Your posts in response to others posts should be 125-175 words long (or 1-2 minutes for a video or voice submission).
1. Accompanying the panic from COVID-19 is a clear exposure of the systematic racism that still exists today. The rate of hate crimes around the world has increased recently, specifically against Asians. A university student was beaten in England after turning back to the group who called him Corona as he passed by, a woman spat on in San Francisco by a man shouting f*** China, and a family of three, including two children, were stabbed in Texas because they appeared Chinese and could spread the virus. Unfortunately, these incidents are not rare. By analyzing historical events and finding the commonalities as discussed in Conleys You May Ask Yourself, increased violence against Asians in America also occurred during the recession when the Japanese automobile business was booming. Americans, especially factory and auto workers faced high unemployment. Thus, some were targeted for looking Japanese, even if they were not. This was the case of Vincent Chin, a Chinese-American adult beaten to death during his bachelor party and blamed for the layoffs. His death became a crucial turning point in Asian-American civil rights and demands for stronger hate crime legislation. These incidents stem from the fear of unemployment, of foreigners, of the unknown future. By placing blame on another group of people viewed as different from ones identity can alleviate responsibility towards the issue at hand and place responsibility elsewhere through reinforcing stereotypes. The present is a repeat of the past, in which internalized racism can turn deadly and direct, especially during tough times. Sociologists in the future would look back and link the hate crimes together as a series of events occurring in parallel to each other attributed to racism reinforced by personal prejudices, politics, and the media.
2.I believe that from this time and generation, there will be many societal trends that will be the future focus of social theorists. For example, we have the Black Lives Matter movement, which is both a social and political movement, rising to power to protest against police brutality as well as violence against African Americans. We also had the Stop Asian Hate movement with a similar goal, to bring awareness and protest against discrimination, violence, etc toward Asians and Pacific Islanders. These are key events and movements going on today, but I believe will still hold power through future generations as well. Another key event that I think would be a focus would be the discussion revolving around the difference in wealth and class. For example, the discussion for the increase in the minimum wage which wasn’t passed along with the stimulus checks and how much money is needed for those who are in a lower income bracket. I think all three of these topics would be a major focus for future social theorists because of how important and prominent these topics are in our lives now and the effect of these as well. I see these choices as relevant to understanding the human social life in the present moment because of how these brought up social issues and brought awareness to important topics. How it affected how humans think and act whether it be socially or politically, and how these movements and discussions came to be. In addition, how these are going to affect future generations and how we lived during that moment and time.
125 words comment for each
