Greg Albin: Crossing the Color Line

I found this article by Dace and McPhail to be the most interesting article I have read so far this semester. They opened up a topic that seldom is discussed or heard; one about which I definitely knew little. I agree completely with how the push from empathy to implicature is an important one. As a white person, the idea or practice of empathy towards a black person seems to have been ingrained in me since being a youth. This is not necessarily a bad thing. But, as the authors recalled from McCall's "Makes Me Wanna Holler", this has "crippled and limited their humanity". I had never thought of this idea, and how it seemed so true. I believe that, as a white person, the move toward empathy with actions along with feelings, or implicature, can definitely change the problem of racism in the 21st century.

1.) What do you think of the move toward implicature?
2.) Do you believe that it is altogether possible to reframe society from merely empathy to implicature?

Ch 36: Crossing the color line - Tom Cameron

This is a very important topic in today's society, but unfortunately, growing up in rural northeast Nebraska offered me little experience in the area of interracial communications and empathetical understanding of the various differences it presents. So in my experience growing up, there really wasn't a "color line" to cross because there was only one color. College has changed this somewhat, as I have met several people of different racial backgrounds than myself and formed some friendships, but none of them are really that close. With that said, I found the article very interesting. And it got me thinking about how friendships even form in the first place. What is it that we seek in a person that makes them more likely to be a friend? Usually people who share a common interest are on top of the list, as they are the easiest to relate to. Dace notices on page 346 that she had three categories for diffent types of friendships. One being a situation where talking about race was a taboo, one where it was completely open, and another where there was a feeling of guilt from her friends. I'm not sure what factors affect these different relationships. All I can say is that everybody sees the world a little bit differently, and that it is easier for some to empathize than others. The factors that affect this are numerous and difficult to quantify. Questions: 1) What are the barriers between white people and black people that make it difficult to empathize with one another? 2) What does the phrase "color line" mean to you? 3) How much do individual experiences and circumstances affect a person's ability to empathize?

Crossing the Color Line-Katrina

This week’s reading started with a discussion of the definition of empathy. I really enjoyed hearing how different scholars have come to define the word. It’s interesting to see how the idea of empathy has evolved over time to where it is now. While the reading didn’t explicitly address it, the different between sympathy and empathy becomes every so clear in that empathy involves “feeling with” rather than “feeling for.”

Dace’s concludes her writing stating “empathy may just be the key.” Personally I feel that this is critical to any relationship. Keeping this in mind, empathy play a part in explaining why we (people) tend to gravitate towards people they share commonalities with or who we consider similar to us. It is not essential to have experienced the same situation as someone to be empathic towards them. Empathy can be achieved by reflecting on a situation that involved similar emotions. However, empathize comes far more naturally when you have experienced firsthand what someone else is going through. For the same reason, empathize with someone who has drastically different life experience than you own could be challenging. Knowing empathy is a crucial component of developing relationship, I would make an argument that we are attracted to those similar to us because it is easier to empathize with them; the relationship progresses faster and with greater ease.

I’m always surprised when people give so much attention to the diversity of their contacts (in turns of race and ethnicity). I can honestly say race has never been a point meriting specific recognition. This is not to say I’m not interested who they are and where they’ve come from but rather I’ve never define someone as their race. I focus on describing them by their personality, character, and interests. It’s hard for me to grasp why skin color merits so much attention from both the majority and minorities. I know when you are in the minority you are more sensitive to the majority. Trying to emphasize, I tried to come up with a situation(s) in which I was in the minority and made conscious mental notes about it. Two examples came to mind (1) classes that were male dominated and (2) situations in which I was the non-native speaker. Thinking back to these help me relate and understand the notion of viewing from aspects far more superficial than character and personality. In both those situations, nothing was really changed about the potential to form relationship but I’m sure in some aspects it had an impact on how I communicated.

(1) When do you find it easiest to empathize? And most difficult?

(2) How can we further develop our ability to empathize with others?

Crossing the Color line

This essay brings up some food for thought. Coming from where i come from, I've grown up in a neighborhood that is predominantly African American populated. I grew up having more Black friends than white friends mostly because where I lived. Coming from my perspective, nothing in this essay relates to me but everybody has different experiences and a different up bringing. I grew up respecting the people in my neighborhood and our neighbors, which have lived by us for 15+ years now, had 2 grandson's that were a little younger than me and these guys have become my good friends. They are Black and we've grown up from little kids to young men. Not once, has race ever been issue or a problem. Its not even worth talking about between us all. What happened in the past happened in the past. We didn't live through the days of Dr. King or Malcolm X. The difference we have is the color of our skin. We are still human beings. We all have a brain and a heart and the same organs, nothings different. So why judge by skin color when we didn't live through those days of history? I consider me and my friends blessed that we had each other growing up so that we didn't have problems later in our life dealing with racial issues.

The quote by Nathan McCall makes me laugh when he says that," Its sad, this gulf between blacks and whites. We're so afraid of each other." Afraid? Ive never been afraid my Black friends just like they aren't afraid of me as a White person. I think if people stepped out of the box and realize that respecting each other goes a long way to breaking a color line. So what if somebody is a different color or different ethnicity than you? Its skin color, if you take away skin there isn't anything different inside. Its like what the ol' saying goes" Dont judge a book by its cover."

1. Do different up bringings affect a person's outlook on issues? Such as race?
2. When will people realize that the color of a person's skin doesn't matter?

Crossing the Color Line

Growing up in a small rural farming community, I was never really exposed to the African-American culture until my later years of high school. The lone black guy in my high school was raised in a white household so he acted like the rest of us. So I never really had to worry about crossing the color barrier until I got down to Lincoln for college. I was never too worried about making friends with a black person, as I really don’t think that they are all that different from me. But as I visit with people around campus at times, I have found that not everyone is appreciative of the black community. The first part of this article talks about how we, the white people, need to show empathy to the black community so that we could eventually cross that color barrier. I don’t really think that it is just that easy though, because the black people are still being discriminated upon and so there is no way that I could relate to that. I think that the best way to eventually get to a point where there is no color barrier is to just to become color blind. I think then if you can become good friends with a person of a different race then they would be willing to talk to you about your cultural differences. I just don’t think that when visiting with someone that you don’t know, that they would be open to their view about the color barrier.

Even though slavery ended almost 150 years ago, why are we still not to a point where whites and blacks can be seen by something other than color?

Will we ever get to a point where people are able to view other races without being judgmental?

Crossing the Color Line - Dylan Goodell

    I liked this article because it shows both races assumptions about one another and proves the bad assumptions wrong.  One of the parts that I found most interesting was when McCall says "The notion that one of them cared, really cared, about what I thought moved me.  Danny was the first white person I met whome I actually saw trying to understand."  I found this very interesting because I thought it was kind of weird that this is the first person he met that actually cared.  I almost find it kind of hard to believe that there has been no one else that he has met that has cared and has tried to understand.  I think this kind of shows both sides of stereotypes and assumptions.  Like in our previous article whites have the stereotype of blacks being angry and to have random outbursts of anger.  I believe that this article shows the stereotype that blacks have on whites through the statement listed above.  Because McCall said this was the first white person that he had met, leads me to believe that he wasn't close enough to any white person before Danny to actually talk to them about this topic.  Sure it might have actually been the first but I believe that because McCall kind of pushed himself away from getting close to white people. 
    I believe this article shows that we should put ourselves out there and ask those random and hard to ask questions to our friends of different races.  Sure it's probably going to be hard to just bring it up out of the blue but if we ask these kind of questions we can learn a lot more about each other and understand each other better.  In the end it should make everyone understand each other better and strengthen our relationships with future friends.

1. Do you believe that it might have been partially McCall's fault that Danny was the first person that he met that actually cared?

2. After reading this article will you ask these kind of curious questions to your friends of a different race? or do you think it would hurt your friendship?