mcbride- journal

In the essay “Why I Hate Abercrombie” the author, McBride shows us how Abercrombie and Fitch have and still uses company policies to their advantage. Abercrombie has a “look” that must be maintained and by using “company policy” as an excuse Abercrombie is able to be very discriminatory in the employment process.

Abercrombie uses certain company policies to hire employees based on the AF “look” which inadvertently is white and upper middle class. The store tries to sell the idea of a certain lifestyle that goes along with their clothing, because really the clothing is the same stuff you could buy at JcPenneys. The label of A & F seems to give the clothes some kind of power, a feeling of belonging to whoever wears it. Abercrombie can’t flat out say no blacks or gays allowed that would be discrimination. What they have done is make company policies that denote the A & F “look.” These physical criteria include such things like banning certain styles that are prominent among different racial groups and the gay community. By doing this, they were able to discriminate when hiring without seeming like they were. Recently, it has been noted that there are a lack of people of color working in Abercrombie stores and some have actually filed lawsuits against the company for their unfair hiring policies and for having to conform to the “look.”

the article mentions briefly about other stores engaging in the same activities as Abercrombie, but I have to think that its actually done a lot more than we know. There are so many store brands that seem to be more about the label and what it supposedly represents than the clothing itself. Most brand name things are more expensive; just think Kroger brand vs. Kraft or General Mills. Since these stores sell their clothing for, way more than its worth, an extraordinarily high price, you have to have good finances to afford it. When an outrageous price is marked only people of middle to upper class are the only ones likely to afford it, and statistically that means white people. However, McBride does make mention of Ralph Lauren and says that they are different because their clothing is offered in department stores, not just Ralph Lauren stores. In department stores, like Dillard’s, the Ralph Lauren Company cannot control the employees who sell the product, it is the stores right to hire whom ever they see is the most qualified. If you have ever seen a Ralph Lauren advertisement though, you will probably still see the all-American look: young adults spending their free time at a country club or on a yacht. Another store, although completely opposite of what A & F stands for, is Hot Topic. Unlike Abercrombie Hot Topic does sell other brands besides their own, but they are all the same style. Hot Topic is geared toward the “Goth” crowd; most of their clothing is black or has chains on it. At the Hot Topic inside Westfield Franklin Park Mall, even the manager is what most people would classify as “Goth.” (She is very nice though) What I am saying is that its not just the “all- American look” that is being sold and marketed as exclusive. I shop at Hot Topic myself and I find their prices to be within reason but if I wore an Abercrombie shirt (which I would never do) into the store, I know that all eyes would be on me. They would all be thinking, “what’s the prep doing in here? She doesn’t belong here.” Hot Topic wants their employees and customers to have the Hot Topic “look”, just like A & F does, but it has never been so bad to were people want to file lawsuits against them.

Overall I thought this article was really interesting, although kind of difficult to read. McBride uses some very intense vocabulary and some of his sentences were very wordy. However, I was very interested in the information he was sharing. I have never taken a marketing class, but now I may reconsider because the information had a really powerful effect on me. I would have never noticed any of the things he mentioned on my own and neither would most people, so its definitely time for a change.

takaki chap 12 question and answer

Takaki Ch. 12 “El Norte: The Borderland of Chicano America.”

1. How did this group come to be in the U.S.? How much of this was “by choice” and how much as a result of pressure or force? Identify drivers or motivations for coming to be in the U.S.

The Mexicans came to the U.S because of the revolution in Mexico there were no jobs anymore. More or less, the Mexicans were forced to come to America if they wanted to make a living and be able to survive. The U.S. had jobs available, mainly railroad and agricultural work.


2. What is the significance of the title of the chapter?

El Norte (the north) is what the Mexicans called the U.S. “The Borderland of Chicano America” basically says that America became the place that Mexicans immigrated to and because Texas is right on the border, it was very easy for them to “jump the border”. So the significance is that it describes how both the Mexicans and the Americans felt about the situation. It was good for both: Mexicans were able to get a job and Americans were able to get cheap labor. But the Americans soon wanted the Mexicans to go back to Mexico because they were “infecting” their land.

3. What mechanisms of social construction are discussed in the chapter?

Social construction is used here by limiting the amount of money that the Mexicans can make and by limiting them to very few jobs.


4. How did these groups resist discrimination and racialization?

The Mexicans resisted discrimination and racialization by demanding better wages for the jobs no one else would do. The whites that did work with the Mexicans received about $1 more. By demanding their wages the Mexicans went against what was “known” about them; that they were docile, patient and cheap.

5. Give one example in the chapter of “race” and one example of “ethnicity.” What is the difference between the two as they are discussed here?

An example of race would be calling people Mexican; this is a broad term that identifies anyone from Mexico. Ethnicity is used when Takaki calls them Chicanos; he says they are rural people. Think of in terms of a person’s race is Middle Eastern but their ethnicity is Lebanese.

in class assignment- Wu reflect

this quote means that the only place he felt safe and accepted was with his family. eveywhere else he tried to blend in so he wouldn't stand out.

i have felt something like this in one of my classes, our group even though we raise our hand and shout out answers we seem to be completly ignore or "looked through". in my life away from school i cant say that i have ever felt this way in refrence to my race, i think its probably because im white and whites generally arent ignored. however i am female so some discrimination is till geared toward me.

Richard Wright- extra credit

Richard Wright’s “The Ethics if living Jim Crow” is about how the author learned all the different aspects of living as a black person through different experiences in his childhood.
He starts off by talking about his first house, it was over the tracks from the white neighborhood and paved with cinder. All the boys in the black neighborhood had cinder wars; they threw clumps of cinder at each other hiding behind their homes. Then the white boys challenged the black boys to a war only the white boys used broken bottles, which can leave cuts, all cinder does is leave bruises. From that he learned his first lesson in Jim Crow Ethics from his mom. These lessons continued as he tried to get a job in the only place he could, the white neighborhood. At his job there were two men who were supposed to help him learn about the job, but when he confronted them he was rejected in the utmost way. Then one of the men accused him of not saying Mr. in front of the others name and put Richard between a rock and a hard place. By denying he was calling the one a liar, by admitting he shows that he doesn’t have respect. It was this that caused him to leave the factory for good, right at that moment. In his next job he got caught staring at his bosses victim that he just beat, because she didn’t pay her bills on time. Walking home he was offered a drink and forgot to say “sir” after saying “no” and was pushed to the ground entangling himself in his bike, that had a flat. He was told he was lucky that it wasn’t someone else he offended because he would be dead. Then he got a job as a bell boy which he had managed to keep until he moved to Memphis, all with the help and teachings of his Jim Crow lessons. In Memphis he learned how to lie, cheat and steal and live the necessary double life of a black man. It has always been a “norm” to take your hat off when entering an elevator, especially if you were a black man. One day Richard had an armful of packages and stepped into an elevator that two white men happened to be in. he was unable to remove his hat and was visually scolded for it, and then one of the white men took his hat off and placed it on his packages. To avoid saying anything and admitting he was wrong and avoiding a possible beating he pretended to have some balancing issues with the boxes.
Basically Richard, who is the author and the subject, made it through his life by utilizing the Ethics of Living Jim Crow. These lessons started with his mom and he learned more and more in his work life. The lessons helped him make it through life with out to many problems.
These “lessons” really aren’t used any more in today’s society. We have evolved enough from the civil rights movements, that we have gotten past the idea that blacks, are inferior. Well most of us have there are a few people in the world who still believe in white power. Wright being a black man himself had an entirely different perspective of the story than if a white person wrote it from observation. Even though he is biased to people of his own race, he still gave a fair look at the situation.
I thought this was an interesting article; it reminded me of “Kindred.” This article reinforced all the stories from Kindred, a fictional sci-fi novel, and let me know that, that it was really like that back then.

comic book cover reading blog

This is a comic book cover from a very long time ago and that is obvious by the illustration. What we are looking at is comic from around the time of WW II and there us a mad scientist on the cover with a microscope and little people running around, they look like test subjects. The mad scientist is portrayed in the stereotypical manner that Japanese people are thought to look like. He is wearing glasses and has exaggerated large teeth and has eerie long fingernails. He has angry eyebrows, red eyes and a stereotypical evil mustache. The glasses and the microscope further the stereotype that all Japanese are smart. The scary smile with the exposed teeth, the fingernails, even the furrowed brow and red eyes give us the idea that he is mad (crazy). But the fact that he is a mad scientist contradicts the fact that people of Asian descent are the “model minority”. However we must take into account that this is an American comic and this was made around the time of WW II, then the fact that the scientist is mad and possibly killing the other people on the cover makes more sense then it would today.
Then we have the people running around, possible test subjects of the scientist. There is a man in a red and white striped shirt and what looks to be a berret, a hat commonly seen on French people. Again the French character on the cover is portrayed in a stereotypical manner, using the stripes and the berret. This cover shows that the scientist is even attacking a country that wasn’t even involved. There is also a person dressed like a farmer as well as what looks to be just two out of the ordinary Americans.
As the caption says, as long as there are superheroes there are going to be villains. Obviously the thesis of the whole comic book is that the Japanese are bad people who want to kill or destroy everyone. All this can be seen just on the cover of the comic. There is an old saying that goes “ don’t judge a book by its cover,” however I think in this case it is safe to say that the cover really does describe the whole story that lies behind it.
Of all the choices we had, I chose this comic book cover because it is obvious that the scientist is Japanese, because of the stereotypical portrait that is given. I thought this was a good cover to write about because in today’s standards it would not go over very smoothly. Especially now, because Asian are the “model minority” because they are supposedly quiet and smart and don’t want to cause trouble. And this cover contradicts that whole line of thinking.
I am kind of appalled by this cover, it is wrong to portray anyone this way. But in a way I can understand it, because it was done during the WW II era and the Japanese were thought to be evil. I’m sure that if I were alive during that period I would have thought of them as evil too. Still the things that people could get away with back in the day surprises me, not just about Japanese but also how Blacks, especially, were portrayed.

how jews became white

In the reading “How Jews became white” the author, Karen Brodkin, tells us that she is in fact Jewish and she talks about all the different government assistances that helped the Jews to become as affluent as the stereotypes say they are.
Brodkin starts out talking about the Jewish people and goes on to say that they were not the only race who were victims of Anti- Semitism, Mexicans, Blacks and even Asians were victimized in the 19th century. But after WW II anyone who was of “Euro-origin” became a regular white, middle-class citizen. Brodkin says it was the “biggest and best affirmative action program, for Euro-males” that made the outcaste Europeans “white”.
Anti- Semitism was extremely prevalent in higher education institutions and since Jews were the first of the Euro-immigrants to go to school, they received the brunt of the racist attitudes. There was even a speech test given to immigrant teachers to see if they could speak well enough English, which Brodkin accounts her parents for saying “it was a way to keep all ethnics, not just Jews from teaching”. Ethnic groups had very little economic mobility but Jews, compared to the rest had the most, but were still limited to very few occupational opportunities. Of course Anti-Semitism didn’t disappear after the war but it became much less popular. The Jews and other Euro- immigrants were able to become “white” with their money, basically. The money came from all the jobs that were now available as well as government assistance. Post WW II , the U.S was the strongest economy around. Wages, buying power and jobs were all increasing. Then came the GI Bill of Rights as it was called. This was used to help the soldiers get jobs and be able to buy houses, but it only really helped the veterans that were of European origin. Blacks were denied their GI benefits, like education opportunities, white privilege took away any benefit a black soldier might receive. Black soldiers were even discriminated against during the war, they had almost twice the dishonorable discharges than the white soldiers. The urbanization, building of expressways, of the 60’s made those cities a “bad place to live”. The Federal Housing Administration who was supposed to help Blacks find a residence practiced segregation and prevented them from being able to move in the ever so white populated, suburbs. They redlined property making it so no bank would give a loan for that property, making sure that Blacks couldn’t afford to live there. Thus keeping Blacks out of the suburbs. All these denials to help Blacks actually helped the Jews and other Euros to become more economically mobile and “white”. When one is denied another thrives.
Being Jewish herself you would think she was biased but her article is very non-biased, in my opinion. Brodkin tells us that it was a part of her heritage’s beliefs that Jews were smart but it was the removal of social barriers as well as their abilities that allowed them to be more successful than other immigrants, comparatively. That statement (on page 38 and 39) is just what a reader would need to see that Brodkin is not biased by any means to one race or another, in this article.
I thought that this article was quite interesting. I have many Jewish friends and even they make fun of the fact that their family fits the stereotypes. But now, after reading this I learned that many Jewish children grew up believing that they were smart and that their successes were due to the own hard work. So, in a way I guess the fact that Jews are smart and are all lawyers or doctors shouldn’t really be a stereotype, because it is partly true.

zinn chapter 9

In Chapter 9, “Slavery without Submission, Emancipation without Freedom,” Zinn talks about accounts of former slaves and the emancipation proclamation from Abraham Lincoln.

Zinn starts on John Brown who was hanged for attempting the very thing Lincoln did in the upcoming years. Zinn goes on and tells us that the end of slavery actually was profitable, the plantations were able to expand from tobacco to cotton. However importing slaves became illegal in 1808, the law was never enforced. To one persons account about 250,000 slaves were imported before the Civil War. There are many statistics, and records kept from plantations but that’s all they are, not an actual account of anything. After Nat Turner’s revolt a militia was ensued, following Turner’s rebellion many slaves began to runaway. These mass runaways turned into the Underground Railroad, ran by Harriet Tubman. Whites and blacks were working together and the only way to stop that was to pay the whites to be overseers on plantations. Contrary to popular belief slavery did not destroy the black family; in fact it brought them closer together. Their culture was so rich in fact that they even had songs, to help along with their rebellion. Slaves in the south were making do but the blacks in the north really itched for, the soon to come, emancipation. President Fillmore had it coming when he signed the Fugitive Slave Act; the northern slaves denounced him and organized a resistance. Loguen, one person who was part of the resistance helped to free slaves with Tubman and Brown with the Underground Railroad. Zinn goes on to tell us about Frederick Douglass, the man who realized that slavery was the whole nations problem and not just the souths. Our government, even then, would never accept freedom for slaves by act of a rebellion; it had to be an official government act, President Lincoln put this act together. Slaves opposed all that Lincoln stood for and felt that he was making their lives just as hard. When Lincoln tried to repossess the seceded states, the Civil War began. Originally the Emancipation Proclamation only freed the slaves who were fighting the Union, but after copious signatures the thirteenth amendment came to place. Now that they were free, blacks could join the army, and they did. Afterwards though, the only way they could have any status, is to have land.

I want to know how anyone thought that birth and death records from plantations proved any accounts of how life was for the slaves. Yes, you could probably tell from the early deaths that the living conditions were awful. But, how on earth could anyone know how the slaves felt when their family was shipped halfway across the state. Birth and death records are just that and nothing more.

This reading was really boring for me, it was just facts and wasn’t intresting. After reading Kindred, this type of reading is just plain mind numbing. Most of this stuff I already knew, so it was really just a refresher.