are, the easier it is for the rich to stay rich, and the lower/middle class to stay where they are. They’re not going to question the man above them, while they’re afraid of the man next to them. Divide and conquer. The best part behind it all, it’s working, people continue to watch these stories on the news, pretend like it’s affecting them, and hate each other based on their opinion that has so much impact on the matter. We stay separated. I feel what I’m saying can be summed up by Abraham Lincoln’s quote, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” – Abraham Lincoln. In this case however it’s the people divided against them self.

“Susan Fiske, a professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton University, whoh has designed a neuroimaging test that registers people’s reaction to images, found that when people were shown photos of the poor and homeless, their brains responded as though the images depicted things and not humans.”
http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951
Now, this is fun. While we’re here let’s take a moment and delve into our own psyche, and while we’re here drop your holier than thou attitude. There’s been at least one time, when you’ve seen a homeless person, or a poor person, and though to yourself “Boy I sure am glad I’m not him.” You didn’t see him as equal to you, you ‘knew’ you were higher in society than him. That’s the American way. Make money, and Fu-… Forget everyone else! Some one has less than you? Good, you’re better than him. Impress your neighbor with you’re brand new car. I’m not trying to say, this is how everyone is, but I feel it belongs to the general public. It’s nothing more than another example of class separation. People fight to obtain wealth, mostly to survive, but once you survive why not make more. Rise above everyone, and become the dominant one. It’s human nature to want to be on top. Sadly this divides us now, more than race it’s self.

“Putnam says that continued racial gaps are also in significant measure class gaps, but many would argue that race and class cannot so easily be disentangled.”
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/
This, kind of ties into my final part of this argument, so just bear with me about an angry paragraph more. Can we fix this? One simple word can answer this, and it doesn’t begin with the letter ‘Y.’ No. We talked about this about the racism of people, it exists, it’s there, we can’t change it. No matter where you go, there’s jerks, and jerks make problems. I bet you’re not wondering how I came to this conclusion, well TOO BAD, I’m telling you anyway! I want you to think next time you’re arguing with some one about the Ferguson trial, or some other related topic. Then when you start to yell at one another, I want you to realize, you just separated yourself from another person that is your equal. Congratulations, you’re now part of the problem.
http://www.audioblocks.com/stock-audio/4-slow-hand-claps.html?searchid=3744311
If you could click ^ that, I think it would help in ending this post. If you need me, I’ll be writing those chapters for the quiz tomorrow, and pumping enough adderall into my veins to kill a bull-elephant

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- Permalink # noblitt said
  
  Nicely argued
  
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Permalink # kiejaphillips said

Honestly I feel that it is both a race and class issue. The higher you are in class the less the diversity. When you’re higher up in a class you see more of the same type people and that is where we have an issue. “You say poverty to most ordinary Americans, most ordinary voters, they think black ghettos,” (http://m.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/#) Sadly this is true and someone’s racial class should not be associated by their race. “Americans react to the poor with disgust.”(http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951) This is true because if you ask someone to draw a poor person their perspective would be one of disgust for most Americans. Although it’s sad we have all these prejudices built up within us that we didn’t even know existed.
There is a large possibility that they “Ferguson atrocity to also be swallowed and become nothing more than an intestinal irritant to history” (http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/). There were many incidents in history that have been forgotten and that’s why we’ve had so many repeated tragedies. If we take out the time to learn about the past we’ll be able to understand the present and the future.

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Permalink # thenatecrackerprince said

“Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal.” (http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/)
Yes, Lord Jesus, yes. Even in my own family I’ve seen examples of poverty supposedly indicating criminal activity. A few months ago, a friend of ours had their car broken into outside of a local store. My dad’s FIRST reaction was “I bet it was that hobo that hangs around outside.” Security footage revealed that it was NOT the ‘hobo,’ as he was sitting on the opposite side of the store when the guy broke into the car (that guy still hasnt been caught, but that’s irrelevant.) The point is, the fact that the poor man (who is white) has more to gain from robbing a car automatically indicates to my dad that this man has no morals.

“Non-white folks with a college education are looking more and more like white folks with a college education and white folks who haven’t gotten beyond high school are looking more and more like nonwhite folks who haven’t finished high school.” (http://m.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/)
Again, I concur with this. Even I myself have just as much respect for people of color who attained higher education as I do white people. No more, no less. In fact, my favorite doctor at my pediatrician’s office is Dr. Singleton, a black woman who’s been in the doctor game for 10+ years. However, she’s my favorite because she’s got a great personality, but she’s no more or less capable of treating me than Dr. Owensby, Jeff (the PA), or Allison (the nurse practitioner.) All of those are white, but I actually think Singleton is better at her job than Jeff. Conversely, I have just as much disappointment in white folks who didn’t finish high school (i.e. my parents, until recently) as I do people of color who didnt finish high school. You all had the same opportunity, and if you want to play the race card and say “No, whites have better opportunities,” then technically I should be MORE disappointed in the white ones, no?

“Americans react to the poor with disgust” (http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951)
Again, accurate. We avoid making eye contact with homeless people as though poverty were contagious. We give to charity but we don’t ACTUALLY want to do anything WITH the poor to help them. Why? I honestly dont know. Greed, perhaps? The rich feel entitled to their hard-earned (read: inherited) money.

Where police are concerned, their trigger finger is more active in poor areas. The race of their suspect isnt quiiiiiite as important as the living area of their suspect, and that is a problem that needs to be remedied.

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Permalink # marionwhitely said

I believe the recent events surrounding Ferguson, Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner are more than just about race but inequality and injustice for those whose voices are not heard. I believe that there is a race problem in America that is also fueled by class division. “Being a person of color is synonymous with being poor and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal. Ironically, this misperception is true even among the poor. And that’s how the status quo wants it” http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/. “You say poverty to most ordinary Americans, most ordinary voters, they think black ghettos.” http://WWW.THEATLANTIC.COM/POLITICS/ARCHIVE/2012/06/ROBERT-PUTNAM-CLASS-NOW-TRUMPS-RACE-AS-THE-GREAT-DIVIDE-IN-AMERICA/259256/
The Times argued about “whether there isn’t just as much black-against-white racism in the U.S. as there is white-against-black. (Yes, there is. But, in general, white-against-black economically impacts the future of the black community. Black-against-white has almost no measurable social impact.)” http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/. “Dr. Fiske has studied attitudes toward the poor for 12 years and is not surprised by the results of her study. She told the Inquirer that”Americans react to the poor with disgust” and that “it’s the most negative prejudice people report,” even greater than racism.”
http://PHILANTHROPY.COM/BLOGS/PHILANTHROPYTODAY/PEOPLE-HOLD-STRONG-PREJUDICES-AGAINST-THE-POOR-STUDY-SHOWS/72951

Yes racism exists, but I think it’s strange we don’t protest against crimes that happen every day within our communities. Why wait for a Ferguson, Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner case to happen. Crime is an injustice when an innocent life is taken whether black or white, rich or poor. There is and will always be corruption that exists, but the middle class and the poor make up the largest group in America. Why aren’t we banning together, no matter race, to have the largest voice. Why stage violent protests that destroy not only our communities but our futures. This only gives those who we rally against the upper hand.
I believe there is a potential solution if we ban together to allow our voice to be heard so that we can rally together for change and equality. “The U.S. Census Report finds that 50 million Americans are poor. Fifty million voters is a powerful block if they ever organized in an effort to pursue their common economic goals.” http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/ “I’m not saying the protests in Ferguson aren’t justified—they are. In fact, we need more protests across the country.” Because that’s what it will take to evoke actual change. The middle class has to join the poor and whites have to join African-Americans in mass demonstrations, in ousting corrupt politicians, in boycotting exploitative businesses, in passing legislation that promotes economic equality and opportunity, and in punishing those who gamble with our financial future.” http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/

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- Permalink # noblitt said
  
  Yep
  
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Permalink # nicolejknox said

I’ve been raised to believe that America is not divided by race, but by class, so my opinion is probably a bit biased. There are a few facts that support this idea, though. The Time article states, “…being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal,” even though there are plenty of white people that live in poverty. The quote, ”Americans react to the poor with disgust” by Dr. Fiske proves this further.
“The class gap is growing while the racial gap is shrinking,” is a very accurate quote to me. I think that our generation is really close to equality for all, so racism is becoming less of a problem.
I was always told that the division changed to class division when black culture became popular among white people. I’m not sure if it’s true, but it is interesting to me.

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- Permalink # nicolejknox said
  
  Whoops forgot a source http://m.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/
  
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Permalink # ryanhunterwilson said

The real reason we flock to see Donald Sutherland’s porcelain portrayal in Hunger Games of a cold, ruthless president of the U.S. dedicated to preserving the rich while grinding his heel into the necks of the poor is that it rings true in a society in which the One Percent gets richer while our middle class is collapsing. http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/ ”Americans react to the poor with disgust” and that “it’s the most negative prejudice people report,” even greater than racism. http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951 . I read these articles and I see the points that are being made, and I necessarily do not condemn them as false. Many I even agree with. But with all honesty, I do not believe that race or classes are the problem at stake here. They are definitely issues and are involved in the matters, but I don’t see how we can base every single case of a police shooting on race or class as an only one true problem. Some shootings are absolutely justifiable, and some are not; no matter whether it’s a black shooting a white, or a white shooting a black, or same race on race. For each case there is a specific issue, and not all are the same. Though I believe all of those issues do fall under one absolute problem. This problem is sin. We continue to try to find answers with ideas that really don’t make sense for all cases, using our emotions and feelings of: rage, hatred, anger, love, and compassion as our so-called knowledge for what the problem is and how to fix it. Last time I check, we discussed that our feelings and emotions are not anything that we can use to absolutely know for a universal or an over-all problem of a universal situation. So yes, once again the problem of evil prevails. My argument, with the theory of knowledge, could be easily seemed to knock down according to Abel (Man Is The Measure) by stating that beliefs of sin is relative. Just as I state your emotions may be. I’ve already made my defense on this blog before against moral relativism and it can be seen on the October 21st blog post. If my belief is that sin is the problem, then my solution should be pretty obvious. A very popular man in the black-Christian community, Voddie Baucham, that I highly agree with on many things…wrote on a blog about this topic. It’d be cool to check out: http://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/thoughts-on-ferguson .

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Permalink # isabelchaparro said

This dilema has been going for so long with no justice. It’s obvious that the two big problems are with race & dominance or power. I believe that it’s more about power from the police. They feel like since they hold a badge they can do what they want with it. This case along with many cases have not gotten the right verdict. Which truly breaks the system of ” to protect & serve.” The police have been taking advantage of their power. The worst part of all this is that their are racist people wearing a badge. It’s time to stand up for our rights.

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Permalink # seth said

I’m not sure what I could say that could be appropriate. I am just going to say that race is the obvious problem in the United States, and in our school. This is all I have to say to this blog post, give me a zero. I’m done.

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Permalink # seth said

http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/

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Permalink # cdanielles said

I feel the problems with society are both race and class division. “…but many would argue that race and class cannot so easily be disentangled” (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/). This statement is sadly true. Racism and class divisions are two things that do not seem to be going away anytime soon. It does not make sense to me how equality is such a difficult concept to grasp? Is it really so hard to look past someones skin color, or look past the amount of money someone had in their bank account? This stuff should not matter! “A new study indicates that when shown pictures of the homeless and the poor, people respond with revulsion” (http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951). The fact that people are disgusted by the poor both saddens and angers me. Why are people so crude and judgmental? I wish there was a solution to all this. The only solution is for today’s society to stop being so judgmental. Do I foresee that happening anytime soon with events like Ferguson and Trayvon Martin? No. Even if these events, and others like them, have NOTHING to do with race or class division, people still will turn them around to make it seem as though that is the major issue. People constantly tend to seen racism and injustice where there is none. That is one of the problems with today’s society.

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Permalink # zacht27 said

I really enjoyed the two-sided nature of the first article – that’s something not often seen from the numerous elements of social media. I do agree with most, if not all, of the article’s points, especially that if we don’t produce “a list of exactly what we want to change and how”, responses to Ferguson, Garner, and everything else will do absolutely nothing to better the current state of things (http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/). The second article further argues that discussion should be of social mobility rather than poverty, which is a sound argument (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/). People even neurologically view the poor as objects (http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951), so yes, the problem is class division.

Drawing from the first article, I do believe that the solution is to analyze the elements of this situation in great detail, uncover the very roots of the problem and the persistence of it, politically and socially, form a specific agenda that addresses all elements, one that works, and back it with public knowledge and support. We must address these problems analytically and logically, rather than emotionally, as some rioters in Ferguson have done, so as not to harm those who we are trying to help.

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Permalink # ramseybrooke said

I don’t think it has anything to do with race. This is the first time that I heard it could do with class division and that does make a lot of sense. Im not sure if its just class division but I definitely think that it does plays a role in the these events going on in the world. I don’t think we can blame it on just one thing, I think there are multiple components and also the fact that people are people and they are just going to do whatever.

“There are many factors to consider before condemning police, including political pressures, inadequate training, and arcane policies”

Many people by-pass that and just automatically blame the police. Just like in class the other day, when Officer Hall and Mr. Muhammad was speaking to our class, Mr. Muhammad said that law enforcement should educate the community and I totally agree. Many citizens don’t know and understand what police are trained to do.

“”class, not race is the dominant — and becoming more dominant — dimension of difficulty here.”

I agree with that and going even further it might not even be class but the way in which one presents themselves. I think the way you present your self is very important because you could be sending a misleading message.

”Americans react to the poor with disgust” and that “it’s the most negative prejudice people report,” even greater than racism”

unfortunately this is very true and many of us see it everyday at school.

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Permalink # sarahpickert15 said

Reading over the articles given it is clear to conclude that the majority of the argument is dominantly pertaining to being poor rather than being black. Although it is still stated that racism is a big contributor to the violence of past situations, being poor is now thrown in as being dominant over race. “Americans react to the poor with disgust” and that “it’s the most negative prejudice people report,” even greater than racism” (http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951).
Is race the problem or is it class division? Or is it poverty? Is this our new excuse for violent actions against human beings who didn’t deserve their injustice? Poor people are the new wrongdoers? “This fist-shaking of everyone’s racial agenda distracts America from the larger issue that the targets of police overreaction are based less on skin color and more on an even worse Ebola-level affliction: being poor. Of course, to many in America, being a person of color is synonymous with being poor, and being poor is synonymous with being a criminal. Ironically, this misperception is true even among the poor” (http://time.com/3132635/ferguson-coming-race-war-class-warfare/). According to this statement, if you are black then you are poor and a criminal. It’s like this is supposed to be the new reason for someone doing something stupid. Well that’s stupid. Why would your reason for being rude to someone or even just feeling like you don’t like them be “Oh, well they’re poor and black so I just didn’t think i’d like them.” “You say poverty to most ordinary Americans, most ordinary voters, they think black ghettos,” he continued, whereas over the last couple of generations “class, not race is the dominant — and becoming more dominant — dimension of difficulty here.” (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/). While this statement mentions the poor as being seen as “black ghettos” it also comes to the conclusion of class being dominant over race. It’s not just one. The way I see it, all three are bundled together with the label “Just because it’s what everyone else thinks and I’m too ignorant to think otherwise.”

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Permalink # carleybyrum25 said

“Is race the problem or is it class division?” “Is there a potential solution?”
I don’t believe that race is the problem, but rather how we view each class. We automatically assign race to class division, and I think that’s why they go almost hand-and-hand with each other. We tend to affiliate African Americans with poverty and Whites with wealth, because that’s how it used to be. We assume the ones in poverty are less likely to succeed and more likely to end up in jail. Regardless of whether or not this is true, the affiliation with the two is the problem. “You say poverty to most ordinary Americans, most ordinary voters, they think black ghettos”, but why do we think this (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/06/robert-putnam-class-now-trumps-race-as-the-great-divide-in-america/259256/)? We assume because someone isn’t as wealthy as us that there is something wrong with them. We don’t see them as humans, but as “things” (http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/people-hold-strong-prejudices-against-the-poor-study-shows/72951). That is the real problem; we don’t see everyone as equal. We define ourselves as the class we are in. That is where the real problem is.
I don’t know that there will be a solution to this, because it’s a way of thinking. We define everyone as how much money they have; their class. The thing is, is if we are all equal as far as class division goes then our economic system can’t work. Someone has to take the lower paying job; it’s just the way it works. If we could see past class division then we could see each other as equal. In order to move on from discrimination we have to look past the little things like class division.

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Permalink # renasha123 said

I understand why the people will be going mad and crazy. if your family was killed by another race you would probably be mad to. Its all stereotyping and we all do that no matter what. but if u see old creepy white or black person our going to think that they are rapist. to me its all about what u wear. Its basically like judging a book by its cover which they say is not good to do but we do it anyways. Race race race i don’t think it is never going to end. But it did claim down a lot. its not right they people judge you by your looks. Because some people just don’t have money to look right

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Permalink # kiapressley17 said

“You say poverty to most ordinary Americans, most ordinary voters, they think black ghettos,” he continued, whereas over the last couple of generations “class, not race is the dominant — and becoming more dominant — dimension of difficulty here.”

“Relatively speaking, racial differences controlling for class are decreasing while class differences controlling for race are increasing in America,” he said. “Non-white folks with a college education are looking more and more like white folks with a college education and white folks who haven’t gotten beyond high school are looking more and more like nonwhite folks who haven’t finished high school.”
race the problem in America,it has a lot to do with class the higher class you are the more your compared to whites the lower you the more you are black.

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Permalink # hussbaseball said

Omg its not a race problem, It was never a race problem. To be honest if we had a race problem like that once a week i will take it because everyday there are blacks killing whites and whites killing blacks. A bullet doesnt care if your white or black, it loves them all haha. People kill people, thats are nature from the start.

According to first article http://TIME.COM/3132635/FERGUSON-COMING-RACE-WAR-CLASS-WARFARE/ (…unarmed) thats true but he was trying to reach for the officers gun. people need to get there education and some respect in this world. I feel like we should be focused on other important stuff rather than omg a white cop killed a black. Really people hahah america makes me laugh of how are govt protect the stupid and aid them while the everyday hard working american don’t get….

According to the second article http://WWW.THEATLANTIC.COM/POLITICS/ARCHIVE/2012/06/ROBERT-PUTNAM-CLASS-NOW-TRUMPS-RACE-AS-THE-GREAT-DIVIDE-IN-AMERICA/259256/ (race still exist) No it doesnt. Are laws aid and protect both. Its the people that dictate if race still exist. Your not going to change people so stop trying. We all have are views on one another like i could say negros stop having kids with no fathers or something on the lines like that.

My point is everybody is has a view on one another. And these two incidents are not because of it. He did a wrong thing and he payed the price like any american should. Connie Mac Signing out

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