Race in America

The discussion of race in America is a ridiculous and cliche conversation. Although our country has a terrible history with race relations, the conversation now is just plain old, old. I do realize that there still are and always will be racist in the world. But now we live in a progressive modern time. I believe that race means nothing, the color of someones skin should not mean anything at all,but a classification. We do live in an era that white people are more privileged than other races, but this is quickly changing. As a relatively young country we have made great strides since the beginning. When America was founded 235 years ago we had slavery for 163 years before that and only ended it about 100 years after our founding. And Black people have only really had civil rights for about 50 years. In our short existence as a country we have made great leaps in full equality. Because the generations from the civil rights era are still around there may still be animosity towards people of other races, but this is soon to change, with the baby boomers slowly dying out, the younger generations are taking in leadership roles. The younger generations are the ones who are more excepting and will make even more strides in ending our self imposed segregation.
What surprises me most about when people talk about race is how stereotypes drive their statements. When people talk like this the separation just becomes greater. If we want to truly end segregation we need to look past and ignore the color of someones skin. Race means nothing, it is the person that counts. That person can contribute greatly to any conversation and any society.
If places are truly wanting to be diverse they need to ignore color. Everyone from every race is capable of great things. Diversity should not be forced upon an institution, but eagerly brought in unintentionally. This means that taking people in for who they are not what they look like. I know people may need assistance due to their living situation due to the still on going racism in America; this should be the only thing that should be considered with race. It is true that the majority of minorities in America are not as privileged as white people. With this being true financial assistance is the only thing that should be based off of race and need.
As a progressive society with the younger generations as the front men/women, we should fight to unintentionally bring diversity to American institutions, as in ignore the color of someone and accept them for who they are not what they look like.

Mock Trial Recap and Response

1. For the sexual harassement case I agree with the outcome of the trial. "Kevin Murphy" made many comments and did many actions of a sexual nature that made Elise very uncomfortable and sexually harassed. I believe that the result of this case was just and deserved no one no matter how productive they may be in the office is exempt from punishment for sexual harassement. Even though he claimed it was all "in good fun" it was still taken as hostile by Elise and there for I agree with the outcome of the case. The most compelling facts of this case are that both Kevin and Elise recognize that all of the statements and actions occured. This was enought evidence to convict, the defense did not really make a good argument defending Kevin all they did was try to establish that Elise's transfer was due to her work ethic not a demotion. A: that really had nothing to do with defending Kevin's actions. The most informative facts were that no one in the work place assisted Elise, her supervisor knew what was going on, but looked the other way because Kevin was a good lawyer. In order for me to think that the case deserved an opposite outcome, the defense would have had to prove that Elise was filing a law suit out of spite or jealousy. In the instance of "David Jones" vs. "Susan Williams" I totally disagree with the outcome of the trial. It was a very simple and clear cut  case. Susan said no and David disregarded her wishes and date raped her. No means no, no matter how it is said it still means the same thing. The most informative facts were that in the testimonies of both Susan and David they said that Susan had said no when David first tried to have sex with her. That is all that is needed because she said no and rape is when one party does not consent to sexual intercourse. In order to get an opposite outcome the jury would have had to realize that he was not going away for life, just a small amount of time. They said the only reason they said not guilty was because they thought he was going to get a life sentence for this one tragic mistake.
2. I believe that both of these issues are very serious cases. Date rape and sexual harassment are actions that have long standing consequences to both parties. With sexual harassment it could make it so someone does not want to come to work or out of their house, leaving them socially crippled. While Date rape have both physical and emotional consequence. The raped could suffer from serious trauma because of the one incident. People really need to know that neither of these things are okay. It is mainly a male issue towards woman, so men really need to learn/be taught respect and impulse control so that both of these situations can be prevented. At Deerfield High School I have never heard of an incident with date rape or rape so I do not believe that it is a problem here. But with sexual harassment I have no doubt that it goes one. But not to the extent of creating a hostile environment. To the extent of one or two comments about someone or a lude gesture. Nothing really serious in nature occurs on a daily basis here at DHS.