Video-
This video was hard for
me to watch because the people just seemed so ignorant to anyone else in the world
that aren’t white! I wish they could consider if other races were to be so
against them (whites) and if they were to be kicked out of their country. A
very shocking fact to me was when they said they wanted Jews to be kicked out
of the country. This immediately made me think of the Holocaust and I am
disgusted with the fact that people can just forget about this, not consider
these issues, and give in to the same horrible mindset that Hitler had.
The community of East
Tennessee feels torn a part because their businesses have had trouble staying
open and they blame this on global trade companies. This pushes them towards
being Trump supporters. There are many rally and committee meetings for these
white nationalists in hopes of kicking people out of “their” country. They are
calling this a European Style Nationalist Movement. Matthew Heimback refuses
the term racism as they believe this to be used to determine “white people who
want to advocate for their best interest.”
I would agree with Carol
Anderson, a professor, when she exclaims that racism is framing this discussion.
America is becoming vastly more cultural and this mindset to rid of so many
races is a huge problem. It is scary to think that Trump’s campaign has opened
the door for what many hope to have a wider following. It’s easy to think that
if Trump isn’t elected all of these problems will go away, but they probably
won’t. This presidential election has more than likely negatively affected any
progress America has made to be more accepting and equal for all.
Graduate Round table Discussion-
I thought many of the ideas
discussed were relatable and awakening. From chapter 5, they pulled out the
quote: “Inexperience is a quality of the human condition. We are born one time
only, we can never start a new life equipped with the experience we’ve gained
from a previous one … even when we enter old age, we don’t know what it is we’re
heading for: the old are innocent children of their old age. In that sense,
man’s world is the planet of inexperience” (ibid). It is like we are too hard
on ourselves as humans, that we should constantly have all of the answers and know
all of the next steps. Yet, life is just much more complex than that and we
find ourselves lost or unknowing of the road ahead. We build upon the
experience we do have every single day. In Between the World and Me, Ta-Nehisi
seems to fully understand this when he is telling his son how grateful he is to
be black and not have to ever blend in or try to be white. He doesn’t just
complain about the problems he faces, he knows this is the life he was given
and that he must accept and appreciate it for exactly the way it is.
