number 5

http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20070713/cm_csm/yhauser

This article describes a white woman [Emily Hauser]who becomes extreamly aware of her race. She lives in an area that is divers however once she crosses the street she becomes more fully aware of her race. One thing she writes about that really got my attention was she writes " Am I conflating race with poverty, poverty with danger, the unknown with, well, the unknow?" This reminded me of that Johnson says in I believe chapter 3 is that people will argue that they fear the unknown. However this is just the myth. People don't fear what they do not know, people fear what they think they do not know. Hauser then goes on to write about the different types of looks she recieves from people where she is considered out of place. Hauser descibes in her article the types of conversations she would hold with someone who was german or pakistani-- but never black. She then goes on to describe what she call soft-racism. I believe what she is saying here is that she is a bit of a soft racist because she is unable to treat blacks the way she treats others- and in being so open and honest. I think this article ties in with a lot of what we are studying and I think it is great for Hauser to put all of her feelings out on the table. Why is it that we all live in america yet as soon as we step off our block we become extreamly uncomfortable and blatently aware of our race? Will this ever change? I sure hope so-- but I don't think real soon.