Monster & Incognegro

Monster and Incognegro, even though are two different books in many ways they have a lot of the same issues. Some of Incognegro bigger themes deal with "passing" which is acting similar to different race, or a different attitude, behavior. This in other words is a stab at cultural identity, not being able to be who you are because you will be refused certain privileges is unfair. Zane, the main character in Incognegro had to deal with this when he went down south. He had to dress and do his hair like a white man in order to be able to walk freely and not be lynched. Monster you could say also deals with "passing" Steven is not a "bad" kid, however he wants to fit in with the "Tough" guys so he starts mixing around with them. Both these books relate to power and privilege because for example, Monster if it was a group of white young adults, they may have gotten off easier, or not had the chance as automatically seen as guilty because they were of color. And in Incognegro, if Pinchy was white he wouldn't have gotten blamed for the murder of the women found in the woods. The police officer even said I never thought you did it, but we needed someone to blame. This shows that in these books white people do have more privilege.       

Unit #2

We were assigned to watch two videos, The first one was called the Visibility of Whiteness, and the second one was about a third grade experiment. I did not agree with everything the first video said. For instance not all white people are racist, also white people should have to be ashamed to be white anymore then people of color should be ashamed. Does racism still exist in today's society? yes it does but I believe its more hushed up, its a private matter. I also do not believe that racism will ever be gone. However with help from people, like in the second video we could start teaching other generations to look past color and just see people. The second video was very affective, I agreed with what the teacher decided to do in order to get her young class to understand what its like to have the situation reversed. I also like how she used the technique on the adults. The world could use more people like that.