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Pablo Mendez

Professor Lee

AAS 201

May 9, 2017

Reflection Paper

In the beginning of the semester I had a completely different perspective on how race has

effected me. After all the lessons and the readings, Ive realized that I too was part of the

problem. During your lectures on week 4 we discussed on how there are different forms of

racism. There is the type of racism that is more direct and more public. For example, ( active

bigots) these types of racist say more outlandish things to people and also make fun or enforce

stereotypes. Another form of racism is what we discussed as a by stander to racism. A by stander

(timid bigot) is a person who doesnt do anything about the issue and when its presented in front

of them they just laugh at what is happening or just ignore the issue entirely. That lecture really

spoke to me because I was part of the problem I was the by stander laughing at racist peoples

remarks. Not only was this effecting me but also the people around me seeing that I was

approving of this.

Also another subject that resonated with me was the time we discussed the topic on

which minority is the model minority for the rest of the minorities. Not to my surprise we

discussed on how the model minorities were Asian Americans. Due to the fact that most of them

receive high education, most college enrollments, and also that they are finically stable. I too

thought that these group of people had there things straightened out. But to my realization and
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we learned that like many minorities they tend to have a lot of children which leads them to

being finically unstable even if theyre making the same amount as an Caucasian household.

Overall this class has helped me realize that even though we are in a better state as we

were in before doesnt mean that all has been resolved. There is much conflict and racial tension

between all of us that we need to learn and understand rather than being ignorant about the issue.