Random Wrap-Up

Okay so these are completely random thoughts, suggestions and confessions.

Someone let me know how Gran Torino ended. I missed the third installment. I was under-whelmed with what I had seen though. The acting was bad. How many times have you growled out loud in disgust? Yeah I don’t think I do either. And the plot took some huge jumps to bring Walt and his neighbors together. But I still want to know how it ended. I thought Crash was overrated too though so maybe I don’t know what I’m talking about. Check out Fast Food Nation if you get a chance. It does not deal directly with race but you get a look inside undocumented workers lives in the U.S.

I think most hardcore racists think they are patriotic. What do they do when black athletes represent the U.S.A. in international sporting events? Are they sick to their stomachs over the Williams vs. Williams final at Wimbledon?

I’ve never rooted against someone in sports because of their color. But I have to confess to rooting for some white guys in sports where whites are lightly represented like basketball and boxing just because they are white. Is that wrong?

Are the Washington Redskins the most blatantly racist, completely accepted image in America?

I can’t stand ESPN’s Stuart Scott who is black. 1. He is scary to look at in HD. 2. I cannot connect with the slang he uses. Dick Vitale, who is white, wears me out for the same reasons.

I think I was lucky. I went to a pretty diverse high school in Tulsa. I joined the OU Men’s Soccer Club when I came to Norman and was surrounded by numerous different nationalities. And I think I am better for it. I would recommend to everyone to get involved in a club that is multi-cultural where you can forge relationships. I think the Greek houses at OU would really benefit with more diversity. They should really recruit hard different races to join their houses.

I think the time is now that we stop saying “that is so gay.” These kinds of remarks are insensitive at the least and should be treated like the n-word. So if homosexuals want to call themselves that, fine. But the rest of us should put an end to it.

I really enjoyed this class, much more than I thought I would going in. I do wish that the class would have been a bit more diverse to get those different perspectives and opinions, but I still learned a lot. Ever since I went through the program as an undergrad, I have always watched television and the movies with an eye on the production value, looking for little things and trying to figure out why or how they did what they did. Now I think I will also look for race and gender issues in the media as well, like the Transformers 2 stereotypical bots. I will be on the lookout for opportunities to discuss these things with my daughter too.

So finally I just want to say thanks to everyone in the class who went out on a limb, and to the instructor for making sure it didn’t snap. See you in the fall.

New Haven 20

I have argued in other blogs responses that I am for a diverse workplace. And I am. I think when you call it affirmative action and set a certain mandatory number for each race you run into problems. So let’s look at the Supreme Court case involving the New Haven, Connecticut firefighters.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/06/29/supreme.court.discrimination/index.html?iref=24hours

The basics of what happened are as follows. Firefighters took an exam for potential promotion that resulted in one Hispanic, zero African-Americans and numerous whites passing. The city threw out the results because not enough minorities made the cut and no promotions were given. The 20 mostly white firefighters then sued claiming reverse discrimination.

So today the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the “New Haven 20” as they are now known. Both sides have good points and as you can imagine the blog-o-sphere is debating the decision heavily.

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2009/6/29/102420/525

And this case could change the way the government is forced to deal with race at the workplace.

Here is my first question. Was the test somehow flawed favoring whites over other races? If so, how? I have not seen the test but for this blog’s sake, I am going to assume that nearly all of the questions dealt with fighting fires and the skills that go in to doing this. I just want to know how that can be racially biased. If the answer is that emphasis should not be put on written test skills because that may favor a race, then I think that is wrong. Any firefighter looking to be promoted should be able to communicate effectively orally as well as in writing how to put out a fire.

I agree that other things should be taken into consideration as well like past performance, strength and fitness. But I want the best of the best trying to put out a fire at my house or save my child. I believe that most fire departments have tests that eliminate people who are out of shape and I am glad for that. Just like I would not want an obese, weak, elderly man attempting to put out the flames, I do not want someone who does not understand the science behind the fire trying to save my house either.

Take the NBA for example. I want to see the best athletes in the world when I watch an NBA game. I do not care to see a diversity that more closely represents that of our nation or home state. So the fact that about three quarters of the NBA is black is fine by me because I know that the coaches are typically going to put the best of the best out there. Could there ever be a lawsuit against the NBA? I hope not.

Now I consider saving lives as a firefighter more important than entertainment in the grand scheme of things. Having not seen this test, but assuming the questions related to fire, I think the Supreme Court made the correct decision on this individual case.

Goals

20 years from now

The overview: Twenty years from now I will be 53 years old and I will want to start thinking about early retirement. My daughter will be two months shy of her 21^st birthday. I’m hopeful that I am not a grandparent at that point and that my wife and I are still in love.

The details: I really just want to be happy at that point in my life and admittedly that will take some money. I am currently very happy with my job right now and that is the reason I am working toward my master’s degree. Did I grow up dreaming of being a teacher? No. After I figured out I wasn’t going to play sports for a living, I wanted to be on TV covering those sports. I did that, burned out and though I still love sports, I don’t think I could ever go back to the grind of working weekends, nights, holidays etc.

Teaching can be very frustrating but also very rewarding. So 20 years from now I want to be the best I can possibly be at teaching. I want to stay informed on all the latest technology that relates to the field. And I want to continue doing freelance camera work for FOX Sports Oklahoma and the Oklahoma City Thunder. This is something I love to do, that usually does not feel like a job and pays well too. Plus there is no better way to watch an NBA game than sitting on the floor.

I want to be a better husband than I am now. My wife and I have been married for almost five years and she puts up with a lot. For the next 20 years I want to be a better mate every single day. I want to continue to travel to other continents with my family and expose my daughter to people who are different than her. And I want to have a great relationship with my child.

Finally and most selfishly, I would love to do the Iron-Man. I would obviously have to sacrifice much to achieve this goal and I don’t know if I am disciplined enough for the training.

10 years from now.

To reach those goals, I must stay the course. I want to continue taking courses on the latest technology in media. I must maintain relationships with people who hire me to freelance and stay in their good graces, as well as continue to do good work.

I think communication is key in a relationship so I need to continue talking to my wife, checking that her needs are being met and that she is happy too. Ten years from now, I want to have visited South Africa, Australia, and Singapore.

I will compete in the local Oklahoma City triathlon.

1 year from now

I plan on shooting my documentary project next summer and take that next step toward graduation. We are discussing seriously on whether to go to South Africa for the World Cup next year. Make sure wife and baby’s needs are being met to the best of my ability with a little juggling. I want to get back to running four or five times a week. I have dropped since my daughter was born.

Diversity and the Professions

Diversity and the professions. When talking about mass communication professions, this seems like a no-brainer. The answer is in the question. How can you communicate with massive amounts of people when you exclude a whole race from both ends of the chain? Often a race will be affected by a passive aggressive sort of racism or blatant prejudice, which excludes them from being covered in a story, broadcast or advertising campaign. And is it possible that the reason for this could be traced back to the racial breakdown of the people producing the content in question?

I think the fact that races are not represented in the offices of the companies producing the content is a major factor in the problem. I am not saying that someone from one race cannot begin to understand the culture of another race. Like we discussed in class today when talking about Latino representation in the media, I think it is human nature for someone to feel more comfortable with someone that looks like them and can speak their language. Therefore, why not have that person on your staff if your target audience includes this race. A former coworker and friend of mine, who was a reporter at KOCO at the time, said that he wished he had majored in a different area, like Spanish, and minored in journalism while he was at the University of Oklahoma. No doubt that reporters have to know a little about a lot, but his reasoning was that he could be a specialist in an area other than journalism like almost every other reporter. And I think a diverse workplace provides that specialist that could report the negative stories and search for those positive stories that might be harder to find for someone not as familiar with the culture. Like Mr. Chavez said when he visited our class last week, if we were creating an advertising agency, he would open a bilingual agency. He says it is just good business sense in this market. When you consider that there are close to 200,000 Latinos in the Oklahoma City metro area, it is hard to argue. Why would you want to ignore this growing area of the market?

The National Football League has been a forward thinker in the area of diversity in the workplace. In 2003, they introduced the Rooney Rule, which mandated teams interview at least one minority candidate when a head coaching position was open. When approximately two-thirds of the players are “other” or not white, this makes good sense to me. And seems not to create as much controversy as affirmative action. The NFL has recently expanded the Rooney Rule to the front office as well.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/15/AR2009061502806.html

Of course there is an opposing side to the Rooney Rule too, saying that it is reverse racism.

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmVjOWQ3MDkyZTliYWE0MzA5MmQzNmI4ZjNmOTg2N2U=

But I think the majority of people agree that this rule is a positive step forward and I believe that this could easily be used in many areas outside of the sporting world. Is there a perfect solution out there? In the words of Joe Hight from the Oklahoman, “No.” But there are new ideas that need to be looked at.

Stereotypes

Talking about stereotypes, what kind of people do you think of when you hear the word NASCAR? The safe answer is white. The more typical answer outside of class and outside of a blog, if just shooting the shit with your friends is redneck. Almost all of the drivers and their crew are white as well as the people in the stands. I grew up around car racing. We used to go to the racetrack on some weekends to watch the local open-wheel dirt-track racing series and my dad was always watching the NASCAR race on the television on Sundays. I would be the first to admit that there is definitely that kernel of truth in this particular stereotype, but like every stereotype, it’s just a kernel of truth. The majority of the stereotyped population does not act like or do the things that they are being accused of with a stereotype…. but there is that kernel waiting to pop.

 

The kernel of truth popped again last week for those involved with NASCAR. The crew chief for Nationwide Series driver Brendan Gaughan was suspended indefinitely for using a racial slur about fellow driver Marc Davis, who is black. The Nationwide Series is similar to a farm system or minor league to NASCAR. The racial slur apparently came after an incident on pit row in which the two drivers got tangled up while Davis was trying to exit the track and head for the garage. Gaughan basically t-boned Davis causing damage to his own car. The AP is reporting that Bryan Berry, Gaughan’s crew chief, apparently used the slur as he walked toward the Nashville Speedway garage to confront Davis during Saturday night's race. At least two people heard the slur and reported it to NASCAR, which investigated the claims before suspending Berry. You can see the on the track incident with the link below.

 

http://www.qcitymetro.com/news/articles/nascar-suspends-crew-chief-over-racial-slur-095219932.cfm

 

This is the kind of stuff that adds fuel to a fire or stereotype in this case. We do not know exactly what was said but we all have a pretty good guess. And I think everyone agrees that there is no place for this in sport, especially a sport that is almost exclusively white already. NASCAR recently settled a $225 million dollar harassment lawsuit that involved both racial and sexual harassment of an African American female. And now they are having issues over the confederate flag flying in the fan’s area in the infield. See link below.

 

http://autos.blackvoices.com/2009/05/21/naacp-possibly-to-boycott-nascar-over-confederate-flag/

 

However, in our society for the most part, we are not, and the news outlets surely are not interested in the people who didn’t say something racist or who cheered for the black driver because he was a teenager and not because he was black. Just like when a black man who commits a crime, there were many more black men who played with their kids all day or had a productive day at work, but that’s not news.

 

So I think it is up to us as individuals to prove stereotypes wrong positively whenever we get a chance. I am raising my hand and proclaiming that I was raised around auto racing and I am not a racist. Deal with it.

Gender

I have recently become a first time father, about nine and a half months ago, to a beautiful baby girl named Daltrey. It is by far the most rewarding and most challenging thing I have ever done. I was the guy who really wouldn't even hold babies, afraid I would break them. But now that I have my own child, it is like a flip was switched. I even hold other babies now. My wife would probably describe me as being somewhat selfish and she's probably right, but I think I am getting better as of about 18 and a half months ago. 

I would say my brother and I had a pretty traditional upbringing and stereotypical gender roles growing up. I'm 33 years old, a little older than most of the others in class, so race and gender were not discussed much on the four television channels we had before got cable, and its 30-plus channels. My brother picked up the interest in cars and DIY that may dad introduced us, but I really just loved sports. My wife is an only child. She was on the pom squad in high school and she is twice the "handy-man" that I am.  

All this to say that all I want for my daughter is for her to be happy. If she is a lesbian, great! If she wants to wear dresses and be a cheerleader, great! If she wants to be a softball player or play rugby and have boyfriends, great! If she wants to combine all these things, good luck! I don't care, its not my decision. I don't want to push her into something that she has no interest in even if all the other girls are doing it. I'd rather her still be my friend and want to take care of me when I need it on down the line. I just want to introduce her to new things and cultures and countries and hope that she is even more open-minded than I.     

Privilege

I thought this was interesting after our conversation today about scholarships. On the front page of Tuesday's Norman Transcript is an article entitled Empowered. Below the headline is a picture of three women of color. The story is about the University of Oklahoma's Empowerment of Spirit Award, which is a new scholarship for single mothers at OU. Are they privileged? That's a tough one.

As assigned by our professor, I thought about my privileges today. Number five in Peggy McIntosh's invisible knapsack of privileges is:

I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

Normally this is the case barring the Tuesday paper mentioned above. But I watch more sports than anything else, so I also see many other races, especially since I watch a lot of soccer, represented, and generally positively. In fact, since I watch mostly soccer, and some basketball, I would say I see much more people of color than people who look like me. That's fine by me. But I will admit, and I don't think this is racist, that I have taken notice when an NBA team has four whites on the court at the same time. 

Number one on McIntosh's list is:

I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time. 

As a white male, yes, I have this "privilege." However, I would hardly consider this a privilege. Like Joe Hight said and I agree, we are creatures of habit and enjoy going where everyone knows your name, but this does not mean I search out places where everyone looks like me. We lived in London for a year and lived in the middle of the Arab district. This was just a couple of years after 9/11. In fact, we flew over on 9/11, 2003, which is a great day to fly if you want some space. I never feared for my safety because I was white and a minority in the neighborhood. I feared for my safety on a few occasions because I was AMERICAN. We often told strangers who asked that we were Canadian. Looking at McIntosh's list of 26 privileges, we did not have many of them in our year in the United Kingdom. I guess this is probably as close as I'll get to being "underprivileged" (no red line), unless I am still around in 2050. I was credited on occasion for being not like other Americans my friends and coworkers had met. Sorry, I know this comparison may be too global. But I was proud when told I wasn't like other Americans they had met, which basically meant I wasn't loud and obnoxious or ignorant of the culture.

Side note, if I could take my family and friends with me, I would totally switch places with Chris Rock. Or even someone less famous and rich like, a Mos Def or Andre 3000. I realize that they may have had a tougher childhood but I think their success now may have made up for that.