in case anyone is still reading this

here is an interesting article about an incident that happened at my alma mater, Grinnell.

Not American Enough

I know grading and posting are done with, but I just have to share an experience I had today with anyone who's going to read this.

So today I went back to my high school to see how I can get my IB score sent to the college I will be transferring to. The IB coordinator at our school was proctoring an IB examination. I didn't want to interrupt her and the whole entire class that was taking the test so I went to the my high school counselor to see if she can help me.

She told me that I have to talk to my IB coordinator about that so I told her the testing situation. She sort of laughed at me and told me "Oh, you're too Asian. You can walk in there. It's alright. You got to be more American."

My jaw just dropped when she told me that. I looked at her like "Are you serious?" That's the first time someone told me seriously that I'm not American enough.

I don't think she meant to be racist or mean, but the stereotype that Asians are timid while Americans are assertive is so normalized inside her head that she doesn't realized what she said was rather inappropriate. I don't think she would have made the same remark or even thought about such a thing if I was any other race.

So what was supposedly my personal character, timidity, became an attribute of my race. By the way, I do not think that it is considered timidity when I just want to be respectful to students who are taking a test they prepared two years for.

I think I've been a rather sheltered person throughout my life. I talked and discussed race in academic and friendly, social settings, but never really faced race so blatantly, so I was surprised when the incident happened. It's not that I don't know that stereotypes exist and people conform to them, it's just it has never been directed personally at me. It was an interesting experience to say the least and I just want to share it with you guys. What do you guys make of it? What is BEING American to you?

Last Weekend

Last weekend, one of my friends found herself being harassed by men she didn't know on two different occasions Saturday night. Both incidents involved young black males; the first was a man asking her to come to him and then following her when she tried to leave until he saw a group of young white men outside the Library. The second incident happened 20 minutes later when a group of 5 young black guys came in and were knocking on her door saying "Where the white woman at?"

Naturally, my friend, who was home alone, was terrified and unsure of what to do. She called me and asked if I could come over and keep her company. While I was there they knocked on the window and yelled for her some more. Later, when she was telling the story to her boyfriend, emphasizing the fact they were all black. This made me wonder if it had been a white guy and a group of white guys, rather than blacks, would she have been so afraid. It is difficult to tell when people are using race as an identifier, or if they are suggesting more when they describe their experiences.

Dealing with White Guilt

A struggle that I am still not sure how to fight is combatting the idea of white guilt and what it means for me in my life. I know that by living my life differently and fighting for equality that I am rectifying the damage that whites have done to minorities throughout history. However, when people speak of privilege and advantage, and I know that I have received some of this, I don't know what to think. It amazes me that much of this did not occur to me until this year, in our class, so what should I do to confront this dilemma?

Today at the gas station....

I had a very interesting experience at the gas station this morning. After pulling up at the gas station, I got out of my car to go inside and there was a black man standing by the door. He kept asking me "where my man was at" and out of habit, I simply ignored him. Upon coming out of the gas station, the man was still there and continued to question me. I simply laughed the situation off, as this type of thing happens all the time, especially because I work as a bartender. However, there was a young white man, most likely of college age, that walked out of the gas station behind me. He was very offended by what the other man was saying to me. Although I don't necessarily think that he heard the conversation that the guy was trying to hold with me, he made a point to walk over to him and tell him to leave me alone and stop harassing me.

I think that the interesting part is that if the man questioning me had not been black, I don't think that the young white gentleman would have even paid any attention. Despite the fact that he didn't even necessarily know what was being said, simply saw the two of us and assumed that I was uncomfortable with the situation. Although I was somewhat aggravated by the fact that this guy would not leave me alone, I was also kind of frustrated at the fact that the white guy automatically assumed that he was bothering me. Any thoughts?

Diverse Community on SLU's Campus

For my paper I mad a survey, partially bases of Nathan's book "My Freshman Year". The book is an ethnographic research about what it is like to be a part of the college community, especially for freshman. Rebekah Nathan went back to school as a freshman, although she was a professor at the school, to research this topic. I took this idea and applied it to SLU. One of the things she put into a survey she asked students was if they though they had a diverse group of friends. She then asked them to list their close friends. I did this (along with other questions) because I wanted to see if what she found would be the same on SLU"s campus too. So what do you think she found?

Well most people answered that they in fact did have a diverse group of friends... however, when asked to list their close friend they only listed students of their own race. I though there was no way this would be the case. It was. Are any of you surprised? When I conducted my survey I got about the same answers. Some people listed diverse friends while majority said they had a diverse group but when it came down to it they didn't. I wrote my entire paper about why I think this is the case, along with other issues. I'm interested to see what you guys think about this?

Political Correctness

Do we always have to appear politically correct?

I think in todays society this is a very interesting topic. Racism and racial questions exist as part of our society but often times we pretend they do not exist by being colorblind or I'll go as far as to say politically correct. I know this is considered the right way to act because we don't want to offend anyone. But by not wanted to really talk about the racial issues that exist are we just being as colorblind as Hartigan talked about in his book. If we try to be socially acceptable all the time are we really ever dealing with the issues our society faces. I think not. It is impossible to face something by being politically correct. Who gets to decide what is PC anyway? Elitist that are involved in an agenda to hide social problems all together. I thing the only way to stand up to this issue is learning how to talk about racism as it actually exist, a brutal, hurtful topic in most circumstances.

What do you all think? Should we aim to be PC?

Harassment-Bias Incident: SLU's Surprising Concern

Just today at 2:11 pm, the student population of SLU received this email:

All Students, Staff and Faculty,

Saint Louis University has received a report of a bias-related incident involving a SLU student near campus.

A female SLU student reported that an unknown male made a racially charged threat against her in the overnight hours of May 1. The alleged incident took place on Laclede Avenue near the Laclede Street Bar & Grill.

The University has reported the incident to St. Louis Police, and an investigation is under way to ascertain the identity of the individual who allegedly made the statement.

The Dean of Students and the Director of Public Safety have spoken to the student who made the report. Campus Ministry and Student Health and Counseling will provide support as requested.

Jennifer K. Scheessele

Director, Diversity and Affirmative Action

I, it's sad to say, do not usually pay much attention to these types of emails. I think living in this area begins to numb you to certain things; for example, I don't even notice when a siren goes off anymore. I think the same has happened with hearing about crime around campus. Yet, this particular email caught my interest, what intrigued me about the email was the subject of the crime which occurred. It was a verbal threat that was 'racially charged' that did not occur on campus and it was initiated from a (seemingly) non-SLU student. The amount of effort that has been put into the investigation of this occurrence is another thing I found very interesting. It may seem callous or harsh to say that I don't really feel that this amount of police involvement is quite that necessary. I must say the only information that I have of the situation is what was I gained from the above email.

Of course I am not saying that I do not believe active racism to be a very serious issue or offense, but part of me feels that the circumstances and the outcome of this particular incident do not necessarily warrant the degree of attention that it is being given. Something that this brought up in my mind was another recent DPS email that was sent about a sexual assault that occurred on campus between two SLU students. That email is as follows:

All Students, Staff and Faculty,

At approximately 4 a.m. on Saturday, May 1st, a female Saint Louis University student reported to the Department of Public Safety that she had been sexually assaulted at the Grand Forest Apartments.

St. Louis Metropolitan Police were immediately notified and are investigating. The alleged suspects have been identified by police.

Representatives of Student Life, Campus Ministry and Student Health & Counseling are providing support to the female student.

Michael R. Lauer

Director of Public Safety

I personally feel that this incident was one of an extremely severe nature and should have been given a great deal more attention. I am having trouble processing the two instances on the level of severity. With the sexual assault it actually happened in campus property to a SLU student by a SLU student...why does it not receive the kind of publicity that it deserves. Women at this school or any school need to be aware of the constant danger that they are potentially in even at the their very own campus, and unfortunately possibly even at their own residences. I do believe that the racially charged issues that have been occurring on campus are an issue to which the SLU community should be aware, yet I think that simply because there have been a number of issues all within a short period of time they are receiving more attention than necessary. If SLU decides to take care of the well-being and safety of their students, then it needs to be fairly distributed. Racism is a horrible thing that the school should not take lightly or shuffle under the rug, but the same is true for rape and sexual assault. Safety is safety, that does not change depending on the degree of embarrassment the school may feel after an incident.

The Real Eve

I am not sure if any of you have seen this documentary, but I was talking to some of my friends about it last night and I find it very interesting. The documentary discusses how everyone on Earth originated from a group of people in Africa. It utilizes mitochondrial DNA testing to prove just how close the DNA strands are among random people throughout the world. There is also a book of the same title that outlines this theory. Basically, the point of the documentary (and the book) is centered around the notion that we have all originated from a single race, and how our genetic lineage is all inter-related. I have actually seen the documentary a few times, and I would suggest anyone to watch it. It provides a new perspective on people thinking that one race is superior to another. After all, if we have all originated from the same group, how can any of us be superior over another? Has anyone else seen the documentary or read the book? If so, what are your thoughts?

Racism Toward Middle Easterners: When did it starts?

Over the weekend, there was another terrorist threat that happen in NY. The man who plotted it was a Pakistani American named Faisal Shahzad. A news report discussed the surprise of discovering that he is an American, well-educated, and has been living the "American dream" until the recent financial crisis. I thought it was interesting how people still think Middle Easterners and, specifically, terrorists are foreigners, unrelated to Americans in any way.

Anyways, over the last few years, news like these have surfaced often. Americans' view on people from the Middle East has changed since 9/11.
However, the region and the people are still very ambiguous to me. Before 9/11, we know very little about the Middle East besides the fact that it provides us oil. After 9/11, we still understand very little about the people and the region, beside what is shown on T.V. that they are the enemies.

I know there are many stereotypes about Middle Easterners right now, but what I want to know is: has there been racism toward these people even before 9/11? What race was these people categorized under before the word "Middle Eastern" elicits so much emotions and evoke so many ideas. Previously, were they perceived as simply black, white, or Asian, depending on their physical characteristics?

I think the fact that Middle Eastern becomes more popularly viewed as a race after 9/11 shows just how much the categorization of race changes depending on the sociological context.

The Office: Daryl and Stanley

Yet again...another TV show I watch!

I am close to obsessed with The Office, I watch every new episode, own nearly every season on DVD, and watch it whenever a re-run is on (I may have an issue). The main comedic draw of the show is that it capitalizes on awkward or taboo situations and makes them funny. The show depends on creating humor in situations that generally would make people uncomfortable and it does it fabulously. So often I find myself both laughing hysterically and feeling extremely uncomfortable at the same time; it's hard to know what to feel but I love it and it keeps me coming back for more.

Some of the greatest jokes that are slipped in are about race, which as I've pointed out in a separate blog is something that can be difficult to navigate. There are two main characters on the show that are black, one that is Indian, and one that is Mexican (who is also gay). Frequently the boss, Michael Scott, makes comments to one of the black employees (Stanley and Daryl) that assume they both exemplify all the common stereotypes of being a Black American. A re-run last night was an episode, from season three, that centered around a traditional Indian party to which the entire staff was invited. At one point Michael is trying to help the rest of the staff to appreciate the diversity and respect holidays of other cultures, he makes a side comment to Stanley about how the staff wont make fun of him when he celebrates Kwanza. Stanley replies that he does not celebrate Kwanza, and Michael then responds again by "Wha- really? You should. It's fun." These kind of simple statements are extremely common. Another one of my favorite quotes ever from the show was a dialog between Michael and Daryl that went as followed:

Michael Scott:	I was under the impression that this was going to be a rap.
Darryl:	What's rap?
Michael Scott:	Darryl, wow. You need to learn a lot about your own culture. I'll make you a mix.
Darryl:	Great.

The more I think about theses jokes, the more I think they are actually a good thing. Yes they do makes jokes using the topic of race, but so frequently they are also stating that so many stereotypes are wrong and should not be considered truth for any group of people. I think they are great because the are getting a good message across about not profiling or assuming but with an extremely funny and enjoyable delivery.

Arizona Immigration Law

I personally was pretty disgusted by the Immigration Law that was passed in Arizona recently because in my opinion in violates all of a person's civil liberties in the fact that they can be judged by other people. This law gives far too much authority to the cops when it comes to racial profiling and being able to demand papers off of anyone at any time is quite disturbing to me. This whole situation resembles Nazi Germany to me, because a particular group of people is being targeted for their supposed affect of the economy. Many people believe that the immigrants from Latin America are a burden on the economy and are stealing jobs away from the Americans who live here legally. These stereotypes are not true because this class of immigrants works a job that is not and never will be held by an American.

Do you agree?

Language

I am still seriously struggling with an idea that we never really finished discussing in class because we ran out of time. I still don't know where I stand on learning English when immigrants come to the United States because I totally understand both sides of the argument. I don't agree with the idea of assimilation and forcing people to embrace American culture, but I do know that there are many known benefits in store for immigrants when they do learn English. They have a better opportunity to get a good job, that would allow them to send more money home and support their families, which is often the region the migrated in the first place.

At the same time, I see the oppositions' side too because there is a fear of mass assimilation and forcing immigrants to learn English as part of becoming a citizen. The United States needs to become a multicultural society that is willing to embrace more people under the umbrella that is this immigrant country. The irony of the fact that this country is founded on the backs of immigrants is interesting because now we are refusing to admit immigrants onto American soil.

Ideas to solve my dilemma?

Frustration

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05/04/foreign-connection-times-square-case-underscores-growing-pakistan-threat/

Really? Why do people have to conform to stereotypes? It just solidifies stubborn idiots' narrow views of others.

Categorizing People

One thing that I often wonder, is if, as a society, we will ever be able to move past categorizing people based on their physical appearances. Is this really an appropriate way to group people? Should we be able to assign meaning to a group of people based on their appearance and what we think the cultural behavior for that particular group may be?

Personally, I feel that our society is stuck on judging people based on their appearance. I think it is a very ambitious goal to assume that we will one day be able to move past this. I don't necessarily think that it is appropriate to assign cultural meanings to someone based on their physical appearance, but I feel that it is something that we all do. This goes hand in hand with stereotyping people. Despite the fact that we may be highly inaccurate, it is something that we do on a regular basis. I think that because people in this world are so inter-racially mixed that it is hard to assign cultural meaning to one's physical appearance. I wish that there was a way to show everyone in society that this is not an appropriate way to group people, but at the same time it is kind of human nature.

Stereotypes

There are stereotypes against every single race. Personally, I hate when people try to stereotype me. Many people think that just because I am white and I go to SLU that I come from a background with a lot of money and that everything has been handed to me my entire life...neither of which are the case. And it happens all the time. I realize that people thinking that I am of a wealthy background isn't necessarily the worst stereotype that they could have, and I often wonder how having negative stereotypes affect people's lives on a daily basis. I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to constantly have people associating you with negative stereotypes, seeing as how I get frustrated with people thinking that my life has been easy. Typically, when I am stereotyped I immediately get offended and probably come off in a bad way. Has anyone else been in situations when they were stereotyped, and how did you deal with it?

Does Race Determine Opportunity

After talking in class about how race determines one's opportunities, this is something that I have been thinking about a lot. Does race, in fact, have an impact on an individual's opportunities?

Personally, in a way, I think that this is true. When one is of a minority race, it seems as though society places a burden on them, making it harder for them to get a job, find housing, etc. Even the schools and educational opportunities are different. Within St. Louis, the inner city is minority dominated, and the schooling system is not really comparable to that of the county, which are predominantly white. I think that this is important because an individuals education has a lot of emphasis on the opportunities that they receive throughout the rest of their life.

I feel that stereotypes play a major role in this as well. For example, the stereotype that "all Asians are smart" plays a role in the opportunities that they are given. Not to mention all of the stereotypes about whites and blacks. Despite the fact that these stereotypes may not be true, many people still base their decisions off of them.

Although I understand that this happens, I think that it is unfair. I think that everyone should be given the same opportunities. I don't think that it is fair to base an individuals opportunities off of where they grew up and the opportunities they were given as a child. After all, I don't think that it is someone's fault how or where they were raised, sometimes this is just outside of an individuals control.

Any thoughts?

I bet any one of you could have written this post...

here's the link from Savage Minds (an anthropology blog that I like a lot!). The title of the posting is Whiteness as Ethnicity in Arizona’s New Racial Order.

You Know You're Asian When...

So, similar to Christian Lander's "Stuff White People Like," there has been a list floating around the internet since forever about being Asian. The funny thing is, when I first read the list, I did notice that more than half the items applied to me. In fact, I counted today to be exact and 40 out of 62 apply. There are some truth to them, but, of course, they tend to over generalize a lot. Tell me, how much of this applies to you?

You know you're Asian if...

1. Your mother has a short-haired, curly perm
2. Your dad is some sort of engineer
3. Your parents still tried to get you into places half-price saying you were 12 when you were really 15
4. You ask your parents help on one math problem and 2 hours later they're still lecturing
5. You have a 40 lb. bag of rice in your pantry
6. You shop 99 ranch
7. Everyone thinks you're "Chinese" no matter what part of Asia your ancestors were from
8. You've had a bowl haircut at one point in your life
9. Your parents enjoy comparing you to their friends' kids
10. You've had to sit through karaoke videos with scantily clad, ugly Asian women attempting to dance and walk around a temple, forest, or library
11. Your parents say, "Don't forget your heritage"
12. You drive mostly Japanese cars.
13. You've learned to keep bargaining even if the prices are rock bottom
14. You've had to eat parts of animals they don't even put in hot dogs
15. At least once, you've started a joke with "Confucius say...."
16. You know what bok choy is
17. You've gotten little red envelopes around February
18. Piles of shoes tend to make it hard to open the front, back, and closet doors
19. You hear (your name + eee (optional) + yah!) every time someone calls you (e.g. Jean - ee - yah! or Mary - yah!)
20. You have no eyelashes
21. Idiot people try to impress you with pathetic imitation Asian languages, like the ever-so-popular: ching chong woo bok chi, etc..
22. Your parents say leaving rice in your bowl is a sin
23. The Bio lectures on marine life (seaweed, sea cucumbers, octopii) was last night's dinner
24. Your ancestors 1000 generations back invented the back scratcher
25. At least one family member wears black wire/plastic frame glasses
26. Your parents hover over your tired, caffeine-drugged body at 12 midnight to say, "In Korea (or other native country), we studied even more."
27. Your parents expect you'll be best friends with any one off the street in any given area as long as they are Asian
28. An Asian woman comes on campus and people ask: "Is that your mother?" Well then, "Is it your sister?"
29. Your relatives' houses smell like incense, mothballs or both
30. Your parents say, "Calculus? I took Calculus in 8th grade!"
31. Everyone thinks you're good at math
32. Your parents' vocabulary is filled with "ai-yahs, and Wah's"
33. You like $1.75 movies
34. You like $1.50 movies even more
35. Your aunts and uncles bring you back adorable clothing from Asia with fuzzy bunnies, vinyl ducks, and English words that make no sense, in great colors like yellow, pink, magenta, orange, and the ever popular lime green
36. Your parents insist you marry within your race
37. You never order chop suey, sweet and sour pork, or any other imitation of oriental food
38. You either really, really want to go to UCI or really, really want to stay away from it
39. Your parents have never kissed you
40. Your parents have never kissed each other
41. You learned about the birds and the bees from someone other than your parents
42. "You want a stereo?! When I was your age, I didn't even have shoes!!"
43. People see a bunch of scribbles on a chopstick and ask you to translate
44. You have to call just about all your parent's friends "Auntie and Uncle"
45. You have 12+ aunts and uncles
46. At expensive restaurants, you order a delicious glass of water for your beverage and NEVER order dessert
47. Your parents simply cut the green/black part off the bread and say "Eat anyway. It's still good."
48. The vast majority of the people related to you wear glasses. Thick glasses.
49. You will most likely be taller than your parents
50. Your parents have either make you play the piano, the violin, or both
51. You get nothing if you do well in school, but crapped on if you don't
52. When going to other people's houses, you always have to bring a gift
53. Your dad still pulls his socks up to his knees, you know, the ones with the blue and pink stripes at the top
54. Your family owns a tennis racquet, golf clubs, or both
55. Your family always cheers for the Asian athlete on TV (i.e. Michael Chan)
56. The furniture in your house never matches the wallpaper, the carpet, the decorations, or any of the rest of the furniture
57. You have rocks, sticks, leaves, and strange-smelling, unknown substances in your pantry for use as medicine
58. You own a rice cooker or two
59. You buy soy sauce by the gallon
60. Your family owns butcher knives bigger than your head
61. Your parents tell you about how long it took for them to get to school, how horrible the weather was in their native country, and how much they still appreciated going
62. Your parents buy you clothes and shoes many sizes too big so you can "grow into it" and wear it for years to come.

I got this from http://www.asianjoke.com/general/ways_of_asians.htm, just in case you're wondering.

MSNBC-Racial Segregation in Mississippi

I found this article on the MSNBC website. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36481437/ns/us_news-life/

I think that this article makes it clear that race is still a major issue within our country. Although the school district was not directly segregating their school system, the fact that they allowed so many individuals to transfer to schools outside of their district to districts that were dominated by one race gives the impression that they still support racial segregation. Because SLU is so focused on diversity, I have come to realize just how important respect and understanding for other cultures is, and I feel that there are many benefits to this level of understanding. I think that this school district allowed this to happen, possibly thinking that it could cut down on issues involving race within the schools and make students more comfortable. But at the same time, if we never leave our comfort zone, what exactly do we learn? Through being surrounded by people of numerous different races, I have learned so much about other cultures and views. I think that if people avoid this, they are missing out on many opportunities to learn about other cultures.

Mexicans in the Landscaping Industry

After talking in class about immigrants and Mexican landscapers, I have been reflecting on this subject quite a bit. I worked in the landscaping industry for almost 3 years, and part of my job was to help the Mexicans fill out their paperwork and apply for visas, etc. My experiences there showed me that these individuals are willing to work hard for their money. Many of them come to the United States on a work visa, meaning that they are only allowed to live here during the months that they are needed for work. Because of this, many of them leave their families in Mexico to come here and make money, which they then send home to their loved ones. Sometimes I think that people in America expect opportunities simply because they live here, but these individuals are truly grateful for the opportunity to come here and make minimum wage just to provide for their families, in the hopes that one day they may be able to live here. Another thing that I noticed, was that when we hired white individuals they were much less reliable, as a whole, than the Mexican employees we had. For the whites, it was just another job; they didn't necessarily like it, they didn't take much pride in their work, they simply came because they wanted a paycheck. The Mexican employees that we had, however, were quite the opposite. They took a lot of pride in what they did, knowing that what they were doing was making all the difference in the world to their loved ones back in Mexico. They were grateful for the opportunity to make money here. I think that a lot of people don't necessarily see it from this perspective. Instead, they think of Mexicans as taking a job away from them. Based on my experiences, however, I do not feel that this is the case. Any thoughts?

I work at Laclede's and recently we had a very interesting issue come up regarding race. Last Friday, during Happy Hour, we had a table of 4 black women come in. They saw that the only table open by the bar had no chairs at it, and simply asked the bartender if she could bring them chairs. Seeing as our bartenders are not supposed to leave the bar during happy hour, she simply told them that she was unable to, but that there were plenty of open seats on the other side of the restaurant. Furthermore, another group came in, consisting of 5 white males, who had the same dilemma. However, instead of asking the bartender to bring them chairs, they asked a server who happened to be doing nothing at the time. The server brought them chairs without hesitation. When the original table of black women saw this, they immediately complained that this was a racial issue.
Initially, I never would have considered this to be an issue of race. However, after stepping back from the situation and looking at it from their point of view, I can sort of see why they felt that way. This situation made me realize how much race affects certain people and how one situation can be interpreted by different people in different ways. I think that because I tend to ignore race when dealing with people that come into Lacledes, it wouldn't have initially occurred to me that this situation was racist, but it was obviously upsetting to our customers. In a way, I think that this shows that there are people that still feel very oppressed because of their race, and therefore shows that race is still a major issue within our country. Any thoughts?

Race in Commercials

I have realized that the majority of the things I do are done with the television on in the background, making my media and pop culture knowledge somewhat above what is normal. Yet, I have decided that if this is what I know best then I might as well use that knowledge for my blogs. This being said I am going to carry on my theme of the presence of race on television once again.

For a while now I have vaguely noticed that McDonald's highly utilizes racially targeted commercials. But recently I have been noticing them even more and exactly what types of images and stereotypes they are using. It is not a new practice for a company to create an ad or commercial that is specifically targeted to sell to a certain race; it can help increase sales across a wider market as well as create a better image for the company. I have noticed though that McDonald's does this very frequently and even to the extreme of creating numerous commercials for the same sandwich that appeal to different races. What has really come to my attention recently is the commonality of using black actors in commercials promoting the Dollar Menu. The more I pay attention to it, the more I notice the lack of white actors in the Dollar Menu commercials. Once I noticed this I began to think about the negative affect this could have for McDonald's. These commercials could be construed to be encourage negative stereotypes of Black Americans. They seem to make the statement that if you are black, then you may not have as much money, thus the Dollar Menu is the best choice.

These commercials offend me, and I am not black, I can only imagine how someone who is may feel. What would make McDonald's think that assuming that advertising their cheapest menu to a certain demographic is appropriate. It is is almost racial profiling. I get the feeling that they send these commercials out with the underlying message something along the lines of "Come to McDonald's; we know by your race that you probably don't have much money, but look, we have a DOLLAR MENU!! So, you can still be a patron, you can still afford us!" Maybe that is just the message I hear...how bout all of you?