SOC 100 - Discussion Posts Day Five

Okay, here is the final discussion post. This series of posts are related to the "Children of the Plains" video presented by 20/20. This was a very good video, I thought, on the Lakota in the Pine Ridge reservation of South Dakota. See the other posts to get the full list of discussion questions. Here is the final question: Day five:  Draw your own conclusions from the video about the little girl and the middle school boy, will they succeed? and here is my post:

The boy, Robert Looks Twice, has strong character. He’s honest, hardworking and is on a good path in life. He’s determined to overcome the odds. He’s quarterback on the football team, student council president of his class and he dreams of better things. These are all admirable for any 12 year old in any ethnic group.  He’s in a difficult situation on the reservation, but is very intelligent and wise for his age. Just the fact that he knows his struggles are making him stronger is a good indication to me that he’ll succeed. I think he’ll do his best to stay away from drugs and alcohol and I think he’ll try his best to go far in his education and even graduate college. He has some opportunities out there and with just a little help from others he has a chance to succeed. I think his elders will give him the support he needs and he’ll continue to do well. I’m very hopeful for him; he’s a modern day warrior.
The little girl, Louise, has had a tough time. She’s already tried marijuana, to commit suicide and she still has thoughts of it according to the picture she drew. I’m very sad for her and she needs a good support system to overcome this. Her psychologist is a long way away and she probably doesn’t have many sessions with him. She is fragile and she doesn’t eat well at home. Her home environment is sad, because her mother drinks and her home is cold. On the bright side she is good in math and has a bright personality. She seems to keep her head up and the teachers, school counselor and principle of her school watch over her. Even though things are tough now I think with a good support system and people watching over she can survive and succeed. I sincerely hope she does. Heather Thompson, from a neighboring tribe graduated from Harvard law. With a role model like that Louise can succeed. Those role models can teach Louise resilience.

SOC 100 - Discussion Posts Day Three

Day three: How are the three ways of learning to discriminate illustrated in the video? Here is my posting for this question. Again, this is a discussion assignment for Sociology 100. We were instructed to read out of the textbook and then watch a a video. The video is called "Children of the Plains" and was aired on 20/20 a while back. The link is here: http://abc.go.com/watch/2020/SH559026/VD55148316/2020-1014-children-of-the-plains

My post:

Discrimination is the result of an attitude called prejudice. Prejudice is pre-judging, usually negatively.  I also see in the textbook it talks about learning prejudice and one way we learn is from association. We’re not born with prejudice we learn it from the people around us. So in the video I see this in a couple of ways. One, the video shows an old western movie with stage coach and Indians chasing it. People learn discrimination from the way the Indians were depicted in those movies. It’s so negative. Second, I think that negativity just perpetuated and spread from one person to the next, through association. The video shows in a lot of places that many people discriminate against the Indians.
The second way we learn is the “far reaching nature of prejudice.” In the video businesses discriminated against them. They won’t hire Indians and in one part a lady pleads for businesses to come and open stores in the reservation and for businesses to hire Indians. In that same part of the video a man pleads for education. They need schools but are discriminated against and new schools aren’t built there. He asks for that and also for teachers to come and teach and share their knowledge with them. “Bring your education to our community”, he says. Part of the far reaching nature of prejudice is that if you discriminate against one group, you'll tend to discriminate against another. I can really see this with businesses in the video. Also, in the video is the federal government and its discrimination against the Lakota. It seems like for no reason at all or maybe just ignorance, the federal government wanted to westernize the Lakota. The Lakota aren’t the first people they discriminated against. They took their children away and prohibited them to speak Lakota. They cut their hair and changed their clothes. They wanted to kill the Indian and save the man. It’s so far reaching.
Finally, the third way that people learn to be prejudice is internalizing dominant norms. People can actually be prejudice against their own group. In the textbook it talks about ethnic maps too. I can see the ethnic maps illustrated in the video. The pictures they show of intoxicated Indians on the streets, the small lucrative liquor stores in that small town and the signs everywhere that forbid alcohol and drugs. The video shows the beer cans on the side of the road too. This would have to have a strong impact on the people living there, especially the children. The video illustrates this by interviewing the young kids about alcohol and drug use and we hear those children saying they don’t like it and that it’s bad. Those are good things they’re learning and they want change. They want to get a better education and stay away from drugs and alcohol. From this ethnic map they could be learning to discriminate against their own group too. As the textbook says, “Apparently, we all learn the ethnic maps of our culture and, along with them, their route to biased perception.”

SOC 100 - Discussion Posts Day Two

Day two:  Why do some people feel an intense sense of ethnic identity, while others feel hardy any?  Relative size, power, appearance, discrimination. Here's my post:

When a group is small in size (minority), has little power, looks different than most in society and is discriminated against they can feel a strong sense of ethnic identity. I like what the textbook said about discrimination. When the smaller group is discriminated against they are closer and get the feeling of “we-ness”. The opposite is true of the dominant group in society. When a group is large, has power, looks like most in society and isn’t discriminated against then they lack a sense of ethnic identity. I guess they don't have that "we-ness".
I saw all of these four factors played out in the video, size, power, appearance and discrimination. The Lakota’s are small in size (number) and they have a strong sense of ethnic identity. As depicted in the video, they are a small group on a reservation located in Southwestern South Dakota. Also from the video, they don’t have much power because the federal government took it and their property away from them a long time ago. As for appearance and discrimination, the Lakota look different than most in society and they’re definitely discriminated against.  The federal government discriminated against them in the past and today they don’t have educational, job or business opportunities like they should. The Lakota (minority) do ethnic work as mentioned in the textbook.  In the video, in ceremonies like the powwow, they wear the traditional clothing, headdresses, play traditional songs and instruments. Even outside ceremonies they wear a traditional hairstyle, speak Lakota and practice their own customs. They have their own schools too. So I think the video and our text in this part really coincides.

SOC 100 - Discussion Posts Day One

The next assignment we had in our Sociology 100 class was a discussion post. It was series of five posts answering some questions about a video we saw. The video is "Children of the Plains" and was a 20/20 special on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. A very good 20/20 video. Here is the link and I reccommend it:
http://abc.go.com/watch/2020/SH559026/VD55148316/2020-1014-children-of-the-plains
Day one:  How do the six myths and reality play out in this video? The six myths come from the textbook and I didn't quite get all of them.

Here's my post:

The first myth I see played out in this video is the myth of pure races. As we read in our text, this is myth. The video portrays the Lakota here as being unlike any other people. In our text it states that even though we have many visible differences, we humans are strikingly very homogeneous (same or similar nature). The second myth I see from our text is the myth of fixed number of races and I don’t see this played out in the video other than there are just two large groupings of people mentioned and that’s, Indian and White.  Either you’re Indian or White, but I don’t believe that’s the real message they intend, but I think that’s all that is mentioned.  I think this video shows a good deal about the culture of the Lakota and this breaks the myth that race is fixed by biology. As stated in our text, “race” depends more on the society in which we live than on biological characteristics.  I particularly like the powwow scenes and the dress of the dancers in this video.  Probably the biggest one that stands out for me is the myth of racial superiority. When the video told of how in as late as the 1940’s these Lakota children were being sent to western schools and sent there to be westernized, that myth just popped out. The federal government believed that they (Lakota) had to be westernized as if the Lakota were inferior. The children had their hair cut, and their clothes changed.
The reality is that no race is superior and even biologists can’t decide how people should be classified into races. People act on beliefs and not always the facts. Alcoholism and drug abused was shown in the video, but the fact is these problems plaque all people. I don’t think it was the intent of the video to suggest it’s only a problem on the reservation, but I can see how some people may get the idea that it’s because of race that it’s such a problem there. As the book said, people will act on perceptions and beliefs, not facts.