Facebook Study- Profile Analysis

The facebook that I studied was a white male around the age of 19. His facebook listed him as interested in women along with a single relationship status. Already, by looking at the first couple lines of the facebook page, you know that he is interested in women and is heterosexual. His facebook read of looking for a relationship, friendship, and random play. His political views are shown as conservative. His facebook and mine have 15 mutual friends in common. He has 169 friends from his college being Ashland University. Six of his friends from his school looked to be African American descent, only by me looking at the pictures, the rest were white or white descent. His activities are listed as wrestling, working out, reading, fishing, doing wheelies on his bike, and camping. Already someone could conclude that he is a competitive, athletic man who loves doing male activities. His music interest includes tenacious D, 50 Cent, The Game, Snoop Dogg, etc. It seems that he is interested in rap music or hip-hop. His groups include Stop Hilary Clinton: (One million Strong AGAINST Hilary), and the group slogan is “To develop a network of online volunteers to stop Hillary Clinton from becoming President!” There are 144,827 members in the group. His ABOUT ME states “I love wrestling, hanging out with my friends and having a good time. I’m down for just about anything, Except for gay sex. I ♥Brady Quinn, Grady Sizemore, Eric Wedge, and PRONK. I do work son.” Here we see that he is racial against homophobic. From the looks of his facebook, he seems to be more middle class All- American boy. He looks the exact ways we researched during the Abercrombie and Fitch assignment. He is wearing mostly the same clothes as their company makes.

Tara McPherson “I’ll Tale My Stand in Dixie-Net”

In Tara McPherson’s article “I’ll Take My Stand in Dixie-Net: White Guys, the South, and Cyberspace” she confronts websites such as Dixie-Net, The Confederate Network, and The Heritage Preservation Association on their acts of racism through cyberspace. McPherson writes of how she discovered websites such as these through searching museum when finding a link for the Confederate Embassy in Washington D.C. She then followed the neo-Confederate trail through cyberspace. As she described it was a way of “prosthetic living” and “rapid alterations of identity”. Cyber communities such as the neo-Confederates were making reference to place which in time made reference to race and racism. These were the identities of Southern masculinity through the language of the civil rights struggle. Many people questioned McPherson’s research and wondered how she could stand all of the investigations on such racist people. When she was exploring the Virtual Dixie, the websites primarily labeled their meaning behind “preserving Southern heritage” and often referred themselves to “Southern Nationalist” or “Southrons”. Many of them even practiced in southern heritage groups offline. They referred to “heritage violations” as attempts to ban or remove symbols of Confederacy and especially confederate flags. Many of these sites advocated Southern separatism or nationalism, sometimes through secession. They also made clear the vision of a “new confederacy” and a virtual secession at precisely the moment that Black Americans are moving to the South in greater numbers than they are leaving it for the first time since the civil war. This virtual battle still exists and is being fought to defend a very specific Southern heritage that is predominantly white. Whiteness itself is not mentioned in these websites, Anglo, Celtic and European are. McPherson writes that “these men struggle to find ways of securing the meaning of whiteness”. According to McPherson, to her the definition of Southern Heritage is conservative, white and mostly male.
I think McPherson describes why these cyberspace groups are so popular is because they are completely hidden from society. Unless you are specifically searching for rebel groups such as these, the chances of you running into something so racial as these websites is almost impossible. It gives the advocates of these websites, a way to show their racism without the possibility of someone seeing it. There is no one telling the creators or users of the cyberspaces to quit what they are doing. There is absolutely no stopping the things that are done on the internet.

"Why I Hate Abercrombie and Fitch"

In this very controversial article entitled “Why I Hate Abercrombie and Fitch” written by Dwight McBride, he discusses the real meaning behind Abercrombie and Fitch and how they produce such “brands” instead of products. McBride makes the claim that Abercrombie is only aimed toward white male and female middle class students between the ages of 18-22. He gives a brief summary on the history of the company and how it was originally created for outfitters of the “rich, famous and powerful” (63). It had become the largest sporting goods store in the world in 1917. Teddy Roosevelt even shopped there for his trips to the Amazon as well as Robert Peary’s famous trip to the North Pole. McBride notes that even in its earliest years, the label was geared toward high end white men and the life of the leisure classes. Now within the 20th century, their clothes are attracted to the “collegiate” educational lifestyle. McBride then discusses the “Look Book” in which the guidelines and rules of having “The A&F Look” are provided. They want their employees to look as “natural” as they can. The “All-American” and “classic” look is what they think their look means. He makes the argument of how Native Americans have far more historic claim is not the image their going for. This is where Abercrombie is making the term Americans with “whiteness” and America with “white”. McBride writes of the rules and guidelines upon having the “look”. No long gold chains, no piercing except ears, and appropriate undergarments. Here, Abercrombie codes race and class without having to name it (71). McBride also notes that all the employees working in the front of the store are white and the ones that work in the back of the store not being seen are black.

McBride then interviews multiple male workers of Abercrombie and their reason for leaving. They gave the behind the seen situations where the “ones with the look” were hired and the ones without were not. He claims that Abercrombie has complete racist thinking (86). He ends with the note that people “buy Abercrombie to purchase a membership into a lifestyle” (86).

McBride clearly relates to Johnson and his opinion of white dominance. Here Abercrombie is directed towards that white all American educated male and female and nothing else.

Takaki Ch. 12 "El Norte"

In Chapter 12 of Takaki’s book “A Different Mirror” he discusses the history of the Mexicans and their immigration into America. The chapter is entitles “El Norte” which translates to The North. Takaki discusses the struggles that Mexico was entering and the Civil War that was at hand. During this tough time in Mexico, nearly half a million Mexicans crossed the border into something in which people described as “the wonderful estados unidos” (312). Takaki emphasizes the strong nationality the Mexicans had towards Mexico and how they were only traveling to America for their own protection and would soon return. The waiting soon stretched into years. The civil war was devastating and everything in Mexico was being shutdown. This is what accelerated the movement to the U.S. One thing that triggered the Mexicans was also the railroad and the development of transportation. Mexicans were being stuffed in the train cars and crossing the boarder. Mexicans were now the primary work force in the construction industry. Some Mexican women even were given domestic jobs like the Irish except they did not generally work on a live-in basis. The Mexicans even migrated north to Illinois, Michigan and Pennsylvania. People liked the Mexican workers because they were seen as docile, patient, orderly in camp, obedient and cheap (320). Most Mexicans however, worked in agriculture. Land owners then began discouraging them to owning cars and tried to use debt to keep them from leaving. Some then began to go on strike when land owners wanted to lower their wages. To break the strike, employers dumped their belongings on the highway and evicted them from their camps. The Mexicans soon found out that integration did not mean equality. Sometimes they were even considered colored people and had to obey by the rules of the Negroes. The Mexicans fought for their education for their children and were told that they can go to school but to make sure they know that they will never be as “good as a white man” (327). They were told that educated Mexicans were the hardest to handle. The teachers were fighting for the learning of the Mexican children but the superintendent and the school board wouldn’t have it. One Mexican father in specific stated “I would rather die than take my children out of school” (329). At this time Mexicans were not only entering the country in great numbers but also had a very rapid birthrate. Clearly race was being used as a weapon by the American Federation of Labor; Mexicans not only constituted “cheap labor” but were regarded as incapable of becoming fully American.

Takaki makes a clear relation to the immigration of the Mexicans from those of the Japanese and the Irish. It is almost the exact some tactics the whites used on the Irish that they used on the Mexicans, considering them to be on the same status level as the blacks. But why did they see the Mexicans as being better for physical working environments than any other nationality? The difference is compared to maybe the Irish is that the Mexicans had somewhere to go back to if they needed to. The Irish or the Japanese would have a more difficult time returning home.

Video-3rd installment of “The Power of an Illusion”

In this 3rd installment of “The Power of an Illusion” they take a more recent look at racism in the United States. This video includes World War 2 and is mainly within the past 50. They focused more on how race is mostly a difference in opportunity and not actual cultural distinctions. Immigrants came seeking a greater economic standing, freedom and opportunities for their families. They end up working the hardest jobs and getting paid the least. This was seen as “racial consequence” or even “national consequences”. They mention a situation in Atlanta where a Jew was pulled from jail and hung for killing a white girl. This is where the question of whether Jews were considered “white” and could possibly Europeans become white when moving to America? Only free “white” immigrants were given the right to vote such as the Irish, French and others. If you were considered white in America, you would gain the full rewards. The video mentions how in different parts of the country you could be considered white or a mix of both African and American or Japanese and American. In one state if you were 1/8 Ancestry of black you were considered black and 1/16 in another state. You could literally go from state to state and completely change race. Another instance was given of a man in 1922 who was of foreign descent and was born in America if he could become a “natural citizen”. He was determined to be granted this from the Supreme Court. He did everything that was considered “white”; spoke English, went to church. The Supreme Court denied his grant to be American in claiming that he was not Caucasian and according to science he was not white. Not all immigrants were granted citizenship and their land was taken from them and given to whites. In 1924 the Johnson Reed Immigration Act was put into play. This completely cut immigration from eastern to southern Europe. In 1930 the FHA was created giving loans to average Americans to buy housed and own land. They had to pat 50% of the sale price up-front. But the presence of colored families would depreciate the value of the surrounding homes. Most of these mortgages went to suburban whites. Between 1934 and 1961, 120 billion dollars in housing was deled out, less than 2% was for non-whites. So in reality the G.I. Bill was only available to certain people. In 1968 there was the Free Housing Act in which blacks moved into white communities by numbers. The technique was called “blockbusting” when whites’ homes were resold to blacks for inflated prices. This was the start of the white people leaving and settling down in other communities. The tax raised and the schools struggled. This was the first initial key to segregation.
This movie related to Brodkin when he talks about the G.I. Bill and how it affected only certain people such as the middle class whites. It relates to the sections of land and how it was divided among different races and incomes such as the red zone and the green zone. It completely shut the blacks out of their benefits from the G.I.

Takaki Ch. 6 “Emigrants from Erin”

In Takaki Ch. 6, he discusses the struggles of the Irish and England’s takeover of their land. Between 1815 and 1920 five and a half million Irish emigrated to America. The English took over 14 percent and made their land into room for their cattle, forcing the Irish to migrate to America. They were completely poverty stricken by the British colonization. Their agriculture was completely taken over by cattle. There was extremely less work for the cattle than the crops. Religion was also changed in Ireland; they were changed from Protestants to Catholic. The Irish were strictly living off their potato crops. Suddenly a little known fungus appeared and changed the history of the Irish. The disease destroyed about 40 percent of the potato crops in 1845. The disease began to return every year. This time period then became to be called the “Great Famine”. During this time thousands of families were evicted from their homes. The British also exported the most cattle that could have fed half of the Irish community. Their reason for coming to American was for survival, or they would have to suffer destitution and death. When they came to America they were given jobs as the manual laborers; railway construction, factories, mining. The Irish were seen as nothing but “dogs…despised and kicked around” (147). They were pitted against other laborers of different races such as the Chinese and the Japanese. Irish then found themselves being compared to blacks. Sometimes the immigrants were even described as “Irish niggers” (150). In Ireland, the slaves to the British were the Irish and this is the same as the Africans were to the Americans. Takaki then mentions how after a while, the Irish began to try to consider themselves to be white and for their whiteness. The Irish then began to degrade against the blacks. In backlash, the blacks referred to the Irish man as “white niggers” (153). They claimed that the Irish were taking the jobs away from them. Takaki then mentions the difference between domestic work and factory work. The domestic workers were being paid more and were more stable working for families. The industrial workers were having more dangerous jobs that the masters did not want their slaves doing. Takaki then ends the chapter on the strategy the Irish had coming to America. They worked harder to find their children a great education. They mostly settled within the cities along with being highly unionized in the factories. They were also eligible for citizenship and clearly already spoke English. The Irish even possessed suffrage unlike the blacks.
There was a relationship between the Irish and the blacks and Takaki makes a clear distinction between that in this chapter. There was obviously the huge competition between them and the Irish were given the more dangerous jobs. Both groups were considered the lowest in the country. But the Irish were trying to capitalize themselves on their “whiteness”.

"A Challenge to Democracy" Short Film

During the troubles in Japan, the Japanese were sent to America to relocation centers like barricades. There were set up like camps with a shared bathhouse and laundry building. The barricades were guarded by military police and a metal fence. They were given one room mattresses, a stove, light bulb, and pots and pans. To eat, 300 Japanese ate in a mess hall. The food they were given was nourishing but very “simple”. They were given a maximum of 45 cents per person per day for food. The Japanese were given Oriental dishes for them and American dishes for the Americans. They lived in the desert and there was desert growth for land. The land had to be cleared before farming started to make their own food. Half of people in the relocation center were farm people. The food productions of the workers meant “self support” for the relocation centers. If they were not a farmer they did truck cares operations, roads maintain and water pipes, and clearing of trees for heating and construction. The workers were given 12 dollars per month for beginners, 16 for most who had been there and 19 for professionals such as doctors and most Caucasians. They were also given small allowance for clothes. There were stores for clothing, toilet articles and beauty parlors. The stores and schools met the standards for the state. Most of the school teachers were Caucasians, and few were Japanese. Vocational school was given when students were enrolled in high school. They learned types of trade, mechanical and farming. Medical care was supervised by Caucasians, but mostly done by Japanese. They had a form of community self government and if you were 18 or older you could vote. There was even a judicial system within the camp. Base ball and soft ball was played on the weekends along with touch football. Most attended Sunday church services because there was no restriction on religion in the centers.
The whole theme to this short film is that the life of these people was NOT NORMAL and the home life was disruptive. Americanism was trying to be taught to the Japanese. Near the end of the film the government decided the relocation centers should be no longer than necessary. Permanent locations were given so their labor can help win the war and taxes will be lower for Americans. Only ones who were loyal to America were allowed to leave the relocation center.
Those who weren’t loyal had to live in one center. At the end of the film it only gave examples of successful Japanese who were released and didn’t give conclusion to the ones who weren’t. It made it seem as the Japanese were living a perfect life here in America at the time of the war and this was not the truth. Almost half of the Japanese were in part of the war. Hundreds of them volunteered while in the relocation centers. The movie made it seem like the Japanese were fighting for American because they knew what was going on in Japan.
This shows no sign of complete democracy in America at his time. They were treated as animals being surrounded by fences and military. This relates to Johnson completely by the Caucasians having complete control of the “camp” and in complete supervision. They were given the power of the Japanese. This also is in great comparison to Chapter 10 of Takaki and how the Japanese were treated in Hawaii. They were underpaid, overworked and had to create their own place of culture in America.