South Dakota lawmakers interested in immigration crackdown

Published: Friday, Jan. 7, 2011 9:21 a.m. MST

By Chet Brokaw, Associated Press

- 

PIERRE, S.D. — South Dakota lawmakers are interested in cracking down on illegal immigration.
More than half the lawmakers who responded to a survey by The Associated Press say they would support a bill similar to an Arizona law that directs police enforcing other laws to ask about a suspect's immigration status if there's reason to believe that person is in the U.S. illegally. More than half also would support a measure to penalize people who knowingly hire or help illegal immigrants.
The proposals drew more support from Republicans than from Democrats.
Legislative leaders say the fate of the proposals will depend on the details in the bills. They also acknowledge that illegal immigration is not as big a problem in South Dakota as in other states.

I read this and thought of the video of the man who was part of the Minute Men,and how psycho he was about not helping the illegal immigrants. But I the main question I thought about was about the people who are helping these immigrants by giving them jobs. Should these people hiring illegal immigrants be penalized? For those who are hiring people, should this rule be enforced more of not hiring illegal immigrants knowingly?

Really posted by Adam Seelos

Reparations for African Americans

We had our first town meeting:

Should reparations be paid to African American slave descendents to compensate for the atrocities of slavery?

We had a lively discussion, so I figured we could continue that online. Feel free to post questions and opinions on the topic here.

Transgender Children

The video above is about a young boy who wanted to join the Girl Scouts, but was denied. The boy is clearly transgender, as he looks and acts like a girl. However, the Scout leader said that "It doesn't matter how he looks; he has boy parts, he can't be in Girl Scouts." While the interview with the boy was interesting, I found that the follow up commentary between the two news anchors and a psychologist, Dr. Worthy, were the most enlightening. I was expecting the psychologist to look down upon the transgender child and blame it on bad parenting, but instead, he gave the analogy of a child being a rock, and how parents can only smooth out the edges, and they can't completely change the "rock" without breaking it into pieces. "We determine great people by who they are...not by how they dress or the color of their skin," Dr. Worthy said. However, despite the fact that news anchors and Dr. Worthy were sympathetic and kind towards Bobby, I don't think that Dr. Worthy's statement is correct. Bobby will go through hard trials throughout his life because of his circumstance because we, as humans, are quick to make judgments without knowing all of the facts. While Dr. Worthy didn't go on about how Bobby can be "fixed" he talked about how Bobby needs to lay low and not become a target for other children, which emphasizes the fact that society is not ready to be completely accepting of everyone. I really liked what the femaile news anchor said at the end (at around the 5 minute mark), about how adults put their preconceived notions on children before they are even old enough to understand what is going on in the world. "We create our children's narrative about the world," Dr. Worthy said, and that we will not find a greater willingness to accept others for who they are until we start to change the way that we talk to our children about a touchy subject, like a transgender child.

-Monica Tillman

Risks Seen for Children of Illegal Immigrants

This was an interesting article I found as we have started to discuss illegal immigration, and see how it is a very complex issue. In the article it talks about how "an unauthorized status really extends to citizen as well as undocumented children on cognitive development, engagement in school, and the ability of to be a citizen." Also it brings up "teenagers, children without legal status face a hard awakening when they apply for jobs, driver’s licenses or financial aid for college and discover they are not legally qualified for any of them. Their paths diverge from siblings who are American citizens by birthright." It brings up the question if the U.S. extends a way for these parents to be legal will it really help remove these various risks for children found in the study?

Risks Seen for Children of Illegal Immigrants

By JULIA PRESTON

Published: September 20, 2011

Children whose parents are illegal immigrants or who lack legal status themselves face “uniformly negative” effects on their social development from early childhood until they become adults, according to a study by four researchers published Wednesday in the Harvard Educational Review.

The study concluded that more than five million children in the United States are “at risk of lower educational performance, economic stagnation, blocked mobility and ambiguous belonging” because they are growing up in immigrant families affected by illegal status.

The study is the first to pull together field research by social scientists nationwide to track the effects of a family’s illegal immigration status on children from birth until they graduate from college and start to navigate the job market. It covers immigrants from a variety of origins, including Latinos and Asians.

About 5.5 million children in this country have at least one parent who is an illegal immigrant, according to an estimate by the Pew Hispanic Center. Among them, about one million children were brought here illegally by their parents, while about 4.5 million are United States citizens because they were born here.

In all, about 9.5 million people live in “mixed status” families that include American citizen children and unauthorized immigrants, Jeffrey S. Passel, senior demographer at the Pew center, said on Tuesday.

“Unauthorized status casts a big shadow that really extends to citizen as well as undocumented children,” Marcelo Suárez-Orozco, a professor of education at New York University who is an author of the study, said on Tuesday. “It affects their cognitive development, engagement in school and their ability to be emerging citizens.”

The Harvard study reports that “fear and vigilance” guide the home lives of young children whose parents are illegal immigrants, making the parents significantly less likely to engage with teachers or be active in schools.

Parents’ fears of deportation led to lower levels of enrollment of their American children in public programs for which the children were legally eligible, including child care subsidies, public preschool and food stamps, the study found.

The other authors were Carola Suárez-Orozco and Robert T. Teranishi of New York University and Hirokazu Yoshikawa of the Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Many illegal immigrant parents work long hours in low-wage jobs, sometimes more than one job. New research on very young children cited in the Harvard study showed that the undocumented parents’ difficult work conditions “contribute substantially to the lower cognitive skills of children in their families.” This was true even though the children were more likely to be in two-parent families than American children as a whole.

As teenagers, children without legal status face a hard awakening when they apply for jobs, driver’s licenses or financial aid for college and discover they are not legally qualified for any of them. Their paths diverge from siblings who are American citizens by birthright.

“In late adolescence, they start to realize their legal limitations, and their worlds turn completely upside down,” said Roberto G. Gonzales, a sociologist at the University of Chicago whose research on college-age illegal immigrants is cited in the Harvard study.

Academic achievement does little to lift the prospects of illegal immigrants who have grown up here. Out of 150 immigrants Professor Gonzales studied in depth, 31 had completed college or advanced degrees, but none were in a career that matched their educational training. Many were working low-wage jobs like their parents.

The Harvard study found that many illegal immigrant youths, facing the “reduced promise of mobility,” had dropped out of school and begun the search for work they could do without legal papers, “forced deeper and deeper into an underground work force.”

The researchers said that a generation of young illegal immigrants raised in this country was moving toward “perpetual outsider-hood.”

Narayanan Krishnan: Companion to the Forgotten

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPOilRen3Qg


“What is the purpose of my life? What am I going to do?” Narayanan Krishnan is from a Brahmin community and part of an Orthodox family. In the Indian caste system, Brahmins make up the highest social class, while the Harijans, or untouchables, are of the lowest social order. In this system, Brahmin’s are not supposed to associate at all with the lower class. However, Krishnan saw the poverty and hopelessness in these people of his community and decided to make a difference. “We feed the homeless, the mentally ill destitute, and the old people who have been left uncared, of the society.” Not only does Krishnan feed these people, which is one of the very basic necessities of life, but he also genuinely cares for their wellbeing. He bathes them, cuts their hair, massages their legs, and blesses them. “So the food will give them physical nutrition. The love and affection that you show, will give them mental nutrition.” Krishnan is able to see the potential in these people, the humanity in all of them. How often do we pass by the homeless and make general assumptions about them? What are we going to do about poverty? What is my purpose of life? “Everybody has 5.5 liters of blood. I am just a human being. To me, everybody is the same.”

Social Mobility, Happiness and Humanity

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/25/opinion/granderson-what-do-you-do/index.html

In this article, LZ Granderson expresses his views of the new ideology of life in America as “what you do” instead of “who you are”. The economical state that the country is in and has grown to in the past decades has made it so our money defines us. Granderson exhibits of how society has lost the humanity in how we talk to each other in that we focus on what we do and how we come to pay for things instead of our names, and personal characteristics. He goes on to say, “This dichotomy has slowly disconnected the American dream from the idea of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and attached it to one's ability to move up the ladder.”

In class we have talked a lot about the real opportunities the slaves have had as well as the poor to participate in the developing United States. Granderson describes this change as regarding to the past few decades, however I would like to pose the question, Is it really that new? The ability to vote in the early 1900’s was based on if you owned land. The quality of work and education was based on how much money you already possessed. The opportunities were not good, and I might suggest that they are still difficult to move up the ladder.

The suggestion of Granderson of the view of people as consumers and not as people has come and gone through different eras of time in this country. Now we see people for what they do and accomplish with discrimination of the jobs and those who fill the jobs. In the post civil war era, blacks were viewed and discriminated against just as today, though I feel it is not as racial as it used to be, rather by class. It was stated in class that politicians, those who dare get involved, try to focus on the current issue as a recent problem, however, to quote the common phrase, “history repeats itself,” this is a long standing issue and we would do well by recognizing the cycles and thought process throughout history. This will help society to maybe find the greater happiness in which the America Dream constitutes.

New Barbie-Tatoos and All

New York City Parents Find Nothing Stylish About New Tattooed ‘Barbie’ Doll

Body Ink All Over 'Tokidoki' Seen As Sending A Very Bad Message To Children

October 20, 2011 11:30 PM

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Tokidoki Barbie (Photo: CBS 2)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The newest Barbie doll to hit store shelves is sparking controversy.

The doll sports several tattoos, and some parents say it’s sending the wrong message to their kids, reports CBS 2’s Kathryn Brown.

Meet “Tokidoki Barbie,” the newest addition to the iconic doll collection.

She’s edgy — with pink hair, sky-high stilettos and a cactus-covered pet named “Bastardino.”

But it’s her body art that has some parents on edge.

“I don’t think it’s appropriate for little girls to be having Barbies with tattoos all over,” parent Reye Griffith said Thursday.

Tokidoki’s upper body is covered with exotic-looking tattoos, including a large flower covering her chest and a tiger curls up her neck.

“I think it sends all the wrong signals for young girls,” said Mitti Hansen, mother to a 4-year-old girl.

Tokidoki is not the first Barbie to sport tattoos. In 2009, Mattel unveiled “Totally Stylin’ Barbie,” but her tattoos were stick-on and removable.

Tokidoki’s are inked on.

“Maybe if a little girl sees that she also wants a tattoo and I think it’s not good,” parent Latifa Zyne said.

But body art is a growing trend. According to the American Academy of Dermatology, 1 in 4 Americans ages 18 to 50 now has at least one tattoo.

Tattoo artist Pablo Jimenez said Tokidoki is just a reflection of a more accepting attitude toward body ink.

“Tattoos, right now, is everywhere. It’s just about art. It’s nothing bad,” Jimenez said.

Tokidoki is considered a “collectible” and retails for $50 — much more expensive than basic Barbie dolls. Mattel said the doll is marketed more toward adult collectors than to children. Tokidoki is a limited edition doll — named after the fashion line of the same name. It is sold only on Barbie collector’s website.

“You will not find this in any toy store,” said Jim Silver, Editor-In-Chief of TimeToPlayMag.com.

Silver said Tokidoki is just the latest in a long line of high-fashion collector items meant for adults, notkids.

“These are high-priced dolls. They make dolls after big-time fashion designers like Bob Mackey, so these are dolls that kids generally don’t see,” Silver said.

Many parents said they’d like to keep it that way.

Things to consider:

It is interesting to note that although the Barbies are not being marketed towards children, they have still managed to cause such a controversy. Would it be appropriate for young girls to be able to buy this doll as a toy? What does this say about our society and the images that are portrayed to the younger generations? How different with the youngsters of today feel about products such as these that will be marketed toward their own children?

Link for original article: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2011/10/20/new-york-city-parents-find-nothing-stylish-about-new-tattooed-barbie-doll/

Celebrity Mormons

If you're a fan of the Killers, or even if you're not, this video is definitely worth watching.

Brandon Flowers has been the lead singer of the Killers since its beginnings. Concert tours have often taken him away from home for extended periods of time, and have led to many disagreements with his band's management. In spite of the difficulties of living a celebrity, rock-star lifestyle he has a family with kids and admits that it is very rare to see such a lifestyle at such a "young" age for a rock-star.

While on tours with the Killers, Brandon was often approached by members of the LDS church who had "outgrown" the church and thought of Brandon as a sort of brother-in-arms.

LDS celebrities have to deal with different challenges than most "run-of-the-mill" members. Even just attending a regular ward can be difficult once they are recognized for who they are.

Why do Mormons love to talk about famous Mormons? What makes them so interesting to the rest of us?

Immigrants Being Attacked in Russia

"Not for Women"

It's funny, but definitely clear about excluding women from the drink, "It's not for women!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iuG1OpnHP8

Herman Cain's Interpretation of the Occupy Wall Street Protests

I can't stop thinking about what Herman Cain said in the following interview:



Here is the quote I am particularly fascinated by:

Don't blame the big banks. If you don't have a job and you're not rich, blame yourself.

I think this gets at the heart of our beliefs about class mobility in the United States. What are your personal thoughts on what Herman Cain said?

The Worth of a Soul

Humanity has continuously dealt with the conflict of equality. At different times and in different nations and cultures, there has been a struggle of equality... whether it be gender, race, sexual or age. In America, we have seen this happen since our forefathers came to our shores. Actions of those who segregate or discriminate can spring from a variety of reasons: fear, greed, ignorance, misunderstanding, and I think sometimes, they truly do believe they may be doing the right thing. Different levels of equality have had their time and place through history. In the early developments of America, there was the mistreatment of the Native American population. Slavery also was raging in the South, with racial discrimination happening both visibly and invisibly throughout the country. Women's suffrage soon found it's opportunity to proceed, with the Civil Rights Movement boldly marching forward. It seems that today in our nation, one of the battles of equality that has been raging for years is the question of homosexuality and where our society stands on the issue. Throughout all of history, however, one common theme seems to exist for every group seeking greater equality: their desire to show the worth of each and every individual and have that acknowledged by others.

Although each and every person has his or her own right on how they view homosexuality, I also feel that we each have a responsibility to remember that each individual on the earth is a human being. Each human being has intrinsic and unalterable worth, independent of how others view them or what they think. When we have forgotten the worth of a soul, or another human being, that is when tragedy has struck, always to be remembered and never to be fully repaired. Genocide, abuse, and even specific events such as the Holocaust, show the results of forgetting the worth of a human being and the soul of a human being.

I read an article about this topic about a high school teacher in New Jersey who is a religious woman (shown by her supervision and advisory over a prayer group) who is alleged to have called homosexuality "a perverted spirit that has existed from the beginning of creation" and a "sin" that "breeds like cancer." Even though her personal views and opinions are protected by the Constitution of the United States, it is discouraging to see people in a community who stand as role models to younger people, still forming their views and opinions about life and the world, that can influence them in a certain way. As a high school teacher, and especially as a religious woman, she should be reinforcing the ideas of understanding and tolerance of all people. Although my views and knowledge are still very limited, I feel it is important for every person to strive to understand the differences that make up the beautiful society in which we live. Below is the link to the article:

Associated Press: NJ Teacher criticized for Facebook remarks on gays

Jennie LeFevre

The latest news about Alabama's immigration law (the toughest in the nation)

Here are some stories about the latest firestorm in Alabama over the passage of the nation's toughest anti-illegal immigration bill:

The Economic Reality Of Tough Immigration Laws

The untended consequences of Alabama's immigration law

Georgia passed a similar law and has already lost an estimated 75 million dollars this year; they are now trying to pass an emergency guest worker bill.

Mixed Orientation Marriages

"In class, one thing someone got pretty upset about was the idea of mixed orientation marriages. They said this was something forced on them to help them fit in. But I think we need a more eternal perspective. Finding the companionship of someone worthy and uplifting (if not sexually attractive) is a positive thing for those who feel that that is right. I don't see that they are giving up anything--they are getting sealed to a great person that they love, and given the chance to bring children into the world. Don't you believe that they will get the chance to become perfected in heaven? At that point, whatever qualms they had about sexual attraction will be gone and the relationship that they have built will be a source of great blessings and happiness.

That being said, I don't think every one in that situation has to get married on this Earth. I don't know how I would handle such a difficult situation, but I imagine that for many, a mixed orientation marriage would be really, really hard. But no matter whether they can get married on Earth or not, they will have the opportunity after death. Another thing I am thinking is that God gives us weakness and trials so that we can come unto him. I can't think of a trial more difficult than dealing with those feelings and a knowledge of the truth for my whole life. But I think that the members of the church who struggle with same sex attraction must be very, very strong or God wouldn't have given them this challenge. Weakness isn't sin and the fact that good, faithful members deal with this challenge and desires positively is amazing and inspiring to me."

Jessica Vance

LDS Forum Explores Immigration Challenge

As the immigration debate has exploded into the American political consciousness, so has the internal turmoil for many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Mormon teachings press the faithful to be both compassionate and law-abiding, while current government policies seem to make the two goals mutually exclusive, a theme struck over and over at Saturday’s Sunstone Symposium: "Choose the Right — But Which is Right?

Robert Crawford and five other panelists described how they have reconciled the question by applying their personal experiences, church teachings and some critical thought to an issue that defies a simple conclusion.

"The Scripture seems to be telling us one thing," said Crawford, a Provo medical doctor. "Man’s laws seem to be telling us another."

Crawford noted that he had been raised to look to LDS apostles and prophets for answers to many of the tough questions. And when LDS leaders began issuing a series of statements on immigration a few years ago, he could not help but take notice.

The leaders urged "a spirit of compassion" in considering immigration. And they advocated a "thoughtful and factual, not to mention humane approach."

 Full article at http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/52340027-78/immigration-law-lds-crawford.html.csp

We pride ourselves on being a compassionate people, however, our helping hands have not quite grasped those of our foreign brothers and sisters.  Some members of the church would argue that illegal immigration is against the law, and they would be right. However, I believe that human life is above the law. That people are more important than money.  I think it's time we put our religious principles before our political principles. 


Mallory Fox

A Child's Perspective

This is a simple study in which two identical dolls are placed before several black children. Each child was asked questions of opinion about the dolls. The only difference between the two dolls is that one is white and the other is black. The results are surprising.

By some means, majority of the children interviewed in the 1940's saw themselves as looking more like the white doll. White was more beautiful than black and they would have rather of had a white doll. But now, 60 years later, an even greater majority identified with the black doll.

So it would seem we have come a long way in making black and white races feel that neither is superior over the other.

I feel like this is good progress in the sense that slowly, over the years, black children are gaining a better respect for themselves that had been stolen away by the culture of the early United States. However, in relation to the questions concerning personality over looks, there is still the issue of picking one to be nice and one to be mean based off of color. I think as though it is natural to feel that one would be more so attracted to someone of the same race generally speaking, but to feel that whether or not someone is nice or mean based off of color is wrong. So referring to race in looks, feeling as though the doll of the same color is "more beautiful" is good! But until it is more common that both dolls are equally nice or equally mean, we still have much work to do.

In this episode of "What Would You Do", a black actress is shopping at a store owned and run by white people. The black woman is constantly asked to leave and is even frisked because the employee claims she is a risk, and that she “knows her type”. While discrimination is nothing new, the interesting part of this episode comes at the end of the show when they begin discussing how few people intervened. They bring up the fact that more people of color stepped in to help to actress than white people.

What does this mean in relation to the “white privilege” theory? Did white people feel no need to step in because, due to their white skin, they do not know how to relate to the black woman; or do they think that they are above the woman and her problems because they are white? Did more people of color step in because they are more caring; or because they have experienced the same situation; or do they feel the attack on one black woman is also an attack on them?

The real question is what would you do, and why? I think that it is so easy to assume that we would do the right thing and stand up, but when put to the test, how brave would you be? The take away lesson for me was that racism may not be a problem that I can single-handedly solve, but I can solve racism on personal levels.

The Bullying Epidemic.

A blog I follow called Single Dad Laughing (SDL at www.danoah.com) recently posted a series of highly personal memoirs. They are some the author's personal experiences with bullying throughout his life. There are 15 in total and can be read here. Be warned, it's a long read if you go through all of them, and they're explicit at times.

This video was included at the end:





I'd like to extend the broad discussion of bullying to this blog. You don't even need to go read the memoirs to add to this conversation. We have a lot of posts citing specific bullying incidences due to controversy surrounding homosexuality and race. Are these the only two bases for hate crimes? What else are people intolerant of? What kinds of people bully and what leads them to do it? What can we do about it?

What draws me into this discussion are the poll numbers SDL cited at the beginning of his memoirs. He wrote:


"I tested the waters. I placed a very unscientific poll on my blog and asked my readers to “check all statements that apply to you now or in the past.” I let it run for 48 hours, curious to see what the results would be. At the end of two days, more than 22,000 different users participated. It was by far the most involvement I’d ever had in a poll. But far more shocking than the number of participants was the result of the poll.

43% of participants reported they had been bullied “viciously.”
64% of participants reported they had been bullied “minorly.”
27% of participants reported they had been a bully to others.
48% of participants reported they had seen others being bullied and done nothing.
57% of participants reported they had seen others being bullied and stepped in.
And only 0.6% of participants reported that they had never bullied, been bullied, or seen bullying."

These numbers surprised and shocked me. I can't think of any time when I've been bullied - or even witnessed bullying. I do vividly remember trying to turn my friends against someone I disliked in elementary school once (we'd leave this girl out of our games and talk amongst ourselves about how 'uncool' she was). It lasted about 4 days before my teacher sat me down and was very blunt with me - I didn't realize how cruel I'd been until then. I never did anything like it intentionally again. Was I a bully? I think so. Did it stem from a fear of people who are different from me? I'm not sure.

What are your thoughts? What have your personal experiences been with bullying? Does all bullying stem from misunderstanding of 'diversity'?

Alabama Immigration Bullies Schoolchildren

Immigration laws in Alabama are taking a toll on those who deserve it least: children.

Here is an article, posted by USA Today, about how Hispanic families are afraid to send their children to school in a time when the state is cracking down on illegal immigrants of all ages. For the first time, children enrolling in school are required to provide an American birth certificate, or else some proof of their legal status. Even the children who were born and raised in the U.S., but have parents who were not, fear the questions and suspicion they face from the school system. Some families are even relocating, as is illustrated in this video posted at cnn.com.

The United States prides itself on being a nation of security, so why are we forcing our most innocent demographic to hide like fugitives? Young kids shouldn’t have to live in a state of fear, worrying that one wrong move or a slip of the tongue will get them and/or their families deported. No child should feel they cannot even get a basic public education in a safe environment.

This isn’t just a failure on the part of the sate of Alabama, but on the U.S. as a whole. For too long the issue of immigration has swept under rugs. Legislatures have shuffled the rules around and made small, virtually insignificant passes at trying to control the situation, when in fact an entire overhaul of the immigration process has been in order for decades. I’m not suggesting there is an easy solution here – there definitely isn’t- but I don’t feel enough effort has been made to examine the issue. The immigration system is complicated and broken, but the last thing we should be doing is scaring people into submission, especially kids.

Hiring Locally for Farm Work Is No Cure-All

Here is a fascinating article about a farmer in Colorado who figured he could hire less foreign workers and replace them with local workers who were out of jobs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/us/farmers-strain-to-hire-american-workers-in-place-of-migrant-labor.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

I found the following paragraph telling:

Six hours was enough, between the 6 a.m. start time and noon lunch break, for the first wave of local workers to quit. Some simply never came back and gave no reason. Twenty-five of them said specifically, according to farm records, that the work was too hard.

It's important to note that these workers were all getting paid $10.50 per hour. Despite the Great Recession it appears as if we still need guest workers.

"The N Word"

This an article I found that shows how a light hearted morning show can get very tense with the use of one offensive word. While reporting a story, Barbara Walters says "the N word", in the exact same context that Whoopi Goldberg said it just seconds before. A fellow host, Sherri Shepherd, gets very uncomfortable when she hears a white person say it, as opposed to a black person. Shepherd goes on to say that she uses "the N word" with her friends and does not mind when black people use it but "When white people say it, it brings up feelings in me." I find it interesting that two people can say the exact same word in the exact same context, but if one is white, the word becomes offensive. Whoopi points out that it is only the older people that have a problem with the word, that teenagers now just do not care. I like how Whoopi says "Let's not pretend that this isn't part of the fabric of America." Racism is very much a part of the American past and present, but we should try to not let it affect our future.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/03/barbara-walters-n-word-view_n_992656.html

Race Issues Penetrate Religious Event

I was watching "Inside Mecca", a documentary about the Islamic pilgrimage that Muslims make to Mecca. The pilgrimage and subsequent days of worship is one of the Five Pillars of Islam. You would expect such a large and awesome religious gathering to inspire feelings of acceptance and peace from the gatherers. However, this documentary shows that not even religious gatherings are immune to prejudice or segregation.

Watch from 6:33 - 9:12 and then 33:33 - 35:20.



It is important to note that only Muslims are allowed into this religious gathering. Earlier in the documentary, it is stated that 80% of Muslims are converts. However, the woman from Texas is a victim of some racial profiling. As seen in the video, some Muslims there still expect to see an Arab muslim, and have a difficult time adjusting to seeing a white muslim. Earlier in the video, she tells how she needed to have extra documentation to prove that she was Muslim to sign up for the pilgrimage, since her name doesn't sound like a Muslim name.
The Muslim from South Africa also feels out of place because of his race. At the Hajj, the travelers are divided into sleeping areas by the region that they came from. The black man from South Africa also endured many comments because of his race, so he decided to worship in another region's area because he fit in better though. We had watched a video in class and had talked a little about the segregation that just happens in certain areas - how the whites band together in one neighborhood, the Latinos in another area, etc. Interesting to see how that "natural" segregation happened even at this religious event.

Increased Poverty in Latin American Children

An interesting article posted in The New York Times indicates that poverty of Latino children outnumber impoverished white children within the US. This is pretty shocking because the Latin American population only makes up 16% of the entire population in the US. Interesting statistics to look at and the explanation of the author is even better. If you are interested go ahead and take a look at the link below.

"Hispanic Children in Poverty Exceed Whites, Study Finds" by Sabrina Tavernise